Around Sydney

The Biennale of Sydney has announced the theme and first batch of participants for the next citywide event in the major international contemporary art series. Opening in March 2022, the title of the 23rd Biennale is ‘rīvus’, meaning ‘stream’ in Latin.  “That’s not just me saying ‘rivers’ badly,” said the new artistic director, Colombian curator José Roca, at the program launch at The Cutaway in Barangaroo. Adding another dimension, the word ‘rivalry’ also has Latin and aquatic roots. ‘Rivālis’ is derived from rīvus, and means ‘one who uses the same stream or water source’. Roca explained that the new title will carry on from the previous theme, ‘Nirin’, where the Biennale championed First Nations artists from near and far – a brook into a river, if you will. The new theme hopes to enable aqueous worlds – rivers, wetlands and other salt and freshwater ecosystems – to share a dialogue with creators and raise unlikely questions. For example, can a river sue over psychoactive sewage? Will oysters grow teeth in an act of shuck-tastic revenge? What do the eels think? Are waves the ocean’s desire?  In a big change to previous years, people invited to participate in the Biennale will be referred to as ‘participants’ rather than ‘artists’, to open up the scope to more diverse talents, skills, practices and modes of being beyond the realm of the visual arts. So, expect to see experts like scientists, shamans, folk craftspeople and traditional singers amongst the throng.  Another differ