The 23rd Biennale of Sydney has revealed the line-up of its 2022 event, featuring over 330 artworks by 89 participants and 400 events.

The event, titled rīvus, meaning ‘stream’ in Latin, will feature new work and commissions responding to water ecology and relationships with the natural world.

Audiences will experience large-scale immersive installations, site-specific projects and living works by international participants including Kiki Smith, Marguerite Humeau, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, John Gerrard, Jumana Emil Abboud and Ackroyd & Harvey alongside Australian participants such as Badger Bates, Clare Milledge, Julie Gough and D Harding.

The list of participants extends beyond the realm of the visual arts and includes bodies of water and their custodians around the world including Australia, Bangladesh and Ecuador.

The 2022 edition has been developed and realised by a curatorium comprised of artistic director and Colombian curator José Roca and co-curators Paschal Daantos Berry, Anna Davis, Hannah Donnelly and Talia Linz.

The largest contemporary art event of its kind in Australia, the Biennale of Sydney will be open free to the public from 12 March to 13 June 2022 at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Barangaroo including The Cutaway, Circular Quay, Information + Cultural Exchange, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, National Art School in partnership with Artspace, The Rocks and Pier 2/3 at Walsh Bay Arts Precinct.

At the Information + Cultural Exchange in Parramatta, Manila-based artist Leeroy New, famously known for creating Lady Gaga’s “muscle dress” will present a site-specific work, using recycled, organic and industrial materials wrapping around the façade of the building. The form is based on the organic root formations of the iconic Balete tree of Southeast Asia.

According to the curatorium, rīvus is articulated around a series of conceptual wetlands situated along waterways of the Gadigal, Burramatagal and Cabrogal peoples.

“These imagined ecosystems are populated by artworks, experiments and research, responding to our connections, and disconnections, with water. Rivers have been the ways of communication and the givers of life for entire communities and a growing number of jurisdictions around the world are granting rivers legal personhood rights,” the curatorium said.

“As we see waterways having a voice in the courtroom, we wanted to extend this further into the public sphere with our exhibition. Many of the Biennale of Sydney participants have worked with waterways, local and international, to share their stories and raise these important conversations.”

Barbara Moore, CEO of Biennale of Sydney said this year’s Biennale is going to feel great to experience.

“The city will be vibrant with artworks and events that invite everyone to come together and connect with each other, celebrating the participants and their stories and honouring the diversity of thoughts and ideas that empower us all,” she said.

“We are thrilled to unveil these incredible works and encourage visitors to flow between the venues, to see and feel different perspectives on our connections with waterways and each other.”

For all of the 94 days of the exhibition, the projects and ideas will be activated and explored through an expansive program of events and experiences, titled The Waterhouse, including the return of school programs. Anchored at The Cutaway at Barangaroo, the public program conceived by Lleah Smith, curator of programs and learning, in conversation with the curatorium, will activate the city through daily programming for all ages and abilities.

“Participants will investigate the ecologies sustained by waterways worldwide. This can be seen in works like Marjetica Potrč’s collaboration with Wiradjuri Elder Uncle Ray Woods which tells the story of two rivers: the Soča in Slovenia and the Galari (Lachlan River); these works will be shown alongside Brazilian artist Caio Reisewitz mural-sized collage, which references the aquifer under the Amazon jungle,” the curatorium said of this year’s events.

“D Harding’s exploration of ancestral waterways with the local community has inspired a new carving work. The Australian premiere of The Great Animal Orchestra, a major installation created by American soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause and United Visual Artists, will immerse audiences in the sounds of vulnerable habitats in Africa, North America, the Pacific Ocean and the Amazon River, whilst French artist Marguerite Humeau will present a new sculptural commission envisioning a world in which mass extinction has accelerated to a point of no return.”

For everyone’s health and safety, COVID-19 vaccination (age 16+) at all venues and masks (age 12+) at indoor venues are requirements for all visitors.

The 23rd Biennale of Sydney will be open to the public from Saturday, 12 March to Monday, 13 June 2022. Check out the full line-up HERE.

Featured image: John Gerrard, Leaf Work (Derrigimlagh), 2020. Installation view for Galway International Arts Festival. Commissioned by Galway International Arts Festival for Galway 2020, European Capital of Culture. Courtesy the artist and Pace Gallery. Copyright © John Gerrard. Photograph: Ross Kavanagh