Biennale of Sydney’s Ten Thousand Suns celebrates diversity and creates connections between artists established and unknown
- With works by 96 artists from 53 countries, a large proportion of them unknown, the biennale show in Australia, Ten Thousand Suns, has a very fresh feel
- The event has a core message: crises are not a new thing, but a constant; people are resilient; and beauty can emerge from horror
Hongkongers who visit the Biennale of Sydney might be hit with a feeling of déjà vu.
The exhibition, titled “Ten Thousand Suns”, has been curated by long-time collaborators Cosmin Costinas, who was executive director and curator of Hong Kong’s Para Site art space between 2011 and 2022, and Inti Guerrero, who contributed to multiple Para Site exhibitions while working elsewhere.
In Hong Kong, the pair developed a reputation for producing complex, crowded shows that made surprising connections between seemingly disparate artists – a model they have now brought to Sydney.
“Ten Thousand Suns” features many characteristics of the pair’s previous exhibitions: brightly coloured walls; an elaborate curatorial statement; an interest in textile art, which historically would have been labelled craft; and a long list of artists (96 from 53 countries and territories).
Yet “Ten Thousand Suns” feels fresh and exciting. This is largely thanks to the group of artists Costinas and Guerrero have assembled, which includes a handful of familiar names from their shows at Para Site – among them Hongkongers Trevor Yeung and the late Irene Chou – and few big names.
