The Biennale of Sydney is the pre-eminent and longest-running biennial in the Asia Pacific region. Since its inception in 1973, it has provided a platform for art and ideas, showcasing the work of over 1,800 artists from more than 100 countries. Today it is considered one of the leading international art events, recognised for commissioning and presenting innovative, thought-provoking art from Australia and around the world.

Brook Andrew commented: “I am honoured to be appointed Artistic Director of the 22nd Biennale of Sydney in 2020. As Artistic Director, I am interested in shining a light on the active, stable and rich pre-existing collaborations and connectivity of Indigenous and Edge cultures. I aim to work together with artists, collectives and communities, from Australia and around the globe, to reconfigure the world as we see it and reveal rich local and global rhizomes and unique individual cultural expressions in one place.”

This announcement comes following a year of great activity in which Brook has completed a residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; presented Ahy-kon-uh-klas-tik, an interrogation of the Van Abbemuseum archives in Holland; and participated in exhibitions in Victoria (Bunjil Place, and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne), Sydney (Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery), Germany (Galerien der Stadt, Esslingen am Neckar) and Israel (The Negev Museum of Art, Be'er Sheva).

Most recently Brook participated in the 21st Sydney Biennale, SUPERPOSITION: Art of Equilibrium and Engagement (which closed on 11 June) by presenting What’s Left Behind, 2018. The piece comprised five sculptural vitrines, each corresponding to one of the five elements of Wu Xing: Water, Air, Fire, Earth and Metal. Inviting four artists to contribute to the artwork, Andrew asked each to reflect on the idea of memory – that which is present yet also absent, and the way objects can have transferable and alternate meanings, imbued with their own or substitute histories and stories. The artists: Rushdi Anwar, Shiraz Bayjoo, Mayun Kiki and Vered Snear, placed a combination of personal objects, artworks, and objects selected from the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, within each of Andrew’s sculptural vitrines. 

Tombs of Thought II (Earth), 2016-17
Installation view, Brook Andrew: The Right to Offend is Sacred, National Gallery of Victoria, 2017. Photo: Dianna Snape. 

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