24th Biennale of Sydney opens across seven venues including recently restored White Bay Power Station

Major international art festival - the 24th Biennale of Sydney, titled ‘Ten Thousand Suns’ - opens to the public this weekend and will be presented across seven Sydney venues.

The art festival will include over 400 artworks by 96 artists and collectives, alongside a dynamic public program, and will be presented from 9th March to 10th June 2024 at venues including Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artspace, Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney Opera House, UNSW Galleries and at the recently restored White Bay Power Station, which opens its doors to the public for the first time in over 100 years.

Barbara Moore, Chief Executive Biennale of Sydney enthused "we’re delighted to throw open the doors to the 24th Biennale of Sydney this week and invite everyone to come and experience the incredible contemporary art. Entry to the exhibition is free, and all are welcome, inviting you to immerse yourself in the boundless creativity that transcends borders. This Biennale promises not only the most dynamic contemporary art from around the globe, but also a rich tapestry of music, food, talks, tours, and performances. The Biennale of Sydney awaits, ready to ignite your senses and kindle the spirit of artistic exploration."

With the artistic direction led by Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero, the 24th Biennale of Sydney proposes celebration as both a method and a source of joy, inspired by legacies of collective resistance and coming together to thrive in the face of injustice. With an exhibition of contemporary art at its core, the event draws from multiple histories, voices and perspectives.

Audiences can experience dynamic artworks, large-scale installations and site-specific projects by international artists such as Frank Bowling, Andrew Thomas Huang, Adebunmi Gbadebo, Pacific Sisters, Trevor Yeung, Sana Shahmuradova Tanska, Maru Yacco and Anne Samat, alongside Australian artists including Gordon Hookey, Tracey Moffatt & Gary Hillberg, Serwah Attafuah, William Yang, VNS Matrix, Kirtika Kain, Joel Sherwood Spring and Juan Davila.   

As a Visionary Partner, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has worked with the Biennale of Sydney to commission 14 First Nations artists, including (but not exclusively) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to create new work for the edition. These artists include Mangala Bai Maravi, Doreen Chapman, Megan Cope, Cristina Flores Pescorán, Freddy Mamani, Gail Mabo, Dylan Mooney, Orquídeas Barrileteras, John Pule, Eric-Paul Riege, Darrell Sibosado, Kaylene Whiskey, Yangamini, and Nikau Hindin in collaboration with Ebonie Fifita-Laufilitoga-Maka, Hina Puamohala Kneubuhl, Hinatea Colombani, Kesaia Biuvanua and Rongomai Grbric-Hoskins. They have worked closely with the inaugural Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain First Nations Curatorial Fellow Tony Albert to realise their artworks. This is part of the ongoing partnership between the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain and the Biennale of Sydney, which also includes a creative collaboration with the Sydney Opera House for the recently launched Badu Gili: Celestial.  

Artistic Directors Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero shared “Ten Thousand Suns departs from an acknowledgement of a multiplicity of perspectives, cosmologies, and ways of life that have always woven together the world under the sun. A multiplicity of suns conveys ambiguous images. It evokes a scorching world, both in several cosmological visions and very much in our moment of climate emergency. But it also conveys the joy of cultural multiplicities affirmed, of First Nations understandings of the cosmos brought to the fore, and of carnivals as forms of resistance in contexts that have surpassed colonial oppression.   

“The 24th Biennale of Sydney works with these different layers of meaning, acknowledging the deep ecological crises derived from colonial and capitalist exploitation while refusing to concede to an apocalyptic vision of the future. The 24th Biennale of Sydney proposes instead solar and radiant forms of resistance that affirm collective possibilities around a future that is not only possible, but necessary to be lived in joy and plenitude.”  

A dynamic public program will be presented alongside the artworks, kicking off with the opening night concert Lights On at White Bay Power Station on 8th March 2024. During opening weekend, free performances and art activations will take place, including Spotlight Artist Talks where artists present alongside their works, as well as performances by exhibiting artists including Eric-Paul Riege and Cristina Flores Pescorán.

Throughout the three-month exhibition there will be daily art tours, plus dedicated student workshops, three family days curated by disability arts organisations and practitioners, and regular Wednesday evening contemporary music nights curated by Phoenix Central Park that are ticketed through a ballot system. Other program highlights include a new commission by performance artist Tommy Misa titled Working Class Clown inspired by the Samoan political satire tradition of Fale Aitu and the iconoclastic drag scene of Sydney’s yesteryear, as well as the return of the hugely popular cult performance night Queer PowerPoint.

For further information on artist and venues participating in the Biennale of Sydney, please visit biennaleofsydney.art. 

Image top: Biennale of Sydney 2024 media launch at White Bay Power Station. Credit: Daniel Boud; Image above: Installation view, Ten Thousand Suns, 24th Biennale of Sydney 2024, Art Gallery of New South Wales, featuring art by Pacific Sisters (foreground) and Robert Gabris (wall) photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Christopher Snee.