Biennale of Sydney: How a bird beats a boycott

After the trauma of the last edition, the 20th Biennale of Sydney re-patterns resistance with a softer but powerful tune, and asks what future do we want?

16 Mar 2016 12:00

Gina Fairley

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Visual Arts

Still of Shahrya Nashat’s video Parade (2014) at Museum of Contemporary Art Australia; courtesy the artist

An aviary of Common Myna birds at Sydney’s old Mortuary Station is an important metaphor for this year’s Biennale of Sydney, curated by Haywood Gallery’s Stephanie Rosenthal (UK).

In Australia the introduced bird is considered a pest and urban scavenger but in other countries, such as India, the Myna is considered a holy bird and divine guide.

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina