The 24th Biennale of Sydney

Ten Thousand Suns

A major international art festival and the largest contemporary art event of its kind in Australia, the 24th Biennale of Sydney will be presented at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artspace, Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney Opera House, UNSW Galleries and at the iconic and recently restored White Bay Power Station.

With the artistic direction led by Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero, the 24th Biennale of Sydney proposes celebration as both a method and a source of joy, inspired by legacies of collective resistance and coming together to thrive in the face of injustice. With an exhibition of contemporary art at its core, the event draws from multiple histories, voices and perspectives, to explore connected thematic threads, from the celebration of the resurgence of First Nations technologies and knowledges, to Queer resilience, and carnival traditions across the world. The program also explores the atomic era, a concentrated time of climate alteration through human exploitation, within the context of today’s moment of climate emergency and a refusal to concede to an apocalyptic vision of the future.

Marking the Biennale of Sydney’s 50th anniversary year, the 2024 edition challenges Western fatalistic constructions of the apocalypse and embraces a hopeful outlook around a possible future lived in joy, produced in common and shared widely. The 2024 edition will feature 96 artists and collectives from 50 countries and territories including Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Niue, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine. Selected artists have practices firmly rooted in diverse communities and artistic vocabularies. The 2024 edition will feature the work for 4 artists with connections to Germany: Mariana Castillo Deball, Álvaro Urbano with Petrit Halilaj, Satch Hoyt, and Köken Ergun. 

Exhibition funding / funded artists: Mariana Castillo Deball, Alvaro Urbano, Satch Hoyt, Koken Ergun