Thoughts on the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art; NGV Triennial and the Twenty-First Biennale of Sydney, 2018
2018 saw an alignment of biennials and triennials that will not be repeated for another six years.1 Launched in December 2017, Melbourne’s inaugural NGV Triennial (NGVT1) overlapped the March 2018 openings of the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art (ABAA2018) and the twenty-first Biennale of Sydney (BoS21). November saw the opening of the ninth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9) in Brisbane, too late to be included in this article, but promising its well-established depth and excellence. 2019 will see the return of Sydney’s The National, and in 2020 the National Gallery of Australia’s fourth National Indigenous Art Triennial (NIAT4) in Canberra will likely overlap BoS22, to be curated by artist Brook Andrew, alongside the ABAA’s thirtieth anniversary edition curated by Leigh Robb. That year will be rounded out, one hopes, with NGVT2. Exciting times in Biennale-land.
These alignments provide an opportunity to take stock, and perhaps to give thanks that Australia is so richly endowed with so many well-resourced, recurrent exhibitions, both internationally and nationally focussed. One might add the smaller but well-regarded Tarrawarra Biennial to this grouping, and note that while Darwin, Perth and Hobart do not currently stage equivalent events, the Telstras (Telstra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, or NATSIAA) and Darwin Festival, the Perth Festival and MONA FOMA (Hobart) all provide rich visual arts offerings on an annual basis.
The 2017/18 visitor figures are interesting. By the time NGVT1 closed in April 2018, it had attracted a total of 1,231,742 people, with an average daily attendance of 10,096, far exceeding anything in the National Gallery of Victoria’s 157-year history, and setting an all-time Australian record for contemporary art. Based on recent precedent, this... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline