The largest contemporary art event of its kind in Australia, the Biennale of Sydney will be open to the public from 12 March to 13 June 2022 at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Barangaroo including The Cutaway, Circular Quay, Arts and Cultural Exchange, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, National Art School in partnership with Artspace and Pier 2/3 at Walsh Bay Arts Precinct.

The 23rd Biennale of Sydney, titled rīvus, meaning ‘stream’ in Latin, features new work and commissions responding to water ecology and relationships with the natural world.

Audiences will experience large-scale immersive installations, site specific projects and living works by international participants including Kiki Smith, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, John Gerrard, Jumana Emil Abboud and Ackroyd & Harvey alongside Australian participants such as Cave Urban, Badger Bates, Clare Milledge, Julie Gough and D Harding.

The list of participants extends beyond the realm of the visual arts and includes bodies of water and their custodians around the world including Australia, Bangladesh and Ecuador.

The 2022 edition has been developed and realised by a Curatorium comprised of Artistic Director and Colombian curator José Roca and co-curators Paschal Daantos Berry, Anna Davis, Hannah Donnelly and Talia Linz.

The Curatorium says: ‘rīvus is articulated around a series of conceptual wetlands situated along waterways of the Gadigal, Barramatagal and Cabrogal peoples. These imagined ecosystems are populated by artworks, experiments and research, responding to our connections, and disconnections, with water.

Rivers have been the ways of communication and the givers of life for entire communities and a growing number of jurisdictions around the world are granting rivers legal personhood rights.

As we see waterways having a voice in the courtroom, we wanted to extend this further into the public sphere with our exhibition. Many of the Biennale of Sydney participants have worked with waterways, local and international, to share their stories and raise these important conversations.

Participants will investigate the ecologies sustained by waterways worldwide. This can be seen in works like Marjetica Potrč’s collaboration with Wiradjuri Elder Uncle Ray Woods which tells the story of two rivers: the Soča in Slovenia and the Galari (Lachlan River); these works will be shown alongside Brazilian artist Caio Reisewitz mural-sized collage, which references the aquifer under the Amazon jungle. D Harding’s exploration of ancestral waterways with the local community has inspired a new carving work.

The Australian premiere of The Great Animal Orchestra, a major installation created by American soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause and United Visual Artists, will immerse audiences in the sounds of vulnerable habitats in Africa, North America, the Pacific Ocean and the Amazon River, whilst French artist Marguerite Humeau will present a new sculptural commission envisioning a world in which mass extinction has accelerated to a point of no return.’

Barbara Moore, Chief Executive Officer, Biennale of Sydney says: ‘This year’s Biennale is going to feel great to experience. The city will be vibrant with artworks and events that invite everyone to come together and connect with each other, celebrating the participants and their stories and honouring the diversity of thoughts and ideas that empower us all."

"We are thrilled to unveil these incredible works and encourage visitors to flow between the venues, to see and feel different perspectives on our connections with waterways and each other.’

Images: Supplied

Branko Miletic

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