19/10 2019
Curator | Billy Gruner, Graham Davis King
Stores Building – Projects | Sydney | Australia
The inaugural 01 – Biennale of Contemporary Reductive & Non-Objective Arts – Sydney, subtitled Coterie to Coterie, presents a unique gathering of over 130 international artists working in reductive and non-objective practices. Organized by West Projects, the event follows a tradition of independently produced, artist-driven programs, and extends the networks developed over the past two decades through projects such as RNOP, KNO in Kyiv, and the CNOA Biennale in Grenoble. The Sydney biennale brings together works from diverse international coteries, highlighting the dialogues, intersections, and independent experimentation that define contemporary reductive art today.
Coterie to Coterie emphasizes mobility, collaboration, and the creation of unexpected connections. Participating artists contribute works from their studios and geographies, generating encounters that transform the presentation of these pieces and reveal new relationships between visual languages. This approach is consistent with the ethos of RNOP’s earlier satellite projects, including exhibitions in Amsterdam, London, Melbourne, Apeldoorn, and Cologne, as well as the Big Circle survey at M17 Contemporary Arts Centre in Kyiv. Each event functions autonomously, relying on the trust and generosity of artists who co-curate, transport, and display their own works without institutional constraints or public funding.
The biennale situates Sydney within a broader international context, connecting local initiatives with established networks in Europe, North America, and Asia. The project highlights the historical development of reductive and non-objective practices since 2000 while recognizing the contributions of earlier pioneers such as John Nixon (Australia), Jan van der Ploeg (Amsterdam), and Tilman at CCNOA (Brussels). It documents the ongoing relevance of these approaches in contemporary art, emphasizing the shared dialogues, aesthetic explorations, and alternative historiographies that shape this global movement.
The Sydney event maintains a fluid curatorial model: works are selected and contributed by artists themselves, creating a collective survey of contemporary reductive arts. Sections such as The Road Paintings, drawn from RNOP satellite shows, showcase the range and experimentation of participating artists, reflecting both formal and conceptual innovations. The biennale’s structure demonstrates a post-20th-century approach to exhibition-making, where independence, peer recognition, and inter-coterie collaboration take precedence over institutional frameworks or conventional curatorial hierarchies.
Through this expansive and interconnected platform, Coterie to Coterie provides visitors with a comprehensive experience of the international reductive arts community. It foregrounds the communal, dialogic, and experimental character of contemporary practices while tracing their evolution across multiple cities and years. By situating Sydney within this broader network, the biennale demonstrates the enduring vitality, critical engagement, and collaborative spirit that define the field today, offering an exceptional overview of both established and emerging voices in reductive and non-objective art.