Sydney, Australia: At a briefing today in Little Bay, NSW, on the land of the Bidjigal and Gadigal Clans, the Biennale of Sydney announced the full list of artists, creatives and collectives who will be participating in the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020), titled NIRIN.

Under the artistic direction of Brook Andrew, the exhibition will include artworks across six sites: Art Gallery of NSW, Artspace, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Cockatoo Island, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and the National Art School.

The 22nd Biennale of Sydney is artist- and First Nations-led, presenting an expansive exhibition of contemporary art that connects local communities and global networks.

‘The urgent states of our contemporary lives are laden with unresolved past anxieties and hidden layers of the supernatural,’ said Brook Andrew. ‘NIRIN is about to expose this, demonstrating that artists and creatives have the power to resolve, heal, dismember and imagine futures of transformation for re-setting the world. Sovereignty is at the centre of these actions. I hope that NIRIN (edge) gathers life forces of integrity to push through often impenetrable noise.’

For the first time, artists from Nepal, Georgia, Afghanistan, Sudan and Ecuador will participate in the Biennale of Sydney.

A number of the artists, creatives and collectives announced today were in attendance at the briefing: Tony Albert, Joël Andrianomearisoa, BE., Karla Dickens, FUNPARK Coalition, Lucas Ihlein and Kim Williams, Kylie Kwong, Parramatta Female Factory, Andrew Rewald, Justin Shoulder (Club Ate), STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors), Tennant Creek Brio and Luke Willis Thompson.

The briefing also included performances by MzRizk, Mahdia Rahman from Bankstown Poetry Slam, Nardean from 4ESydney HipHop Festival and Brazilian performance artist Jota Mombaça.

The Biennale also announced an extensive program called NIRIN WIR spanning from the Blue Mountains to La Perouse.

NIRIN, meaning edge, and WIR, meaning sky, is a phrase from Brook Andrew’s mother’s Nation, the Wiradjuri people of central western New South Wales. The program focuses on Sydney as an expansive, global city comprised of vibrant, complex villages, and is a major partnership with the Powerhouse Museum, and a series of activations and creative partnerships with Blacktown Native Institution, Parramatta Female Factory, Bankstown Poetry Slam, 4ESydney HipHop Festival, City of Sydney Libraries, Randwick City Council, tertiary institutions around the country, grassroots organisations and more.

Grounded in connecting communities, the Biennale is also launching a learning program called OUR PATH, uniting an international network of artists and thinkers with Australian children and young people. The program offers a global context to local concerns, celebrating the valuable wisdom that exists in all communities.

‘Each visit to NIRIN will be a new and different experience,’ said Barbara Moore, Chief Executive Officer, Biennale of Sydney. ‘In the year of the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s landing, art is an essential catalyst for change. Through art, conversations and collaborative interventions, the Biennale will bring together people from across the city, state, country and the world in a safe place to discuss issues that matter.’

Participants in the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020) are:

• Adrift LabCanada/Australia/United Kingdom
• Tony AlbertAustralia
• Charlotte AllinghamAustralia
• Maria Thereza AlvesBrazil/Germany/Italy
• Lhola Amira South Africa
• Joël Andrianomearisoa Madagascar/France
• ArTree NepalNepal
• Tarek Atoui Lebanon/France
• Sammy BalojiDemocratic Republic of Congo/Belgium
• Denilson BaniwaBrazil
• Bankstown Poetry SlamAustralia
• BE.Australia
• Namila Benson Papua New Guinea
• Sissel M BerghNorway
• Huma Bhabha Pakistan/USA
• Blacktown Native InstitutionDharug Nation (Australia)
• Karim BleusHaiti
• Anna Boghiguian Egypt/Canada
• Mohamed Bourouissa Algeria/France
• Breaking Bread South Africa
• Eric Bridgeman and Haus Yuriyal Papua New Guinea/Australia
• Tania BrugueraCuba
• Vajiko ChachkhianiGeorgia/Germany
• Club Ate: Justin Shoulder and Bhenji RaAustralia
• Colectivo AylluArgentina/Chile/Ecuador/Spain/Venezuela
• Victoria Santa Cruz (1922-2014)Peru
• Randy Lee CutlerCanada
• Jose DávilaMexico
• Demian DinéYazhi ́ and R.I.S.E.: Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment USA
• Karla Dickens Australia
• Léuli Eshrãghi Australia
• André EugèneHaiti
• FAFSWAG New Zealand
• Jes Fan Canada/USA/China
• First Dog on the Moon Australia
• Brian Fuata Australia
• FUNPARK CoalitionAustralia
• Nicholas GalaninUSA
• Stuart Geddes and Trent WalterAustralia
• Fátima Rodrigo Gonzales Peru
• Josep Grau-Garriga (1929-2011)Spain/France
• Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian Iran/United Arab Emirates
• Lawrence Abu HamdanJordan/Lebanon
• Aziz HazaraAfghanistan
• Lily HibberdAustralia/France
• Lucas Ihlein and Kim WilliamsAustralia
• Iltja Ntjarra / Namatjira School of Art Australia
• Arthur Jafa USA
• Hannah Catherine JonesUnited Kingdom
• Aslaug Magdalena Juliussen Norway
• Emily KarakaNew Zealand
• Bronwyn KatzSouth Africa
• Kylie Kwong Australia
• Tarek LakhrissiFrance
• Barbara McGrady Australia
• Ibrahim MahamaGhana
• Stone Kulimoe'anga MakaTonga/New Zealand
• Noŋgirrŋa MarawiliDarrpirra/Yirrkala (Australia)
• Teresa MargollesMexico/Spain
• Misheck MasamvuZimbabwe
• Katarina Matiasek Austria
• Mayunkiki Japan
• John Miller and Elisapeta Heta New Zealand
• Jota Mombaça Brazil
• Mostaff Muchawaya Zimbabwe
• Prof Sir Zanele Muholi South Africa
• The Mulka ProjectYirrkala (Australia)
• MzRizk Australia
• Elicura Chihuailaf Nahuelpán Chile
• Paulo NazarethBrazil
• S.J NormanAustralia/Germany
• Musa N Nxumalo South Africa
• Manuel Ocampo Philippines
• Erkan ÖzgenTurkey
• Parramatta Female Factory & PYT Fairfield Australia
• Taqralik PartridgeNorway/Canada
• Rosana Paulino Brazil
• Laure ProuvostFrance/Belgium/United Kingdom
• Public Redress System Australia
• Reading OceaniaAustralia
• Lisa ReihanaNew Zealand
• Andrew RewaldAustralia/Germany
• Shaheed / Witness / Kashmir(India/Kashmir)
• STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma
• Survivors) Australia
• Adrian Stimson Canada/Siksika Nation (Canada)
• Anders SunnaSweden
• SuohpanterrorSápmi(Finland/Sweden/Norway)
• Elle-Máijá TailfeathersKainai First Nation (Canada)/Sápmi (Norway)
• Latai TaumoepeauAustralia
• Tennant Creek Brio Australia
• Warwick ThorntonAustralia
• Kalisolaite ‘UhilaTonga/New Zealand
• Gina Athena UlysseHaiti/USA
• Ahmed Umar Sudan/Norway
• Unbound Collective Australia
• Kunmanara Williams (1952-2019)Pitjantjatjara (Australia)
• Luke Willis ThompsonNew Zealand/Fiji/United Kingdom
• Pedro WonaeamirriMelville Island/Andranangruwu, Paluwiyanga (Australia) Tribe: Milipurrulla, White Cockatoo. Dance: Jilarti, Brolga.

Exhibition venues for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020) are:

• Art Gallery of New South WalesSydney NSW
• Artspace Woolloomooloo NSW
• Campbelltown Arts CentreCampbelltown NSW
• Cockatoo IslandSydney Harbour NSW
• Museum of Contemporary Art AustraliaThe Rocks NSW
• National Art School Darlinghurst NSW

NIRIN WIR highlights include:

• Site activations, at the Powerhouse Museum and Sydney Observatory centred on NIRIN YARNthat is a demonstrative keynote between Dion Beasley, an Alywarr artist with disabilities who communicates through a truncated form of Auslan and prolific drawing, and writer Johanna Bell.
• A series of performances in collaboration with two iconoclastic grassroots organisations from Bankstown: 4ESydney HipHop Festival and Bankstown Poetry Slam.
• A partnership with PYT Fairfield and Parramatta Female Factory Precinct that celebrates and memorialises the experiences and survival of “Parragirls” past and present. The program acknowledges the significant work of Bonney Djuric in transforming the Parramatta Female Factory into an internationally recognized Site of Conscience (United Nations).

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Note: Countries where artists were born and are currently based are provided as a reflection of the many places Biennale participants come from. These places are not always wholly reflective of peoples’ place-based identifications.

The 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020): NIRIN will be open – free to the public – from 14 March – 8 June 2020.

Register for the Media Preview(10 March 2020) at biennaleofsydney.art/nirin-media-preview

Register for the Vernissage (11–13 March 2020) at biennaleofsydney.art/nirin-vernissage

Register interest in the learning program OUR PATHat biennaleofsydney.art/register-our-path