Toronto Biennial to Feature Brian Jungen, Jeffrey Gibson, and Judy Chicago

Toronto Biennial of Art (TBA) has announced ten weeks of free exhibitions and programmes for its second edition, which takes place from 26 March to 5 June.

Artists including Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Judy Chicago will lead events building on the biennial’s theme, What Water Knows, The Land Remembers.

‘Through storytelling sessions, conversations, performances, workshops, and walks, Biennial Programs invite communities to gather and learn together in different formats and engage deeply with artists’ works and practices,’ stated TBA Executive Director Patrizia Libralato.

Brian Jungen, Plague Mask 2 (2020). Nike Air Jordans. 30 x 58 x 38 cm. Photo: Rachel Topham Photography. Courtesy Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver.

The biennial will feature works by 37 artists, including plague masks made of Nike Air Jordans by Brian Jungen and a series of brightly coloured stages by Jeffrey Gibson meant to facilitate spontaneous gatherings.

Among the event’s 23 new commissions, which will show at nine sites across the city, is Judy Chicago’s A Tribute to Toronto. Chicago will release non-toxic coloured smokes from a barge on Lake Ontario. The smoke show can be viewed from Sugar Beach at 8pm on 4 June.

‘This commission marks Judy Chicago’s first “Atmospheres” work in Canada and her first ever on the water,’ Libralato said.

Buhlebezwe Siwani, Uhlanga (2019). Wool. 223 x 54 x 70 cm. Photo: Bruno Lopes. Courtesy of the artist and Madragoa.

Another new commission Libralato is excited to show is a work by Tanya Lukin Linklater that combines autobiography, the politics of Indigenous water-protection, and the history of treaties signed by first nations peoples.

The work is a sculpture made from floral ‘kohkom’ (‘grandmother’ in Cree language) scarves. It features video that dancers filmed at home during the pandemic in response to Lukin Linklater’s writings.

The Toronto Biennial of Art’s full programme can be viewed here. —[O]

Main image: Judy Chicago in collaboration with Pyro Spectaculars by Souza, Diamonds in the Sky (2021). Fireworks performance Belen, NM. © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Donald Woodman/ARS, New York.