The Biennale of Sydney has announced the artists, locations, and initial programming for its 24th edition, titled Ten Thousand Suns, being presented free to the public from 9 March to 10 June 2024.
A major international art festival and the largest contemporary art event of its kind in Australia, the 24th Biennale of Sydney will be presented at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artspace, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and for the first time at Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, UNSW Galleries and at the iconic and recently restored White Bay Power Station.
With the artistic direction led by Cosmin Costinas and Inti Guerrero, the 24th Biennale of Sydney proposes celebration as both a method and a source of joy, inspired by legacies of collective resistance and coming together to thrive in the face of injustice.
With an exhibition of contemporary art at its core, the event draws from multiple histories, voices and perspectives, to explore connected thematic threads, from the celebration of the resurgence of First Nations technologies and knowledges, the history of Islam in Australia, to Queer resilience, and the international expression of Carnivale.
The program also explores the atomic era, a concentrated time of climate alteration through human exploitation, within the context of today’s moment of climate emergency and a refusal to concede to an apocalyptic vision of the future.
Marking the Biennale of Sydney’s 50th anniversary year, the 2024 edition challenges Western fatalistic constructions of the apocalypse and embraces a hopeful outlook around a possible future lived in joy, produced in common and shared widely.
The 2024 edition will feature 88 artists and collectives from 47 countries including Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, Ukraine, United States of America, United Kingdom, Mexico, Aotearoa New Zealand, India, and Japan. Selected artists have practices firmly rooted in diverse communities and artistic vocabularies.
Audiences will experience dynamic artworks, large-scale installations and site-specific projects by international artists such as Andrew Thomas Huang, Adebunmi Gbadebo, Pacific Sisters, Martin Wong, Frank Moore, Maru Yacco and Anne Samat, alongside Australian artists including Gordon Hookey, Tracey Moffatt, Serwah Attafuah, William Yang, VNS Matrix, Kirtika Kain, Joel Sherwood Spring and Juan Davila.
As a Visionary Partner, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has worked with the Biennale of Sydney to commission 14 First Nations artists, including (but not exclusively) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to create new work for the edition.
These artists include Mangala Bai Maravi, Doreen Chapman, Megan Cope, Cristina Flores Pescorán, Freddy Mamani, Dylan Mooney, Orquideas Barrileteras, John Pule, Eric-Paul Riege, Darrell Sibosado, Kaylene Whiskey, Yangamini, and Nikau Hindin in collaboration with Ebonie Fifita-Laufilitoga-Maka, Hina Puamohala Kneubuhl, Hinatea Colombani, Kesaia Biuvanua and Rongomai Gbric-Hoskins.
They will work closely with the inaugural Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain First Nations Curatorial Fellow Tony Albert to realise their artworks. This is part of the ongoing partnership between the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain and the Biennale of Sydney, which also includes a creative collaboration with the Sydney Opera House, with details to be announced soon.
“Ten Thousand Suns departs from an acknowledgement of a multiplicity of perspectives, cosmologies, and ways of life that have always woven together the world under the sun,” said Artistic Directors Cosmin Costinas and Inti Guerrero.
“A multiplicity of suns conveys ambiguous images. It evokes a scorching world, both in several cosmological visions and very much in our moment of climate emergency.”
“But it also conveys the joy of cultural multiplicities affirmed, of First Nations understandings of the cosmos brought to the fore, and of carnivals as forms of resistance in contexts that have surpassed colonial oppression.”
“The 24th Biennale of Sydney works with these different layers of meaning, acknowledging the deep ecological crises derived from colonial and capitalist exploitation while refusing to concede to an apocalyptic vision of the future.”
“The 24th Biennale of Sydney proposes instead solar and radiant forms of resistance that affirm collective possibilities around a future that is not only possible, but necessary to be lived in joy and plenitude,” said Costinas and Guerrero.
“As the Biennale of Sydney celebrates its 50th year, we can’t wait to come together in joyful celebration,” said Barbara Moore, Chief Executive Officer, Biennale of Sydney. “Admission is free, and we invite everyone to experience the most innovative contemporary art and ideas from around the world.
“Be inspired by the artwork and enjoy the robust program of music, food, talks, tours and performances, including our opening night event Lights On, throwing the doors of White Bay Power Station open to the public for the first time in over 100 years. This Biennale is not to be missed,” said Moore.
“Combining the old and new, in its 50th year, the Biennale of Sydney represents the oldest continuous contemporary art dialogue between the world and our own artists and audiences,” said Minister for the Arts, John Graham. “This edition takes place in the city’s newest art spaces as the White Bay Power Station opens its doors for the first time since 1983.
“Starting in March 2024 the 24th Biennale of Sydney is a three-month long free celebration of innovative contemporary art, bringing together 88 exceptional Australian and international artists.”
“The festival will introduce audiences to a range of exhibition spaces across Sydney including the Art Gallery of NSW, and the recently refurbished Artspace at The Gunnery in Woolloomooloo,” said Minister Graham.
The 24th Biennale of Sydney runs from 9 March to 10 June 2024. For more information, visit: www.biennaleofsydney.art for details.
Image: Darrell Sibosado, Ngarrgidj Morr (the proper path to follow), 2022 Powder-coated steel, LED tubes, fittings, electrical component 300 x 245 x 8 cm (each panel) Collection of The National Gallery of Australia Photographer: The National Gallery of Australia © Darrell Sibosado