Bravo Biennale of Sydney. In the last couple of years the organisation, under the leadership of Barbara Moore, has continued its push to transform the festival’s environmental choices.
First, the Biennale appointed Jose Roca as the 2022 artistic director. His curatorial vision connects with many of the ideas we developed with the Biennale staff members during our time as “artistic consultants” on the NIRIN 2020 Biennale of Sydney. You can read more about Jose and his approach here.
Second, the Biennale followed up on some of the initiatives it began in a small way in 2020, partnering with Cicada Innovations to run the New and Sustainable Materials Challenge – an invitation to hear from creative innovators about how different materials and processes can change the way the artworld operates – to move from “business as usual biennale” towards something more akin to our “plastic-free biennale” provocation.
In the video above, you can hear from Sally Anne Williams (Cicada Innovations), Barbara Moore (Biennale of Sydney), and some of the incredible innovators who have pitched ideas for the New and Sustainable Materials Expo.
We are grateful to Barbara Moore for acknowledging the work of Plastic-free Biennale in leading to this new initiative. In her intro to the Expo, Barbara says:
Two years ago the Biennale of Sydney worked with two artists, Lucas Ihlein and Kim Williams, on a project called Plastic-free Biennale. Essentially from these two artists it was a provocation, an interrogation, and an honest look at our actions – from exhibition practices to personal choices that our team members were making on a daily basis. Their project was there to help us figure out what we wanted to do better, and it held us accountable. And the thing is once you learn something you can’t unlearn it, you have to keep going. Culture shifts, and sometimes it needs to take a giant leap forward.