Biennale of Sydney

Art After Dark – Emerging Worlds 

Dates & Times
This event has now passed.

Wednesday, 20 April 2022

5–9 pm

Program
1. To come up to the surface of or rise from water or other liquid
2. To come into view, as from concealment of obscurity
3. Foll by; to come out of or live through – Reverso dicitionary

Emergence suggests a change of state, a change of positionality and/or a reseeing of a known reality. Emerging Worlds is a bright imagining of potentiality and possibility for our future selves and future realities.

5.30 pm – Gathering (walk) with Anna Davis, 23rd Biennale of Sydney Curatorium member
Leaf walk – join Anna Davis for a stroll around Barangaroo Reserve and Walsh Bay Arts Precinct to see how leaf creatures dance at night, listen to animal sounds and visualise life underwater. Participate in a rambling exchange of ideas along the way, stopping to look at plants, talk about art and imagine the Biennale through more-than-human perspectives.

6–6.30 pm – Knowledge Holders (talk) with Dr Daisy Alexandra Ginsberg, 23rd Biennale of Sydney Participant 
Dr Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is an artist examining our fraught relationships with nature and technology. Through artworks, writing, and curatorial projects, Ginsberg’s work explores subjects as diverse as artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, conservation, biodiversity, and evolution, as she investigates the human impulse to “better” the world. But what does better mean? Who is it better for? And who gets to decide? Ginsberg will address these questions through discussion of some of her recent artworks, including The Substitute, the artificial reconstruction of a northern white rhinoceros, and her new work, Pollinator Pathmaker (pollinator.art), an artwork for pollinators originally commissioned by the Eden Project, Cornwall, UK. As humanity slowly acknowledges the impact of our progress on the natural world, and the need to make a damaged nature better, we have to ask: what does better mean and from whose perspective?

6.45–7.15 pm – Assembly (performance) with Georgia Saxelby – Rock Pool 
One stands at the edge of a rockpool as if at the edge of the known world. It is a microcosm of the universe, a haptic wonderland of mysterious creatures at once scintillating and treacherous for curious fingers. In a rock pool, we explore the dreamy deposits temporarily contained in between tides through intimate touch, learning about gooey matter that can burst, suction, crawl, clamp, shimmer or pop at any moment – our own personal education into texture, colour, pattern and sheen. For Assembly, installation artist Georgia Saxelby draws from the tactile pedagogy of a rock pool to present a new collection of “building substances,” speculative and fantastical construction materials for her own personal universe – building blocks for a dazzling architectural imaginary of tomorrow.

7–7.45 pm – Wednesdays Up Late at Galleria Campari  (live music)
Campari has collaborated with Sydney musician and composer Megan Alice Clune to bring you Wednesdays Up Late at Galleria Campari. Megan has curated a 13 week program of experimental, ambient and new classical music from both emerging and established Sydney/NSW musicians that will be framed with projections by artist, Carla Zimbler.  Join us in Galleria Campari and experience the diverse landscape of Sydney and NSW music alongside mesmerising projections. 

Performance by Del Lumanta starts at 7.15 pm.

7.45 pm – Projector (film)

The Bamboo Bridge
Year 2019
65 mins
Australia/Cambodia
Director: Juan Francisco Salazar

Every dry season, a 1.5km bamboo bridge is built across the Mekong, linking the rural island of Koh Paen to the city of Kampong Cham; and every year, the bridge is dismantled in the wake of the monsoon season. In 2017, the bamboo bridge was built for the last time and replaced by a new concrete bridge. This documentary follows three generations of bridge builders, who reveal stories from the bridge’s past, and look at Cambodia’s rapidly changing present.

Venues

Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay Arts Precinct
Gathering (walk)

The Waterhouse at Barangaroo (Level 1)
Knowledge Holders (talk)
Assembly (performance)
Projector (film)

The Cutaway at Barangaroo (Ground Level)
Wednesdays Up Late at Galleria Campari (live music)
Mary’s and P&V

Cost
Free – including all programs and exhibition entry

Wednesdays Up Late at Galleria Campari is free to attend, no bookings required

Access
The Biennale of Sydney strives to make all events accessible. You can advise us of your access requirements when booking online, by email or calling our box office on 02 8484 8702.