The Biennale of Sydney is Australia's largest festival of contemporary art. It runs for three months, every two years, showcasing some of Australia's hottest talent with family events, guided tours and artist talks. Best of all, it's free to the public. A non-profit organisation, the Biennale has been praised for the encouragement and education of cultural change in Australia since its first exhibition in 1973. This year's event will mark its 39th anniversary with more visitors expected than any other year, and has quadrupled in size in the last decade.
Previous exhibitions have attracted many art lovers by the hundreds of thousands each year, with 2010 being the largest exhibition the organisation has ever staged in its 38-year history. This year the event begins in June, marking the Biennale's 18th year. Guests can expect to see the likes of Dubai born Hassan Sharif, whose 1970s cartoons were highly publicised in the Akhbar Dubai newspaper in the United Arab Emirates. His work for Biennale this year will include a theme of 'weaving', he suggests this industrial mode of artwork reflects his history drawing caricatures that reflected the social and political condition in his country for the majority of his career. Sharif will be taking part in not only solo exhibition but also selected group exhibitions at this year's event.
Also hot on the programme is 36-year old Jin Shi from Hangzhou, China. Inspired by the Beijing Night Markets, his 2005 exhibition included a mini replica of a migrant worker's living space. No stranger to poverty himself, Jin's work acknowledges the lives of thousands of rural workers in China who have moved to the big city in search of fortune. Many of these have reportedly found very little financial wellbeing in a China that could be said to be quite crowded and populated.
Many consider the festival to be a must-attend event, and will be visiting at least one of the many venues playing host to exhibitions. Venues include the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which enjoys over 1 million visitors every year, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Cockatoo Island, home to many of Australia's former prisons, which are now UNESO Heritage sites.
According to a recently conducted reward survey, one third of Australians, out of a base of 11, 436 polled, couldn’t say what their favourite type of contemporary art was. However, of those Australians who gave an answer, most ranked graffiti art as their favourite contemporary art form. Many consider contemporary art to be a little confusing, however 8,000 survey participants were reported to say that they would be attending this year's festival.
Fiona Roy writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
