TORONTO.- The Toronto Biennial of Art is launching September 21, 2019! For 72 days, Toronto and surrounding areas will be transformed by exhibitions, talks, and performances that reflect our local context while engaging with the most pressing issues of our time.
In an effort to make contemporary art available to everyone, the Biennial’s free, citywide programs aim to galvanize citizens, bridge communities, and contribute to global conversations from a variety of perspectives.
44 ARTISTS & COLLECTIVES
The organizers announced the participation of 44 artists, collaborators, and collectives in the inaugural edition.
Co-curated by Candice Hopkins and Tairone Bastien, the free, 72-day event includes 20 new commissions and more than 100 works installed across 10 sites on or near Toronto’s waterfront. The Biennial brings together more than 90 local and international participants, hailing from over 40 places of origin, including Brazil, France, Guatemala, and Turkey as well as Nunavut and Indigenous communities in Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Aotearoa | New Zealand.
Confirmed 2019 Biennial Participants
Abbas Akhavan / Maria Thereza Alves / Adrian Blackwell / AA Bronson / Hera Büyüktaşçıyan / Judy Chicago / Dana Claxton / Moyra Davey / Shezad Dawood / Naufus Ramírez Figueroa / Laurent Grasso / Embassy of Imagination + PA System / Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, and Hesam Rahmanian / Luis Jacob / Jae Jarrell / Jumblies Theatre & Arts + Ange Loft / Kapwani Kiwanga / Jumana Manna / Qavavau Manumie / Caroline Monnet / New Mineral Collective (Emilija Škarnulytė and Tanya Busse) / The New Red Order: Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, and Jackson Polys / Fernando Palma Rodríguez / Napatchie Pootoogook / Elder Duke Redbird / Lisa Reihana / ReMatriate Collective / Abel Rodríguez / Wilson Rodríguez / Arin Rungjang / Susan Schuppli / Lou Sheppard / Nick Sikkuark / Lisa Steele & Kim Tomczak / Adrian Stimson / Curtis Talwst Santiago / Althea Thauberger + Kite / Caecilia Tripp / Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca / Hajra Waheed / Syrus Marcus Ware
SHAPED BY THE LAKE & ITS HISTORY
The majority of the Biennial’s exhibitions and programs will take place at venues along Toronto’s waterfront between Etobicoke Creek and Ashbridges Bay. Situated on the edge of Lake Ontario—one of the largest freshwater systems on Earth—the vision for the first Biennial has been shaped by the water and its rich, multi-layered history.
The Biennial’s central question—“What does it mean to be in relation?”—prompts us to consider how relations, both human and non-human, can reaffirm reciprocity and communion, but also breed anxieties, glitches, and alienation. Artists have responded to this query with new works that engage the lake’s different ecosystems—environmental, cultural, spiritual, infrastructural, economic—to explore the effects of connection as well as disjunction and project alternative futures.
