Saturday 29 March 2014

19th Biennale of Sydney

You Imagine What You Desire

Biennale runs from 21 March until 9 June.

According to the brochure I picked up during the week it is "Australia's largest and most exciting contemporary visual arts festival. Held every two years across multiple venues in Sydney, the Biennale is a three month exhibition, with an accompanying program of artist talks, forums, guided tours & family days - all FREE to the public.

Under the artistic direction of Juliana Engberg, the 19th Biennale of Sydney: You Imagine What You Desire celebrates the artistic imagination as a spirited exploration of the world, seeking splendour and rapture in works that remain true to a greater, even sublime, visuality."

I began my Biennale adventure this week at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA).

My day off work this week was another grey, wet autumnal Sydney day. Our house was musty & very unappealing with several days wet washing strung up around the place! 
So I decided to escape for a couple of hours into the arms of art & culture!


Glasgow based artist Jim Lambie has filled the first floor of the MCA with his taped lines.
Titled 'Zobop' (2014) he "uses brightly coloured vinyl tape to trace and accentuate the architectural nuances of the building."

Below is one of Lambie's earlier works 'Vortex (Come Together) (2013).
"A circular sculpture that has the visual effect of being recessed into the wall of the gallery."



Pipilotti Rist from Zurich presents a video-installation Mercy Garden Retour Skin (2014) that encompasses three entire walls.
"Lush and Edenic, sexy but sinless, the hedonistic pleasure worlds...delight, revive and relax."
The floor is scattered with cushions to encourage you into a comfortable viewing position.
The day I was there, groups of high school students were also visiting. It felt a little weird to be sprawled on the floor in a darkened room watching a very sensual film with a group of uniformed giggling teenagers!

Hubert Czerepok's Madness is Like Gravity (2012) was inspired by a quote from the Joker in the Batman film The Dark Knight.


Another Glaswegian, Martin Boyce has created Last Light (2014).
"Boyce creates an environment full of mood and poetry. His objects set the gallery space in a surreal drama of stillness and anticipation."



Nine Liquid Incidents (2010-2012) by US artist Roni Horn was a room full of glass bowls "with rough edges and fire-polished surfaces, these exquisite sculptures seem to both draw in and exude energy, appearing transparent or highly reflective depending on the play of light in the space."
When I first saw them, I thought they were glass bowls filled with water thanks to the way the light shimmered across the surface.

On my way out, I was pleasantly surprised to spot another Wild Rhino.
This one is called Camo - he has a view to die for!

How did I remember so much information about these sculptures?
Like almost everything in modern life - there is now a MCA app!

This post is part of West Metro Mommy's Saturday Snapshot.

11 comments:

  1. I was hoping that you would show us the Biennale Brona! It always sounds so intriguing, I haven't been to one for decades I think. I quite like the taped flooring, but am not sure that it's worth such a huge space. I like the madness neon best.

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    1. The huge expanse of the taped floor was part of what made it so impressive...and slightly psychedelic! It was a very happy, uplifting room :-)

      I also liked how the neon sign showed up in my photos.
      The video installation was rather gorgeous and my one pic does it no justice (although I could hear my father's gruff voice in the back of my mind saying "you call this art?!")

      I can't wait to visit the Art Gallery and Cockatoo Island in the coming weeks and months to see the rest. I promise to keep you posted! If you come down for the Writers Festival in May, you might be able fit ina venue of 2?????

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  2. What an awesome art exhibition. I love all of the bright colours in the collection. You did a great job capturing all of them on "film". The Rhinos look really cool. Are they a recent installment in Sydney? I did not see them when I was there last August.

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    1. The Rhinos are dotted around Sydney and various country NSW towns to promote the plight of the rhino in the wild. They are on display until some time in April. You can click on my wild rhino link above to see the pics a took a few weeks ago as well :-)

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  3. Thanks you so much for all your photos of the art in Sydney. I will probably never get to visit, but your photos make me feel like I was there. It is just wonderful.

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  4. Impressive exhibit! And your photos really popped. Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog. Enjoy your weekend.

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  5. Very cool pics! I would love to visit there!

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  6. What a delightful exhibit! I imagine you came away filled with elation. Thank you so much for sharing the experience.
    By the way, I didn't get organized enough to participate in today's Saturday Snapshot. Maybe next weekend.

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  7. What an amazing exhibition. Love the colourful floors and vortex. My eyes are going a bit funny just looking at your photo, so I can't imagine the effect of the real thing.

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  8. Wow! A rainbow of color on those floors! It actually made me a bit dizzy and I wondered if I'd be weaving like a drunken sailor walking through that space! LOL!

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    1. I chatted to the young girl who was working there and asked how they long their shift was for this room!
      She said you get used to it and that they all like being in there because of how happy everyone is :-)

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