The 24th Biennale of Sydney works across time periods, beyond the borders separating cultural practices rooted in different genealogies, and from all continents. The exhibition owes a profound debt to the rich heritage of what is known today as Australia, especially to the struggles and practices in which First Nations communities and migrants have faced and played key roles. This edition revisits legacies of collective resistance, strength, and exuberance, embracing a more hopeful and joyful outlook, while celebrating the exhibition as a carnival of rays and radiance, aptly titled ‘Ten Thousand Suns’.
The singular life-giving body that is the sun, like the world it shines light upon, has been known under thousands of different words in as many languages. Each name carries a different cultural viewpoint, and many do not rely on a vision of a single sun. The image of ‘ten thousand suns’ evokes a scorching world, both in cosmological visions and in our present moment of climate emergency, and of a world ablaze.
Artists
Agnieszka Kurant
Agnieszka Polska
Bonita Ely
Candice Lin
Christopher Pease
Dhopiya Yunupiŋu
Doreen Chapman
Elyas Alavi with Hussein Shirzard; Jim Hinton; John Hinton; and Alibaba Awrang
Idas Losin
Joel Sherwood Spring
Júlia Côta and Prazeres Côta
Köken Ergun
Kubra Khademi
Leila el Rayes
Mauroof Jameel & Hamsha Hussain
Megan Cope
Nikau Hindin
Simon Soon
Udeido Collective
Wendy Hubert
William Yang
Yangamini
Artistic Directors:
Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain First Nations Curatorial Fellow:
Tony Albert
Curatorial Advisor:
Vivian Ziherl
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UNSW Galleries is one of several venues. For further information on the 24th Biennale of Sydney, visit their website.
