The public program for ‘You Imagine What You Desire’ will include artists Tacita Dean, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Nathan Coley, Hubert Czerepok, Douglas Gordon, Callum Morton and John Stezaker, among others. Additionally, the public program features numerous visiting curators and academics, including Professor Russell Ferguson, Agnieszka Pindera, Stephanie Rosenthal and Professor Semir Zeki.
Underpinned by a schedule of talks, tours and film screenings, major events, performances and forums for ‘You Imagine What You Desire’ will take place across the 12-week period, with extensive opening, middle and end programs held at various venues and outdoor spaces in Sydney.
Here’s just a taste of what’s in store:
Opening Weeks
There will be special opportunities to witness artist performances by Eglė Budvytytė, Hubert Czerepok, Sara van der Heide and Tori Wrånes, and performance works by Yingmei Duan, Bianca Hester and Mel O’Callaghan, which will also take place at other times throughout the exhibition.
An Artist One-on-One Program will be held on 20–21 March, in which members of the public will be given the opportunity to connect individually with 19th Biennale artists such as Søren Thilo Funder, Mikhail Karikis, Ann Lislegaard, Mathias Poledna, Randi & Katrine and Yhonnie Scarce. Audiences are invited to express their interest through the Biennale website, with participants selected via a ballot system and paired randomly with participating artists.
During the opening weekend (22–23 March), Artistic Director Juliana Engberg will lead a series of In Conversation talks with Biennale artists: John Stezaker and Callum Morton at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia; Broersen & Lukács and Gabriel Lester at Carriageworks; and Bindi Cole and Nathan Coley at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Tuesday 25 March, Carriageworks will host 19th Biennale artists Bodil Furu, Siri Hermansen and Susan Norrie for Where Angels Fear to Tread, a panel discussion focusing on artists who embed themselves into communities to produce longer, documentary-style films.
Middle Program:
The Biennale’s Middle Program will take place from 30 April – 4 May, marked by the unveiling of the inaugural City of Sydney legacy artwork, a major new commission created especially for Sydney by renowned artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller.
From 1–4 May, the Biennale of Sydney and Carriageworks will present the world premiere of a commissioned work by celebrated artist Tacita Dean. Furthering Dean’s exploration of the relationship between the aural and the visual, Event for a stage (2014) will undoubtedly be a Biennale highlight.
End Program:
Joining forces with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Female Voices of VOX (Sydney Philharmonia Choirs), the Biennale will present Henrik Håkansson’s epic THE END (2011) at historic Pier 2/3 in Walsh Bay. Bringing together cinema and sound, this powerful work of life, death, tragedy and comedy is a climactic event to mark the final days of ‘You Imagine What You Desire’.
19th Biennale of Sydney
The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Carriageworks, Cockatoo Island, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Artspace
21 March to 9 June, 2014
Images:
19th Biennale of Sydney promo
Søren Thilo Funder, The Cosmonaut (I don’t see any God up here), 2013 (video still), HD video, 5:30 mins.
Courtesy the artist
Gabriel Lester, Melancholia in Arcadia, 2011 (detail), lace curtains, textile hardener, dimensions variable. Installation view (2011) of ‘I am Not a Studio Artist’ at SALT Beyoğlu, Istanbul.
Courtesy the artist; LEO XU PROJECTS, Shanghai; and Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam.
Photograph: Gabriel Lester
Henrik Håkansson, THE END, 2011 (film still), 35mm film, 12:40 mins.
Courtesy the artist and The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow
Augustin Rebetez and Noé Cauderay, Untitled, 2013, photograph, dimensions variable.
Courtesy the artists. Copyright © the artists
