Image: The Biennale of Sydney announces the Artistic Directors of the 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024), (from left) Inti Guerrero and Cosmin Costinaș at McMahons Point, North Sydney. Photograph: Joshua Morris.

Tuesday, 31 May 2022

Sydney, Australia: The Biennale of Sydney is delighted to announce Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero as the Artistic Directors of the 24th Biennale of Sydney, which will take place 9 March – 10 June 2024.

Barbara Moore, Chief Executive Officer, Biennale of Sydney said: ‘I am thrilled to be working with Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero – highly respected curators both together and independently with a deep understanding of the international and Australian creative landscapes. The Biennale of Sydney is a participatory platform designed to present the best in contemporary art from around the world, inviting discussion and shared learning about the joys and challenges of our time. I look forward to seeing their collaborative vision develop and sharing their Biennale with our global community in March 2024.’

Cosmin Costinaș is currently the curator of the Romanian Pavilion for the 59th Venice Biennale (2022). He was the Executive Director and Curator of Para Site, Hong Kong’s leading contemporary art centre and one of the oldest and most active independent art institutions in Asia. During his 11 year tenure (2011-2022) he oversaw the institution’s major expansion and relocation, having curated numerous exhibitions including ‘Garden of Six Seasons’ and ‘A beast, a god, and a line.’ He was recently Artistic Director of Kathmandu Triennale 2022, the fourth edition of Nepal’s premier international platform for global contemporary arts. Costinaș is a Curatorial Adviser at the Aichi Triennale (2022). He was Guest Curator at the Dhaka Art Summit ’18 (2018), Co-curator of the 10th Shanghai Biennale (2014), curator of BAK, Utrecht (2008-2011), Co-curator of the 1st Ural Industrial Biennial, Ekaterinburg (2010) and Editor of documenta 12 Magazines, documenta 12, Kassel (2005–2007).

Inti Guerrero is currently tutor of the Curatorial Studies programme at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts-KASK, Ghent. He was the Artistic Director of bap – bellas artes projects, Manila (2018-2022), Curator of the 38th EVA International, Ireland’s Biennial, Limerick (2018), Artistic Director of TEOR/éTica, San Jose (2011-2014) and the Estrellita B. Brodsky Adjunct Curator at Tate, London (2016-2020). In 2016, Guerrero was the inaugural curator in residence of the International Visiting Curators Program by Artspace and UNSW Art & Design, Sydney. As an independent curator, Guerrero has curated exhibitions across Asia, Europe and Latin America, including ‘Institute for Tropical and Galactical Studies’ in the Yokohama Triennale 2020,  ‘A Chronicle of Interventions,’ Tate Modern, London (2014) and ‘A Transatlantic Affair. Josephine Baker and Le Corbusier,’ Museum of Art of Rio-MAR in Rio de Janeiro (2014). He has edited and contributed his writing to numerous books, magazines, and exhibition catalogues and has taught and lectured at different universities, art academies, and institutions across the world.

Over the past 10 years, Costinaș and Guerrero have co-curated a number of exhibitions together including ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’ (Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and San Francisco, 2013-2015) ‘Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs’ (Manila, Hong Kong, Bangkok, 2016-2017), ‘Long Green Lizzards’ – Dakar Biennale, La Biennale de l’Art africain contemporain, Dakar (2018). Both curators are based in Berlin.

As co-curators, their exhibitions embrace the multiplicities of people’s viewpoints, reflected in the unique experiences and possibilities that art can provide, inviting people to challenge and be challenged, to learn and celebrate together. For the 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024), Australia’s vibrant communities will be central to their thinking, while seeing the biennale as a place that reaffirms the urgency for international dialogue.

Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero, Artistic Directors, 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024) said: ‘Artists are continuously challenging the codes of representation as well as the world that is being represented. It is our responsibility as curators to find platforms to reflect those varying ideas in an exhibition (as well as other formats and events) that welcomes and belongs to everyone. The previous Biennale of Sydney iterations have been pertinent because of their commitment to community and the current socio-political climate within a local and international context. Our vision for the 24th Biennale of Sydney is thus to create a space that examines the past and present through multiple art languages, from places of struggle and resistance to collective joy, while celebrating and respecting place. As exhibitions are reflections of different ways of seeing reality, the scenographic vocabulary of exhibition-making also needs to reflect the multiplicity of visual regimes that form the lived experience of most people in the world. Such an approach will challenge audiences to learn, celebrate, be inspired, and experience the awe and the magic art is capable of.’

Kate Mills, Chairman, Biennale of Sydney, said: ‘We are delighted to announce the appointment of internationally recognised curators, Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero as Artistic Directors of the 24th Biennale of Sydney. Through an open call, Cosmin and Inti’s outstanding proposal resonated deeply with the Biennale’s ethos of community that is centred around creating urgency around the issues that matter the most to our communities.’

Adrian Collette, Chief Executive Director, Australia Council for the Arts, said: ‘We are thrilled to welcome the 24th Biennale of Sydney Artistic Directors, Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero. Since 1973, the Biennale of Sydney has been a unifying force in the Australian arts sector, connecting Australian and global audiences with meaningful contemporary art by local and international talent. We look forward to seeing what Cosmin and Inti create for the 2024 edition.’

Ben Franklin, NSW Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for the Arts, and Minister for Regional Youth, said: ‘The Biennale of Sydney brings the best of international contemporary art to Sydney and showcases Australian contemporary art to the world. We’re excited to welcome the 24th Biennale of Sydney Artistic Directors, who will bring their expertise and experience to the 2024 edition, putting NSW artistic excellence front and centre on the world stage. The NSW Government is proud of its role in preserving the legacy of landmark events like the Biennale of Sydney.’

Stuart Ayres, NSW Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade, Minister for Tourism and Sport, and Minister for Western Sydney, said: ‘I am delighted to welcome Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero as the new Artistic Directors for the 24th Biennale of Sydney, which the NSW Government is proud to support through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW. The Biennale of Sydney is one of the top biennials in the world – a leader in this global art movement – and one of our biggest cultural drawcards for visitors to NSW. This important international event of contemporary art showcases Sydney as the cultural events capital of Australia, which is a key pillar in achieving our goal to make NSW the premier visitor economy of the Asia Pacific.’

Ends

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