AUCKLAND.- International artists participating in the 5th Auckland Triennial are revealed today with the names announced including Yto Barrada, Ryoji Ikeda, Angelica Mesiti and Michael Lin with architecture collective Atelier Bow Wow.

More than thirty artists and collectives from around the world will present their work at If you were to live here …, the largest Auckland Triennial to date.

Opening 10 May, work by artists from Central and South America, North Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and the United States will exhibit at eight venues throughout Auckland. For the first time, entry to all Triennial venues is FREE.

Curated by Hou Hanru, one of the most influential curators in the world today, the three-month festival of contemporary art will see local and international artists transforming Auckland spaces.

‘Hanru has brought a huge amount of influence and energy to bear on this triennial,’ says spokesperson, Auckland Art Gallery director Chris Saines. ‘His direction has galvanized an unparalleled number of institutional, public space and residency partnerships, which will expand its reach and intensify its engagement with the city. If you were to live here… will create a new space in which artists and architects can collaborate to re-think how we live in our cities’.

Offered in partnership with the Triennial are two of New Zealand’s prized artist residencies: The University of Auckland’s Elam International Artist in Residence programme and the McCahon House Residency.

McCahon House Trust has confirmed participating Triennial collective, Healy and Cordeiro as recipient of a 2013 McCahon House Residency. As part of the Triennial partnership, the Australian artists Clare Healy and Sean Cordeiro are the very first international recipients since the residency programme began in 2006.

The University of Auckland’s Elam International Artist in Residence programme recipient will be announced in March. Last year’s recipient and one of this year’s participating Triennial artists, is American artist Amie Siegel.

International artists of the 5th Auckland Triennial include:

• Photographer Yto Barrada lives in Tangier, Morocco. Barrada’s art reflects her experience of life in a city undergoing rapid development and modernisation. Exhibitions include her solo work Riffs at Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, 2012 and group exhibitions I Decided Not to Save the World, Tate Modern, 2012; and Venice Biennale, 2011. Barrada was the 2011 Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year.

• Paris based electronic composer and visual artist, Ryoji Ikeda orchestrates sound, visuals and mathematical notions into live performances and installations. Recent exhibitions and performances include Les Spectacles vivants, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2012; Datamatics, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creacion Industrial, Gijon, Spain, 2012; and db, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, 2012.

• Painter and interdisciplinary artist Michael Lin resides in Shanghai, China. Lin’s work blurs the lines between art and craft and questions the role of art in public space. His work was shown at 10e Biennale de Lyon - The Spectacle of the Everyday - La Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, 2009. His solo exhibitions include Model Home, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, 2012, a project conceived with Japanese architecture collective Atelier Bow-Wow, and involving sound and video artists and craftspeople.

• Video, performance and installation artist, Australian Angelica Mesiti explores communal collaborations with different social groups. Exhibitions include her solo The Begin-Again, C3West Project, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Sydney, 2011; and group exhibitions NEW12, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2012, and No Soul For Sale, Tate Modern London, 2010.

Since its inception in 2000, the Auckland Triennial has worked with partners across the city to develop and present a lively and engaging contribution to the conversation about art and its relationship to the wider world.

The Triennial’s title and theme If you were to live here… offers a way artists and creative participants can inhabit and transform social spaces by producing innovative ideas, projects and works. The 5th Auckland Triennial will provide opportunities to connect with different communities, as well as collaborations among various partners in and out of the city. It will invite discussion, debate and the exchange of ideas.