Biennale of SydneyA stream of ideas

The Biennale of Sydney presents contemporary art from around the globe on the shores of Sydney Harbour, and the surrounding suburbs. As Australia’s most high-profile art event, it plays a vital role in Australia’s cultural engagement with the world.

The 23rd edition, titled rīvus (meaning ‘stream’ in latin) and curated by José Roca, is imagined as a series of conceptual wetlands situated along waterways of the Gadigal (Sydney) and Burramattagal (Parramatta) peoples, spanning 5 venues and including 330 artworks from 89 participants. These imagined ecosystems are populated by artworks, experiments, activisms and research, which together follow the currents of meandering tributaries, expanding out into a delta of interrelated ideas.

Working with our friends at Zolo Press we created the visual identity, communications, signage, and supported in the production of a massive 572-page companion publication, all in deep collaboration with José and the Biennale team.

The rīvus identity which was inspired by the aqueous themes underpinning the program flows throughout mediums and venues, binding contributors and audiences together through language. This is made possible by the bespoke liquid typography developed in close collaboration with Biennale contributor Virgil Flores. Based on a printed garalde typeface, a surplus of ink fluidly connects characters, words and ideas.

To launch the event, we developed a campaign celebrating waterways from around the world as active participants within the Biennale. Our national poster and billboard campaign invited these aqueous beings into dialogue with urban environments throughout Melbourne and Brisbane, before building towards a crescendo in Sydney to coincide with the Biennale opening.

Arriving two long years since the last edition was cut short as Covid took hold of the country. This current edition opened at a time when floods ravaged Northern NSW and Queensland. Poignant timing that further served to emphasise how ecological crisis, and the effect of colonisation on First Peoples' custodianship of ecosystems, are far more than themes; they are a reflection of our reality.

Lastly, ‘A Glossary of Water’, a monumental publication that exists as a companion to the Biennale, designed by Zolo Press with support from Base. Expanding the urgent topics of the Biennale far beyond its duration and location – the book highlights the deep connections that Australia has to its waterways and bodies of water. Following the logic of a glossary, it includes approximately 80 terms as headings and “definitions”, such as creek, dam, estuary, flood, weave and weft. Printed sustainably on excess paper stock of different types and weights from previous book projects, rather than recycled paper, the profile of the publication takes on the look and feel river sediment.