Doing: 21st Biennale of Sydney

Susie Anderson

Published June 2018

SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement, the 21st Biennale of Sydney was presented at seven Sydney museums, galleries and non-traditional exhibition spaces: Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW), Artspace, Carriageworks, Cockatoo Island, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), Sydney Opera House and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.

doing

A typewritten list of seven poetic statements, numbered 1 to 7, discussing themes of art, belief, and emotions. Some phrases are emphasized in italics.

A large black inflatable raft filled with numerous life-sized black puffer jacket-wearing figures, displayed in a spacious, industrial building with green metal framework. — Ai Weiwei, *Law of the Journey*, 2017, reinforced PVC with aluminium frame, 60 x 6 x 3 m. Presentation at the 21st Biennale of Sydney was made possible with generous support from the Sherman Foundation. Installation view of the 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018) at Cockatoo Island. Photograph: silversalt photography. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin.

A large, dark, industrial room with a suspended circular screen displaying an eye with an intense, bright light in the center. The room is filled with various machinery and equipment.

Three people standing in front of the suspended screen displaying an eye with a bright light in the center.

Two people standing with their reflections below in a mirror, in a metallic, corrugated space with blue lighting. Text on the wall reads: “To punish me for not believing in myself Or for believing too much For not to know where lay my allegiance To have assumed that already I knew all, For wanting to fly off To the unknown Or the known Both of them a single, blue speck of an idea?”

Biographies

Susie is a writer based in Sydney. Her practice is concerned with the distances between place, people and culture, themes she explores through poetry and non-fiction. ‘doing: 21st Biennale of Sydney’ completes her four-part series of responses to SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement.