23 May 2025

Metroland Cultures announces curatorial theme, artists and programme dates for the third edition of the Brent Biennial

Bones, stones, and calling the four elements

‘Bones, stones, and calling the four elements‘ 3^rd Edition of the Brent Biennial Curated By Annie Jael Kwan, a Metroland Cultures project.

Metroland Cultures today announces details of the third edition of the Brent Biennial, which takes place between 22 June – 24 October 2025. Titled “Bones, stones, and calling the four elements”, the Biennial will unfold over four ‘rituals’ bringing together artists and community organisers.

The Brent Biennial will feature A—-Z (Anne Duffau), Yarli Allison, Ocean Baulcombe-Toppin, David Blandy, JJ Chan & Friends, Youngsook Choi (featuring Ayse Roza and Darius Hulme), Forms of Circulation, Arsalan Isa, Jesse Jones, Laura König, Adeline Kueh, Nikki Lam, Lynn Lu, Becky Lyon, Sue Man in collaboration with Capri Jiang, Harun Morrison, Nick Murray, Yuki Nakamura, performingborders, Jia Qi Quek in collaboration with Aaron Lim, Alexa Seligman, Akira Takaishi and Francesca Telling.

Curatorial Framing

Bones, stones, and calling the four elements seeks to invoke a communal spirit of gathering and imagining. Between June to October 2025 four ‘rituals’, WATER, EARTH, FIRE and AIR will unfold at four Brent sites – a public reservoir, a park, an old medical facility and a university campus. Located in the north and south of the borough— Harrow, Wembley and Kilburn— the ‘rituals’ will feature 27 artists presenting workshops, talks, performance and exhibition.

The title of the Biennial recognises that bones and stones have always been connected, one changing into another over millennia, leaving traces and stories behind. Bones form the structure of our bodies, and stones make up the structures we build and inhabit, both bear a sacred wisdom. Shared universally across Greek, Indic and Sinic philosophies, the four elements of water, earth, fire and air were harnessed as the foundational materials of alchemy – for making and transformation. Water dissolves, flows and absolves; the earth holds and archives. Fire ignites and mutates; and air manifests new life and ideas. As metaphors, materials and methods, the four elements hold creative potential for new imagination and change. This framing invites us to reflect on how as communities, we gather and create – and engage with the question: what kind of world would we like to re-make? How we respond to this question in Brent is what animates the four Rituals.

Curator Annie Jael Kwan:

“As philosopher, curator and writer Bayo Akomolafe said, “I think today’s widespread despair, today’s disillusionment with change, is the amniotic chamber, the alchemical depths where our vision of what is possible is being transformed, where we are being remade…slowly. Where we are realising that our theories of change need to change.” We need change. We need to change. The answers are not ‘out there’ but within us, and with each other. Working on the Brent Biennial, across a period of time of acute geopolitical stress, increasing climate urgency and economic precarity, our greatest resource and resilience is and has always been ourselves. This is a Biennial that has been created and sustained by all involved, the artists, practitioners and partners – in a sheer collective will to realise together a vision that expresses we are hopeful of change, and we believe in each other.”

Lois Stonock, Director Metroland Cultures:

“At Metroland Cultures we work with artists and communities through stewardship and production to explore how art shapes and reflects social change, and how it can be a tool for transformation within our neighbourhoods. The Brent Biennial was established to make our approach to collaboration visible within the community and is a moment to invite others to see our work, The third edition, curated by Annie Jael Kwan looks for a new futures for our neighbourhood