FREMANTLE BIENNALE 2021

The Fremantle Biennale celebrated its third iteration with CROSSING 21. The site-responsive festival concentrated its activity along the banks of the Swan River in 2021, bringing an extensive program of large-scale installations, participatory artworks, immersive performances, and events and workshops to the City of Fremantle.

With 20 commissions, 36 core artists and 115 participating artists in total, CROSSING 21 continued the Fremantle Biennale’s tradition of presenting major, temporary public works spanning visual art and performance. Embracing a shift in the model in 2021, nearly all the 36 core artists invited to participate were Australian, with 80% hailing from West Australia.

The headline work in 2021 presented an Australian first with Moombaki. A fleet of 160 choreographed drones took flight over the bilya/river and wardan/ocean, transforming the night sky into an epic spectacle of light, movement, and sound to tell ancient and living stories of place. Led by emerging Nyoongar artist Ilona McGuire, Moombaki expanded the festival into Melville and Cockburn for the first time in the Biennale’s history.

Detail was engaged by the Fremantle Biennale to support the festival through a national public relations campaign, and a paid and organic social media strategy.

THE IMPACT REPORT