The 19th Biennale of Sydney (BOS19) is shaping up to be a fantastic event if the artist preview list is anything to go by. A list of 18 artists selected to participate in the art show was unveiled today by BOS19 Artistic Director, Juliana Engberg, who also gave a brief insight into the background of the BOS19 theme, “You Imagine What You Desire.”
“‘You Imagine What You Desire’ is an evocation celebrating the artistic imagination as a spirited describing and exploration of the world through metaphor and poesis,” Engberg explains. “It makes enquiries into contemporary aesthetic experience, and relates this to historical precedents and future opportunities to imagine possible worlds.”
Based on what she describes as a curatorial approach that “seeks splendour and rapture in works that remain true to a greater, even sublime visuality,” Engberg has chosen the following artists to participate in BOS19: Yael Bartana, Ulla von Brandenberg, Mircea Cantor, David Claerbout, Yingmei Duan, Krisztina Erdei, Douglas Gordon, Henna-Riikka Halonen, Roni Horn, Mikhail Karikis, Laurent Montaron, Agnieszka Polska, Augustin Rebetez, Maxime Rossi, Wael Shawky, John Stezaker, Corin Sworn, and Tori Wrånes.
This early glimpse into the direction of BOS19 reveals a strong focus on European artists working with video, including David Claerbout, Laurent Montaron, and Agnieszka Polska. There is also a strong contingent of Scottish-based artists led by Douglas Gordon and Corin Sworn, perhaps influenced by Engberg’s time as a Visiting Critic at the Glasgow School of Art. As yet no Australian participants have been identified, but that will surely change when the full list is revealed.
According to Engberg, this year's fair “seeks to understand the need artists have today to create immersive and expanded environments, and locates this activity as part of an art historical trajectory, and as a pursuit into the issues of human consciousness, and their psychological, cognitive and corporeal imperatives.
“It reminds us that powerful art is not divorced from the cultural conditions, political, social, and climatic environments in which it is generated. That indeed it often exists to provide a meta-commentary on these aspects of society – and even, sometimes, act as an antidote and proposition. As a future vision.”
The 19th Biennale of Sydney will take place from Friday, March 21 – Monday, June 9, 2014.
To see works by 18 of the artists selected to participate in BOS19, click on the slideshow.