Saturday, 4 February 2023

Inspired by rivers that flow both ways, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental has partnered with the Biennale of Sydney to present a local response to the 23rd Biennale, titled rīvus (Latin for “stream”).

Dedicated to nature and water-based ecologies, rīvus tackles many timely environmental themes, including climate change and the effect of colonisation on First Peoples’ custodianship of ecosystems.

Indigenous knowledges have long understood non-human entities as living ancestral beings with a right to life that must be protected, but only recently have animals, plants, mountains and bodies of water been granted legal personhood. If we can recognise them as individual beings, what might they say?

This group presentation will feature work by Aluaiy Kaumakan (Paiwan Nation), Yuko Mohri (Japan), Imhathai Suwatthanasilp (Thailand), and Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi (Tonga), alongside the river voice of the Murrundi Murray River.

Presented as part of the 2023 Adelaide Festival program.

A river that flows both ways: Selected works from the 23rd Biennale of Sydney: rīvus is presented by the Biennale of Sydney and Adelaide Contemporary Experimental, with generous support from the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative.

For more information, visit ACE’s website.