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.