The latest iteration of the Biennale of Sydney presents the work of 70 artists and artist collectives from Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, South America and Europe at seven venues across the city: the Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW), Artspace, Carriageworks, Cockatoo Island, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), Sydney Opera House and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art until 11 June 2018. The works form personal responses to the curatorial theme ‘SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement’, which focuses on multi-layered perspectives of the world and its histories that simultaneously interact and create balance.
Marco Fusinato, Constellations, 2015, installation view (2015), Institute of Contemporary Art, Singapore, baseball bat, chain, purpose-built wall with internal PA system at 120+ decibels, 300 x 4000 x 150cm. Photograph: Olivia Kwok. Courtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne
Among the highlights are Ai Weiwei’s Crystal Ball (2017) at Artspace, examining the complex future of our world in the face of the current global humanitarian crisis; Marco Fusinato’s Constellations (2015/2018) at Carriageworks inviting visitors to hit a home run by striking a baseball bat against a white wall as microphones transmit 120db through the gallery space – intensifying the impact and emotion; Tom Nicholson’s addition to Untitled wall drawing (2009-2018) – a matrix of painstakingly handwritten words narrating a geopolitical history of the 20th century at the MCA; Oliver Beer’s ongoing ‘Resonance Project’ at Sydney Opera House exploring the complex relationship between sound and space; and Akira Takayama’s ‘Our Songs – Sydney Kabuki Project’ at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art – a recording of volunteers aged 5-94 years who expressed their stories through song and prose in different languages.
Public programs include daily guided-tours, artist and curator-led talks, lectures, workshops, performances, panels and screenings as well as after-hours events.
