Saturday 11 August 2012

18th Biennale of Sydney

The Biennale of Sydney is held every two years and runs for 3 months. 
It's a comtemporary visual arts celebration using various venues around Sydney. 
All the events are free. 

Even though Cockatoo Island, one of the main venues, is just across the water from my front porch, I have yet to attend any Biennale event.
Last month I finally went across to Cockatoo Island to see what all the fuss has been about.



Cockatoo Island is an old ship building yard in the middle of Sydney Harbour. It is now Heritage listed and home to many events including festivals, concerts, conferences and exhibitions.

It also has camping sites, cafes and bars and a regular ferry service to make it easy to get to and from.

Today I have posted a few of my favourite pics from this years Biennale.

* Philip Beesley's Hylozoic series (above) was an interactive exhibition with touch sensors, LED lights and aromatherapy. The crowds were regulated so that you had time and space to enjoy the sensory experience of the exhibition.


* Fujiko Nakaya's Living Chasm (above) creates temporary fog installations using pure water fog.

* Ed Pien and Tanya Tagaq's Source (below) consisted of a spiral shaped paper and rope maze. The centre piece had several cut out tunnels to peep through...I managed to get a my lens into one to get the shot below.



The old cranes and sheds on Cockatoo Island are works of art on their own. We often hear this one creaking and groaning in the wind. You can almost spy our house through the legs of the crane!




* Tiffany Singh's windchime installation (below) in the old Coal Room was proabaly my favourite piece though.

It was so peaceful and calming.

To enter the exhibition, you had to duck down and crouch through the old coal chute.

Inside was a haven - away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds as not everyone realised there was something special going on inside.

A gentle breeze lazily moved the bamboo chimes and whichever way you looked, the lines of chimes made pleasing lines against the blue sky and clouds.


Snapshot Saturday is a meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.
The rules are simple:
To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

20 comments:

  1. Wow, I wish I lived somewhere that did amazing events like these.. it looks like a fabulous place to visit and adore the art! All the photos are lovely.. I especially adore the last one- incredible.

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  2. I love that third picture of the paper maze- such a cool effect. I haven't been to a biennale for ages (since the 80s or 90s when they parked a tractor outside the gallery). This years seems to have had much better publicity than recent years. I'd love to get to see this this year, but I'm not sure I will have the chance.

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    1. There's a free ferry from Circular Quay to Cockatoo Island for the entire 3 months of Biennale. On a beautiful, sunny winter's day - there's is really nothing better than being on Sydney Harbour.

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    2. That's very true of course, although I don't know that I'd limit it just to winter...

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  3. Wow, great pictures -- VERY cool :-) That event was a great photo opportunity!

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  4. These are some interesting shots -- my all those wind chimes.

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  5. Wow. I would love to visit. Thanks for taking me there. Here's Mine

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  6. This look fabulous. Maybe I'll add Sydney to my bucket list especially during Biennale. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Fabulous! I especially enjoyed that old crane...and the wind chimes. I can almost hear them....thanks for sharing.

    Here's MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT POST

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  8. Great shots - especially the chimes!

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  9. What great photos! I loved the bamboo chimes!

    Here is my Saturday Snapshot post!

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  10. Wow! Very nice! I would love to see this in person.

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  11. I love the windchimes pictures. I have always wanted a porch-ful of chimes. Heaven!!!!

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  12. What a creative place! The exhibits looks like they would be a lot of fun to visit - especially the interactive ones. And I am trying to imagine what all of those chimes sounded like.

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  13. That's an awesome place! I'm glad that you finally made it there!

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  14. Thanks for sharing♫♪ What wonderful experiences!

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  15. These are just such terrific shots. I have plans to live in Australia in my next life.

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  16. I love wind chimes. That had to sound wonderful.

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  17. What great pictures, and what an amazing experience the Biennale must be. Been away from a week, so I'm catching up. My Saturday Snapshot is at http://goo.gl/a62PX

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