The Art Gallery of South Australia has announced José Da Silva as curator of the 2024 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.
Appointed following a national callout, Da Silva brings more than twenty years of curatorial experience in Australian art museums including his current role as Director of UNSW Galleries and former roles at the Australian Cinémathèque and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.
“As the country’s longest standing survey of contemporary Australian art, the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art has continually broadened audiences, gained national and international attention and provided a dynamic platform for artists during its 30-year history,” said Art Gallery of South Australia Director Rhana Devenport ONZM.
“We welcome José Da Silva to the role of curator of the 2024 Adelaide Biennial, whose wealth of experience and nuanced curatorial practice promises to deliver a captivating exhibition,” said Devenport.
“I’m thrilled for this opportunity to share my vision for the Adelaide Biennial and feel energised by all the possibilities ahead, especially the opportunity to learn from Elders, artists, thinkers, and community figures across Australia,” said José Da Silva.
“Biennials are projects that allow us to create a meaningful interface for culture within a city. I’m eager to work with the AGSA team to develop something extraordinary for the people of South Australia and visitors looking for something that allows them to see culture and society differently,” said Da Silva.
José Da Silva has over twenty years of curatorial experience in Australian art museums. He is the Director of UNSW Galleries, where he has developed a dynamic program of contemporary Australian art and design since 2018. Previously he led the Australian Cinémathèque – an international market leader for the presentation of moving image and media art.
Between 2006 and 2018, Da Silva contributed to an ambitious program of exhibitions, commissions, acquisitions and projects at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, including a key role in the curatoriums for five editions of the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art.
Da Silva’s appointment follows the closure in June of the 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free/State, curated by Sebastian Goldspink. Free/State assembled twenty-five leading Australian artists with works that revealed alternative ways of viewing the world and explored the challenges of an era of global upheaval.
The Adelaide Biennial has historically been a vehicle through which AGSA grows its holdings of contemporary art and, to date, nine works of art from the 2022 Adelaide Biennial have been acquired for the AGSA collection.
Since 1990, conceived as part of the Adelaide Festival, the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art has created career-defining opportunities for close to 500 artists, and been experienced by more than 1.3 million visitors.
The 2024 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art will be presented from 1 March to 2 June as part of the 2024 Adelaide Festival. For more information, visit: www.agsa.sa.gov.au for details.
Image: José Da Silva – photo by Jacquie Manning