19th Biennale of Sydney

You Imagine What You Desire

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So we met as suspicious strangers, circling our artistic territories guardedly and not letting the other one come too close. Our stage has become the middle ground; our contested terrain where contingency and circumstance have made us trespass unprotected and in full view of the watching flanks of our own and each other’s respective disciplines.

Event For A Stage, Tacita Dean

The 40th anniversary of the Biennale of Sydney has, indeed, become a watershed, although not in the way that the event launch, at the Sydney Opera House on 30 October 2013, may have envisaged. This special briefing drew attention to the conjunction between the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Opera House, a month prior to the launch of the first Biennale of Sydney, also in 1973. While this international art exhibition was conceived by Franco Belgiorno-Nettis (then head of Transfield) to explore, ‘The promise of global dialogue through art’,¹the 19th Biennale event was pushed, by nine of the ninety-three invited artists, to accept the withdrawal of founding sponsor Transfield.² This ultimately successful action kicked off a debate about arts funding in Australia that in its tenor and tone (on both sides of the issue), was at odds with the spirit of dialogue—global or local. The withdrawal of Transfield two weeks prior to the 21 March opening meant that the 19th Biennale of Sydney opened with seven of the nine protesting artists exhibiting.³Questions remain about the significant Transfield contribution to the 2014 exhibition and it was left, rather like Dean’s contested terrain, in an uneasy space—with a ceasefire negotiated for the event. It seems clear that the debate is not over... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

Pipilotti Rist, Mercy Garden Retour Skin, 2014. Six-channel HD video installation, sound, carpet, pillows. Installation view of the 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Luhring Augustine. Music Heinz Rohrer. Atelier Rist Project Team Judith Lava, Antshi von Moos, Tamara Voser. Created for the 19th Biennale of Sydney and made possible through the generous support of Andrew Cameron Family Foundation. Photograph Ben Symons.

Tori Wrånes, Stone and Singer, 2014. Details, performance, voice and sculpture. Performance for the 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014) at Cockatoo Island. Created for the 19th Biennale of Sydney. This project was made possible through the generous support of SCANLAN THEODORE. Courtesy the artist. Photograph Sebastian Kriete.