The theme of this year's Biennale of Sydney is Reason and Emotion. It is curated by Isabel Carlos and
New Zealand is represented by Daniel von Sturmer, Michael Harrison and Daniel Malone.

"In Descartes' Error (1995) the neurologist António Damásio analyses several neurological case studies to show that emotion is crucial to human intelligence. In another book, The Feeling of What Happens (1999) he discusses the importance of emotion and feeling in the construction of the self. In Looking for Spinoza (2003) António Damásio elaborates his ideas further.

Image: Amilcar Packer, Video #02, 2002, courtesy the artist and Galeria Vermelho
The theme of this year's Biennale of Sydney is Reason and Emotion. It is curated by Isabel Carlos and
New Zealand is represented by Daniel von Sturmer, Michael Harrison and Daniel Malone.

"In Descartes' Error (1995) the neurologist António Damásio analyses several neurological case studies to show that emotion is crucial to human intelligence. In another book, The Feeling of What Happens (1999) he discusses the importance of emotion and feeling in the construction of the self. In Looking for Spinoza (2003) António Damásio elaborates his ideas further.

Image: Amilcar Packer, Video #02, 2002, courtesy the artist and Galeria Vermelho
On Reason and Emotion has at its core an exploration of perception and its borders. There are several complex threads intertwining throughout the exhibition: the balance and connection between human consciousness and physicality; the architecture of the built environment as a parallel anatomy, and conversely that the body is my house (Lygia Clark); and the politics and poetics of human relationships, where communication is a mutual exchange rather than a passing on of information, and thus serves to connect ideas and people rather than become a platform for individual expression.

Rather than the restrictions of the traditional cogito (I think, therefore I am), I am interested in art that creates a bridge between poles - the supposed north/south/mind/body splits. Now one can say that I feel, therefore I am. The project invites the audience to participate in an aesthetic experience using not only their sight, but also all the senses provoking active participation and inciting the emotions. The audience will be challenged to think and feel.

Isabel Carlos, 2003

The Biennale of Sydney in 2004 will be complemented by an extensive series of public programs. Over 70 artists, critics and curators, journalists will visit Australia, including cultural commentators Beatriz Colomina, Sue Best, Frances Dyson, Sarat Maharaj; and curators Hans Ulrich Obrist, Maaretta Jaukkuri, Dirk Snauwaert, Bartomeu Mari and Ann Demeester. There will be symposia, panel discussions and performances that explore the themes of the exhibition.