Biennale of Sydney

Biennale of Sydney 2020

Nirin

14 Mar - 08 Jun 2020

Jose Dávila, The Act of Perseverance, site specific mixed media installation with found materials from Cockatoo Island, dimensions variable. Installation progress view, detail (2020) for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island. Courtesy the artist and König gallery. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
Jose Dávila, The Act of Perseverance, site specific mixed media installation with found materials from Cockatoo Island, dimensions variable. Installation progress view, detail (2020) for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island. Courtesy the artist and König gallery. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
Jose Dávila, The Act of Perseverance, site specific mixed media installation with found materials from Cockatoo Island, dimensions variable. Installation progress view, detail (2020) for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island. Courtesy the artist and König gallery. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
Tennant Creek Brio. Installation progress view (2020) for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island. Courtesy the artists and Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
Tennant Creek Brio. Installation progress view (2020) for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island. Courtesy the artists and Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
Ibrahim Mahama, No Friend but the Mountains 2012-2020, 2020, charcoal jute sacks, sacks, metal tags and scrap metal tarpaulin, dimensions variable. Installation view (2020) for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island. Courtesy the artist; White Cube; and Apalazzo Gallery, Brescia. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
Ibrahim Mahama, A Grain of Wheat, 2015-18, mixed media. Installation view (2020) for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Artspace. Courtesy the artist and White Cube, London / Hong Kong. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
Ibrahim Mahama, A Grain of Wheat, 2015-18, mixed media. Installation view (2020) for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Artspace. Courtesy the artist and White Cube, London / Hong Kong. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
Jose Dávila, The Act of Perseverance, site specific mixed media installation with found materials from Cockatoo Island, dimensions variable. Installation progress view, detail (2020) for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island. Courtesy the artist and König gallery. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
Progress installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2020. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
22nd Biennale of Sydney: NIRIN
14 March - 8 June 2020

Artistic Director: Brook Andrew

Curatorial Statement:

"The 22nd Biennale of Sydney, titled NIRIN, is an international exhibition reaching across Sydney, accompanied by an extensive public program, titled NIRIN WIR.

NIRIN (meaning ‘edge’) and NIRIN WIR (meaning ‘edge of the sky’) are Wiradjuri words. First Nations languages are used throughout the Biennale to highlight the urgency of reviving and sustaining the future of language diversity.

In urgent times of shifting boundaries and conflicts between humanity, nature and spirituality, we desperately need to alter our actions to catch up with expedient change and show respect for ancient cultures. Now is a potent time to heal and feel the rush and tension of new futuristic possibilities.

NIRIN proposes that creativity is an important means of truth-telling, of directly addressing unresolved anxieties that stalk our times and ourselves. Most importantly, it is a place from which to see the world through different eyes, to embrace our many edges and imagine pride in ecologically harmonious and self-defined futures, and to explore both ancient ties and new kinships borne of sensitivity, desire and multiplicity."

Brook Andrew is Associate Professor, MADA and Associate Researcher Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous Research Lab, Monash University; Associate Researcher. Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; Enterprise Professor Interdisciplinary Practice, The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne.

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101 artists and collectives, including 39 Australian artists, are presenting the most dynamic contemporary art from around the globe in iconic venues across Sydney from 14 March – 8 June 2020.

More than 700 works will be presented at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, titled NIRIN, at the Art Gallery of NSW, Artspace, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Cockatoo Island, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and National Art School.

NIRIN – which means edge in Wiradjuri – pushes audiences the see beyond what they know, to challenge history, to be a part of the story and to immerse themselves in inspiration and imagined futures.

Highlights include Pitjantjatjara artist, activist and leader Kunmanara Mumu Mike Williams’s (1952–2019) large-scale political protest piece created with the young men in his community, his widow Tuppy Ngintja Goodwin and his lifelong friend and collaborator Sammy Dodd following his passing last year (AGNSW); Tennant Creek Brio’s dynamic series of paintings on discarded western objects that draw inspiration from their experiences at home in the Northern Territory (Artspace); Gamilaroi/ Gomeroi Murri Yinah photographer Barbara McGrady’s presentation of her life’s work as a kaleidoscopic compendium of contemporary Aboriginal history (Campbelltown Arts Centre); Ibrahim Mahama’s epic installation of sewn coal sacks in the Turbine Hall on Cockatoo Island; visual activist and photographer Zanele Muholi’s presentation of three bodies of work that look at the politics of race, gender and sexuality (Museum of Contemporary Art Australia); and, Hannah Catherine Jones’s audio-visual work using pop-cultural and archival material, poetic motifs and provocative imagery to tell a story of the African diaspora (National Art School).

The public program – NIRIN WIR meaning edge of the sky – includes over 600 events, with the vast majority free for all to enjoy. This extensive program of live and site-specific artist activations proposes new ways for audiences to experience contemporary art, share time and learn from one other.

Highlights include NIRIN HAIVETA, a restored ferry featuring traditional tattoo markings celebrating and honouring women of the Pacific Islands that will transport students free of charge from Circular Quay to Cockatoo Island every weekday and will hop between Sydney Olympic Park Wharf and Cockatoo Island on Saturdays; the To cook Cook or not? debate featuring performances by Thelma Plum and Ripple Effect at Sydney Town Hall; Stories We Never Tell, a performative walking tour at the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct; 4ESydney HipHop Festival and Bankstown Poetry Slam on Cockatoo Island, plus artist talks, tours and workshops for young people and families every weekend and during school holidays.

Brook Andrew, Artistic Director of the 22nd Biennale of Sydney: ‘NIRIN proposes that creativity is an important means of truth-telling, of directly addressing unresolved anxieties that stalk our times and ourselves. Most importantly, it is a place from which to see the world through different eyes, to embrace our many edges and imagine pride in ecologically harmonious and self-defined futures. In urgent times of shifting boundaries and conflicts, we desperately need to alter our actions to show respect for ancient cultures. Now is a potent time to heal and feel the rush and tension of new futuristic possibilities.’

Barbara Moore, Chief Executive Officer: ‘The Biennale of Sydney offers artists an opportunity to push themselves in new and creative ways and exhibit their work in a truly international context. By supporting artists, we offer audiences a chance to expand and transform what they know by considering and contemplating different perspectives. Realising an exhibition of this scale is an epic undertaking. But our job is to support artists and audiences and keep them safe. We are prepared, and we will do that with agility, creativity, respect and collaboration no matter what the world throws at us.’

The 22nd Biennale of Sydney, titled NIRIN, is open – free to the public – from 14 March – 8 June 2020.

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Artists

4E Sydney
Established 2015 on Dharug country, Sydney, Australia

Adrift Lab
Lives and works on Lord Howe Island, Australia

Tony Albert
Born 1981 in Townsville, Australia
Lives and works in Sydney, Australia

Charlotte Allingham
Born 1993 in Moruya,
Australia, lives and works in Naarm / Melbourne, Australia
Wiradjuri and Ngiyampaa

Maria Thereza Alves
Born 1961 in São Paulo, Brazil
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany; Naples, Italy; and various other places

Lhola Amira
Born 1984 in Gugulethu, South Africa
Lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa

Joël Andrianomearisoa
Born 1977 in Antananarivo, Madagascar
Lives and works in Paris, France and Antananarivo

ArTree Nepal
Formed 2013 in Kathmandu, Nepal
Live and works in Kathmandu

Sammy Baloji
Born 1978 in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo
Lives and works in Brussels, Belgium and Rome, Italy

Denilson Baniwa
Born 1984 in Barcelos, Amazônia, Brazil
Lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Bankstown Poetry Slam
Established 2013 in Sydney, Australia

BE.
Established in 2017
Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung lands, Melbourne, Australia

Dion Beasley and Johanna Bell
Dion Beasley
Born 1991 in Alice Springs, Australia
Lives and works in Tennant Creek, Australia
Alywarr
Johanna Bell
Born in Sydney, Australia
Lives and works in Darwin, Australia

Namila Benson
Born in Melbourne, Australia
Lives and works on the stolen lands and waters of the Wurundjeri and Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations, Tolai Gunantuna, PNG

Sissel M Bergh
Born 1974 in Tråante / Trondheim, Saepmie / Norway
Lives and works in Tråante and itinerantly
From south-western Sápmi

Huma Bhabha
Born 1962, Karachi, Pakistan
Lives and works Poughkeepsie, United States

Blacktown Native Institution
Born in the Dreaming, Oakhurst, Australia, Dharug Nura

Karim Bleus
Born 1975 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Lives and works in Port-au-Prince

Anna Boghiguian
Born 1946 in Cairo, Egypt
Lives and works in Cairo and itinerant

Mohamed Bourouissa
Born 1978 in Blida, Algeria
Lives and works in Paris, France

Breaking Bread
Established 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa

Eric Bridgeman and Haus Yuriyal
Born 1986 in Redcliffe, Queensland
Lives and works in Brisbane, Australia and Wahgi Valley, Jiwaka Province, Papua New Guinea

Tania Bruguera
Born 1968 in Havana, Cuba
Lives and works in Havana, Cuba and New York, USA

Vajiko Chachkhiani
Born 1985 in Tbilisi, Georgia
Lives and works between Berlin, Germany and Tbilisi, Georgia

Club Ate (Bhenji Ra and Phasmahammer)
Established 2014 in Warrang / Sydney, Australia

Colectivo Ayllu
Formed 2009 in Madrid, Spain
Lives and works in Madrid

Victoria Santa Cruz
Born 1922 in Lima, Peru
Died 2014 in Lima

Randy Lee Cutler
Born 1964 in Montreal, Canada
Lives and works in Vancouver, Canada

Jose Dávila
Born 1974 in Guadalajara, Mexico
Lives and works in Guadalajara

Demian Dinéyazhi and R.I.S.E.
Born 1983 in Gallup, New Mexico
Lives and works on the ancestral lands of the Diné, Chinook, Clackamas, Wasco, Multnomah, Cowlitz,
Kathlamet, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes

Karla Dickens
Born 1967 in Sydney, Australia
Lives and Works in Goonellabah, Australia

Préfète Duffaut
Born 1923 in Jacmel, Haiti
Died 2012 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Léuli Eshrāghi
Born 1986 in Yuwi Country, Australia
Lives and works in Garrmalang / Darwin, Australia and Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montréal, Canada
Sāmoan

Andre Eugene
Born 1959 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Lives and works in Port-au-Prince

FAFSWAG
Established 2013 in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa / New Zealand

Jes Fan
Born 1990, Ontario, Canada
Lives and works New York, USA and Hong Kong, China

Lafortune Felix
Born 1933 in Pond Sondé, Haiti
Died 2016 in St. Marc, Haiti

First Dog on the Moon
Born 2010 in Bega, Australia
Lives and works in Huon Valley, Australia

Brian Fuata
Born 1978 in Wellington, Aoetearoa /
New Zealand
Lives and works in Sydney, Australia

FUNPARK Coalition
Established in 2012 in Mount Druitt, Australia

Nicholas Galanin
Born 1979 in Sitka, United States
Lives and works in Sitka

Stuart Geddes and Trent Walter
Lives and works in Melbourne, Australia

Fátima Rodrigo Gonzales
Born 1987 in Lima, Peru
Lives and works in Lima and itinerant

Josep Grau-Garriga
Born 1929 in Barcelona, Spain
Died 2011 in Angers, France

Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian
Lives and works in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Reincarnated 1985 in Amman, Jordon
Lives and works in Beirut, Lebanon

Aziz Hazara
Born 1992 in Wardak, Afghanistan
Lives and works in Kabul, Afghanistan and Ghent, Belgium

Lily Hibberd
Born 1972 in Melbourne, Australia
Lives and works in Paris, France and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia

Sarah Houbolt
Born 1981 in Thuringowa, Australia
Lives and works in Sydney, Australia; New York, USA and London, England

Information and Cultural Exchange (I.C.E.)
Established 1984 in Parramatta, Australia

Lucas Ihlein and Kim Williams
Lives and works in Wollongong, Australia

Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre
Founded in 2004 in Mparntwe / Alice Springs, Australia

Arthur Jafa
Born 1960 in Tulepo, United States
Lives and works in Los Angeles, United States

Hannah Catherine Jones
Born 1987 in Doncaster, England
Lives and works in London, England
Afro-Caribbean Diasporic Ancestry (Bajan)

Napoleon Jones-Henderson
Born 1943 in Chicago, United States
Lives and works in Roxbury and Statesboro, United States

Emily Karaka
Born 1952 in Auckland, New Zealand
Lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland

Bronwyn Katz
Born 1993 in Kimberley, South Africa
Lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa

Kylie Kwong
Born 1969 in Sydney, Australia
Lives and works in Sydney

Tarek Lakhrissi
Born 1992, Châtellerault, France
Lives and works Paris, France

Barbara McGrady
Born 1950 in Mungindi, Australia
Lives and works in Sydney, Australia
Gomeroi / Murri / Yinah

Ibrahim Mahama
Born 1987 in Tamale, Ghana
Lives and works in Accra, Tamale and Kumasi, Ghana

Kulimoe’anga Stone Maka
Born 1970, Patangata, Tonga.
Lives and works Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand

Noŋgirrŋa Marawili
Born on the beach at Darrpirra, North of Cape Shield, Australia on the ocean side. As a child lived wakir’ (camping / moving around) at Maḏarrpa clan-related sites between Blue Mud Bay and Groote Eyelandt, Australia
Lives and works at Yirrkala and Waṉḏawuy, Australia

Teresa Margolles
Born 1963 in Culiacán, Mexico
Lives and works in Mexico City

Misheck Masamvu
Born 1980 Mutare, Zimbabwe
Lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe and Johannesburg, South Africa

Katarina Matiasek
Born 1965 in Vienna, Austria
Lives and works in Vienna

Mayunkiki
Born 1980, Hokkaido, Japan
Lives and works Hokkaido

John Miller and Elisapeta Heta
John Miller born 1950 in Auckland, Aotearoa / New Zealand
Lives and works in Auckland and other areas throughout Aotearoa / New Zealand
Ngapuhi
Elisapeta Heta born 1987 in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland, New Zealand
Lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau and across Aotearoa / New Zealand
Ngatiwai, Waikato Tainui

Jota Mombaça
Born 1991 in Natal, Brazil
Lives and works between Fortaleza, Brazil; Lisbon, Portugal and Berlin, Germany

Mostaff Muchawaya
Born 1981 in Nyazuru, Zimbabwe
Lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe
Shona

Zanele Muholi
Born 1972 in Umlazi, South Africa
Lives and works Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa

The Mulka Project
Formed 2007 at the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Art Centre, Yirrkala
Lives and works at Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Art Centre, Yirrkala; North East Arnhem Land, Australia; and throughout the world

Melanie Mununggurr
Born 1985 in Nowra, Australia
Lives in Darwin, Australia
Djapu

MzRizk
Born 1981 in Melbourne, Australia
Lives and works in Melbourne

Elicura Chihuailaf Nahuelpán
Born 1952, Kechurewe, Chile
Lives and works Kechurewe

Paulo Nazareth
Born 1977 in Governador Valadares, Brazil
Lives and works throughout the world

S.J Norman
Born 1984 in Sydney, Australia
Lives and works between Kulin Country / Melbourne, Australia; Berlin, Germany; and New York, Unites States

Musa N. Nxumalo
Born 1986 in Soweto, South Africa
Lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa

Manuel Ocampo
Born 1965 in Quezon City, Philippines
Lives and works in Marikina, Philippines

Erkan Özgen
Born 1971, Derik, Turkey
Lives and works Diyarbakir, Turkey

Parramatta Female Factory Precinct and PYT Fairfield

Taqralik Partridge
Born 1975 in Montreal, Canada
Lives and works in Kautokeino, Sápmi / Norway and Ottawa, Canada

Rosana Paulino
Born 1967 in São Paulo, Brazil
Lives and works in São Paulo

Laure Prouvost
Born 1978 in Croix-Lille, France
Lives and works in London, United Kingdom; Antwerp, Belgium; and a caravan in the Croatian desert

Reading Oceania
Established in Marrickville, Australia

Lisa Reihana
Born 1964 in Auckland, Aotearoa / New Zealand
Lives and works in Auckland

Andrew Rewald
Born 1969 in Murgon, Australia
Lives and works in Northern Rivers, Australia and Berlin, Germany

Shaheed / Witness / Kashmir
Lives and works in Srinagar, Kashmir

STARTTS
Established 1988 in Sydney, Australia

Adrian Stimson
Born 1964 in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada
Lives and works in Alberta, Canada

Anders Sunna
Born 1985 in Kieksiäisvaara, Sápmi / Sweden
Lives and works in Jokkmokk, Sápmi / Sweden

Suohpanterror
Founded in 2012 in Sameland, Scandinavia

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
Born 1985 in Cardston, Canada / Kainai First Nation / Niitsitapi / Blackfoot Confederacy
Lives and works in New York City, United States; Vancouver, Canada / Kainai First Nation; and throughout Sápmi

Latai Taumoepeau
Born 1972 in Gadigal Ngurra / Sydney, Australia
Lives and works in Gadigal Ngurra / Sydney, Australia

Tennant Creek Brio
Formed 2016
Lives and works in Tennant Creek, Australia

Warwick Thornton
Born 1970 in Alice Springs, Australia
Live and works in Alice Springs

Gina Athena Ulysse
Born 1966 in Pétion-Ville, Haiti
Lives and works in Connecticut, United States

Ahmed Umar
Born 1988, Fatabarno, Sudan
Lives and works Oslo

Unbound Collective
Established 2014 in Kaurna
Yarta, Adelaide, Australia

Kunmanara Mumu Mike Williams
Born 1952 in Inturtjanu (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands), Australia
Died 2019 in Alice Springs, Australia
Pitjantjatjara

Pedro Wonaeamirri
Born 1974 in Melville Island, Australia
Lives and works Melville Island

www.biennaleofsydney.art
 

Tags: Tony Albert, María Thereza Alves, Lhola Amira, Brook Andrew, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Sammy Baloji, Huma Bhabha, Anna Boghiguian, Mohamed Bourouissa, Tania Bruguera, Nicholas Galanin, Isabelle Graw, Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Arthur Jafa, Ibrahim Mahama, Teresa Margolles, Misheck Masamvu, John Miller, Zanele Muholi, Paulo Nazareth, Manuel Ocampo, Erkan Özgen, Laure Prouvost