Nine Completely Captivating Exhibitions to See in Sydney This November

Tracey Moffatt fans have an exciting opportunity to see all eight of her montage films made with long-time collaborator Gary Hillberg this month at Casula Powerhouse. Exhibited together for the very first time, the works in Montages: The Full Cut, 1999 – 2015 span 17 years of the pair’s creative partnership.

Using the Hollywood film for inspiration, the montages – which vary in length from seven up to 24 minutes – combine found and edited footage from iconic films, telemovies and arthouse cinema to offer up an ode to cinema whilst revealing “the stereotypes that populate our collective cultural imagination.” Expect a typically inventive dismantling of dominant cinematic tropes (love and romance, art, revolution) as Moffatt and Hillberg play with narrative and character conventions to create their own fictions.

Developed by Sydney’s Artspace, Montages: The Full Cut will tour nationally in partnership with Museums & Galleries of NSW until 2019. Side note: the exhibition coincides with the conclusion of the 2017 Venice Biennale, where this year Moffatt became the first Australian Indigenous artist to present a solo exhibition.

Artist Katerina Teaiwa brings her solo exhibition Project Banaba to Carriageworks from November 17. A Banaban scholar and Associate Professor in Pacific Studies at ANU, Teaiwa’s scholarly and artistic work focuses on the history of phosphate mining in the central Pacific and the displacement of indigenous Banabans.

Quick history lesson: Banaba Island in the Pacific Ocean was destroyed by phosphate mining and rendered uninhabitable, causing the total relocation of its people to Rabi Island, Fiji in 1945. Project Banaba commemorates the island’s history, with the show’s run coinciding with the 72nd anniversary of the Banaban people’s displacement on December 15.

Working closely with curator Yuki Kihara, Teaiwa has combined new work with rare textual, photographic and filmic historical archives in a rich, multimedia exhibition. The show also interweaves personal narratives, says Teaiwa, revealing the political injustice generations of her family experienced, and, in her words, “how the rock of Banaba, te aba, the body of the land, and the body of the people, was viewed and transformed by powerful imperial interests”.

The show promises to be an unsettling — but important — reminder of the ongoing impact phosphate mining has had on present-day Pacific communities.

Fans of Robert Mapplethorpe will no doubt have already snapped up tickets to the new survey exhibition of his work at AGNSW. Showcasing an impressive selection of portraits, figure studies, floral still-lifes and erotic imagery reflecting his participation in both New York’s uptown art clique and underground gay scene, The Perfect Medium will grant fans an intimate, comprehensive insight into Mapplethorpe’s distinctive artistic methods and private world.

As one of the most compelling, boundary-pushing late 20th century American artists, Mapplethorpe’s photography shaped an era, in part thanks to his portraits of the cultural idols of the 1970s and 80s (think Debbie Harry, Philip Glass and Mapplethorpe’s longtime muse Patti Smith). AGNSW director Dr Michael Brand says that Mapplethorpe played an influential role in establishing photography as a valid form of contemporary art: “whether he was photographing a figure, a flower or a fetish, Mapplethorpe’s subjects were unified by an enduring and unflinching quest for beauty.”

Compulsory viewing for anyone interested in photography and the 1970–80s New York art scene.

November’s Paint17 at Artereal showcases three solo installations from artists Lionel Bawden, Gary Smith and Teelah George, revealing a variety of approaches to contemporary painting.

Known for his sculptural works, Bawden’s The Kandinsky has two sides continues his penchant for transforming commonplace everyday materials – in this case, the humble cereal box. Painted on the two large sides with common phrases often exchanged between Bawden and his loved ones (from “it’s bin night” to “we need milk”) the cereal boxes appealed to him for their “squishy fragility” and “promise of exhaustion.”

You may have caught Teelah George at this year’s Primavera 2017. With Reclining suite her background in textiles is again evident, as the series of paintings expresses the sensation of a languid layering and museful weaving. You’ll also see Gary Smith’s Alchemy, a collection of intensely colourful, viscously textured paintings inspired by a rush of musical improvisation suggesting a return to the abstract for the artist.

Wander into the National Art School between November 3 and 12 and you’ll be treated to an exhibition showcasing a diverse range of works from this year’s Masters of Fine Art graduates.

Featuring a range of mediums including sculpture, drawing, ceramics, printmaking, photomedia and painting, the postgraduate show is always a great opportunity to get familiar with new artists and catch emerging talent while they’re still just that. Budding investors take note: artworks will be available for sale so have your chequebooks at the ready.

Artists on show include figurative painter and 2016 Archibald Prize finalist India Mark, Turkish-born postmodern portraitist Murat Urlali, visceral sculptor Samantha Stephenson, and Aly Indermühle, whose large scale and intimate light works were featured in this year’s VIVID Sydney.

The school is also holding a special evening on Thursday November 2 to mark the opening, with music from FBi DJS, food, pop-up bars and an open invitation to have a nose around the artist studios.

A 30-year retrospective of one of the most dazzling pioneers of multimedia installations and experimental video art opens at the MCA this month with Pipilotti Rist: Sip my Ocean.

In what’s being heralded as the most comprehensive exhibition of the Swiss artist’s work ever held in an Australian gallery, you’ll get to see pieces right from the start of her practice (including her early single-channel videos created during the 1980s) up to her most recent immersive environments and large-scale audio-visual installations.

A truly unique artist whose practice explores the connection between the human body, nature and technology, Rist creates colourful, enchantingly sensual worlds for viewers to lose themselves in – such as 4^th Floor to Mildness (pictured), where you’ll get comfy on one of 18 beds and gaze upwards at a hypnotic underwater world projected onto massive abstract panels. It’s not often you lie down on a gallery floor amongst strangers to soak up some art – and its this particular atmosphere of community and togetherness within the way you experience Rist’s work that cements its charm.

Indigenous photojournalist Barbara McGrady has a new exhibition opening November 3 at ACP. Curated by Sandy Edwards as part of the Carte Blanche Program, Always Will Be showcases McGrady’s unique ability to document the community she knows and loves with uncompromising truthfulness.

A Kamilaroi woman from Mungindi in northwest NSW, McGrady embraces photography as a tool with the ability to increase shared knowledge and foster social change. Particularly concerned with the contemporary urban issues affecting Indigenous Australians, her work typically explores human rights, community events, arts and culture, politics and sports (for the last three years McGrady has photographed the NSW Koori Rugby League Knockout).

Capturing diverse subjects ranging from Anthony Mundine training at his local Redfern gym, to Indigenous ceremonial performances at Sydney Opera House, to a portrait of legendary activist and historian Gary Foley, this latest exhibition offers an opportunity to “learn about what it means to be kooris in Sydney and First Nations in the new millennium” through the lens of a passionate photographer at the top of her game.

This summer, imaginations young and old will run wild, as the interactive Future Park arrives at the Powerhouse Museum. Developed by teamLab, a collective of ‘ultratechnologists’ whose cutting-edge installations are currently captivating audiences in Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo, San Francisco and more, this immersive exhibition will see visitors build a huge collective artwork, inspired by the future.

Across eight different interactive installations, Future Park is fuelled by human interaction, evolving in real time as visitors engage and leave their own mark on the artworks. Collaboration is nurtured and shared experiences are encouraged — and it’s meant for kidults as well as kids.

The Light Ball Orchestra installation invites visitors to manipulate a series of moveable balls to create music and light shows, while Sketch Town is a dynamic world populated by vehicles, buildings and townscapes visitors have drawn themselves. Sketch Town Papercraft will even see your drawings scanned into 3D sketches that can later be printed in 3D.

For the first time ever, the Art Gallery of New South Wales is bringing artwork from one of the most culturally confident, powerful and wealthy periods of time in European history — the Dutch Golden Age — to Sydney. It was during this era that Dutch art greats, like the prolific Rembrandt van Rijn, experimented with media to produce vivid works depicting the changing world around them, and their efforts remain some of the most inspiring in the art world today.

The three-month-long exhibition features 76 artworks sourced from Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, including seven pivotal paintings and 16 prints by Rembrandt, presented in a room dedicated solely to his vast array of works — the artist’s style and subject matter ranged from portraits and animal studies to landscapes and historical themes. The exhibition also brings a rare and celebrated piece by Johannes Vermeer, Woman reading a letter, which feaures alongside works by Jacob van Ruisdael, recognised as one of the best landscapists of the era, and Jan Davidsz de Heem, one of the most celebrated painters of flowers. You’ll also find plenty of interior scenes, landscapes, townscapes, architecture and fruit and flowers paintings, all representing this golden era in time for the Dutch Republic.