18th Biennale of Sydney Catalogue: All Our Relations

The 18th Biennale of Sydney, all our relations, was the first to be developed by a curatorial duo, Artistic Directors Catherine de Zegher and Gerald McMaster. De Zegher and McMaster proposed that an exhibition that could function as a collaboration between curators, artists and audience; a ‘collective composition’ that championed values of connectivity, conversation and compassion as models for being in the world. To this end, one of the criteria for participation was an interest in conversation and collaboration. Artists were also invited to consider the audience’s experience over time. Art became a way of activating a ‘relational field’ in which things and people could interact and create meaning together. The result was a Biennale rich with experiential and participatory artworks, performances and collaborations, such as the ephemeral installation The River, 2012, produced by Polish-born German artist Monika Grzymala and Euraba Artists and Papermakers from north-west New South Wales, one of ten collaboratively produced works. On Cockatoo Island, under the evocative subtitle ‘Stories, Senses and Spheres’, large-scale sculptures, immersive installations and sound works were featured, with artists such as Philip Beesley, Tiffany Singh, Imran Qureshi and Lyndal Jones creating work especially for the site. Carriageworks was a presenting partner for the first time, hosting the Australian premieres of En Atendant and Cesena by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s dance ensemble Rosas, as well as an installation by Ann Veronica Janssens.