“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed” – William Gibson
This is the quote that has inspired the 20th Biennale of Sydney. Highly conceptual in nature and vast in practice, this year’s Biennale promises an ambitious number of commissioned and existing works from a total of 71 artists, exhibiting in seven different locations around the city. Artistic Director Stephanie Rosenthal has announced the impressive lineup of artists and venues, which is to be coupled with various ‘in-between projects’ around the city for the Asia Pacific’s largest contemporary visual arts event, presented from 18 March- 5 June 2016.
Photograph- Glenn Eugen Ellingsen
This edition of the Biennale will be presented at seven locations around Sydney, each conceived as different ‘embassies of thought’, a metaphor that has been developed while considering this year’s themes for the Biennale. Understood more as temporary settings rather than fixed locales the embassies are Cockatoo Island: Embassy of the Real, Art Gallery of New South Wales: Embassy of Spirits, Carriageworks: Embassy of Disappearance, Artspace: Embassy of Non-participation, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia: Embassy of Translation, a bookshop: Embassy of Stainislaw Lem, and for the first time, Mortuary Station: Embassy of Transition.
Photograph- Pia van Gelder
The concept of the seven ’embassies of thought’ is a stroke of brilliance from Rosenthal who explained “If each era posits its own view of reality, what is ours? One of the key ideas this Biennale explores is how the common distinction between the virtual and the physical has become ever more elusive”. An interesting focus of ‘in between spaces’ or cracks in Sydney’s landscape will serve as important hosts for site specific works and performances for the public to stumble upon in a derive or their daily routines, and aim to provide safe spaces for thinking. These spaces focus on our interaction with the digital world, and the displacement from and occupation of spaces. For the first time in 2016 the exhibition will extend far past Sydney’s CBD to the culturally rich and vibrant venues that inhabit Sydney’s inner west, bringing the Biennale closer to many and making the exhibition in some cases much more accessible.
It is difficult to pick just a few must see works from among the countless internationally recognised artists highlighted in the 2016 exhibition. However I am particularly excited about the works of Lee Bul, Chiharu Shiota, Taro Shinoda, Justene Williams and surprisingly, Kazmir Malevich. First performed in St. Petersburg in December 1913, Victory Over the Sun is seen as important for its nonsensical libretto, its modernistic, fragmentary score, and for its innovative abstract sets and costumes, famously designed by Kazimir Malevich.
Photograph- Alfredo Rubio
As her contribution to the Biennale of Sydney contemporary artist Justene Williams will re-imagine the piece for the 21st Century, with live performances developed in collaboration with Sydney Chamber Opera, complete with a new score, costumes and lighting design, bringing this incredible Russian avant-garde piece into the contemporary. This piece is but one of the many that are sure to inspire and captivate Sydney during the three months of the exhibition. The 20th Biennale of Sydney is a not to be missed event, and if you plan on going to any exhibition in 2016 be sure to put this one on the top of your list.
For more details and to register to attend the opening week, click here.
Words by Emily Johnson.
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