ANNOUNCED: The 18th Biennale to present three major works in association with Carriageworks in 2012

The 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations, in association with  Carriageworks, will present two international dance performances and a major art installation in 2012.

Marah Braye, Chief Executive Officer, Biennale of Sydney, said: ‘We are delighted our 2012 Artistic Directors, Catherine de Zegher and Gerald McMaster, have chosen to include these exciting works in the 18th Biennale of Sydney and are pleased to be working with Carriageworks to help realise them.’

Carriageworks Director Lisa Havilah announced the projects last night as part of the launch of the 2012 artistic program that explores contemporary art and ideas through theatre, music, performance and visual arts.

Lisa Havilah said: ‘Carriageworks’ 2012 program marks a significant new chapter. For the first time, we will be producing more than two thirds of the annual artistic program both through collaboration with other arts institutions – including the renowned Biennale of Sydney – and of our own accord’.

The 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations and Carriageworks will present the Australian premieres of En Atendant and Cesena, two exciting performances by choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s dance ensemble Rosas.

En Atendant takes a new step in the exploration of combined music and dance, drawing inspiration from ars subtilior. This complex and intellectual form of polyphonic music developed out of the ruins of the plague in the fourteenth century, a time when the pillars of mediaeval society were fragmenting. De Keersmaeker explores questions of our mortality and physicality, that are now becoming ever more crucial, taking us to a place where twilight merges almost imperceptibly into night.

Cesena heralds the start to a new day and is choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in collaboration with musical director Björn Schmelzer and his ensemble graindelavoix. This new production might be called the counterpart to Rosas’ En Atendant. Performers share the stage, exploring the limits of their ability – where dancers sing and singers dance in dialogue with the scores of the ars subtilior. Rosas has collaborated with Ann Veronica Janssens for the set design, creating a sculpture of passing time, reflecting the constant transformation of what is around us but only becomes visible in the course of time.

The third work to be presented at Carriageworks as part of the 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations is a major installation from respected Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens. Janssens creates ‘propositions’ or ‘interventions’ in her installations that are based on the relation of time and space.

Through the use of light, artificial fog, projections and sound, Janssens’ work touches on experiencing the ungraspable. Her immersive environments and urban interventions invite viewers to cross the threshold into a new sensory space – on the border of dizziness and dazzlement.

Janssens’ work will be presented at Carriageworks from 27 June until 16 September 2012. En Atendant will be presented on 11 and 12 September and Cesena will be presented on 14 and 15 September 2012.

Tickets for the performances are on sale now and can be purchased at www.carriageworks.com.au

Download full media release here.

Image: Cesena performance, Palais Des Papes, Avignon, 2011 (detail). Photograph: Anne Van Aerschot