Expectations were rather high for the 21st Biennale of Sydney, largely resting on the fact that it was the first with an Asian curator. The designation ‘Asian’ is already too encompassing, but in any case the appointment of Mami Kataoka from the Mori Museum in Japan, suggested an interest in a different perspective from the years before, possibly a break from Euro-American inheritance, and a renewed examination of Australia in relation to its cultural and geographic position. Where previous Biennales have come under criticism for their flagrant populism, Kataoke’s wheezed under the weight of cultural gerrymandering, and of overemphasis of one artist over all others. North and South America were almost deleted, while the Japanese love affair with Francophone nations was kept well alive. From the perspective of previous Biennales, Australian artists fared better. But given the ongoing presence of Queensland’s Asia-Pacific Triennial, which was established precisely in order to narrow the cultural gap between Australia and its immediate neighbours, this Biennale exposed problems of what else there was to do in this sphere. In doing so, it repeated what is becoming an ever more looming question as to the effectiveness of international art festivals beyond tourism and entertainment.
If you chose not to consider this the elephant in the room, then this Biennale had another, in a far more literal sense, in Ai Weiwei. It is best to discuss him first if only as the publicity from both the Biennale itself and the outside gave the impression that he was the axis around which all the artists were expected to orbit. When he was arrested in China in 2011, his fame skyrocketed, giving his already saturated image the