Carriageworks Unveils Killer 2016 Program

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Heading into their fifth year, Carriageworks has unveiled a multitude of risk-taking and culturally diverse events. The 2016 program was announced last night, and features more visual art, film, dance and music than you can poke a stick at. Unless you have 54 sticks. In which case, you are probably just as ambitious as Carriageworks themselves — going by what they plan to pull off in the next 12 months.

No longer do we have to imagine things like rainbow-coloured horses running through the streets — instead, American artist Nick Cave will make this vision a reality with HEARD.SYD. Involving 60 dancers and musicians and 30 colourful, life-size horses, the performance work will bring Sydney’s streets to life, highlighting the beauty and joy of nature reimagined in contemporary art as part of the City of Sydney’s Art & About program.

But 30 horses alone do not maketh a contemporary multi-arts program. Over 740 other artists are involved in the 2016 program, including cult K-pop boy band Boyfriend, who will be at the Chinese New Year Festival, Klub Koori for NAIDOC week, and some rare performances from solo artists such as Christian Fennesz and Michael Gira.

Contemporary music fans will know Fennesz is synonymous with harmonically rapturous electronic music. Others will recognise Gira as the frontman of the Swans, a band that inspired generations of musicians, including bands like Nirvana and Sonic Youth. Four decades of solo work has gained him a loyal following in North America and beyond, showing Gira's still leading one inspired flock.

The 2016 program itself will commence with the Sydney Festival in January, with the first exhibition coming from Ghana artist El Anatsui, who this year won the Gold Lion at the Venice Biennale. Considered to be one of the most remarkable artists working today, Anatsui examines the complex histories of post-colonial Africa with the issues of consumption, waste and the environment. The festival will also see the Sydney Chamber Opera musically perform 21 poems by Friedrich Nietzsche in O Mensch! 

Carriageworks will be presenting Semi Permanent, and Sydney Writers' Festival: Carriageworks Edition, which will feature conversations with internationally renowned authors Simon Winchester and Andrew O’Hagan. An evening of motor-mouthed spoken words and storytelling by UK artist Christopher Brett Bailey. His theatre piece, This is How We Die, traverses tales of young love, ultra-violence and paranoia as part of Sydney Festival’s About An Hour program..

Performance art-wise, as part of Sydney Festival at Carriageworks, Vortex Temporum is the work by internationally renowned Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Bringing together seven dancers and six musicians to French composer Gerard Grisey, each dancer translates the sounds of a particular instrument into dynamic action. We're feeling sucked in and, due to our lack of interpretive dance moves, keen on the possibility to learn a thing or two.

The majority of events will be capped at $35. Heck, some are even totally free. So start filling up your 2016 arts calendar — Carriageworks has made sure it'll be a busy year. 

Find out more about the full 2016 Carriageworks program here.