The inspiration for the Honolulu Biennial, a two-month celebration that aims to raise Hawaii’s profile on the international art scene, was sparked about five years ago at a Smithsonian Institution exhibit in Washington, D.C.

The exhibit, “This IS Hawaii,” at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian explored what it means to be Hawaiian in the 21st century. Honolulu Biennial co-founder Isabella Ellaheh Hughes, who curated the exhibit, remembers visitors’ reactions.

“They came in and were looking for Hawaiian art, looking for sunsets and hula dancers,” she said.

That’s when Hughes realized how little people knew about Hawaii’s vibrant contemporary arts scene, and that’s when the idea for the Biennial was born.

The inaugural event, titled “Middle of Now|Here,” will feature more than 30 artists from Hawaii, the Pacific and Asia at nine venues, starting Wednesday and running through May 8. Artists were selected by Fumio Nanjo, director of Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, and Ngahiraka Mason, former curator of indigenous art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki.

Although Hawaii has long hosted art exhibits celebrating local and international artists, labeling this one a “biennial” — meaning it takes place every other year — brings added prestige as Honolulu joins Sydney, Shanghai, New York and other major cities holding similarly titled events.

“It helps raise that visibility,” Hughes said.

The Venice Biennale, the grande dame of biennials, dates to 1895 and draws more than 500,000 to the historic Italian city. Prospect New Orleans, a triennial arts event, was launched following Hurricane Katrina to bolster the local economy. It attracted 42,000 visitors and generated $25 million in economic activity its first time out, according to curator Dan Cameron. Prospect.4 is scheduled for November.

BRIDGING ART WORLDS

While none of the art at the Honolulu Biennial is meant for sale, the event will provide Hawaii, Asia and Pacific artists with a potential launching pad on an international stage.

Most of the exhibits will be at The Hub, the former Sports Authority space at Ward Village that has been converted into a 60,000-square-foot gallery. As the title sponsor, Ward Village developer Howard Hughes Corp. offered that space and its IBM Building for exhibitions as well as an undisclosed amount of funding.

Other venues include Honolulu Hale, Foster Botanical Garden, the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki and the Honolulu Museum of Art.

Expected visitors include art critics, curators, collectors and directors of art institutions from around the world, according to Hughes. Many will be offered customized itineraries that include visits to artists’ studios. In all, the Biennial is expected to bring in 42,500 visitors and generate an economic impact of $49.7 million, she said.

“It’s really to help shift the frame of reference for what art can do, to see monumental-scale art, conceptual art,” said Maile Meyer, owner of Na Mea Hawai‘i, a Ward Warehouse retailer specializing in Pacific-themed books, art, apparel and handicrafts.

Meyer converted her store into Aupuni Place Art Gallery + Studios to showcase local artists during the Honolulu Biennial.

Michael Rooks, curator of contemporary art at the High Museum of Art Atlanta, said Honolulu has a unique cultural history and talented artists emerging every year.

“The Honolulu Biennial has the potential to be a bridge between the East and West,” said Rooks, a former curator at the Honolulu Museum of Art. “Hawaii is sort of a metaphor of being a state and being literally in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”

ARTISTS IN SPOTLIGHT

Countering the perception of Honolulu as being in the middle of nowhere, the Biennial presents the city as a major cultural hub for art and ideas from around the Pacific, according to Mason, one of the curators. She described the artwork as a “collective unfolding” of concerns related to Hawaii.

What the artists care about, she said, is the impact of the rest of the world on the islands and their environments. Common themes include water, nature, sustainability, identity and the intersection of art and science.

“It has a fresh outlook and it comes from lived experiences,” said Mason.

Emerging artists such as Kamehameha Schools graduate Charlton Kupa‘a Hee, 27, will be featured alongside internationally renowned figures such as Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, 87.

Kusama is exhibiting here for the second time, following “Footprints of Life,” her series of signature, polka-dotted sculptures installed last year in the IBM Building courtyard. Considered the “most expensive living female artist” by Forbes (her 1960 painting “White No. 28” fetched $7.1 million at a 2014 Christie’s auction in New York), Kusama’s participation gives stature to the Honolulu Biennial.

Such events can help make or break an artist, according to Sarah Thornton, former chief correspondent on contemporary art for The Economist and author of “Seven Days in the Art World,” a behind-the-scenes exploration of the contemporary art scene in seven international cities.

“Biennials generate a lot of footfall, meaning the work is seen by more people and that is a really important means by which artists will gather a following,” Thornton said by phone from San Francisco. “It’s a platform.”

Thornton said biennials have broader appeal, drawing more media attention and attendance than art museums can get on their own.

“People who wouldn’t necessarily go to a private gallery would go to a biennial,” she said, and the Hawaii event has added appeal because “everyone wants an excuse to go to Honolulu.”

Todd-Avery Lenahan of TAL Studio in Las Vegas, interior decorator for the newly renovated Four Seasons Resort on Lanai, said he looks for decor that tells a story, so he attends art biennials to get a feel for the local culture and to scope out new artists for potential commissions.

For the Lanai resort’s guest rooms, he chose wall coverings based on the block prints of Big Island artist Dietrich Varez.

BUILDING A BIENNIAL

Getting the inaugural Honolulu Biennial off the ground was a huge undertaking that required persistence over three years from conception to reality by co-founders Hughes, Katherine Ann Leilani Tuider and Koan Jeff Baysa.

While many biennials are government initiatives, Hughes and Tuider started from scratch. They formed the Honolulu Biennial Foundation in 2014 to raise funds and host events, eventually garnering support from a number of key stakeholders, including the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts, and winning a $250,000 state grant-in-aid sponsored by Sen. Brian Taniguchi (D, Manoa, Makiki), last year to plan the event.

Howard Hughes Corp. came on board as a title sponsor last year along with numerous other corporate partners.

The timing of Honolulu Biennial is designed to showcase concurrent exhibits, such as “Artists of Hawaii 2017,” which opened last month and runs through May 28 at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Pow! Wow! Hawai‘i, the international street art festival, was held last month, with fresh murals visible throughout Kakaako.

The selection process for the Biennial was challenging, according to curator Mason, but the goal of every artist is to engage the audience, whether politically, spiritually or socially, and Hawaii itself served as a great foundation.

“You realize there is something here that can only come from here, and there always has been,” she said.

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ARTIST HIGHLIGHTS

Full list at honolulubiennial.org

>> Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s “Footprints of Life” will be at Foster Botanical Garden alongside new ceramic sculptures by Native Hawaiian artist Charlton Kupa‘a Hee and installations by artists Andrew Binkley, Sean Connelly and Lynne Yamamoto. Kusama’s new installation featuring her signature polka dots in a room with locally sourced, Hawaii-style furnishings will be open on the third floor of the IBM Building.

>> Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan of Australia and the Philippines present “Crossing Project, Another Country,” an installation at The Hub at Ward Village featuring wooden boats, cardboard boxes and other items that pay tribute to migrant sugar laborers.

>> teamLab from Tokyo will present “Graffiti Nature,” an interactive, multimedia installation at The Hub at Ward Village that allows participants to draw and scan images to be projected on the floor as live animations.

>> Native Hawaiian artist Kaili Chun has a ceiling installation, “Hulali i ka la (glistening in the sun)” at the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki and two others at Bishop Museum. An talk with Chun and collaborators on “Hulali i ka la: The Peoples Project” will take place 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday at the hotel.

>> Chinese artist Zhan Wang’s artificial rock sculptures are installed on the front lawn of the Honolulu Museum of Art and at the IBM Building. Wang will be part of a talk, 4 p.m. Thursday at the museum’s Doris Duke Theatre.

>> Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa will transform plastic buoys and other marine debris collected by Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii into sculptural pillars for an installation “Gather Together, 2017” at Honolulu Hale.

>> Multimedia artist Mohammed Kazem, based in Dubai, presents “Directions (Honolulu), 2017” at The Arts at Marks Garage using the geographic coordinates of the artists participating in the Honolulu Biennial.

>> Marques Hanalei Marzan presents a new textile and fiber installation, “A‘ahu Kino Lau,” honoring Hawaiian dieties Kanaloa, Kane, Lono and Ku at The Hub at Ward Village.

>> Eko Nugroho, one of Indonesia’s leading contemporary artists and former Shangri La artist in residence, explores identity through his murals that blend street art with traditional culture, on view at The Hub at Ward Village and Shangri La.

>> Hawaii artist Drew Broderick presents “Billboard I,” a new neon and vinyl work responding to a historical painting by George Carter that depicts the death of Captain Cook in Hawaii, on display at The Hub at Ward Village.