Biennials
Calendar
Nikau Hindin, 35th Bienal de São Paulo – choreographies of the impossible
06 September —
10 December 2023
Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, São Paulo, Brazil
Writing
soft and weak like water
By Amy Weng
13.06.2023
Reporting from a visit to South Korea, curator Amy Weng writes about how works by Yuki Kihara and Mataaho Collective connect the ambitious themes and ideas of the 14th Gwangju Biennale to specific histories from their homes in Aotearoa New Zealand and Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
Writing
Thinking Historically in the Present
By Megan Tamati-Quennell
17.04.2023
Having attended the opening week of Sharjah Biennial 15, Megan Tamati-Quennell writes about the work of Aotearoa artists Robyn Kahukiwa and Kahurangiariki Smith, included in this large-scale exhibition in the United Arab Emirates, and how Hoor Al Qasimi has carried the curatorial mantle from Okwui Enwezor to create an exhibition that both celebrates the late curator’s legacy and the diversity, solidarity and strength of non-Western art.
Calendar
Wanda Gillespie, Tel Aviv Biennale of Crafts and Design 2023
31 March —
11 November 2023
MUZA, Eretz Israel Museum, Israel
Calendar
Yuki Kihara, Mataaho Collective at 14th Gwangju Biennale: soft and weak like water
07 April —
09 July 2023
Gwangju, South Korea
Calendar
Nina Tonga, March Meeting 2023: The Postcolonial Constellation: Art, Culture, Politics after 1960
09 March —
12 March 2023
Sharjah Institute of Theatrical Arts, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Calendar
Robyn Kahukiwa, Kahurangiariki Smith in Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present
07 February —
11 June 2023
19 venues across 5 cities in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Calendar
Dr Kirsten Lyttle, TarraWarra Biennial 2023: ua usiusi faʻavaʻasavili
01 April —
16 July 2023
TarraWarra Museum of Art, Wurundjeri Country, Healesville, Australia
Calendar
Wesley John Fourie, New Paradigms of Happiness, 28th Slavonian Biennale
15 December 2022 —
28 February 2023
Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek, Croatia
Calendar
Brian Fuata at Singapore Biennale 2022
16 October 2022 —
19 March 2023
Tanjong Pagar Distripark and various locations, Singapore
Calendar
Edith Amituanai at We, On the Rising Wave: Busan Biennale 2022
03 September —
06 November 2022
Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Yeongdo, South Korea
Project
HUM stands for NZ at Venice
Special feature
In light of the review of Aotearoa New Zealand’s ‘official’ presence at the Venice Biennale, HUM invited New Zealanders on- and off-shore who have visited or been involved in ‘New Zealand at Venice’ projects—as artists, pavilion attendants, exhibition installers or designers—to reflect on how involvement in (or experience of) our previous national pavilions have influenced their own careers, and the international profile of contemporary art from Aotearoa.
Writing
On Wet Ontologies, Fluid Hierarchies and Hope-Soaked Propositions at the 23rd Biennale of Sydney
By Emma O'Neill
26.08.2022
This year’s Biennale of Sydney, titled rīvus, included the work of Aotearoa-based artists Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi and Mata Aho Collective. Emma O’Neill, a writer working on Gadigal Land, responds to the exhibition and some of the work presented by the 89 participants invited to interact with different forms and bodies of water.
Writing
documenta fifteen or lumbung one?
By Bruce E. Phillips
12.08.2022
For documenta fifteen, the arts collective FAFSWAG were invited to participate as members of the lumbung process established by this year’s curatorial collective ruangrupa. In the absence of the trophy artist phenomenon so entrenched within mega-exhibitions, Bruce E. Phillips responds to the work of different participating collectives exhibiting in Kassel and discusses how introducing a non-European exhibition-making concept into the heart of arguably Europe’s most revered art event was bound to confound those unwilling to consider a differing perspective.
Calendar
Sriwhana Spong, 17th Istanbul Biennial
17 September —
20 November 2022
Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
Calendar
Nikau Hindin and Yuki Kihara, STILL ALIVE, Aichi Triennale 2022
30 July —
10 October 2022
Various venues across Aichi, Japan
Writing
An interview with Yuki Kihara
By Contemporary HUM
24.05.2022
In the opening week of the 2022 Biennale di Venezia, HUM sat down with the artist representing Aotearoa, Yuki Kihara, to discuss her exhibition Paradise Camp, and what it means to bring a Pasifika, Fa'afafine voice to the international audience of this major event.
Writing
An interview with the curators of 'Paradise Camp'
By Contemporary HUM, Ioana Gordon-Smith, Natalie King
24.05.2022
In the opening week of the 2022 Biennale di Venezia, HUM sat down with the Aotearoa New Zealand pavilion’s Curator, Natalie King, and Assistant Pasifika Curator Ioana-Gordon Smith, to talk about bringing Yuki Kihara’s Paradise Camp to Venice.
Calendar
Anh Trần, 8th Biennial of Painting: The ‘t’ is Silent
26 June —
02 October 2022
Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium
Calendar
Sarah Rose, Brent Biennial 2022
08 July —
11 September 2022
Various venues across Brent, London, United Kingdom
Calendar
Le Moana Arts, 'Shel We' by Tupua Tigafua
17 May —
22 May 2022
BIBU Biennial, Helsingborg, Sweden
Writing
HUM live from the 2022 Venice Biennale
By Contemporary HUM
24.04.2022
From 20 - 24 April 2022, HUM brings you live coverage, exclusive images and videos from the opening week of The Milk of Dreams, The 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, including Yuki Kihara's Paradise Camp for the New Zealand Pavilion. Stay tuned!
Writing
Reimagined Futures
By Johanna Bear
23.03.2022
Featuring work from Aotearoa artists Edith Amituanai, Brian Fuata, Christina Pataialii, Shannon Novak and Shannon Te Ao as well as collaborators from Aotearoa in the project Kā Paroro o Haumumu: Coastal Flows / Coastal Incursions, this piece from writer and curator Johanna Bear considers the 10th Asia Pacific Triennial’s celebration of Indigenous futures, collaborative and community-based practices, and new ways of understanding the world around us.
Writing
Naahdohbii: To Draw Water & What It Means To Come Together
By Franchesca Hebert-Spence
10.03.2022
Featuring Aotearoa artists Israel Birch, Nikau Hindin, Jeremy Leatinu’u, Nova Paul, Rachel Rakena and Keri Whaitiri, the inaugural Indigenous Triennial at the Winnipeg Art Gallery/Qaumajuq (WAG/Q) in Winnipeg, Naadohbii: To Draw Water, presents a collaborative curatorial approach to Indigenous artists’ work—Franchesca Hebert-Spence visits the exhibition and talks to the curators about the curatorial process, the opportunities offered through cross-cultural exchange, and the adherence to the specificities of place and history fostered through the exhibition.
Calendar
Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi and Mata Aho Collective at the 23rd Biennale of Sydney
12 March —
13 June 2022
Sydney, Australia
Calendar
Pacific Sisters and Ahilapalapa Rands in the Hawaii Triennial 2022
18 February —
08 May 2022
Hawai'i Contemporary, Honolulu, Hawai'i
Calendar
Mata Aho Collective at the Toronto Biennial of Art
26 March —
05 June 2022
Arsenal Contemporary Art Toronto, Canada
Writing
A painter’s painter
By Clare Gemima
07.02.2022
Aotearoa artist Christina Pataialii features in the fifth New Museum Triennial, one of the world’s leading exhibitions for emerging artists. New York-based writer Clare Gemima visits the exhibition and reflects on Pataialii’s rule-breaking approach to painting technique, and the artist’s search for a language for her family history, identity and the cultural “in-between”.
Writing
Vivian Lynn / Liliane Lijn
By Laura Castagnini
07.10.2021
Following her death in 2018, pioneering feminist artist Vivian Lynn is receiving unprecedented international attention, after a lifetime of exhibiting widely in Aotearoa, but never outside of New Zealand. Following her recent inclusion in the 13th Gwangju Biennale and a solo exhibition at Southard Reid, London, Laura Castagnini reflects on the long-overdue revival of feminist art practices from the 1980s, and considers the striking parallels between Lynn’s work and her London-based counterpart, Liliane Lijn.
Writing
The Near Side
By Jon Bywater
13.05.2020
The 22nd Biennale of Sydney opened on 14 March 2020 and unfortunately had to close its doors only nine days later due to Covid-19. Prior to its closing, writer Jon Bywater managed to visit NIRIN, looking in particular at participating artists from Aotearoa including Emily Karaka, Elisapeta Heta & John Miller, Lisa Reihana, Kulimoe’anga ‘Stone’ Maka, and FAFSWAG.