18 June – 7 September 2008

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Artistic Director, has announced Revolutions - Forms That Turn as the exhibition concept for the 2008 Biennale of Sydney.

The Biennale of Sydney has showcased contemporary art from Australia and around the world since 1973 and is one of the largest and most exciting contemporary visual arts events. The 16th Biennale of Sydney will run from 18 June to 7 September 2008 and will be held at venues and sites throughout Sydney, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

REVOLUTIONS – FORMS THAT TURN

Ms Christov-Bakargiev said today: ‘I imagine the 16th Biennale of Sydney as a constellation of historical and contemporary works of art that celebrate and explore revolving, rotating, mirroring, repeating, reversing, turning upside down or inside out, and changing perspectives – both in art and life. Through installations, performances, films, texts, an evolving online venue, conversations and other events, Revolutions – Forms That Turn articulates the agency embedded in forms that express our desire for change. Such literal and formal devices will be charted for their broader aesthetic, psychological, radical and political perspectives. Piero Manzoni’s Socle du Monde (Base of the World, 1961) lies more or less on the opposite side of the world from Sydney. What happens if we turn it upside-down?’

Christov-Barkargiev continued: ‘The “space” explored by this exhibition is the gap between the first part of the title – revolutions – which suggests a directly political and content-based exhibition, and the subsequent phrase – forms that turn – which alternatively suggests the autonomy and isolation of the art object, spinning on its own and detached from daily life, or the energy and potential latent in forms themselves (turns that form). The first term collapses (is over-turned) into the second and within that gap perspective suddenly shifts, as when a joke is understood – causing unexpected laughter, a release of tension and a collapse into the comic dimension of radical and absolute presence. It is a space of rotation, confusion, revolt, insubordination, anarchy and disruption of order, a space of revolution.’

Christov-Bakargiev also announced: ‘For the 2008 Biennale of Sydney, I am corresponding with a number of curatorial comrades, including Gridthiya Gaweewong, Massimiliano Gioni, Raimundas Malasauskas, Jessica Morgan, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Russell Storer.’

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev is Artistic Director of the 2008 Biennale of Sydney and has been Chief Curator of Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Turin, Italy, since 2002. Christov-Bakargiev has written extensively on Italian and international art and is interested in the relationship between historical avant-gardes and contemporary art. Previously Senior Curator at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre, an affiliate of The Museum of Modern Art, she is currently based in Turin, Sydney and New York.

ANNOUNCING ART COMPASS 2008

Please join us for a presentation in Venice on Friday, 8 June 2007, 7.00–7.30pm at the Teatro Piccolo (near the entrance to the Arsenale). The concepts for the 2008 Yokohama Triennale, 2008 Biennale of Sydney and 2008 Shanghai Biennale will be presented at the Teatro Piccolo. Art Compass 2008 – a collaboration between the Yokohama Triennale, Biennale of Sydney and Shanghai, Singapore and Gwangju Biennales – will also be announced.

Marah Braye, Chief Executive Officer of the Biennale of Sydney commented: ‘Art Compass 2008 is a wonderful initiative for the Asia-Pacific region, which will provide visitors with an exceptional opportunity to experience five extraordinary and innovative contemporary art events in 2008. These exhibitions will collaborate for the first time to offer a journey through the Asian region where art lovers and visitors can immerse themselves in contemporary art and engage with the critical issues of our time. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev’s 2008 Biennale of Sydney, the first of these events, is an ideal launching point for what we believe will provide one of the most comprehensive surveys of the art of today.’

FURTHER INFORMATION

To arrange images and interviews, please contact Tehmi Sukhla, Marketing Coordinator, Biennale of Sydney on +61 2 9368 1411 or Esta dirección de correo electrónico está protegida contra los robots de spam, necesita tener Javascript activado para poder verla

Revolutions – Forms That Turn
18 June – 7 September 2008