Due to building renovations, the Art Gallery of NSW will participate as a supporting venue in the 17th Biennale of Sydney, directed by David Elliott. In a country that has traditionally regarded distance as a disadvantage, this Biennale will celebrate distance by bringing together art from around the world. At the Gallery, Japanese artist Hisashi Tenmyouya will present a triptych showing Kannon, the god of compassion, and two guardians, painted in a traditional 13th-century style but with an aggressively contemporary twist. And Chinese artist Wang Qingsong will exhibit a large photographic tableaux, providing a window into Chinese-style capitalism at a time of both boom and bust.