Now in its ninth year, Sculpture at Scenic World is Australia’s premier regional outdoor sculpture exhibition that will transform a rainforest into a contemporary gallery from April 9 – May 10.

Showcasing 29 thought provoking artworks from local, national and international artists, the exhibition will capture the imagination of young and old with works ranging from subtle sculptures to bold installations that deliver a diverse, rich cultural experience.

Set among towering Jurassic rainforest in the heart of the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains, Sculpture at Scenic World is a unique marriage of art and nature. Handcrafted artworks intermingle with an environment that demands your attention for its sweeping vistas, twisted watervines and dappled light filtering through ancient fern trees.

The calibre of artworks also continues to exceed expectations, with exhibiting artists from as far afield as the USA, Japan and Ukraine pushing new boundaries to create dozens of works that have a unique story of their own. Artists will go head to head for the highly coveted $20,000 Scenic World Major Award, alongside a range of other awards totalling $30,000.

Art lovers will appreciate the careful placement of works, which are thoughtfully installed by experienced artists to preserve the exhibition’s 0% ecological footprint. Meanwhile, nature lovers, families and everyone in between can expect the unexpected as nature and art come together to leave a lasting impression.

Curated by Justin Morrissey

Regaining a Paradise Lost

The third edition of the APS Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale will deal with the relationship between spirituality and the environment, focusing on the links with the protection of the planet, all species, human or otherwise, and the notion of spirituality within this seminal debate.

In the 1960s and 70s, Malta was at the forefront of globalising this question with its radical policy on the Common Heritage of Mankind pursued by Maltese ambassador to the United Nations, Arvid Pardo, today a concept enshrined in International Law. This crucial historical fact has today been buried by the neoliberal objectives of contemporary society that exploit the planet and negate the question of the continuity of humanity’s home.

Life, death, genocides, massacres, genetic engineering, globalised information technology, mass appropriation and destruction of habitats, are a reality of our modern surroundings. How are artists confronting this radical and real apocalyptic threat?

Can art play a role in this conflict between materiality and nature, and if so, what role? Is spirituality a neglected consideration, or is art still preoccupied with suprahuman matters?

Curated by Nikki Petroni

The exhibition is a metaphorical reflection on the experience of the oldest active international biennale of contemporary art in Russia, which has been held since 1999 in the ancient Russian village of Shiryaevo on the Volga bank, one of the most beautiful places of the Samara bend surrounded by the Zhiguli Nature Reserve on all sides. The Shiryaevo Biennale was intended and carried out as an international experimental project by renowned Russian curators Nelya Korzhova and Roman Korzhov, the founders of the Samara Regional Public Charity Foundation “The Centre for Contemporary Art” with active contribution from Hanns-Michael Rupprechter and Stuttgarter Kunstverein from Germany, as well as a group of artists from Kazakhstan headed by Rustam Khalfin.

The exhibition is based on the archive of the biennale: photos, videos, objects and installations from the personal collection of Nelya Korzhova and Roman Korzhov. However, at the same time, the exhibition goes beyond the traditional retrospective and creates an idea of the biennale’s authentic image for the widest audience. The conceptual solution of the exhibition is a large-scale video chronicle of the project, together with artifacts of the performances — it is a total installation representing a kind of mental map of Shiryaevo. The exposition gives an opportunity to feel the unique atmosphere of the biennale, reflects the ideas of contemplative and performative nature of the event and becomes a starting point for a conversation about the history of its creation.

The strategy of the Shiryaevo Biennale is aimed at finding new forms of contemporary art communication in social environment. The form of the main biennale project, “Creative Laboratory” and “Nomadic Show”, is Nelya Korzhova’s original idea uniting the Eastern concept of nomadism, referring to free movement and wandering, and the Western concept of a “show”, a public presentation. The space for creation and display during the “Nomadic Show” is the entire village of Shiryaevo, with the surrounding landscape: the Volga, mountains, mines, lake shore, village houses and streets.

As an artistic phenomenon, the “Nomadic Show” is designed as a form of spiritual awakening, evolving in time and space and changing the experience of those who participate in it. It makes visitors follow a unique route and experience the meditative qualities of the Central Volga landscapes, a kind of “Central Russian Zen” reflecting the biennale’s setting for contemplation, intangibility, emptiness, and absence of any tracks left behind.

The Shiryaevo Biennale offers not only an alternative to the traditional functioning of art within the framework of the “white cube” concept, but also a strategy of independence from the vertical of power in art. Created by “artists for artists” the biennale turned out to be resistant to shocks and succeeded in surviving as a special experience of international co-creation. The condition of artists’ living in the houses of local residents is seen as a way of creating a perfect environment for artistic expression. The main idea of this experiment is to give an artist a chance to start working from scratch, without feeling the pressure from his or her established image and the art market.

Today the Shiryaevo Biennale is amongst the internationally renowned contemporary art events in Russia. Throughout the years the biennale has hosted artists and curators of special programs from Russia, Kazakhstan, Germany, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, Denmark, the USA, the Netherlands, Singapore, Norway and India. Over 180 international artists have participated in the Shiryaevo Biennale since its inception in 1999.

Curated by Nelya Korzhova & Roman Korzhov

A public art walk, video art and exhibitions will bring Chatswood and Willoughby to life for the third Willoughby Visual Arts Biennial (WVAB), The Tenacious Realm.

From September 4 – October 13, enjoy free art exploring the theme of ‘resilience and the community’ through exhibitions, temporary public art installations, large scale video art and performance art. Curated, hosted and funded by Willoughby City Council, the WVAB 2019 will build on the success of the first and second events in 2015 and 2017.

As part of the WVAB 2019, exhibitions will be curated at Incinerator Art Space (2 Small Street, Willoughby), The Concourse outdoor area and Spring Street Hub (Victoria Avenue, Chatswood), Foyer Exhibition Space (31 Victor Street, Chatswood) and The Urban Screen (Chatswood).

Highlights include;

– The Tenacious Realm Public Art Walk: Explore sculpture installation and performance art at the outdoor space at The Concourse.

– The Urban Screen: Giant video artworks on the screen at The Concourse

– The Moon Bar: An evening of video and performance art – set to a party atmosphere. 6-10pm, 27 September.

Curated by Cassandra Hard Lawrie

The methods and systems in which plant-life communicate, grow, feed, mobilise and reproduce is fascinatingly sophisticated. Surprisingly, many of these processes and systems are mirrored in our contemporary, technologically activated lives.

Botanical Mechanics brings together a diverse selection of artists, scientists and creative practitioners to explore these intersections and to muse on how we might better work with and learn from the natural environment.

Curated by Grace Kingston