Since 1973 the Biennale of Sydney exhibitions have presented the work of 1300 artists from more than 80 countries. Most of these artists were also brought to Sydney by the Biennale, which often facilitated their travel and co-ordinated their professional engagements in a national outreach program to art schools and universities across Australia.
From the beginning, the Biennale of Sydney has acted as a catalyst for cultural development and discussion. It has created unique opportunities for direct contact between artists, writers, and curators from other countries - as well as collectors and gallery directors - with their counterparts in Australia. This outreach program has involved hundreds of educational and cultural institutions and as a result, has invigorated artists, students and educators alike.
Over three decades, the Biennale of Sydney's regular importation and commission of major works of art have offered rare collecting opportunities to many public institutions across Australia. Works of substantial scale by artists of international renown, and which would otherwise have been out of the reach of local collections, became accessible. The cumulative impact of the Biennale of Sydney on the holdings in public collections probably remains little known today, but is another example of the Biennale's enduring contribution to Australian art and culture.
Archives for each Biennale coming soon.
- 2006 – Zones of Contact
- 2004 – On Reason and Emotion
- 2002 – (The World May Be) Fantastic
- 2000 – Sydney 2000
- 1998 – Every Day
- 1996 – Jurassic Technologies Revenant
- 1992/93 – The Boundary Rider
- 1990 – The Readymade Boomerang: Certain Relations in 20th Century Art
- 1988 – From the Southern Cross: A View of World Art c1940 – 1988
- 1986 – Origins, Originality + Beyond
- 1984 – Private Symbol: Social Metaphor
- 1982 – Vision in Disbelief
- 1979 – European Dialogue
- 1976 – Recent International Forms in Art
- 1973 – The Inaugural Biennale of Sydney
