Sydney will come alive in a burst of colour, movement and creative works with the 24th Biennale of Sydney, titled Ten Thousand Suns, at seven major locations across the harbour city.

This international art festival is the largest contemporary art event of its kind in Australia. It can be seen at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artspace, Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, UNSW Galleries and at the iconic and recently restored White Bay Power Station.

Works will also appear on the sails of the Sydney Opera House.

In a preview attended by Sydney Travel Guide, the restored White Bay Power Station in Rozelle will be an opportunity not only to explore the now revived former tramways power station but to see amazing First Nations artwork, including a major new commission by Yankunytjatjara artist Kaylene Whiskey.

This uniquely joyful work, featuring black appropriation of white female superheroes alongside versions of white popstars uses ‘dot’ iconography of the Central Desert.

Kaylene TV, is the first of Whiskey’s works produced on an immense scale, commissioned by Fondation Cartier. The audience is invited into a giant TV screen with Whiskey’s life-sized cut-outs of icons such as singers Cher and Dolly Parton, as well as Whiskey’s own hybrid Black superheroes sharing the “screen”.

Using White Bay as the opening gambit of a six-destination tour led by artistic directors Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero, saw almost 100 media gather at the soon-to-be iconic artistic site.

The launch this Saturday marks the Biennale of Sydney’s 50th anniversary year. The 2024 edition challenges Western fatalistic constructions of a perceived apocalypse and instead embraces a hopeful outlook around our possible future lived in joy, produced in common and shared widely.

The Biennale features 96 artists and collectives from 50 countries and territories including Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Brazil, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Niue, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine.

Audiences will experience dynamic artworks, large-scale installations and site-specific projects by international artists such as Frank Bowling, Andrew Thomas Huang, Adebunmi Gbadebo, Pacific Sisters, Trevor Yeung, Sana Shahmuradova Tanska, Maru Yacco and Anne Samat, alongside Australian artists including Gordon Hookey, Tracey Moffatt & Gary Hillberg, Serwah Attafuah, William Yang, VNS Matrix, Kirtika Kain, Joel Sherwood Spring and Juan Davila.

As a Visionary Partner, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has worked with the Biennale of Sydney to commission 14 First Nations artists, including (but not exclusively) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to create new work for the edition.