Biennale of Sydney Archive Stories #2

As part of her research for the 21st Biennale of Sydney, artistic director Mami Kataoka has initiated a number discussions with artists, curators and practitioners who have contributed to or witnessed the biennial’s evolution over its 45-year history. In Biennale Archive Stories #2, Kataoka had a conversation with feminist artist Vivienne Binns, collage artist Deborah Kelly, performance artist Julie Rrap, as well as curator and historian Ann Stephen. As an example of the ways in which art impacts and fosters community action, Stephen recounts how Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya waited to turn on her Fog Sculpture at the opening night of the 1976 Biennale of Sydney because she wanted to provide space for those who had gathered to protest then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser’s presiding over the event. Following this, Kataoka and her guests examine the Biennale’s focus in the mid- and late-1970s, when issues of representation of women artists were brought to the fore.

• Australia