Visual artist shines light on Sydney

In the large Carriageworks building near Sydney's CBD, visiting Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens' shimmering silver curtain is suspended from the ceiling reflecting the sunset.

“For different installations, I try to push the limit of perception because I think by ourselves we can produce light, colour, space and movement.” she says.

Janssens is among the artists participating in one of the most important visual arts events in the whole Asia Pacific region, the Biennale of Sydney.

Her exhibition was officially opened by Mayor Clover Moore at the historic Sydney landmark, where train carriages were repaired at the turn of the 20th century.

Now, Carriageworks is a venue hosting regular art exhibitions and theatre performances.

This year's Biennale features a diverse collection of works from more than 100 artists, based in cities such as Berlin, Bogota, Tehran and Tokyo.

Australian artists like Khaled Sabsabi and Ross Rudesch Harley are also exhibiting their latest pieces, which exemplify this year's festival theme 'All our Relations'.

Their installations are on show to the public in iconic locations such as Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour, the newly refurbished Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Janessens describes her work as trying to straddle a space between dizziness and awareness through usage of light installations, artificial fog and glass sculptures.

“In Sydney, you have a particularly beautiful quality to the [natural] light.” she adds.

As part of the same exhibition, there's an abstract sculpture of a dark room filled with artificial fog and a single strobe light shining powerfully.

“It's a mist screen. It is about something ungraspable, it's questioning perception, questioning culture and each day the colour will be different.”

The Biennale runs until mid September and is expected to attract more than half a million visitors.

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