Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art

Overview

Art experimenters and experiencers, prepare yourself. Performance Space is bringing experimental art to Carriageworks this month with an epic new festival. The Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art will deliver 18 new works, spanning visual arts, theatre, dance and digital media, from artists all over the Asia-Pacific region. Not a single nook or cranny within the monumental building will escape art-ification.

Topping the program is the world premiere of Wade Marynowsky’s Robot Opera. Yep, as you might have guessed, it’s a music-infused show performed by bona fide, custom-built automatons. Julian Knowles will be taking care of the live electronic score, while Branch Nebula will be responsible for the whizz-bang lighting and robot choreography. And you’ll get a chance to interact with the 'performers'.

Meanwhile, Sydney-based Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi man Jonathan Jones will be offering a specially commissioned new exhibition guguma guriin | black stump, which examines the place of Indigenous culture in contemporary Australia, drawing on a range of techniques, from the repurposing of found objects to the revival of the Wiradjuri language. And art collective Hissy Fit will be inspiring mass hysteria with new live art piece, I might blow up someday, which reclaims the 'hysterical woman' trope through ‘80s and ‘90s all-female punk and metal music and culture.

No spare cash for tickets? There are plenty of free shows to keep you busy. They’ll be occupying Carriageworks’ large public spaces, as well as its many corridors and passageways. Highlights include Starrs and Cmielewski’s Dancing With Drones, Ghenoa Gela’s Mura Buai, and Garth Knight’s Nemeton.

If you want to get involved, check out the public program in the festival. Attend an exclusive dance workshop with the incredible Ross McCormack, get stuck into pre-show sessions with creators, watch films that respond to the works programmed by Golden Age Cinema or simply hang out in the Liveworks Lounge, where you’ll be treated to live performances, interactive experiences and weekly blowout parties, curated by FBi Radio.

Liveworks will run October 22 to November 7 Carriageworks. For the full program, see the Performance Space website.