24th Biennale of Sydney: Ten Thousand Suns Review

The 24th Biennale of Sydney, titled Ten Thousand Suns, runs through June 10 across six venues including White Bay Power Station, Art Gallery of New South Wales, UNSW Galleries, and Museum of Contemporary Art. Artistic directors Cosmin Costinas and Inti Guerrero present over 400 works by 96 artists and collectives, celebrating joy as resistance against settler colonialism, ecological destruction, gender-based violence, and discrimination. White Bay Power Station, a former coal plant built 1912–1917, opens to the public for the first time. Highlights include Dylan Mooney's mural honoring queer Indigenous activist Malcolm Cole, Orquídeas Barrileteras' barriletes kites, Pacific Sisters' sculpture MuruMoa, and Monira Al Qadiri's video Crude Eye. The biennale embraces multiple interpretations of the sun, from Indigenous futurism to Islamic history in Australia. However, the review notes institutional silence on Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza, questioning whether the celebratory framing blunts political potency.