Biennale of Sydney 2020
Nirin
14 Mar - 08 Jun 2020
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
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