cockatoo island - sydney biennale

Two of the bricks + cartwheels girls finally made it to cockatoo island on saturday. As promised here is a little taste of what the biennale has to offer when you make the hop to the island.

We first came across the work of William Kentridge. After being told about this amazing artwork by one of the b+c gals it didn't disappoint! The above image is What Will Come (Has Already Come) (2007). It is a film seen in a cylindrical mirror on a table, composed of revolving images – from familiar carousel animals through to tanks and aeroplanes.

I am not me, the horse is not mine (2008), is a multi-channel projected work based on The Nose (1837) by Nikolai Gogol. It is an awesome display that keeps you transfixed with its mixture of self-reflective, and absurd cutouts and projections. The music combined with the building itself made this our favourite art piece on the island by far.

Another fav was Vernon Ah Kee's exhibit of 12 charcoal and pastel drawings on canvas that continue his series of portraits of his family. The focus of each subject is their ‘gaze’ – the way they look back at the viewer. The detail at such a large scale is sheer genious!

Of course the buildings and the site itself blew us away! There was plenty of ooing and aahing over architectural details, in particular the impressive Turbine Hall built during World War II. The island's prison buildings have been nominated for World Heritage listing and the large workshops, slipways, wharves, residences and other buildings retain the texture of the island's industrial past.

From animal mobiles fashioned out of hard case luggage to boomerang shaped canoes, there is so much to see you must take a visit - but beware this is the last week!! The Sydney Biennale finishes on Sunday Sept 7th. So hurry along to catch the free ferry t0 the island before its too late... if you do miss it you can always take a visit in another form - camping! This is a camping experience like no other. Newly opened you can now enjoy a night sleeping on the harbour under the watch of dormant cranes and chimneys - our next weekend workshop for b+c perhaps...?