Inclusivity and the Biennale of Sydney 2006?

Grasping the Thistle by Lisa Kelly. Brilliant read imho.

My favourite bit was:

Though back at question time at the close of the June symposium session my prickly question was duly responded to, even if the answers could have been more likened to variously sidestepping¹⁷, trampling¹⁸ and patronising¹⁹ the thistle rather than grasping it. And I was left none the wiser as to the significance of Sydney to the Biennale of Sydney, other than as a host city with a series of well appointed venues for culture sourced from ‘elsewhere’.

¹⁷ Museum of Contemporary Art senior curator Rachel Kent insisted that she was unable to comment, not having worked on ‘Zones of Contact’, but suggested attending meetings, lunches and talks.
¹⁸ Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre artistic director Nick Tsoutas asserted that the Biennale of Sydney was not a platform of inclusivity, was not responsible for representing Sydney artists, was a nationally organised international event that could be staged in any interchangeable city and has nothing to do with Sydney or its arts community. Probably all in one sentence. No one disagreed with him.
¹⁹ Australian Centre for Photography director Alasdair Foster suggested that the artworks themselves in ‘Zones of Contact’ functioned as a ‘conversation’. And that whilst local artists might not get to meet visiting artists, they got to meet the works.

From what I saw and experienced I'd go so far to say that BOS 2006 was the complement of the set of all Sydney art that could and should have been "included" where the universal set is the union of the set of all foreign art included in BOS 2006 and the set of all Sydney art that could and should have been "included". Well almost, and isn't that just as bad!