Overview
Trump. Inequality. Charlottesville. North Korea. Taylor Swift's 'Look What You Made Me Do'. It's been a, er, testing year thus far. And if it weren't for our ability to talk about it — whether it's desperately debating asylum seeker policy in a pub corner, scrolling through Twitter for solidarity or listening to a critical analysis of covfefe on the way to work — we would probably all be hiding under makeshift bomb shelters in our kitchens by now. But when do we stop talking (and talking) about the state of the world and actually start doing something? That's what the Sydney Opera House set out to address this weekend at ANTIDOTE, a new festival that has replaced the Festival of Dangerous Ideas on their program with the intention of inspiring action.
The inaugural ANTIDOTE, which ran over two days, featured a range of speakers, artists and activists whose subject matter moved, for the most part, past the visceral into the practical. They showed us that action isn't always seen through protest — that it can come through satire, by lifting yourself up with 20,000 balloons or just moaning really loudly until someone listens.
While it's hard to say if the audiences at ANTIDOTE will put any of their newfound learnings into practice — except perhaps those who are bound by contract from immersive theatre game The Money — here's five things we took away from the festival. It's up to you to crawl out from your bunker and put them into action.
Prudence Upton / Sydney Opera House
IT'S ACTUALLY DIFFICULT TO SATIRISE DONALD TRUMP — THE ONION
America's finest news source has been satirising US politics, everyday life and the power ranking of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen since 1988. They've found ways to cover presidents like George W. Bush ('Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over') and Barack Obama ('Black Guy Asks Nation for Change') — and so, with the election of Trump last year, you'd think it would have made The Onion's job a total cakewalk. Not so. According to managing editor Marnie Shure, video director Katy Yeiser, and senior writer Dan McGraw, who appeared in conversation with The Chaser's Craig Reucassel, Trump's absurd behaviour is inherently hard to satirise because readers often can't tell the difference between satire and reality. Unlike other government figures who usually say one thing but mean another, Trump just says what he means — and there's very little you can do with that. Although they seem to have managed just fine.
Prudence Upton / Sydney Opera House
PEOPLE WANT TO HELP THE HOMELESS BUT DON'T KNOW HOW — THE MONEY
This was no more apparent than at Kaleider's performance of The Money. Held in the Utzon Room — with its views that dissolve into the harbour water — the concept is this: a select number of 'players' sit around the table and decide what to do with a wad of cash. They can put it towards anything legal they can unanimously agree on, but they can't donate it to charity or split it with each other. A group of 'silent witnesses' also present; they don't have a say unless they slap some money on the table, in which case they are then embedded into the decision-making process.
At a session on Sunday, discussion quickly turned to acts of non-direct charity. With only $500 on the table — unlike the jackpotted $6000 that went to the YES campaign the night before — the participants wanted to find a way to use the money that would actually make a difference in someone's life. Homelessness — unlike organisations in which members had a vested interest in — was a neutral cause that no one could find a suitable opposition to. But the main question was how. Without giving directly to a charity that would help people without a home, the players decided (after much discussion and disagreement) to put the money on a gift card, that would then be donated to a non-profit to, hopefully, provide food and goods to those who need it.
Prudence Upton / Sydney Opera House
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO SAY THE WORDS TO REALISE PEOPLE WERE WAITING TO SAY THE SAME THING — EVE ENSLER
When Eve Ensler started first performed The Vagina Monologues in a Greenwich Village cafe in 1996, the word 'vagina' was rarely spoken out loud. Nowadays it's much less taboo. And while the playwright and activist thought her play would be redundant by now (if only), the ongoing response and shift of how society views women and their bodies is still a prime example of how art has the power to transform thinking and urge people to act. Ensler took to the stage in what can only be described as a fierce powerful takedown of the "predator-in-chief", the Australian Government's policy on asylum seekers and violence against women and girls. She urged the audience to speak out, refuse to be silenced, stop looking away and say the words that everyone's thinking — because that's how they get introduced into the conversation. She then proceeded to perform a monologue that ended in all-in audience moaning.
Letícia Almeida
TURNS OUT, HELIUM BALLOONS CAN LIFT A HUMAN — CHEROPHOBIA
If you've ever watched Up, then the elation of artist Noëmi Lakmaier taking flight by way of helium balloons would not have been lost on you. Especially after the uncertainty and shared suspense of the coming-and-going audience members that visited over the nine-hour work. While her actual lift-off wasn't as dramatic as Carl and Russell's, it did offer a source of contemplation on happiness and fear for those who'd stuck around. Plus, the Concert Hall filled with 20,000 balloons was a pretty lovely sight to see.
Prudence Upton / Sydney Opera House
WE NEED TO DISMANTLE DOMINANT IDEOLOGIES — RENI EDDO-LODGE
Reni Eddo-Lodge refuses to explain race to white people — which is fair enough, really. But after a blog post titled 'Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race' blew up in 2014, Eddo-Lodge has become a prominent journalist and blogger on the topic of, well, just that, having recently released a book of the same name. In her conversation with Benjamin Law she spoke about whiteness as an implicit but ever-present power structure that upholds the dominant ideologies that suit white people. So how do we break the cycle of dominance? Question them. Read up on indigenous history, campaign to change the date of Australia Day — don't accept the structural systems of society just because that's the way they are. Also, read her book.
Top image: Letícia Almeida.