Biennale of Sydney goes back to its Opera House roots

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This was published 6 years ago

Biennale of Sydney goes back to its Opera House roots

By Helen Pitt
Updated

Mami Kataoka​, the artistic director of Sydney's 21st Biennale, was just eight in 1973 when the inaugural biennale of contemporary art was staged to coincide with the opening of the Sydney Opera House.

Growing up in the Japanese city of Nagoya, all she knew about Australian art came from the Christmas packages of tea towels and koalas sent to her Anglican minister father from his friends in Melbourne.

Mami Kataoka is the artistic director of the 21st Biennale of Sydney.

Mami Kataoka is the artistic director of the 21st Biennale of Sydney.Credit: Louise Kennerley

She knew nothing of the work of Japanese artist Minami Tada, or Australians John Olsen and Sydney Ball, three of the 37 artists whose works were displayed under the white sails of the newly minted Sydney Opera House, then Australia's most controversial building.

On November 23, 1973, then prime minister Gough Whitlam opened the first showcase of international art, which would go on to become Australia's most controversial.

Opening of the inaugural Biennale of Sydney in 1973: Dr Herbert "Nugget" Coombs (left), then prime minister Gough Whitlam, artist Minami Tada and chairman Franco Belgiorno-Nettis.

Opening of the inaugural Biennale of Sydney in 1973: Dr Herbert "Nugget" Coombs (left), then prime minister Gough Whitlam, artist Minami Tada and chairman Franco Belgiorno-Nettis. Credit: Mags King

Nearly 45 years later Kataoka, the first Asian curator of the Biennale of Sydney, who is also chief curator of Tokyo's acclaimed Mori Museum, says Sydney is almost unrecognisable from the city in which that first biennale took place.

"In Australia, 21 marks a coming of age and this is certainly the case for contemporary art in Australia," she says.

Next year's Biennale will feature the work of 70 artists in seven Sydney venues from Cockatoo Island to Carriageworks.

The Sydney Opera House will feature as a venue and will be showcased as a work of art itself.

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Two artists will create works around the narrative of the building. British sound artist Oliver Beer, will present the Resonance Project, which explores the harmonics of its more unusual spaces: the unexplored cracks and crevices to sing its songlines (he's still seeking volunteers to join him).

Lebanese architect Rayyane Tabet will use the Utzon room as a storytelling venue, to tell some of the unresolved mysteries of the building's past.

Ball, one of the original artists in the 1973 inaugural display will feature next year, as will other works from the biennale archive kept at the Art Galley of NSW.

Since her appointment in July 2016, Kataoka has spent 18 months travelling the world to seek out the best of contemporary art, including the works of controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei who will be in Sydney next year for the March 15 preview.

Since its inauguration, more than four million Australians have seen the work of nearly 1800 artists from over 100 countries.

Launching the 2018 biennale, called Superposition: equilibrium and engagement, director and CEO Jo-Anne Birnie-Danzker, said the the event provided the opportunity "to address the most urgent issues of our day and to provide a safe place for debate, controversy and difficult discussions".

The biennale has been no stranger to controversy, both in the thought-provoking works it showcases but also in 2014 when artists boycotted it because founding partner Transfield Holdings, indirectly through Transfield Services, had held contracts to manage detention centres.

At Wednesday's launch, Ms Birnie-Danzker acknowledged the vision of founding governor Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, who founded the construction and engineering company Transfield as well as the Biennale of Sydney.

He modelled it on the idea on the Venice Biennale, and aimed to encourage creativity as well as change the attitudes of Australians towards recent art.

From 1973 until 1982, Sydney was known as the only city in the world where a biennale, the Italian word for every other year – was held every three years: 1976, 1979 and 1982. Since 1982 it has taken place every other year.

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