Sunday, April 13, 2014

The 19th Biennale of Sydney 2014 : Imagine what you desire

The Biennale of Sydney established in 1973 has been curated by 4 women, 14 men and 1 collaborative team (m+f).


biennale of sydney curators
The 19th Biennale of Sydney - Imagine What You Desire is curated by Julianna Engberg and continues the curator's commitment to exhibiting women artists - a commitment established via her role as Artistic Director of ACCA for many years, where a high representation of women artists have been shown.  Engberg includes 38 female artists and 45 male artists in the 19th Biennale which shows a promising result and a steep improvement on previous years.

Gender Representation of Artists in the 19th Biennale of Sydney 2014


But while women are certainly participating in the 2014 Biennale in greater numbers, CoUNTess data-mining disappointingly uncovered a gender bias in the media and marketing around the exhibition/event.  

Catalogue cover = 1 male artist
Website links to Youtube video interviews with artists = 3 male artists, 1 collab duo (m+f)
Primary School education resource = 4 female artists, 11 male artists and 3 collab
Secondary School education resource = 10 female artists, 15 male artists, 5 collab

While the website also features a list of exhibitions in local commerical and public galleries. Selection for inclusion in this list is unclear - so CoUNTess counted a range of local Sydney contemporary art spaces to see what artists were on show.

* indicates gallery was holding two solo exhibitions