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On Reason And Emotion

14. Biennale Sydney Sydney  •  Australia [AU]

In Descartes’ Error (1995) the neurologist António Damásio analyses several neurological case studies to show that emotion is crucial to human intelligence. In another book, The Feeling of What Happens (1999) he discusses the importance of emotion and feeling in the construction of the self. In Looking for Spinoza (2003) António Damásio elaborates his ideas further. On Reason and Emotion has at its core an exploration of perception and its borders. There are several complex threads intertwining throughout the exhibition: the balance and connection between human consciousness and physicality; the architecture of the built environment as a parallel anatomy, and conversely that the body is my house (Lygia Clark); and the politics and poetics of human relationships, where communication is a mutual exchange rather than a passing on of information, and thus serves to connect ideas and people rather than become a platform for individual expression. Rather than the restrictions of the traditional cogito (I think, therefore I am), I am interested in art that creates a bridge between poles – the supposed north/south/mind/body splits. Now one can say that I feel, therefore I am. The project invites the audience to participate in an aesthetic experience using not only their sight, but also all the senses provoking active participation and inciting the emotions. The audience will be challenged to think and feel. Isabel Carlos, 2003 Sydney’s 10 week celebration of the best and boldest in Australian and international contemporary art closes this coming Sunday 15 August. With FREE entry at all 6 venues, the 2004 Biennale of Sydney is open 7 days a week – plus a special late opening until 9pm this Wednesday 11 August at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. This is the final week to experience the 2004 Biennale of Sydney and see some of the city’s best-loved landmarks transformed through artists’ eyes. The 2004 Biennale of Sydney engages people of all ages and interests. The range of artworks is diverse: from large-scale installations to intimate photographs, from the intriguing and confronting to the serene and delightful. With over 200,000 visits recorded across all venues, the Biennale has successfully attracted a diverse audience keen to discover innovative contemporary creation first-hand. Critical acclaim has affirmed the Biennale’s success in Australia and internationally. “Fifty-one artists from around the world have contributed assemblages, photography, paintings, installations, sculptures and videos which are enigmatic, playful, worldly and visually exhilarating,” wrote Patricia Anderson of The Australian. Claire Doherty of UK Art Monthly praised the Biennale as “considered, brooding, physically felt, yet intellectually rigorous”. This year, the 14th Biennale of Sydney features 220 works by 51 leading artists from 32 countries in an exhibition to delight, surprise and challenge viewers. Since 4 June, the Biennale has transformed the City of Sydney into an artistic walking trail. It entices locals as well as visitors to discover artworks both in the galleries and museums and at iconic Sydney locations such as the stunning harbour foreshore, Royal Botanic Gardens and Sydney Opera House. Sydneysiders on their lunch-hour running through the Royal Botanic Gardens are surprised by Nathan Coley’s 3m-high dramatic building façade The Edge of the Radiant City. Tourists and locals gather around Jimmy Durham’s Still Life with Stone and Car, a full sized car sitting crushed under a smiling 2.5 tonne boulder on the Sydney Opera House forecourt. Joan Grounds and Sherre DeLys’ Gargalesis, a uniquely Australian take on a giant gossiping termite mound outside the Museum of Contemporary Art, continues to create plenty of gossip and discussion of the human kind. At the Art Gallery of New South Wales, thousands of visitors have carried away part of the art – souveniring free “Sorry” and “No Worries” posters from Thomas Mulcaire’s and Amanda Rodruigez Alves’ Project for Sydney. Museum of Contemporary Art audiences negotiate their way around a collection of primary school tables and chairs with large pieces band-aided cheese that is Pravdoluib Ivanov’s Pessimism no more! The free public program of events also continues to Sunday with free talks, films and guided tours. In the film program, Mexico, Simon of the Desert and Que Viva Mexico complete the program of compelling cinema-release films based on the exhibition theme, screening at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on 11 and 15 August. Now in its 30th year, the Biennale of Sydney is Australia’s premiere international contemporary visual arts event. The next Biennale of Sydney will be held in 2006, with Dr Charles Merewether as the new curator.

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Artists : AES + F ,Helena Almeida, Diti Almog, Fernando Alvim, Francis Alÿs, Pat Brassington, Loulou Cherinet, James Coleman, Nathan Coley, Cecília Costa , Minerva Cuevas, Luísa Cunha, Jeroen de Rijke / Willem de Rooij, Sherre DeLys & Joan Grounds, Jimmie Durham, Carolyn Eskdale, Matias Faldbakken, Asta Gröting, Jens Haaning, Michael Harrison, Gordon Hookey, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Annetta Kapon, Emiko Kasahara, Koo Jeong-a, Derek Kreckler, Lim Tzay Chuen, Daniel Malone, Rubens Mano,Thomas Mulcaire & Amanda Rodrigues Alves, Mônica Nador, Bruce Nauman, Susan Norrie, Elizabeth Nyumi, Mélik Ohanian, Amilcar Packer, Frédéric Post, Michael Raedecker, Catherine Richards, Mario Rizzi, MP & MP Rosado, Michael Sailstorfer, Jari Silomäki, Mari Sunna, Sydney Circular, Javier Téllez, Frank Thiel, Daniel von Sturmer, Xing Danwen, Yin Xiuzhen, Heimo Zobernig
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Biennale of Sydney
43-51 Cowper Wharf Road Woolloomooloo
NSW 2011 Australia
Telephone (61) 2 9368 1411 Facsimile (61) 2 9368 1617

 

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