The 2nd Mercosur Biennial took place in 1999 and showcased works from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Colombia as the guest country. The event opened on November 5th with a concert by the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra performing the "Mercosur Symphony," composed exclusively for the event by conductor Nestor Wennholz. This Biennial highlighted the Mercosur integration process and the need to promote harmony among differences. The intention of this Biennial was not to bring together works around a single theme, but rather to address current issues. The year 1999 was marked by a significant devaluation of the real against the US dollar, which significantly affected the Biennial's budget. Thus, this edition was characterized by the challenge of making the event viable in a financially unfavorable environment. Significantly more modest than the previous edition, the 2nd Mercosul Biennial's greatest merit was its effort to consolidate the project. According to the curators, the guiding principle of this edition was the adoption of the concepts of "identity" and "cultural diversity," without transforming them into a thematic vector, allowing for a free and widespread association with the diversity of contemporary production. The emphasis on issues related to art and technology defined the profile of the 2nd Biennial, and the historical segments were limited to the Picasso exhibition. For the first time, the Biennial included artists from outside Mercosul who were not from guest countries in Latin America, seeking to emphasize the multiple artistic influences we receive from other cultural centers. In addition to the national representations, the 2nd Biennial also featured the following exhibitions: Art and Technology-Cyberart: Zones of Interaction, which featured six installations on the ground floor of the Gasômetro Plant and featured art web pages, followed by a symposium on the theme, an exhibition by Julio Le Parc, and the exhibition Picasso, Cubists and Latin America. This edition also featured a segment of artistic interventions on the banks of the Guaíba River, aiming to place artistic production outside the conventional exhibition circuit. The 2nd Biennial's honored artist was painter Iberê Camargo, whose exhibition occupied the ground floor of the Rio Grande do Sul Art Museum. The exhibition showcased the artist's work from the 1950s to the early 1990s. The exhibition Picasso, Cubism and Latin America sought to highlight the influences and reciprocity between European and Latin American artists by comparing the work of several artists from Mercosur and Colombia influenced by Picasso's Cubism and other significant artists of the movement. Continuing the work of the 1st Biennial, several spaces were renovated to house the exhibitions. Among them, several warehouses on the port dock belonging to the DEPRC were restored, and the MARGS underwent further renovations. Access to the exhibition spaces was paid, with the exception of the Gasômetro. The 2nd Biennial welcomed a total of 294,201 visitors. The Biennial also offered one free day of admission per week. A traveling project was implemented, taking part of the Biennial to the University of Caxias do Sul and Buenos Aires, with the aim of consolidating regional and local integration, as well as promoting the event within the state's artistic and cultural community.