You probably think that James Bond hails from Scotland. But that's where you'd be wrong. As a matter of fact, the world's greatest secret agent actually grew up in rural NSW. Forget about Connery, Brosnan and Craig. To the people of Goulburn, the name Bond is synonymous with hometown hero George Lazenby — and now they're hosting a festival in his honour. Kicking off today and stretching on into the weekend, Spyfest Goulburn is a festival dedicated to the world of international espionage, running September 25-26. There'll be parades, parties and a city-wide game of I Spy, capped off by an appearance by Lazenby himself, who grew up in Goulburn before shooting to (short-lived) stardom as the second man to portray the world's most famous big screen spy. Event organisers will host several free screenings of Lazenby's sole Bond adventure, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, over the course of the weekend. Other events include a Secret Agents Gala Dinner featuring the music of the great Shirley Bassey, and a Shagadelic Disco inspired by MI6's other international man of mystery. Naturally, costumes are highly encouraged. Several local businesses will also be getting into the spirit of the festival by temporarily changing their names, including one chemist who has gone with the inspired new moniker 'Licensed to Pill'. We're pretty sure 007 would approve of the pun — at least Roger Moore would. For more information about Spyfest Goulburn, visit the festival website. Via ABC News.
One of you is about to experience the luck of the Irish. Thanks to Jameson and The Rewriters, one extremely fortunate Concrete Playground reader (and their even more fortunate mate) will get the chance to channel a little 'Sine Metu' and travel to Ireland. In addition to two return flights departing from your choice of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, this epic giveaway comes with five night's accommodation and $500 spending money you can use to paint the Emerald Isle red. Explore Irish history (all the way back to the Celtics and Vikings) in the National Museum, pay a visit to Dublin Zoo, or take a road trip out into the insanely beautiful Irish countryside. Recommended holiday read: James Joyce. Heck, you might just want to join a traditional music session in the pub — where no one will snigger at your mad tin whistle skills. Or take yourself on a foodie tour of the city — inhaling flaky Irish pork sausage rolls, warming Irish coffees, local cheddar-stuffed blaa rolls, Irish sea salt ice cream, and everything (everything) with hearty soda bread. Of course, Dublin's a Mecca for whiskey lovers. You'll be taken on a VIP tour of the historic Old Jameson Distillery, a must-do for any self-respecting whiskey diehard. And of course, there'll be tastings. Share this around to your crew and get everyone to enter — throw every possible chance in the hat and hope the sprites are kind. Entries are now closed. Stay tuned to your inbox, winners are announced Friday 17th June, 2016. Image: Giuseppe Milo.
Cold and dark and gloomy, winters in Hobart aren't exactly the most attractive proposition. Or at least they weren't until the birth of Dark Mofo. Presented by the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), for the past few years this immersive arts festival has disturbed and dazzled locals and mainlanders alike with a mix of music, performances, installations, light and sound works, and art that simply defies categorisation. And from the looks of things, 2017 will be no exception. Dark Mofo's 2017 lineup is an expectedly weird and wondrous beast, featuring all manner of artists from around Tasmania, Australia and the world. Creative director Leigh Carmichael has called the program their "most ambitious yet", while pointing to a number of works — including iy_project 136.1 Hz, a large-scale laser work by the UK's Chris Levine, and Siren Song, a city-wide audio piece involving a range of female artists — as highlights sure to keep "the audience, the organisers, and some of the authorities enthralled." [caption id="attachment_616924" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Image courtesy of the artist and Dark Mofo.[/caption] Carmichael also draws attention to 150.Action, from Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch. The dark, disturbing performance piece involves an orchestra and around 500 litres of blood, and is sure to be one of the standouts of the final weekend. "This work will be extremely confronting and challenging, but we would encourage our audience to embrace the opportunity to witness the intensity of the ritual, in this one-off exclusive performance, unlikely to ever happen in Australia again," said Carmichael. Then there's Crossing, a 200-kilometre pilgrimage down the Midlands Highway, which will take participants on a pilgrimage to six different churches over six consecutive nights. They'll experience a mix of light, sound and video art along with organ and theremin performances from Melbourne's Miles Brown. [caption id="attachment_616925" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Image: Antony Crook. Courtesy of the artist and Dark Mofo.[/caption] Of course it should go without saying that this is just the tip of the iceberg. This year's enormous music lineup features the likes of Scottish art-rock legends Mogwai, indigenous hip-hop act A.B. Original, and Norwegian black metal pioneers Ulver in concert with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. There'll also be an industrial-scale transcendental rave at Hobart City Hall presented by the Red Bull Music Academy. MONA, meanwhile, will use Dark Mofo as a platform to unveil its latest exhibition, The Museum of Everything, described by its curators as "an astonishing assortment of artworks from the world's first and only wandering institution for the untrained, unintentional, undiscovered and unclassifiable artists of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries." The exhibition will have its grand opening on the first Saturday of the festival, and will be on display at MONA until early April 2018. Then there are the Dark Mofo staples. The annual Winter Feast will once again feed all comers, while Dark Mofo Films will feature a selection of big screen curios new and old. And who'd want to miss the annual Nude Solstice Swim, a communal dip in the ocean at sunrise the day after the longest night of the year? Just remember, winter in Hobart can be pretty bloody cold. Dark Mofo runs from June 8-21. For more information and tickets visit .darkmofo.net.au. Top image: MONA/Rémi Chauvin, 2014. Courtesy MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
It's not often that an art exhibition also offers you the option of grabbing a haircut, but upcoming show Garage Barbershop is offering exactly that. Head down to Blacktown Arts Centre between May 11 and June 3 and you'll not only see a collection of portraits by international fashion photographer Harold David alongside music and candid video interviews with men from Western Sydney, on Thursdays you can actually get a cut, fade or shave with Charles Lomu at his pop-up barbershop. David's portraits, shot in a Blacktown garage, capture the experience of men getting a haircut from Lomu and his five apprentices ('The Original Five'), exploring not only the act of the haircut itself but how the space provides young men in the community an opportunity for mentoring, bonding and conversation without feeling judged or out of place. Just a heads up — if you want a barbershop appointment you'll need to book ahead here. Image: Harold David, The Barbershop (2017).
Set in the eclectic milieu of the metropolis, the performers of Cirque Eloize mix modern and contemporary dance, circus trickery and a blend of curated multimedia. The 15 different performers specialise in 12 different disciplines, and these combine to create a celebration of the unique creatures that live side by side. Director Jeannot Painchaud has taken the show all around the world, where the song remains the same — the ideas put forth by the Canadian circus troupe resonate around the global centres of multiculturalism. A new type of Big Top experience with bells and whistles in tow, this is one circus act worth checking out. This is one of 15 next-level events to see at Sydney Festival. Check out the whole list. The Emporium and El-Phoenician are offering dining packages with this event. See here for details.
It's been three decades since Sydney institution Golden Century opened its doors in Haymarket. The late-night Chinese restaurant is famed for its unbeatable midnight feasts and the queues of chefs, celebrities, hospo workers and everyday diners that line up to partake into them. And last year, the Golden Century Group announced it will be opening a new restaurant in Darling Square's in late 2019. So, it's been a long time coming, but the group's much-anticipated XOPP by Golden Century has just opened inside the brand new Exchange Building. Those who have eaten at the original restaurant might recognised the name as a homage to its pipis in XO sauce, a dish that's so revered that even David Chang has called it "the best dish in the world". The new 160-seat restaurant is helmed by Billy Wong — son of original owners Eric and Linda — who has developed a more contemporary dining concept that he's hoping will speak to a new generation of casual diners. Most notably, there is a bar serving snacks and smaller dishes alongside cocktails — think XO mayo prawn rolls and chicken liver parfait served with Chinese doughnuts. Oh, and 250 wines. Just as the vibe is different to Golden Century in Chinatown, so is the menu. Chinatown regulars will notice the addition of hiramasa kingfish with finger lime, and a southern rock lobster done in a messy, delicious typhoon shelter-style. Other modern additions include kale and brussels sprouts and a jasmine bubble tea panna cotta. But you can expect to see a few nods to the OG restaurant — including the pipis in XO, of course. [caption id="attachment_742977" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The pipis in XO sauce[/caption] The impressive venue is located on the mezzanine level within Darling Square's striking new six-storey Exchange building designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. The dining room makes use of the circular building with floor-to-ceiling windows that show the timber that wraps around the facade. Inside, it's all very sleek with black ceilings, leather banquettes patterned light fittings. It joins the recently opened Maker's Dozen on the ground floor of the building, which includes a Tokyo-inspired milk bar from the Devon team, a new bar from craft beer specialists Bucket Boys and a Japanese pasta shop from Hamish Ingham and Rebecca Lines of Banksii and Kerby Craig of Ume. The building will also be the new home for Haymarket Library — that's set to open next month, on October 28. The original Golden Century will remain open until 4am each morning as usual — it's even scored a fancy new upstairs 'wine bank' for private dining and events. Along with The Century, which opened at The Star in 2012, this will be the group's third restaurant. XOPP by Golden Century is now open on mezzanine level of The Exchange, 1 Little Pier Street, Darling Square, Haymarket. It's open every day of the week from 11.30am–11pm. Images: Steven Woodburn.
Art Month is looking pretty damn incredible this year. Not only are the city's creative spaces to be blessed by a veritable smorgasbord of artistic talent, but we're also looking at the return of Art at Night, where guests can explore the artistic underbelly of our fine city under the cover of darkness. The Art Month program features a number of talks, tours, exhibitions and contemporary theatre shows happening across a huge number of gallery and creative spaces in Sydney. We've picked out ten of the best things to see and do during Art Month, to save you from becoming overwhelmed. LEARN THE COMPLEX TRADITIONS BEHIND JAPANESE CERAMIC ART In this artist talk at the Japanese Foundation Gallery in Chippendale, two members of the boundary-pushing Japanese art group Ikeyan will discuss modern art, sculpture, function and methods of constructing ceramics according to Japanese tradition. Japanese art holds the form and function of a piece at equal importance. It finds the beauty in crafting everyday objects with care. The two award-winning speakers push the boundaries in ceramics and pottery, and seek to invigorate traditional craftsmanship with their experimental glaze research, new forms, suggestive sculptural works, and functional tableware. VISIT A COLOURFUL EXHIBITION IN CHIPPENDALE Our society as a whole has moved into the digital age, so it's no surprise that art is coming along for the ride. Art is a reflection of our culture, and this is reflected in Genevieve Felix Reynolds' latest exhibition, Vanity Cult. Reynolds' artworks look at the impacts that technology have had on art, especially within the medium of painting. She created geometric versions of historical objects, to comment on the pleasure-seeking immediacy of the post-internet generation. The exhibition is on from February 15 to March 12 in Chippendale. SEE A THOUGHT-PROVOKING PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION Atong Atem is from Melbourne via South Sudan. These two worlds mix in her photographs, which will be on show at the Australian Centre for Photography, in partnership with Customs House. Her textural, colourful and thought-provoking photographs lean on portraiture to explore the behavioural relics of colonialism that still pervades the lives of a dislocated people, and the identities that individuals create. Atem's portraits stare at you, challenging the audience to look at the politics of looking and being looked at. It's a powerful exhibition that explores the interplay of private and public, history and identity. Us is on from February 13 to April 30. EXPLORE FANTASY AND REALITY AT A MYSTICAL EXHIBITION There's something magical in Leah Fraser's work. There's a sense of mysticism that surrounds Within You, Without You, an exhibition on show at the Arthouse Gallery in Rushcutters Bay from March 2 to March 18. Her work blurs the frayed edges between fantasy and reality, and is heavily influenced by the non-corporeal world, from the myths of gods amongst men, stories of our creation, and the beginnings of life in the universe. The characters that appear on the canvas create a story in which they participate, manipulated on the canvas to explore the more complex questions we, as humans, have. LEARN ABOUT THE CHANGING NATURE OF COLLECTING ART The art world has had to change the way that it delivers work, in order to keep up with this rapid shift in information consumption. Click & Collect is a panel discussion between five contemporary artists that examines the changing climate of art and art appreciation, and how the art world has changed with the advent of digital consumption and instant gratification. The informative talk will be a discussion of the changing climate of art collection, in the age of Instagram, social media and smaller art fairs. Five diverse collectors will share their fun, fears and fortunes. [caption id="attachment_609719" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: Jenny Chews.[/caption] GO ON A GUIDED TOUR OF CONGEE BREAKFASTS HAYMARKET Before the Rain, an exhibition currently on show at the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, looks at the power of a nation's people and explores what can be accomplished when we all share a common goal. To complement the exhibition, gallery director Michael Do is taking a small group on a Hong Kong-style breakfast congee tour of Haymarket. At 10am on Saturday March 11, take a 30-minute tour of the congee options in Haymarket and indulge in some of the best dishes in town, before heading to the gallery to take in the exhibition. SEE SOME SURREALIST DINOSAURS WITH BOOBS Art can often be confusing. What does the artist see? What do I see? Is that an arm? I'm not sure, it could be a surrealist pencil leaking out of a pink tap. Art relies on the disjunct between what we see and how we feel, and it's in this uncomfortable confusion that we'll often get lost. Sometimes, though, an artwork is called Booby Dinosaur and that's exactly what it is. This image, among others, is on display at the Newtown ArtSeat, and asks questions about the fluidity of gender, female identity and sexuality. It's on show from March 1 to March 31. TAKE A SECOND LOOK AT ICONIC AUSTRALIAN IMAGERY Max Dupain's iconic photography has become synonymous with Sydney, from the images of the construction of our landmarks, to the simple observation of people at the beaches. Sunbaker (pictured) is one of those works. Taken in 1937, it's a simple image of a man, still wet from the ocean, lays out on the sand and soaks in the sun. The Australian Centre for Photography invited 15 Australian artists to prepare their own response to this iconic photograph as part of an exhibition called Under the Sun. At the ACP, take a look at these artist's own impression of what Sunbaker means to them. WATCH SOME CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE CRIME THEATRE The newest play from rising Japanese playwright Suguru Yamamoto, The Unknown Dancer in the Neighbourhood explores the lives of the residents in a suburb that fringes on the Japanese hinterland. Like so many cities around the world, the suburb is alive by day, bristling with the energy of countless bodies shifting around and ignoring each other. At night, however, the neighbourhood gives way to a cesspool of crime and fear. It's a fusion of dance and theatre, as actor Wataru Kitao uses his body as well as Yamamoto's words to explore the deep histories of the residents of the neighbourhood. This dance theatre and contemporary drama is presented by The Japan Foundation, Sydney at Eternity Playhouse in Darlinghurst. EXPLORE THE ROLE OF ART IN GENDER POLITICS The role of art is to question, and this exhibition of glass and ceramic works assumes its role with great gusto. Domestic Goddess explores the themes surrounding the domestic routine, and how the preparation of the home has been something seen as female-centric throughout history. As well as confronting the issue of gender politics, the exhibition also looks at the way that commercialism has crept into the home, unnoticed, and affects the way we live in our private spaces.
So, you've mastered all the usual yoga poses, and you think you've attempted every variation that there is. Not so fast. There's a style you mightn't have tried, and it's all the rage in Brisbane. That'd be blindfolded yoga, aka one of the main attractions at the Left Brain / Right Brain workshop at Woolloongabba's Princess Theatre on January 29 and 30. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. All that bending and breathing you're familiar with — well, it's about to seem a whole lot different when you're doing it without being able to see anything. Using sensory deprivation to sharpen focus, shift attention inward and heighten instincts is the name of the game, with the trend towards sightless stretching gaining traction around the world for a couple of years. If you're keen to give it a go, you might also want to peruse the rest of the event's program. A sound bath session or other movement and music-oriented mind-expansion techniques, anyone? Of course, we haven't yet mentioned the most exciting part — well, for those a little self-conscious about their form, that is. With a blindfold wrapped around your head, you can't see your exercise classmates and they can't see you either. You don't get that at bikram or disco yoga. For more information, visit the Left Brain / Right Brain website. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
Potentially one of the more important events at this year's Sydney Festival is this posthumous exhibition from Australian Myuran Sukumaran. Now a household name in this country, these works were all created during Sukumaran's incarceration in Bali's Kerobokan Prison. Curated by 2011 Archibald winner Ben Quilty and Campbelltown Arts Centre director Michael Dagostino, Another Day in Paradise displays not only Sukumaran's work, but works by other artists specially commissioned in response to the death penalty. This exhibition brings to the fore the discussion surrounding capital punishment around the world, and opens up a dialogue regarding art, redemption and rehabilitation. This is one of 15 next-level events to see at Sydney Festival. Check out the whole list.
We all love tea. But we all don't want to carry it around with us in a dinky travel mug or the thermos-equivalent of a velour tracksuit. Enter ChaBottle, the bottle making tea a pleasure to port. Australian company Life of Cha is pretty new on the scene, but their ChaBottle is already making waves on Instagram. The bottle is specially designed to allow anyone to brew loose leaf tea anywhere and not cramp their style in the process. It's not just for tea, either; the 2-in-1 infuser lets you brew coffee and fruit infusions as well. You can also forget about burning your hands, thanks to the double glass walls of the bottle. It's a great example of simple yet functional design. If you couldn't already tell, Life of Cha is passionate about tea and the #tealife. Founder Natalie Choprasert was inspired to set up Life of Cha after being disappointed by the teas available in the market. The goal of the company is to "bring excitement and innovation to the industry by creating new ways to enjoy tea" while not losing sight of what's "simple, healthy and great tasting", according to Natalie. A perfect example is Crystal: their natural blue tea made from pandan, lemongrass and butterfly pea that turns from blue to purple when lemon is added. Its high antioxidant levels are linked with all sorts of health benefits, such as improved circulation to the eyes and healthy hair. Not only that, we've also heard that it tastes like fruit loops. Sign us up now. Now here's a girl who knows how to enjoy her afternoon!! @megand3veg is chilling at the park with her 2 x #chabottles ??? Filled with #spiced tea, coconut and almond milk with a dash of raw honey. The other filled with iced water, fresh mint and lime!! Voilà!! Perfection ? What's in your chabottle today?? #monday #freshstart #winter #sydney #drinks A photo posted by Life of Cha (@life.of.cha) on Aug 16, 2015 at 11:02pm PDT Another tea of note is Up; each tea leaf is hand rolled into little pearls and infused with jasmine. It's a favourite of Natalie's, who describes it as "the champagne of all green teas". The array of products available in their online store isn't limited to tea though. There's the stylish ChaBottle and the soon-to-be-released ChaPot. We've all been guilty of letting tea brew for a lot longer than necessary, and this is why we need the ChaPot. "[It] allows you to lift the tea infuser back into the lid to prevent over brewing," says Natalie. The ChaPot will be available in mid/late September 2015. If that wasn't enough work on their plates, they've also started dabbling in tea-infused cocktails like sangria with the Hydrate Sparkler Syrup (a hibiscus flower tea). There's a lot of wellbeing products on the market these days, but Life of Cha's is helping to deliver the message that living healthy doesn't have to be hard. It can be as simple as enjoying a cup of tea that tastes great, does you good and turns purple while you watch. Find out more and shop for Life of Cha products at their website.
Attention all animal lovers, mark your calendars for this month's Cruelty Free Festival. A day-long event that celebrates likeminded anti-cruelty businesses and organisations, the festival is a must for anyone who is dedicated to, or even vaguely interested in, an ethical, possibly vegan lifestyle. This year's festival features a packed program including talks by an illustrious group of speakers (Dallas McCulloch's 'One Ageing Punk Rocker's Guide to Veganism and Fitness on a Budget' is sure to be a hit), live music, an animal art show, a raffle, and a fashion parade. And, who knows, you might even find your fellow animal loving soulmate at the Speed Dating event. Don't forget to bring your appetite — with stalls by Lord of the Fries, Suzy Spoon's Vegetarian Butcher, Space Bars Ice Creamery, Rhubarb Bakes, and many others, you won't go home hungry. In case you haven't heard of them, this is what a Space Bar vegan ice cream sandwich looks like: Images: Rhubarb Bakes, Space Bars.
Practitioners and supporters of the arts danced in protest in capital cities all over Australia today, in response to cuts to the Australia Council, the Australian Government's arts funding and advisory body. During the 2015-16 budget announcement, made on May 12, the Government revealed that $104.7 million will taken away from the Council and sent to a new ‘National Programme for Excellence in the Arts’, to be directed by George Brandis and the Ministry for the Arts. Last night, the Australia Council revealed how it will cope with this financial decimation. And the arts community is reeling. For a start, the June grant round isn’t going ahead. So if you’ve been working on an application, you can stick it in a drawer and keep your fingers crossed for September. Second up, the six-year funding program, which supports medium-sized organisations with continuous funding at the rate of $75,000+ per year, is suspended. It was a brilliant initiative, developed in conversation with the arts sector, which simplified the grant application process by removing piles of red tape. And if you’re an emerging, independent or community-minded artist, your opportunities are now much narrower. Three of the Australia Council’s most important programs in these areas – ArtStart, Creative Communities Partnerships Initiative and Artists in Residence – are all kaput. At the Sydney Writers' Festival today, author Tegan Bennett Daylight encouraged audiences to “think about” this reduction in “arm’s length” funding. On introducing Helen Garner, Daylight read a dedication in Garner’s 1992 novel Cosmo Cosmolino, which thanks the Australia Council for providing her with the funding and time to think and write. More than 7,000 individuals have signed a petition, indicating their opposition to "the dramatic funding cuts to the arts announced in the recent federal budget, including shifting more than $100 million away from The Australia Council", as well as their opinion that "individual arts ministers should not be the exclusive arbiter of artistic expression". Signees include Thomas Keneally, Christos Tsiolkas and J.M. Coetzee. Meanwhile, Circus Oz has expressed its concern in a media statement. As a member of the Major Performing Arts Group, made up of 28 companies, Circus Oz is not in line to lose funding. However, the statement communicated the group's solidarity with, and dependence on, those that will suffer. “Circuz Oz is an active member of the vibrant, yet delicate arts ecosystem. Changes to any part of this ecology can have dramatic affects on all artists creating work for the audiences of Australia. We know, for example, that the success of Circus Oz is built on the incredibly vibrant work of all the individual artists, independent, small and medium companies that are eligible for the funding that has been moved.” Concerned? Sign the Australians for Artistic Freedom petition. Vaguely related art image from the wonderful Underbelly Arts.
Slurpees served from a treehouse? A grass-covered Hobbit-like rooftop? Things are going to get fantastical on the Bondi to Coogee walk this summer. After keeping art lovers fuelled and feasted last year, The Grounds of Alexandria will be popping up again at Sculpture by the Sea in 2015. This time, their temporary cafe will taking its inspiration from the literary endeavours of English authors J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. So be careful about slipping any rings onto your fingers or stepping inside wardrobes. “This year’s Grounds by the Sea is for kids and adults wanting to experience a new adventure and to be transported to a fun and quirky world,” says Ramzey Choker, co-director and creative head of The Grounds. The Grounds isn’t giving away too many details — where would the magic be in that? But we do know they’ve been dreaming and scheming for ages. In fact, for the past six months, they’ve been growing grass specifically for the rooftop. And they’ve also told us that, like any respectable Hobbit home, the pop-up is designed to blend in with its natural surroundings. Food-wise, you can expect healthy, hearty breakfasts and lunches, including legendary The Grounds burgers, slow-cooked lamb shoulder wraps and sausage sandwiches. To match all this deliciousness, there’ll be top-notch drinks like The Grounds' slurpees, served from a purpose-built treehouse. Last year, we chatted to them about building a café in nine days. Check out last year's damn impressive feat here. Grounds by the Sea will be bringing its fantastical fun to Mark’s Park from 7am till 7pm every single day between Thursday 22 October and Sunday 8 November.
Fans of Sydney-based illustrator and graphic designer Harrison Earl will no doubt be eagerly anticipating his second solo show, Black Rainbow, coming up soon at M2 Gallery. In a series of surreal, dreamlike works, Earl's latest exhibition aims to explore the ideas of opposition and contrast. A single recurring character is seen travelling through the artworks, weaving an interconnected story. There's an almost hallucinatory quality to the series. Think eerie floating bodies suspended mid-air and giant heads looming in hazy, candy-pink skies. Apparently this is totally unlike anything Earl has done before — he doesn't usually focus on painting. Definitely one to see if you like your art on the surreal side and with a strong comic book vibe. If you're not familiar with him already, you can check out Earl's Instagram and get a feel for his style. Black Rainbow opens on Thursday June 8 from 6-9pm and then continues until Tuesday, June 20. Pop in between 12 and 6pm. Image: Harrison Earl (2017).
As much as Mardi Gras is about the party and the parade, it just wouldn't be Mardi Gras without Fair Day. Every year, up to 80,000 folks descend on Camperdown Memorial Rest Park for a day that's half picnic, half party. You'll want to bust out your brightest colours because being the only person who didn't dress up really sucks. This year, there'll live performances from DJ Kitty Glitter, legend of drag Hannah Conda and a whole load more, over 200 stalls for food, bevvies and other delights, plus your favourite four-legged buddy can experience life in the spotlight at Doggywood. It's going to be a whole bunch of fun. Image: Jeffrey Feng for SGLMG 2016.
Dating can be pretty tiring, but meeting a fellow dog lover is rather effortless. The speed dating experts at Dear Pluto know this better than any, so they've teamed up with animal welfare charity Maggie's Rescue to combine pups and love and bring us a rather smart dating idea. Puppy Love is the hopeless romantic, dog-loving, human-loving speed dating social. For an entire three hours you can hang out with a collection of pups while mingling with eligible singles between the ages of 22 and 38. You don't have to have a dog to attend, but you're encouraged to bring them along if you do. Alternatively, Maggie's Rescue will have plenty of rescue pups for you to cuddle. There'll also be beer and burger breaks between dates. And hey, if things don't go as planned, you can always follow your furry friend's lead and play dead.
For Back to Back Theatre, a Geelong-based company renowned for pushing the envelope with their award-winning productions, a play about death is hardly outside the comfort zone. Lady Eats Apple is the company's newest production — and it's their most daring work to date. Taking the audience on an awe-inspiring, thought-provoking journey from the beginning of time to the present day, the performance is an otherworldly trip that engulfs you in a world of tragedy. The concept for the play emerged when Simon Laherty, one of Back to Back Theatre's six ensemble members, suggested the company devise a tragedy for their next production. The rest of the team took to the idea immediately, says artistic director Bruce Gladwin. "Death is always a confronting topic but it's also something every single person eventually has to come to terms with, so we decided to run with the idea and see where we landed." Lady Eats Apple premiered in Melbourne last year and will be performed at Carriageworks throughout March. From the set to the score, nothing about the play conforms to expectations. When the audience arrive at the theatre they are ushered into a massive inflatable black bubble, where everyone is given their own headset through which the play's dialogue and score are transmitted. "The idea was to create a visual and aural environment that would approximate the experience of death," Gladwin explains. Within this otherworldly black bubble — which has contours and colours that change strikingly at the end of each act — the play unfolds. Divided into three loosely-connected parts, each act focuses on a death of some sort. The performance begins heavy in dialogue, then plunges the audience into an ethereal world where long wordless scenes are accompanied by a soaring score. Themes of genesis, near-death experiences and reflections on humanity appear, before the final act brings the audience starkly back to the real world and the present day. Although Lady Eats Apple deals with a difficult subject, Gladwin assures it's done in a way that makes the production accessible to almost anyone. "If you're between the ages of 11 and dead, this is the play is for you," he says. Gladwin, who received the Australia Council for the Arts Inaugural Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre in 2015, hopes that the structure, themes and the abstract and hallucinatory nature of the performance will leave the audience spinning. "Ultimately as a theatre director, you hope your audience has some sort of transformational moment, leaving the theatre slightly altered from who they were when they walked in," he says. "It seems very high stakes," he adds laughingly, "but that's ultimately the goal." If you're yet to experience a Back to Back Theatre production, Lady Eats Apple will be a stellar introduction to how the company — whose ensemble features actors with perceived intellectual disabilities — continues to redefine contemporary theatre. "We've always made idiosyncratic art," Gladwin says. "It's what first attracted me to the company in the early 1990s and what keeps me inspired today." Lady Eats Apple will be performed at Carriageworks from 16-18 March, 2017 — get your tickets here.
Since their inception in late 2012, Seattle-based electronic duo Odesza have stunning the been consistently pumping out smooth-listening, R&B infused melodies. They've mastered the art of shimmery, emotion-laden beats, with loveable vocal riffs that are just easy to dance to as they are to kick back and laze a day away with. They're the power couple of the electro-synth world, and they're about to hit Australian shores to trance our capital cities with their addictive sounds. In the two years they've been together, Odesza racked up two full length albums, an EP and a few remixes under their belts. Their first album Summer's Gone stood out in a crowd of competing electro albums for showing off not just beats, but startlingly dreamy songs. From the album, songs 'How Did I Get Here' and 'iPlayYouListen' instantly leapt to #1 on the Hype Machine Chart, and with their success came a flock of pilgrims ready to pay homage to new greats on the international electronic music scene. Their brand new album In Return reaps a number of catchy, soulful tunes, namely 'Say My Name' and 'Bloom', which have been flacked with positive reviews from avid listeners and reviewers alike. To celebrate a new album, and the ever-growing attention swamping these electro-savants, Odesza will be making their way around the country for a series of beats-heavy gigs. Supported by Charles Murdoch.
If you're looking for a raging block party, St Leonards is probably the last place you'd look. But for James Winter from Brand X, who run the area's TWT Creative Precinct, a night of hardcore cabaret and female-led artistry on Friday, March 20, is just about the best way to wrestle a sleepy suburb into the hands The Artist. Most of us wouldn't have put St Leonards at the top of our list for pushing the artistic envelope. But James Winter tells us St Leonards has a history of creativity that seems to have fallen by the wayside. "The history of St Leonards is that it was a place of publications, graphic art and also broadcasting in the '60s, '70s, '80s." As Winter tells it, the TWT Creative Precinct is bringing all of this back. The TWT Creative Precinct has been running in St Leonards for six months now. Through a partnership with property developer Auswin TWT, they've taken empty commercial spaces and put them into the hands of emerging artists to use for free as part of short-term residencies or for cheap hire. "At this stage we've got eight studios that range from live music recording and rehearsal studios, to dance studios, to bike workshops to print press to visual arts studios," says Winter. Brand X has been running similar projects across Sydney for a decade, including the popular FraserStudios initiative that emerged from the Kent Brewery development, now Central Park and a lively Chippendale Creative Precinct. For Winter these projects are about more than just giving artists space to emerge; it's about putting the future of Sydney's suburbs in the hands of the public. After two years of the TWT Creative Precinct, development continues, but with (hopefully) a new sense of community ownership and engagement. "We're transforming a very sleepy, a very deserted area very, very slowing into something that the community has access to," he says. "So I love the idea of we're making private property now public property again ... we're returning the power back to people to be able to take control of their neighbourhoods." This Friday night the TWT Creative Precinct will be celebrating six months of success with a night full of cabaret, body painting, a new laneway cinema and artists strutting their stuff. "The block party this time is going to be a little different," promises Winter, "This block party is getting a little bit wilder." "I wanted to program experiences ... that maybe the people of St Leonards don't have access to," he says. "We're initiating a dive bar, where we've got lots of cabaret performance, which probably is going to be really hardcore cabaret kind of stuff, stuff that maybe is a little bit alternative, a little bit queer. I really wanted to provide that for St Leonards as a little cheeky tip of the hat to an alternative underground culture that we hope will be using our studios in the future." "We've locked all of the dirty stuff into the dive bar," he laughs. He promises that this Friday it will female artists taking the lead. "We've got a significant amount of female performance in the dive bar, plus also quite a lot of the exhibitions are created by female visual artists ... The beautiful thing is that we were able to commission Jodee Knowles to do the second of our mural projects in Atchison lane. That was really important for me to commission a female street artist, being that it's quite male dominated. She's done a beautiful work that she is just completing at the moment that will be revealed on the Friday." So get over to St Leonards, where you can have a drink, take in some cabaret and shout "power to the people" at every possible opportunity. It's all happening on Friday, March 20, from 6pm. Images: TWT Creative Precinct
Pinbone's great Kensington pop-up might have just wrapped up over the weekend, but the good news is that fans won't be left hanging for long. The pop-up pros have already announced their next culinary venture, which will see them (surprisingly) teaming up with Merivale and taking over an unlikely space within the Tennyson Hotel, which the group acquired for $37.5 million last year. The Botany Road pub's drive-through bottle shop is set to be transformed into Mr Liquor Dirty Italian Disco, as Pinbone chefs Mike Eggert and Jemma Whiteman turn their focus to American-accented Italian fare. In true bottle shop-style, guests will be able to select their own booze out of the walk-in fridge. What's not so typical is that they'll then be able to order food at the counter and pull up a chair at one of the 90 seats set up in the driveway. It's all kicking off in October, with Eggert promising a food situation that's "fun and fast, simple and delicious". Expect everything from pasta and bruschetta, to succulent meats from the wood-fired oven and grill. The venture is another new direction for the Pinbone trio, who, after running their much-loved Woollahra eatery and doing a takeover at 10 William Street, were most recently doing exceptional Chinese food in a no-frills restaurant space on Anzac Parade. Mr Liquor Dirty Italian Disco by Pinbone and Merivale, will pop-up at the Tennyson Hotel, 952 Botany Road, Mascot. It'll take over the pub's drive-in for six months, starting this October. We'll keep you updated with more info and an opening date.
What starts with a slice of New Zealand comedy, ends with one of this year's Sundance hits, and will screen no fewer than 326 films from 65 countries across its 12-day 65th-anniversary run? That'd be this year's Sydney Film Festival, which takes place from June 6 to 17 across the city — and, 28 days before the big event (yes, we're counting), has just revealed its huge 2018 lineup. SFF had already announced that The Breaker Upperers would kick off this year's program, getting the event into gear with plenty of laughs. It'll also finish up proceedings with humour thanks to closing night film Hearts Beat Loud, which stars Nick Offerman as a record store-owning dad spending time with his budding musician daughter (Kiersey Clemons) before she heads off to college. Apart from the glitzy bookend events, SFF's biggest news this year stems from its annual competition, which is now in its 11th year. Twelve films will compete for the $60,000 Sydney Film Prize, with six of them boasting female directors. At a time when women's roles in the film industry have finally become a significant topic of conversation, that's a welcome statistic. With that in mind, highlights range from Sundance grand jury prize winner The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Berlinale hit Daughter of Mine, to Leave No Trace from Winter's Bone director Debra Granik and bewitching Bali-shot effort The Seen and Unseen. Other notable competition entries include world premiering Australian drama Jirga, about an Aussie solider returning to Afghanistan; Berlinale standouts such as Aga, Transit and The Heiresses; documentary Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. about, well, M.I.A; and Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, the true tale of an African-American cop who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, which comes to Sydney straight from Cannes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8oYYg75Qvg While SFF usually adds a number of straight-from-Cannes flicks to the lineup in the days before opening night, the existing program already includes a few films that are making their debuts in France. 3 Faces, the latest feature from iconic Iranian director Jafar Panahi (Tehran Taxi) is one of them, as is as Japanese animation Mirai, from me Wolf Children filmmaker Mamoru Hosoda. Also jumping from the Croisette to Sydney is the 188-minute-long The Wild Pear Tree, the follow-up to 2014 Palme d'Or winner Winter Sleep by Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan. And, then there's Rafiki, the first-ever Kenyan film screened at Cannes — and a movie that's been banned in its homeland due to its lesbian love story. Elsewhere, You Were Never Really Here stars Joaquin Phoenix in his 2017 Cannes best actor-winning role, as directed by We Need to Talk About Kevin's Lynne Ramsay — and Phoenix also puts in a vastly different but equally excellent performance in Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, where he plays real-life cartoonist John Callahan. Or, catch the Jon Hamm-starring espionage flick Beirut, new doco Whitney about the ill-fated pop queen, online thriller Searching, Lav Diaz's four-hour rock-opera Season of the Devil, or what's certain to be the dottiest and brightest film in the whole lineup: Kusama — Infinity, the documentary about Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE-ycxu_-Oo Plus, Aussie talent will shine in the likes of Juliet, Naked, the Nick Hornby adaptation featuring Rose Byrne opposite Ethan Hawke and Chris O'Dowd; Upgrade, the John Wick-esque effort from Recovery star turned Saw writer and Insidious filmmaker Leigh Whannell (who'll also be in town to chat about the film); and murder thriller Piercing with Mia Wasikowska. Still on the local front, SFF will screen Australian biker effort 1%, featuring Ryan Corr and Matt Nable; the Melbourne-shot father-son drama West of Sunshine; and the Shane Jacobson-starring black comedy Brothers' Nest. Soda Jerk's Aussie movie mashup Terror Nullius is an absolute must-see, while the festival's documentary competition once again boasts a range of local factual efforts — such as the previously announced ode to boy band fans everywhere, I Used to be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story. Throw in SFF's Aki Kaurismäki retrospective, a spotlight on Italian films, two episodes of the Mark Strong-starring TV series Deep State, and an exploration of the intersection of art and cinema, and the 2018 Sydney Film Festival is shaping up to be a jam-packed affair. Also part of the program are returning strands like the horror-focused Freak Me Out, Sounds on Screen which highlights movies about music, a virtual reality showcase at the festival hub, Screenability's platform for screen practitioners with a disability, and a ten-movie exploration of female filmmakers from Europe. And, of course, the fest already dropped a huge bunch of titles last month. The 2018 Sydney Film Festival will run from June 6 to 17. To peruse the full program and to buy tickets, head to the festival website.
Themed restaurants are a hard beast to master. Go too broad and you end up with a gaudy monstrosity that may one day fade into kitschiness, but go too niche and you might strangle the market. But the best themed restaurants are the ones where you don’t even realise there is a theme, which is exactly the deal with Restaurant Hubert. Sydney’s newest restaurant is coming to you from the mighty Swillhouse group (The Baxter Inn, Frankie’s Pizza, Shady Pines Saloon) and is set to open early February on Bligh Street. The theme? That elusive feeling you get when you’re waiting to enjoy something. Weird right? Bear with us. According to the Swillhouse group and reported by Australian Bartender, the place is designed to feel cramped, claustrophobic and gnarly; more like the bar where you wait for your table than the dining room itself. The theme, we suppose, is that delicious feeling of anticipation. Hubert's design aims to create a sense of movement and be a social place where people can eat and meet. Perhaps not so appropriate for an intimate, romantic dinner for two but certainly an excellent idea for every other social occasion. The menu is still to be determined, but will reportedly be "French-ish" and the whole vibe entirely European (think jazz, think wood, think burgundy leather). And as with all of the Swillhouse venues — especially The Baxter Inn — there’s a big emphasis on tasty booze. At Hubert, wine is king. The same flair for the dramatic that makes Baxter's basement whisky den so enchanting will be carried over in the form of a wine balcony (aren’t all balconies wine balconies though?) that you can send your sommelier scuttling up to retrieve your choice of nectar. Restaurant Hubert, you’ve certainly piqued our interest; we can’t wait to see what you’ve got. Find Restaurant Hubert at 15 Bligh Street, Sydney. Opening early February. Via Australian Bartender. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
If Black Swan didn't make the ballet world look tough enough, the boys from The Dream are sure to fix that. The Australian Ballet has been putting its dancers through their paces ahead of the company's launch of the production early next month. A fascinating rendition of Shakespeare's iconic A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Dream is part of a triple bill of works by leading 20th-century choreographer Frederick Ashton at his spectacular best. Expect magic and musicality, and did we mention men en pointe? Forget boys in tutus, these guys are throwing everything you think you know about this elegant art form out the window. Hopping and bounding across the stage for the role of Bottom, coryphée Christopher Rodgers-Wilson gives the warts-and-all goss on what it takes to transform into this loveable, eccentric donkey. TURNING THE TABLES A hulking pair of hairy legs en pointe is a rarity in ballet, where the technique is usually reserved for female dancers. There is a bit of history of men taking part in the practice — specialised companies, such as the American all-male drag parody group Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, do it regularly, while unorthodox roles have seen guys slip into these satin numbers on a variety of occasions. "There has been a previous production of Cinderella with the Australian Ballet with Stanton Welch which had the stepsisters played by males en pointe," tells Rodgers-Wilson. So The Dream is not the first to ask this of its males, but for audiences, the sight is still a novelty. A wonderful, muscly-calved novelty. THE BALLET MISTRESS, PILATES AND GETTING STARTED EN POINTE Professional ballerinas make tiptoe twirling look like a walk in the park, but years of gruelling training goes into perfecting the positions of their satin-wrapped trotters. Despite a lifetime of stage experience, Rodgers-Wilson had to go back to the barre to tackle the fundamentals with the help of conditioning coaches and London's Royal Ballet heavyweight Christopher Carr to pull this off. "We actually learnt a lot of the ballet, the steps, late last year in December ... just in our normal, flat shoes to get a feel for what we actually needed to do," says Rodgers-Wilson. With two decades of pointe expertise from the company's (amazingly titled) ballet mistress and rehabilitation specialist Megan Connelly at the ready, the guys were then taken through their paces lying down on a humble Pilates reformer to learn "how to manipulate the shoes without your full body weight". MAKING THE SLIPPER FIT The next step towards the stage saw these boys head off for a spot of shopping (of the less conventional variety). Acquiring the all-important shoes proved to be no mean feat. "[There] can be slight little discrepancies in the shape," says Rodgers-Wilson. "You do find some pairs that you pop on and you find that they’re really great straight away and there are other pairs that are just not going to work". Then it's time to really strap in. Many hours of sewing, scraping and softening later, and each dancer's perfect pair was born. These adjustments can have more of an impact than you'd think. "That’s been one of the biggest challenges for me," says Rodgers-Wilson, "working out how best to prepare the shoes before you actually get en pointe, because being comfortable and feeling like you can work your feet and manipulate the shoe is really important. Sometimes the way the shoe breaks down, it can end up pulling you off pointe ... like you’re working extra hard just to stay up." And the bloody battle scars? A veteran in the way of bumps and blisters, Rodgers-Wilson says "I think we’ve all found that our feet are stronger for [dancing en pointe], aside from the odd sore toenail or odd bruise here and there." AND JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU'D SEEN IT ALL: A GIANT HEAD The Australian Ballet doesn't do things by halves. Those learning the role of Bottom have been dealt the short straw in terms of challenging costuming. Not only will they be dancing en pointe, they'll be doing it from inside a life-size donkey mask. "The first time," Rodgers-Wilson says, "it’s like shutting your eyes and standing on one leg a little bit." With vision blocked to the point of obscurity, dancers can "sort of see out the donkey’s nostrils", making mastering this new skill about as challenging as it gets. But for these guys, obstacles like this are de rigueur. "Gradually it feels more and more normal ... and obviously, practice makes perfect". BALLET FOR THE NON-BELIEVER Aside from the novelty of boys en pointe, The Dream packs a serious punch in the way of performances. Bringing Shakespeare's most magical work to contemporary audiences, think of this as the perfect first-taste of ballet for anyone who's never dared step foot inside the Opera Theatre. "It’s got a beautiful variety," says Rodgers-Wilson. "It’s dramatic and funny and there’s magic and it's got all these beautiful elements." Throw in compositions by Felix Mendelssohn, plus a choir of singers tucked away beneath the stage, and this show guarantees a seriously surreal theatre experience that will say with you long after you've left your seat. The Dream opens on Wednesday, April 29, at the Sydney Opera House. Tickets range from $19 to $189 + bf and can be purchased online from the Opera House website.
With the American political system in a state of flux, and the Obama years coming to an end, John Robenstone's latest exhibition, In the Time of Hope, could not be better timed. The Melbourne-based photographer moved to Los Angeles in 2008 and spent the first years of the Obama presidency capturing daily life on the city's streets. The result is a moving collection that shows American society in all its complexity and probes the idea of the American dream, as vibrant colours contrast with decaying roads, littered streets, and rundown motels. A testament to photography's power to capture complex realities, this exhibit is an absolute must-see. In the Time of Hope runs November 22 to December 4. Opening night November 24 6-9pm.
Sydneysiders have been stepping things right up in 2015. Our bars are more groundbreaking and imaginative, our events more brilliant and immersive, and our restaurants more inventive and experimental. With new openings left, right and centre, Sydney is more vibrant, playful and fun than it ever has been. At Concrete Playground we encourage exploration and showcase innovation in our city every day, so we thought it fitting to reward those most talented whippersnappers pushing Sydney to be a better, braver city. And so, we are very pleased to announce Concrete Playground's Best of 2015 awards. Sydney's restaurants that have been recreating the city one dish at a time — quite literally, in the case of Bennelong's mini pavlova ode to the Opera House. Our cafes that continue to redefine our coffee breaks, from crab cake sandwiches to house-brewed coffee lemonade. Our bars that have been reclaiming the night in the face of prevailing lockout laws, one solid negroni at a time; from entire spritz menus to cigarette-inspired cocktails, sharp Japanese whisky joints to Sydney's first distillery in 160 years. And our new (or renewed) pubs that have the biggest hurdle to face — history. Renovating a pub is one thing, but creating a new local is an art. Sydney's new event producers that have found new ways to celebrate Sydney life, reinvigorating dwindling or hidden spaces, and taking us on wild adventures in our own home. Our savvy business minds that have been hard at work inventing and developing the nifty new gadgets, services and products we can't stop talking about. From SmartCups to crowdfunded gin, anything-goes delivery services to alternative gym passes, local businesses have been making our lives much easier this year. Click through for the nominations for: Best New Bar Best New Restaurant Best New Cafe Best New Pub Best New Event Best New Product These 36 outstanding Sydney (or Sydney-based) ventures have been handpicked by CP for a combination of their originality, innovation, creativity, accessibility and sustainability — we straight-up love 'em. Winners will be announced Monday, December 21.
If you're heading to New Zealand's Christchurch region for a short holiday, you can't leave without going bungy jumping. There are plenty of opportunities to get your adrenaline going, so why not live on the wild side of life? Experience breathtaking views of the Southern Alps, beautiful coastal vistas and lush green forest while you get reacquainted with the thrill-seeking side of yourself. If you're into the kind of fun that leaves your stomach in knots, then this guide will not disappoint. The adrenaline-junkie kiwis seem to know a thing or two about going on an adventure. TACKLE THE RAPIDS IN HANMER SPRINGS Drive for 90 minutes to Hanmer Springs and book yourself in for a white water rafting adventure. You'll find yourself situated within a stunning mountain range, with pink marble land formations heading all the way down the Waiau River canyon. The rapids are Grade 2 in Hanmer Springs, so expect medium-size rapids and low drops with waves less than a metre high. After all the twists, turns and drops you can still get your fair share of serenity — Hanmer Springs is known for its beautiful blue water and stunning scenery. Don't forget to pack something to swim in, there's no doubt you're going to want to relax with a swim at the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools after a day out on the rapids. Even adrenaline junkies need some time to chill out. GO JET BOATING IN WAIMAKARIRI GORGE The Waimakariri River, translating to 'cold water' in Māori, is the home of jet boating in Christchurch, with canyons, gorges, rock faces and native forest lining an adventure trail through the water. You can choose between a 30- or 60-minute jet boating adventure in the beautiful blue water — expect 360-degree spins, hairpin turns and a high-speed ride that'll get your heart racing. The Waimakariri river is 90 minutes from Christchurch, but Alpine Jet organises transfers that pick you up from the city and drop you back when the day is done. Because there are so many beautiful rivers in the Christchurch region, there are many places to go jet boating. Another option is at Hanmer Springs. Once you've tested the strength of your stomach there'll be plenty of opportunities to sit back and take in the fresh air in both locations — catch a glimpse of the snow-capped Southern Alps if you're lucky. BUNGY JUMP AMID STUNNING SCENERY You're heading to New Zealand, which means you're going to want to throw yourself from a tall structure connected to an elastic cord — this is the home of bungy jumping after all. Why not let yourself free fall from a bridge for 35 metres towards a surging river to get the blood pumping and the bones jumping? It's an adrenaline rush like no other and one that you're bound to get addicted to. The idyllic Hanmer Springs Bungy, 90 minutes from Christchurch, is the perfect spot for first timers who may need to distract themselves with stunning scenery before taking a leap of faith. MOUNTAIN BIKE THE EDGE OF THE CITY The Christchurch region's beautiful scenery and stunning mountains make it an ideal destination for avid mountain bikers. There are many cycling tracks to discover, but the Port Hills is one of Christchurch's best kept secrets and one of our favourites. With its dramatic landscape of tussock grasslands and rugged mountain terrain, it's easy to see why. Ten different trails in this area each have their own unique highlights — and they're perfect for both new and experienced riders. The new Christchurch Adventure Park is another mountain biking option. The huge trails inside range in difficulty — from beginner courses to those designed for experts only. If you're new to mountain biking and want to learn some skills in a safe environment, head here. It's the biggest mountain biking path in the Southern Hemisphere — you won't be short on space. FLY THROUGH THE ADRENALIN FOREST If you consider yourself to be a little bit of a George of the Jungle, here's your chance to prove yourself in the tree tops. A 20-minute drive from Christchurch is the Adrenalin Forest, a two-kilometre aerial obstacle course set in the beautiful Spencer Park. We can't promise you'll have the opportunity to hang from vines, but there's more than enough to keep you challenged with over 100 activities and six courses to sink your teeth into. If you're a real adrenaline junkie, tackle the high-wire course. It's not quite walking between the twin towers Man On Wire-style, but you're sure to get up to 20 metres into the forest canopy — that's at least two or three stories off the ground and more than enough to get you shaking in your boots.
Crusaders for saving Sydney's nightlife Keep Sydney Open have issued the battle cry once again, announcing another large-scale rally in Sydney on Sunday, October 9. Protesting NSW's controversial lockout laws and Justice Ian Callinan's (honestly pretty general) liquor law review, released by the NSW Government yesterday, the KSO rally will reiterate the sentiment that fuelled their huge February rally that saw around 15,000 Sydneysiders take to the CBD streets. "It's good to finally hear what Sydneysiders have already known for a long time, that these laws are putting Sydney's reputation as a dynamic, international city at risk," says Keep Sydney Open founder Tyson Koh. "We shouldn't have to settle for lock-them-up-and-throw-away-the-key policy solutions, when only an hour's flight away Melbourne has created a safe and dynamic nightlife with a cool-headed smart policy." "With each passing day the lockouts are in place, Sydney's cultural life is damaged, small businesses are jeopardised and our internationally recognised artistic talent is finding it harder to be paid for their work", said Koh. "A thirty minute extension misses the point, that Sydney wants policy that encourages safe and vibrant nightlife at anytime. Major cities around the world can do it and we can too." Keep Sydney Open will hold a rally in Sydney's CBD at 12pm on October 9. Here's the Facebook event if you're keen to attend. Image: Kimberley Low.
What, you haven't just spent two weeks watching movies in the snow with celebrities? Sadly, us neither. But just because we can't all head to a film festival in Utah and hang out with Robert Redford, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the main attractions — or at least hope that we can in the near future. Since the one-time on-screen Sundance Kid first started his celebration of movies in 1978, the festival has given many of your favourite filmmakers and films their big breaks. Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies and Videotape, Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, and Darren Aronofsky’s Pi all debuted there, as did Clerks, The Blair Witch Project, Donnie Darko, Napoleon Dynamite, Moon, What We Do in the Shadows and Animal Kingdom. Like Paul Thomas Anderson or Wes Anderson? They worked their way through Sundance’s short film section. Last year, three big hits of the festival went on to bigger things, including the AACTA Award for Best Film and likely Oscars later this month. We’re talking about The Babadook, Boyhood and Whiplash, all of which premiered at Sundance 2014. The Babadook has wowed critics around the world, and just days ago shared Australia’s top film prize, also winning best director for Jennifer Kent in her own right. At the upcoming Academy Awards, Boyhood director Richard Linklater and supporting actress Patricia Arquette top the odds for their respective fields, as does the film in the best picture category. Whiplash’s JK Simmons is expected to take out the best supporting actor award for playing the jazz drumming teacher that frightened us all. Without a crystal ball, we don't if this year’s crop of Sundance features will have the same success, but we do know this: there are plenty of movies from the festival’s 2015 slate that we want to see. Some are guaranteed, thanks to local distribution. More than a couple will pop up at the Sydney and Melbourne film festivals mid-year. Others might earn a DVD, VOD or streaming release. A rare few — ’71, It Follows, and White God — have already screened at Aussie fests. Regardless, we’ve selected ten we hope Australian audiences get the chance to watch, and named some more we’ll also be looking out for. MISTRESS AMERICA If any film was guaranteed to make our list, it is this one — and with good reason. Who didn’t love the combination of writer/director Noah Baumbach and writer/actress Greta Gerwig in the delightful Frances Ha, their version of a quarter-life crisis comedy filtered through a black-and-white homage to French New Wave? And who doesn’t want to see them do it all again, this time jumping back to the troubles of college years with Lola Kirke, sister of Girls’ Jemima Kirke? The answer to both those questions is no one. If you’re not convinced, the synopsis promises cat-stealing. What more could you want? Also watch out for: Greta Gerwig also features in Eden, Mia Hansen-Løve’s journey through the French house music scene of the early 1990s and beyond. THE END OF THE TOUR One of the most talked about films of the festival sees Jason Segel leave How I Met Your Mother long behind to turn into acclaimed author David Foster Wallace. In 1996 after the publication of his groundbreaking novel Infinite Jest, Wallace agreed to be interviewed for five days by Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky, who is played here by Jesse Eisenberg. Following on from Sundance hits Smashed and The Spectacular Now, director James Ponsoldt delves into the story that was never published in the magazine, but did fuel Lipsky’s memoir after Wallace’s suicide. The movie itself is earning considerable acclaim, as are the two central performances. Also watch out for: Taking out the dramatic category double of Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award that Whiplash achieved last year, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a teen cancer comedy hopefully worlds away from The Fault in Our Stars. DOPE Dope tells you that it is great in its title — and if the buzz coming out of the festival is accurate, such bragging should be believed. That’s not just because of the retro ‘90s vibe that sees a high school geek sport a high-top fade and wear Cross-Colours, nor because of the DIY punk meets YouTube aesthetic. What excites is that this underdog coming-of-age film is being called the ultimate teen movie for '90s kids, as well as earning comparisons to greats gone by. Most of the young actors won’t be familiar, not that it matters, but you will spot The Grand Budapest Hotel’s lobby boy Tony Revolori among the cast. Also watch out for: Seoul Searching, a 1980s-set Korean teen comedy that pays homage to the films of John Hughes, and The Diary of a Teenage Girl, set in the counterculture haze of the 1970s. KNOCK KNOCK It’s okay, Keanu fans: you’re finally cool again. It's about time! John Wick readjusted the way everyone now thinks of the man beloved as Ted, Neo and Johnny Utah, and Knock Knock keeps him in the same dark, violent territory. The film shares a few storyline similarities with Reeves’ most recent hit, as a happy life unravels once again after strangers come calling; however, here director Eli Roth is in the driver’s seat. It might not be quite like the filmmaker’s unsettling Hostel or his recent cannibalism homage The Green Inferno, but expect to feel disturbed during this psychological horror effort. Also watch out for: Two ten-year-olds take a police vehicle for a joyride in Cop Car, but have Kevin Bacon to contend with. THE WOLFPACK No, this isn’t about the gang of annoying guys in The Hangover movies — and thank goodness for that. In The Wolfpack, six brothers grow up in the confines of a New York City apartment, watching movies and re-enacting them with elaborate props and costumes. Film is their teacher, friend and window to the outside world, in a scenario that would probably be hilarious if it wasn’t real. Yes, Crystal Moselle’s effort is a documentary, winning the field’s Grand Jury Prize, in fact. Given extraordinary access into the family's lives and their home movies, she tells the tale of children literally raised by the movies. Also watch out for: Canada’s Guy Maddin pays homage to the lost movies of the silent era in The Forbidden Room, with the off-kilter assistance of Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Rampling and Udo Kier. SLOW WEST Michael Fassbender plays a mysterious stranger. Australia’s Kodi Smit-McPhee is a 17-year-old Scottish aristocrat. They meet on the untamed American frontier towards the end of the 19th century as the latter tries to find his lost love, and the former helps him traverse his troubles. Shot in New Zealand by first-time filmmaker John Maclean, Slow West delves into a genre too little seen these days, the western, and impressed Sundance attendees in the process. Not that you need any more cause for excitement, but did we also mention that it won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema – Dramatic category? Also watch out for: Another film hailing from New Zealand, Turbo Kid sounds a bit like BMX Bandits meets Tank Girl meets every ‘80s synth-scored sci-fi flick, and that can only be a very good thing. KURT COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK Some can remember where they were when they heard the news of Kurt Cobain's death. Others discovered Nirvana’s grungy tunes afterward. Either way, the story of the singer has entranced several generations for multiple decades, and shows no signs of fading. Brett Morgen, the filmmaker behind the also excellent The Kid Stays in the Picture, delves into the man rather than the music after spending eight years — yes, you read that correctly — sifting through private journals, recordings and home movies. This isn’t the usual rock star biography, but something much more intimate and revelatory. Also watch out for: Another personal effort that challenges expectations, fictional transgender sex-trade film Tangerine was shot almost entirely on an iPhone. DIGGING FOR FIRE Mumblecore maestro Joe Swanberg has been knocking it out of the park of late, as anyone who saw Drinking Buddies and Happy Christmas knows. Could he be three for three in his adventure into more mainstream fare? With Digging for Fire, starring and co-written by New Girl’s Jake Johnson, it certainly sounds like it. The film tells of a husband and wife on separate adventures over an unusual weekend. Rosemarie DeWitt, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Jennie Slate, Melanie Lynskey, Sam Rockwell, Chris Messina, Ron Livingston, Mike Birbiglia and Orlando Bloom also pop up, in a cast any movie wishes it had. Also watch out for: Reviews have been mixed for Results, but fans of Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess will be keen to see his next film, starring Cobie Smulders and Guy Pearce. THE WITCH The Witch is yet another award winner, this time recognised in the dramatic category for its direction by debut filmmaker Robert Eggers. In horror movies, New England is perhaps best known for its association with the 1692 trials in Salem, Massachusetts; however, colonial farm life generations prior is the focus, as recreated in painstaking detail in the name of historical realism. Given the setting and the title, superstition plays a large part in proceedings, but the usual account of the occult this ain't. Anxieties, myths, inherent malevolent traits and sources of hidden menace come to the fore, helped by a creeping camera and ominous score. Also watch out for: Similarly steeped in its sense of place, Last Days in the Desert lets Ewan McGregor play both Jesus and the devil. SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE A sex addicts' meeting morphs into one of the age-old movie dilemmas: can platonic friendship exist between men and women? In Sleeping with Other People, Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis are college lovers who reconnect to put the question to the test, but while it may sound a bit like When Harry Met Sally, this isn't your standard rom-com. Writer/director Leslye Headland’s Bachelorette was divisive a few years back, but whether you loved it or not, the premise and roster of talent here is certain to pique your interest. Adam Scott, Amanda Peet, Natasha Lyonne and The League’s Jason Mantzoukas also feature. Also watch out for: In The Overnight, Adam Scott fools around with Taylor Schilling and Jason Schwartzman in another adult-oriented sex comedy.
If ever you needed an excuse to bunk off work on a winter Wednesday, get your doc to write Pokemon Go get-together on your certificate. Sydney Opera House is hosting a Poke-gathering on Wednesday between 12pm-2pm, so you should start practicing your sick voice now (and probably gear up for a job hunt). The Opera House has pledged to load up their adjacent Poke stops with lures for two hours and let the crowd go nuts. But they're not the first ones to capitalise on the game's extreme global popularity (or the attraction of a well-placed lure). Events have been popping up all over the country, from Poke-walks, Poke-pub crawls, Poke-parties ("We suggest you have Nurse Joy on standby Saturday morning, this is going to be big,"), to Pokemon Go social groups — there are contingents in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, Perth and some even localised to specific suburbs. Local businesses are also jumping on the Pokemon Go bandwagon. A Chinese restaurant in Melbourne has offering up to 30 percent off for Pokemon Go players with specific Pokemon, Virgin Australia is offering free charging at all their stores, and local businesses are scrambling to nab some of the foot traffic with the Pokemon Go-ers. Niantic Labs have recently confirmed that one of the new features as the game develops will be sponsored Pokestops (McDonalds is rumoured to be one such stop), which brings with it a new range of possibility (and corporate sponsorship) for players (we just desperately hope it means some sort of Jigglypuff-themed McFlurry). Image: Flickr.
When news dropped of Sydney getting its own burger festival, many of you understandably lost your collective shit. And by many, we mean tens of thousands of you. When Hashtag Burgers announced the glorious, glorious news of the very first Burgapalooza back in February, over 10,000 clicked 'attending' on Facebook. For an event... at Marrickville's Vic on the Park pub. Due to this overwhelming response to an event at a pub, Hashtag Burgers have now found a new home for their whopper of a burger event. HB's Archie Saliba and Ben Kagan have announced the relocation of Burgapalooza to a much bigger venue — University of Sydney’s Manning House. Having already accommodated the likes of OutsideIn, One Day Only and many a student rager, Manning is a bloody good choice for an epic burger fest. "We were as concerned as you when 24 hours after launching BURGAPALOOZA we had over 10,000 people interested," says Saliba and Kagan on their renewed Facebook page. "Our original event would have had lines from Marrickville to Redfern so we knew we needed a big change and fast." Burgapalooza is now running over two whole days (April 16 and 17) instead of the original one. Now you have an entire weekend of burger scoffing to look forward to. And of course, those bigger numbers mean the event is indeed now ticketed to control the crowds — and will be split into lunch and dinner sessions. Tickets go on sale this Wednesday, March 16 and are only $6.99 (+BF). There are also a few lineup additions, thanks to the bigger venue. Sydney favourite One Tea Lounge has joined the party, bringing their beloved ice cream sliders to the table. They're joining an all-star cast of Sydney's most lauded burger crews including Bare Grill, Pub Life Kitchen, Barrio Cellar, Redfern’s Milk Bar by Café Ish, Chefs Kitchen and Bar Luca — each bringing with them one burger creation exclusive to Burgapalooza. There'll be stocked bars on the day as well, alongside one heck of a set from Sydney lad Mike Who hits the decks alongside Hashtag’s regular DJs. Burgapalooza is now running April 16-17 at Manning Bar at Sydney Uni. Stalls open from 11am until 4pm, with the second session kicking off from 5pm until 9pm. Tickets are $6.99 (+BF) and go on sale Wednesday, March 16 at Hashtag Burgers' website. Images: Bar Luca, Barrio Cellar.
If you emerge from Sydney Festival's House of Mirrors this weekend just barely clinging to your sanity, rest assured there's plenty of comfort to be found in the festival's culinary offerings. Keep an open mind, though. Sometimes a shipping container and a pizzeria can be the same thing. In the Festival village, Porteno's Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz from have run riot for the second year in a row. At the Porteno Pie Shop, they'll be shovelling a few of their best-loved Argentinian-influenced combos into pastry parcels and expecting you in turn to shovel them into your gobs. No egg and cheese here — think barbecue brisket and jalapeno, or marinated peppers with eggplant and salsa verde. The gents will also be serving up a range of South American street food at the nearby Bodega Cantina. Tamales, quesadillas, check. Also in the village, the chefs from Sake will be cranking out prawn shumai with ponzu for as long as you can eat them. Fratelli Fresh have an envoy in the mix too, with squid-loaded hotdogs (not for those traumatised by HP Lovecraft) and a duck ragu penne with orange and bitter chocolate. Taking over Gelato Messina's usually lauded Sydney Festival spot, Cow and the Moon will be lurking at the dessert end of proceedings. There'll be coffee and fresh pastries in the Double Roasters Caravan and the inevitable summer frose from James Estate Wines' pop-up bar. Over in the Cutaway, after you've finished soaking up the fake surf and sun of The Beach at Barangaroo, grab a next-level sausage sandwich from Newtown's Sausage Queen Chrissy Flanagan, or continue the nautical theme with a visit to Pizza da Mario Pop-Up, a Da Mario-run pizzeria disguised as a shipping container. Apparently this is for mobility purposes, but the novelty alone makes it worth a visit (there's a three-tonne pizza oven inside). There are plenty more pop-up establishments squirreled away in the village, including numerous spots for a quiet or not-so-quiet drink. We're told that these will only be revealed to those who have stared into infinity and wrestled their doppelgangers back into the mirror-realm, though. Good way to build up an appetite. Check out what to see at Sydney Festival over here.
Sydney's harbour control tower has long stood as the lonely watchman of Barangaroo, monitoring ferry activity and making sure boozy teenagers don't vandalise too much heritage-listed property in The Rocks. The 'concrete mushroom' as it's been referred to in very, very niche circles of Sydney, was originally planned for destruction by tiny, tiny remote-controlled robots, according to SMH. But now, the historic control tower is now set for a landmark makeover worthy of Coney Island, playing host to an epic swing chair carousel ride, planned for instalment in late 2016. Originally locked in for at least three amateur How to Host a Murder parties and a giant neon wang installation for Vivid Sydney 2017, the control tower's fate was uncertain. Now, thanks to an anonymous billionaire and his multi-Grammy-winning fiance, the tower will function as a free swing ride for anyone brave enough to waive the staggeringly vague insurance policy. Set to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the swing ride has been dubbed 'Sydney's new BridgeClimb' by every other high-flying Sydney tourist attraction that isn't Sydney Bridgeclimb. Keen to hop on the Barangaroo swing ride? Punters will have the chance to win a spot on the highly coveted ride, after passing a series of rigorous tests. While the exact contents of the test have yet to be revealed, insiders suggest punters may be judged on whether they think Gumshara has the best ramen in Sydney, whether Steven Avery is not guilty or not guilty, and whether putting Nutella inside a food item that may not necessarily always be the best pairing for Nutella is reason enough to open an entire cafe around the idea. Register here for your turn on the Sydney Harbour Swing Ride. Getting your shoes back after said ride is your gamble.
One-and-a-half kilograms of paper are making their way to Australia from studio in Suffolk, England, via sea. “It’s a whole shipping container’s worth,” laughs Mira Calix, the artist behind the ream. To be transformed into an enormous, ethereal maze, the cargo will form the basis of her new work, Inside There Falls, premiering at Sydney Festival 2015. Spoken word, original classical music and dance will combine in an immersive experience. The project began life about three years ago, as a result of a chance email from a stranger, who sent her a piece of writing. “I started reading it and responding positively. It really resonated,” she says. Or, as she puts it in her artist statement, “The text had taken hold of me. A stream of consciousness I found so enigmatic and elusive, creating feeling before reason. I felt compelled to take that avalanche of words off the page and let them breathe in a new form ... The writer had handed me the shoots and left me to grow my own forest.” A year or so later, with the initial concept in mind, Mira came to Sydney, where other elements fell into place: seeing Carriageworks and meeting Sydney Dance Company artistic director Rafael Bonachela. “When I saw [Carriageworks] it was like love at first sight. My little heart said, ‘This is perfect.’ It has character, but it isn’t dominating, and, physically, it’s such an exciting space, if you’re thinking big ... We don’t have places like this in England. Space is at a premium. In London, anything on this kind of scale would be turned into chichi apartments very quickly.” As for Rafael, Mira was already a fan. “He used to run a dance company on South Bank in London,” she says. “I gave him my construct and my narrative and he’s interpreting it. I like to work this way, sparking ideas, so that even among us, the work is becoming different versions of itself.” In keeping with Inside There Falls’ spontaneous, temporal nature, the dancing, despite being choreographed, won’t be scheduled. So whether or not audiences catch a fleeting figure among the paper will depend on chance. In the meantime, they’ll be kept busy with an open invitation to touch the installation at their will. “I want people to physically interact,” Mira explains. “There’s a bit of ritual and participation element to this work. You step into the story through a big blue room, which is like an overture or a prologue, so you start off as a blank page. Then you step into a white room, where the paper starts off very dense, but opens out. At the same time, you are surrounded by the story – the text [narrated by actor Hayley Atwell] and the music are moving around you ... Everything to me is the story, including you." Some artists are driven by their chosen medium, which they commit to for life. Mira, on the other hand, is driven by ideas. Combining music, sound and art, she draws on whichever materials are best suited to the story she has to tell. “I shift materials a lot,” she says. “Philosophically, to me, they’re all materials and it’s all composition. I see it all as one thing.” In 2009, a 100-strong choir played an integral role in her installation, My Secret Heart, which won the Royal Philharmonic Society Award. And, in 2012, a monolithic stone sculpture featured in her interactive piece, nothing is set in stone, which appeared at the London 2012 Olympic Festival. “You know what’s really strange about Singapore?” Mira Calix leans in, as though she’s telling me a secret. “Even though it’s tropical – even though it’s steaming hot – there are no insects. Isn’t that the weirdest thing?” “Last time I was there,” she continues. “I did a performance with an orchestra, where I put insects inside boxes, and mic-ed them. That was interesting.” Inside There Falls will show at Bay 17, Carriageworks (245 Wilson St, Eveleigh), from January 8-17, between midday and 8pm. Entry is free.
For the first time ever, the Sydney Opera House is scoring a pop-up bar for Vivid LIVE. And the last thing you can expect is chicken sandwiches and regulation sparkling. Because the duo making it happen is Jeremy Blackmore and Alex Dowd — whose work you already know if you've ever knocked back a tequila or two at Tio's or a tiki cocktail at The Cliff Dive. The bar, to be known as the Deep Purple Pool Hall (what a name), will be found inside the Concert Hall's northern foyer, where you can get cosy and warm while still taking in those epic harbour views. Expect a crafty menu, featuring what Blackmore and Dowd have dubbed 'downtown favourites', as well as live DJs and free pool. "I have wanted to set up a cool bar in this space for five years, ever since I arrived at the Opera House," said Ben Marshall, curator of Vivid Live. "Overlooking the harbour, it has the best view in Sydney and people will be absolutely blown away that this jewel in the crown of the Opera House hasn’t been used for this before. Whether you’re up for a pre or post-gig drink or on the look-out for the neon eight-ball outside, you can sneak up the back stairs of the Opera House to the Deep Purple Pool Hall and settle into an incredible secret space in the heart of the city, in the middle of this incredible festival." The Deep Purple Pool Hall will open from 6pm till late every night of Vivid LIVE, which runs between May 22 and 31.
One of Sydney's best party events, Heaps Gay, started as a set of shindigs for the pleasure of Sydney's LGBTQI community, and over the years, the crew have turned out some of the biggest parties this side of the rainbow. Next up in this long line of happenings? Heaps Gay is throwing a huge party for Sydney Mardi Gras, taking over The Factory in Marrickville. Music-wise, the crew from YUMMY Melbourne are on board, alongside Zuri Akoko, Bahdoesa, LOW TON DJs, Oh Boy and a whole host more. There'll be spoken word by Immani Love, a live stream of the Mardi Gras Parade, main stage visuals by Optic Soup, immersive visuals curated by QUEERTECH.IO, plus there'll be a speakeasy whiskey bar pop-up, a fortune teller, silent cinema and the now infamous work, The Clitorati, by Deep Sea Astronauts. You're encouraged to wear "bad '80s wedding attire", so you might want to rewatch The Wedding Singer for a little inspiration.
The sun is shining, the palm trees are gently swaying, and there's a laid-back vibe in the air; you must be in Brisbane. As well as almost able to guarantee holiday-like weather every day of the year, the Queensland capital offers locals and visitors alike the opportunity to enjoy a leisurely yet luxurious weekend. Think taking your pick of gourmet sausages or hash browns for breakfast at a brand new cafe dedicated to both, shopping for vintage threads at the city's only curated boutique market, or eating all the cheese your stomach can handle. Book a room at the Pullman Brisbane and make the hotel's King George Square digs your launching pad. Spend a whirlwind 48 hours eating, drinking, strolling and generally being merry, particularly if you follow our itinerary. [caption id="attachment_587777" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Morning After. Image: @____morningafter via Instagram.[/caption] SATURDAY A Saturday in Brisbane should be spent treating your tastebuds and your eyes to the best the city has to offer. That starts with the most important meal of the day, though don't feel like you need to rush to West End for an early morning bite, because breakfast at Morning After is available all day long. With a name like that, this eatery clearly knows that everyone kicks into gear at their own pace. Have a serving of brekkie carbonara and wander down Vulture and Boundary streets for your next adventure. [caption id="attachment_587791" align="alignnone" width="1280"] GOMA. Image: @qagoma via Instagram.[/caption] To be specific, keep moseying along until you reach the Gallery of Modern Art. For ten years now, the gleaming building on the banks of the river has showered Brisbane with the kind of exhibitions art lovers dream about. There will be something great on regardless of when you're in town (in 2015 and 2016 alone, GOMA has hosted shows focused on photographer Cindy Sherman, filmmaker David Lynch and the best contemporary pieces from the Asia-Pacific, for example). And if you somehow have a few hours to spare, be sure to check out the Australian Cinematheque within the building for a classy afternoon at the movies. [caption id="attachment_587781" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Fromage the Cow. Image: @vintage_lil via Instagram.[/caption] Next, prepare to make friends with Brisbane's water-based transport, the City Cats. Head down the river to Milton, then make a beeline by foot to Fromage the Cow on Park Road. Since this licensed fromagerie opened its doors it has become an indulgent favourite, serving up everything from twice-baked cheese souffle to croque monsieur and cheese toasties. We recommend opting for a flight, which will pair three slices of dairy goodness with three of your chosen type of beverage. [caption id="attachment_587783" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Cobbler. Image: @cobblerwestend via Instagram.[/caption] So, that's the cheese and wine section of day done and dusted. Now, it's on to the whisky and cocktail part of proceedings. You'll find plenty of both at Cobbler back in West End, and yes, you can travel part of the way by City Cat again if you want another chance to soak up the Brisbane river air. Once you arrive on site, even if you generally like your spirits untainted by mixers, we're going to strenuously suggest that you try a cocktail. Why? Well, Cobbler's menus are something special, with both Die Hard and Top Gun-inspired tipples served up in recent times. Working your way through their cocktail list is how you turn a few quiet drinks into an evening to remember. If you're in Brisbane on the right weekend you can stop by Test Kitchen, a fortnightly five-course degustation that takes place at Thomson's Reserve and lets you taste dishes before they go on the menu. [caption id="attachment_587785" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Food trucks at Metre Market. Image: @metremarket via Instagram.[/caption] SUNDAY Start your Sunday with sausages and hash browns. Skip the fast food brekkie though; at Annerley's Snag & Brown in the inner-south, you're going to want to take things slowly. Pick from chorizo, pork chipolatas, chicken, spinach and pine nut, and semi-dried tomato, thyme and polenta bangers, plus classic, sweet potato, and tomato and feta hash browns. There's other food available, but here, it's all there in the name. You'll need all the sustenance you can get for your next stopover: the Metre Market. Every public space around town might turn into a stall-based shopping spot come Sunday morning, but this is the only boutique, clothing-focused venture that's so selective about the vintage wares on display, you'll instantly walk out with a new wardrobe. Alas, Metre Market is an every now and then kind of deal, so we also have a list of alternatives. Secondhand fiends should head to Suitcase Rummage's regular pop-up events at Brisbane Square and Brisbane Powerhouse, while those with designer tastes can give their wallet a workout at South Bank's monthly Young Designer's Market. After a busy morning browsing, buying and wondering what you can realistically fit in your suitcase, there's only one thing to do. Treat yourself to some swoon-worthy sweet stuff (and no, we're not talking about Doughnut Time, though eating one of their epic pastries is something every visitor to Brisbane should do too). Instead, head to New Farm Confectionery for some salted caramel lollipops, chocolate raspberry bark, passionfruit sherbet and more. [caption id="attachment_587796" align="alignnone" width="1280"] New Farm Confectionary. Image: @nfconfectionary via Instagram.[/caption] So, you've feasted, shopped and had something sugary; now it's time for dinner in a heritage-listed building that once housed a medicine dispensary. Yes, really. The food menu at The Apo is a rotating affair, but we're sure one of the seasonal dishes on offer (such as Lebanese tacos with spiced goat and frozen Arabic coffee dessert martinis at the time of writing) will take your fancy. You'll want to grab an Apo Old Fashioned while you're eating, but save some room for a nightcap at Barbara around the corner. They're known for their cocktails and for being a classy late-night hangout everyday of the week – that's how you should bring an ace two days in Brisbane to a perfect end. [caption id="attachment_588386" align="alignnone" width="1280"] The Apo. Image: @theapo_ via Instagram.[/caption] Pullman Hotels make a great base to explore Brisbane for a weekend.
You may have already noticed, but Brendan Cato of The Farmed Table cooked us up an entire barbecue spread in under an hour. He cooked up a flank of steak, some grilled eggplant and some leeks, and a killer grilled peaches and mascarpone dessert. It was delicious. As well as that, Brendan was full of great tips on how we can learn to throw an epic barbecue with limited time, and advice on how to get the most flavour out of your produce. Brendan created The Farmed Table, those secret dinners that started off in a tiny café and now pack out warehouses. He's all about fresh, organic, sustainable eating. Our mates at Work-Shop are turning our article into real life, with a barbecue masterclass in Sydney's Prince Alfred Park. At the masterclass you'll learn all the tips and tricks to creating the perfect barbecue spread. You'll also get free lunch (it'll be a barbecue, obviously) and beers to match by Heineken 3. Bring your appetite, and if you feel like it, a wacky apron. There will be prizes for the best one. If you're available from 1-3pm on Sunday, November 20, fill in your details below. There are limited spaces, so you'll go on the list to be part of the masterclass. We'll get in touch if you've made the cut. [competition]595355[/competition] Enjoy your summer afternoons with the new low-carb Heineken 3 — we're helping you make the most of them. Image: Michael Wickham.
When news broke last month that Dominos had invented a $30,000 delivery robot, we thought we'd reached the apex of pizza-related technology. Turns out we couldn't have been more wrong. In a development that threatens to shatter the very fabric of existence, a pizzeria in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has invented...a pizza box. No, not a pizza box. A pizza box. A pizza box. Made from pizza. Behold. Introducing The PIZZA BOX PIZZA! A pizza box made entirely out of pizza! No waste, 100% pizza and 100% delicious. pic.twitter.com/2KxxndlK4Z — Vinnie's Pizzeria (@vinniesbrooklyn) April 27, 2016 Rendering all other modes of food transport and storage obsolete, this glorious edible container is the brainchild of Vinnie's Pizzeria owner Sean Berthiaume, who might actually be Thomas Edison reincarnated as a guy who really, really likes pizza. Having previously caught our attention after photos of his pizza with pizza topping went viral online, Berthiaume came up with this new creation while trying to think of ways to reduce waste. "I thought 'what if you can make something that you can eat every part of,'" he told NBC 4 New York. The pizzeria is still working out the finer points of delivery – for the time being, anyone who orders one will have it delivered to them wrapped in foil. A pizza delivered in a pizza box will run New Yorkers up a bill of around $40. Unfortunately we suspect that even if they did deliver internationally, both the box and its contents might go a bit stale in the time it takes to get to Australia. Via NBC. Header image via Dollar Photo Club.
For a good 14 years, the City of Sydney's Art & About program has been committed to bringing the very best of Sydney's art scene into the public eye, taking carefully curated exhibitions out of the normal gallery setting and placing them outside, smack bang in the middle of our daily lives. Now they want your contributions. Expressions of interest to produce an artwork or performance event for the program open in January, when the city will start calling for artists from around the world to bring forward ideas they've been sitting on. They're looking for something unique, something especially creative that draws art out of the realm of museums and galleries, and surprising and delighting an audience as they experience the work inside their own comfort zone. They want artists to use the unexpected spaces around town as their blank canvas. Once expressions of interest open next year, the good folks at Art & About won't be able to discuss potential works or offer advice, but they can now. So it's a good time to get in contact and discuss your ideas. The selection criteria is pretty liberal. Basically, come up with a sweet idea that can be implemented in one of the many unusual spaces around the City of Sydney's local government area. Something that jumps out at an unsuspecting audience, disrupts daily life and brings joy. The City of Sydney, who lovingly produce Art & About, will open their generous coffers and shell out the cash to make the idea actually happen — up to $85,000 is up for grabs. Art & About has had an absolute belter of a year in 2016, showing off some of the coolest aspects of the city. To give you a little inspiration, we've rounded up our four favourites. If you're an artist, creative producer, musician, composer or know any of the above, now would be the time to get your brain going and get in touch. What are you waiting for? Go make an art! [caption id="attachment_602089" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: Zan Wimberley.[/caption] NICK CAVE: HEARD·SYD American artist Nick Cave made rainbow-coloured horses romp through Pitt Street Mall and the industrial halls of Carriageworks with HEARD·SYD. Embodied by 60 local dancers, 30 colourful, life-size horse suits (also known as 'soundsuits') disrupted the daily life of Sydneysiders with an exuberant explosion of performance art. Set to a booming soundtrack of live percussion by Matavai Pacific cultural arts from Liverpool, the performance was surreal and enthralling. HEARD·SYD was a chance for those caught up in their daily routine to escape the bustle of the city for a moment. Each performance was free for the public to watch — Cave knew that a lot of us don't have time to visit art galleries, so he made it easier. [caption id="attachment_562757" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Nikki To[/caption] KONSTANTIN DIMOPOULOS: THE BLUE TREES By Egyptian-born, New Zealand-raised, Melbourne-based artist Konstantin Dimopoulos, The Blue Trees transformed Pyrmont's leafy Pirrama Park into an ultramarine utopia with the help of a team of community volunteers. Using a biologically safe water-based colourant, Dimopoulos coloured the trunks of the park's living trees blue to highlight the impact of deforestation on old growth forests. By rendering our local environment uncanny, Dimopoulos encouraged us to consider the global impact humans have on the environment. Having been shown at the prestigious Vancouver Biennale last year and being an ephemeral work with an unknown duration, this was an installation not to be missed. HIDDEN SYDNEY: THE GLITTERING MILE Hidden Sydney was an immersive cabaret experience depicting the outrageous stories and characters of Kings Cross in the '50s, '60s and '70s. Starting in a back alley of the Cross, Hidden Sydney lured audience members through four storeys of The World Bar, once a notorious brothel known as The Nevada. Each room revealed new scenarios and new characters, from Virginia Gay as the Shakespeare-sprouting Bea Miles, to madams, crooks, drag queens and crooners. The sinfully good show proved so popular it returned for a second season. A MILLION THINGS THAT MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN American artist Megan Geckler's current installation in the atrium at Customs House will make you feel like you're inside a real-life rainbow (minus the pot of gold at the end). Geckler creates her art using thousands of metres of hyper-coloured, translucent flagging tape — the kind you'd normally see used by surveyors on construction sites – and a highly mathematical technique that essentially produces "drawings in space". Hovering from the ceiling, her installation has been described as a cyclone of string art. Stand in the vortex, look up and the result is spectacular. If that's got you all inspired, get in touch with the City of Sydney with your grand ideas. You can email them at artandabout@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. Top image: Nick Cave: HEARD·SYD by Anna Kucera.
Prior to meeting with Marina Abramovic, artist Christian Thompson was struck down by a ghastly flu. However, in a true Marina-style overcoming of mental and physical adversity, he pushed forward and managed to bring his A-game to the Kaldor Residency Program. As part of a lucky handful of promising artists, Thompson had the privilege of working with the performance art powerhouse earlier this year ahead of his current show at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. "It was amazing to have access to her," Thompson says. "She was incredibly generous. We had these one-on-one tutorials and I was developing this video work called Dead Tongue. I was trying to work out whether I wanted to pursue music in my work and Marina was like: ‘No. Get rid of music. We don't use music in the art world. No need.' " "So I don't use music anymore," he laughs. "Coming from 70 years of experience, she has this precise vision of your work. She sees the strengths and disregards everything that is unnecessary. She even told me what I have to do for my retrospective." ON THE ABRAMOVIC METHOD Stepping out of his comfort zone has been somewhat familiar territory for Thompson. A ceaseless globetrotter, he has been researching and making art between Europe and Australia for the best part of 15 years. He is currently the inaugural recipient of the Charles Perkins Scholarship, and will be the first Indigenous Australian to earn a doctorate from Oxford University. Thompson also completed his Masters in performing arts at DasArts in Amsterdam, which taught an on-the-spot process of making performance. Although Thompson has a solid theatrical background, jumping into the Abramovic Method was not necessarily a smooth transition. "Marina comes from a very different school, that '60s and '70s tradition of durational performance," he says. "I think a lot of contemporary performance art is more like theatre. My projects are like a series of visual scenes that have a performative gesture inside them, whereas Marina is testing the liminality of the body and what it is capable of. On the whole, performance is hardcore and I think you have to have a certain constitution as a person to be able to do it." ON HIS NEW SYDNEY SHOW While the Marina experience has enriched Thompson's performative palette, his new show at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation is a bit of everything. The gallery is filled with a broad range of media, from sculptures and textiles through to films and photography. In the centre of the space, there is a 3D printed sculpture entitled All revolutions are led by the young: a curling mass of shiny black resin. On the other side of the room are photographs of Aboriginal scholar Marcia Langton modelling Thompson's well-known woollen jumpers with comically elongated arms. "It's interesting to see this show through the curator's eyes, rather than how I would represent myself," says Thompson, reflecting on the freshly installed exhibition. "I can see the potential of what a big survey show might look like. It's certainly an unexpected rendition of my practice." Many of the works featured in the exhibition have been borrowed from cultural institutions and private collections. Working within a framework of cultural ownership and appropriation, curator Alana Kushnir has chosen to preserve the original framing of these works, playing off different modes of presentation. For instance, one of Thompson's woolly jumpers is allowed to drape onto the floor in soft folds while another near identical jumper is safely – and strictly – confined within a glass box. ON BLENDING FASHION WITH ART Although Kushnir pulls together a number of disciplinary threads, fashion seems to hover on the surface of the show. "During my undergraduate years, I was really inspired by textiles and wearable sculptures," says Thompson. "People like Eva Hesse and Louise Bourgeois really informed my early work. There's always been a sartorial aspect to my practice, but I also grew up in the 90s, which was all about remixing — no-one wanted to be pigeonholed or defined by one thing. I also had my nose buried in things like NME, The Face, and Cue. I suppose that fashion sensibility stayed with me through art school — it was kind of already programmed in." Leaping from one big thing to the next, Thompson seems to have an insatiable capacity for pushing boundaries. "I guess being creative tends to be a constant process," he says. "I'm a bit like a bowerbird in that way — I'm always picking and choosing, hunting and gathering. I think I'm always cross-referencing myself too. Hopefully the evolution of a person growing from one phase to the next is visualised in my practice." Collection+: Christian Thompson will be showing at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation until Saturday, December 12.
One of Sydney's solid locals could be calling last drinks. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Alexandria Hotel has been earmarked for demolition after changing ownership just last week. Standing at the corner of Henderson Road and Garden Street in Alexandria, the Alexandria Hotel has been a modest, unpretentious Sydney watering hole for about 145 years — the original building was erected in the late 1870s, NSW brewers Tooth and Co. took over in the '20s. Owner Ray Masters bought the pub in 1988 and just last week handed over the deed to a company owned by Centennial Property Group. According to SMH, these new owners are planning to demolish the pub to make way for a $8 million four-storey apartment building, with 29 new residences and commercial ground floor space. It'd be a real shame to lose this Sydney gem; there's so much history here (and one of the best beer gardens in Sydney). One of the key game pubs for Sydney Swans fans, the Alexandria has been leased for the last 15 years by former Swans player Darren McAsey. The pub's seen its fair share of AFL finals and State of Origin matches, but it's not without its music history — Future Classic's regular Sunhaze Sundays saw the beginning of the now bigtime Sydney label. But the pub's history goes way, way back; SMH points out the pub is also Henderson Road's last remnant of Alexandria's pre-war industrial heritage (and that workers would hang their singlets on the pub's own clothes line). Whether the Alexandria's history will save it remains to be seen, apparently the building's '20s/'30s-style architecture is 'common' and the heritage value has been lessened by the redevelopment of the surrounding area (something we don't really get, someone please explain this to us kthnx). If you're keen, you can see the Centennial Property Group company's Alexandria development application on public display at the City of Sydney council. It'll be there until July 14. In the meantime, have a schooner and a bistro dinner at the Alexandria Hotel while you can. Look, it's so part of the Sydney furniture, it's even in this VB ad: And this (admittedly sexist) ad for Smith's chips: Via SMH. Images: Alexandria Hotel.
What would you do if you were a little less freaked out by consequences? Would you talk to more new people, fear a bit less, dance a little more like FKA Twigs, quit your desk job and dedicate yourself to the hobby or interest you've always wanted to turn into a career? Some sparkling young Australians are already flinging their inhibitions into a ziplock bag and seizing this little ol' life with both hands. Concrete Playground has teamed up with the Jameson crew to give you a sneak peek into the lives of bold characters who took a big chance on themselves. They've gone out on a limb and rewritten their path, encapsulating 'Sine Metu', the Jameson family motto which translates to 'without fear' — getting outside your comfort zone and trying something new. After all, we only get one shot at this. Take notes. Every kid fills their schoolbooks with sketches, but few actually consider turning their doodling into a career. In fact, Sydney-based illustrator Barry Patenaude certainly didn't think that his squiggles and scribbles could take him into the hectic freelance world of illustrating for big brands — even Concrete Playground (thanks Barry) — let alone illustrating his highly popular series Beers in the Sun. Instead, he followed the same path most of us do, progressing from high school to university, studying architecture and drafting, and then getting an office job. But sometimes, our true passions just can't be ignored; in fact, that's what embracing the 'Sine Metu' mindset is all about. WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU TOILETS TO DRAW, DRAW THEM WELL There's a reason most job choices — the ones that stem from a couple of years at uni, then lead to the 9-to-5 grind — are considered sensible choices. They're the kind of careers that provide security, as well as a clear plan for the future. If you'd met Barry when he was a child, he wouldn't have mentioned being an illustrator. "I did draw a lot," he says. "I did art at school, but I never really thought illustration could be a career path." There's such a thing as being too sensible, however — and if you ever find yourself using your artistic talents to sketch toilets, you might just come to this realisation. After pursuing all the practical options, Barry worked in an architecture office, designing buildings and delving into the ever-fascinating task of drawing toilets. That he found it a bit monotonous is stating the obvious. But, breaking away from the path you're already on is easier said than done, of course. And sometimes you need to experience all the boring stuff to shatter that mindset and discover what you really want to do. As Barry explains, "I finished school and was like, 'So the path is: you study, you get a job and then you work.' That's the mindset I had for ages, but over time it just didn't appeal to me. I didn't want to be an office jockey." SOMETIMES YOU'VE GOT TO SKIP TOWN FOR AN INTERNSHIP Like many big life decisions, it was a change of scene — and a change of city — that helped alter Barry's perceptions about just what his chosen profession should be. He had spent a few years travelling overseas and enjoying working holidays, but it was the move from Brisbane to Sydney that proved the true catalyst, or at least got the ball rolling. Not that that's actually what he was thinking about when he headed interstate with his girlfriend so that she could secure an internship. Sometimes, though, you just have to go where the moment takes you. As Barry started calling New South Wales home, "that's when I started drawing a lot more in my spare time," he advises, "and it was something I didn't realise that I had missed until I started doing it again". Illustrating became the thing he did on the side for a few years, leading to an art show in 2011, as well as paid freelance opportunities. Then, three years ago, his regular job switched from full to part time. It's the kind of news most employees dread, but he took it as an opportunity and royally bit the bullet. "I wouldn't have thought that I'd be in this position six years ago when I moved here, but it has worked out for the best I think," he says. "Like a lot of people, I was questioning what I was doing with my life. Now, I do have a path and I like where it is going, and it is definitely better than drawing toilets." ILLUSTRATE, INSTAGRAM, THEN LET THE BUSINESS COME TO YOU Today, Barry's decision to give illustrating a proper go might seem-like a no-brainer, but trying to make a living doing what you love is tricky, particularly when that involves a creative field, cultivating a gig-based resume, and never knowing what's going to come next. While his artwork is now featured on everything from bar walls to websites, getting to this stage wasn't an easy — or quick — process. Starting with a safety net — his part-time drafting job — certainly helped. So did just going for it; as Barry puts it, "you don't really have anything to lose. I mean, apart from your finances." He doesn't shy away from just how tough making his mark has been, but he also recognises the importance of self-belief and perseverance. "The first year was super hard. I was so poor. I just kept at it, and that's what I'm doing now — keeping at it. But it's definitely an evolution and a slow process. You've just got to have patience, and believe in your work, and let people realise that it's good." Take the project he has probably become best known for, Beers in the Sun. It actually started as a hobby and a way to unwind — and the fact that it combined two of his biggest passions certainly made it plenty of fun. It seems that people quite like pictures of their favourite beverages, with a flock of Instagram followers leading to media attention, more interest in his illustrations, gigs with booze brands, and yes, a few free brews to drink as well. When it comes to what will help kick your career into gear, "you just never know," says Barry. Want to experience a little bit of 'Sine Metu' yourself? Thanks to Jameson and The Rewriters, one extremely fortunate Concrete Playground reader (and their even more fortunate mate) will get the chance to 'fear less' and go on a big ol' adventure to Ireland. In addition to two return flights departing from your choice of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, this epic giveaway comes with five night's accommodation and $500 spending money you can use to paint the Emerald Isle red. ENTER HERE. For more about how 'Sine Metu' influenced John Jameson's journey visit Jameson's website. Images: Andy Fraser.
In 1677, the French found out about ice cream and totally lost their minds. In the same year, the English found themselves equally gobsmacked by The Rover, a play about a band of English rogues stumbling into Naples during a carnival. Penned by Aphra Behn, a royal spy who turned playwright when the king wouldn't pay her wages, The Rover tore up London, playing to packed houses and eventually spawning a sequel. 300-odd years later, Belvoir's Eamon Flack and a rogue's gallery including Toby Schmitz, Nikki Shiels and Gareth Davies are going roving into the Restoration once more. "This is a sexy, dangerous play" says Flack. "Its honesty about the battle between men and women for power is striking given it is over three and a half centuries old." Whether you're trying to figure out how to avoid being sent to the convent by your crazy brother, been hoodwinked by love, or simply fancy yourself a scoundrel, The Rover's got you covered. So get your britches on and book — this one will see a fair few sold-out nights. Image: Daniel Boud.
Get the bacon and whisky ready, and start making your own canoe — Nick Offerman is coming to Australia in mid-2019. After last venturing to our shores in 2016, the Parks and Recreation star is headed back for with his all new All Rise show. Yes, Ron effing Swanson will be in the country again from June 2–21. All Rise sees Offerman do what he does best, other than star in beloved sitcoms and whip up items in his woodshop. Here, here'll be comedically contemplating life in a show that's described as "an evening of deliberative talking and light dance". If you've just started thinking about drunk Ron Swanson letting loose, that's understandable; however expect plenty of witty, reflective chatter as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrLZgP-OR6s It's been a big few years for the actor and comedian, with Offerman popping up in everything from Fargo, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Curb Your Enthusiasm to The Founder, Hearts Beat Loud and the forthcoming The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part since Parks and Rec ended. If you're a dedicated fan of not only Offerman, but his wife Megan Mullally, you might've noticed that his tour of Australia coincides with hers. With her band Nancy and Beth, Mullally is hitting up a spate of venues across the country between June 6–19, typically within days of Offerman's stops in each city. ALL RISE DATES June 2 — Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide June 5 — Crown Theatre, Perth June 8 — Palais Theatre, Melbourne June 12 — Canberra Theatre, Canberra June 14 — Wrest Point Casino, Hobart June 18 — State Theatre, Sydney June 21 — QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane Tickets go on sale at 2pm on Thursday, February 7, via Live Nation.
In concurrence with the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum, The National Gallery of Australia, in partnership with Wesfarmers Arts, is hosting its 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial. This major exhibition, titled Defying Empire, will run from May 26 through September 10 and brings together both established and emerging Indigenous artists from across Australia in a showcase that focuses on themes of identity, racism, displacement and country. Among the 30 participating artists are Brenda L. Croft, whose art looks at themes of home, Fiona Foley, who focuses on race relations, Tony Albert, who examines war and its aftermath and Brook Andrew, who explores themes of ancestry. Other artists delve into heavy issues of nuclear testing, sovereignty and the stolen generations, using a mix of media from canvas painting, video and photography to weaving, sculpture, metalwork and glasswork. The exhibition reinforces the significance of Indigenous art in Australia's cultural identity and the ongoing struggle for equality. Image: Daniel Boyd by Nikki To, Megan Cope by Pat Scala/Fairfax Media.
Every February for the last ten years, Secret Garden Festival has taken over a forest outside Sydney, turning it into a magical natural wonderland with a 48-hour extravaganza of music, drag, food and art. It's always a banger. If you've been, you might have found yourself dancing on a cosmic suspended flying saucer dance floor, partying with drag queens at Camp Queen, getting a smooch at the kissing booth or even getting married. But, like all good ones, the party has to come to an end sometime — and, as announced by festival founder Clare Downes last month, 2019 will be Secret Garden's last. So grab your diary, call your mates and reserve your horse. Because the final Secret Garden will take place over 48 hours, across Friday, February 22 and Saturday, February 23. And the team behind this grassroots by-mates-for-mates festival has just released the lineup. It reads like a roll-call of local legends, including The Preatures, Ali Barter, Mojo Juju, Mildlife, Laura Jean, Harvey Sutherland, Handsome and Genesis Owusu. And that's just the music side of things. There are a whole heap of other goodies to discover, including a whole stage for drag queens, lots of DJs and party starters, a brass band and even Disney karaoke. While you never really know what to expect until you get there, we can tell you that, as always, Secret Garden will bring you an immersive experience in a magical out-of-the-city setting transformed into a natural wonderland. You'll find yourself wandering through a forest maze, getting lost in massive installations, discovering unexpected pop-up performances and coming across tucked-away parties in custom-made rave caves. Maybe even getting married. All we know for sure? As always, you're invited to wear your craziest costumes — the Friday theme is disco on a spaceship. Start planning. So scrape your cash together. Tickets are on sale now and there aren't many left. Updated: February 13, 2019.
You know those wildly decadent Tella Ball milkshakes from Foodcraft Espresso and Bakery everyone lost their minds about last year? The ones with the spherical doughnut oozing with Nutella, sat proudly atop a Nutella milkshake? These ones. Well, if you'll recall the hoo-ha that happened last year, and the fact that Sydney is getting a dedicated Tella Ball Nutella dessert bar, you'd better clear your calendar. Originally planned to open in November 2015, the dessert bar is finally opening in Dulwich Hill on February 29 — they've officially locked in the date on Facebook. The general aim is to direct every scrap of Nutella in the known universe into our bodies, via all manner of indulgent treats. The Nutella-fuelled menu structures meals just the way we like it. Mains: coffee. Desserts: Nutella cruffin, Nutella cheesecake, Nutella crepes, Nutella waffles, Nutella pancakes, Nutella pizza, Nutella ice cream, Tella Ball Milkshakes (of course) and no doubt many more Nutella creations as yet unimagined by mankind. 44 days to go! You may now die in peace! Nutella soft serve coming soon to Tella balls dessert bar Dulwich Hill! #nutellasoftserve #nutella #nutellalove #nutellalover #softserveicecream #nutellaicecream #dessertporn #sydneydesserts #tellaballsdessertbar #dulwichhill #innerwestsydney #sydneycafes #sydneycommunity #sydney #australia #franchising A photo posted by Foodcraftespresso&bakery (@foodcraftespresso) on Jan 15, 2016 at 5:25pm PST Coming soon to Tella balls dessert bar! #nutella #nutellaicecream #dessertporn #tellaballsdessertbar #innerwest #dulwichhill #sydneydesserts #sydney #australia #thenextbigthing A photo posted by Foodcraftespresso&bakery (@foodcraftespresso) on Oct 7, 2015 at 2:51am PDT In the meantime though, you can just buy a commercial tub of Nutella and start applying it to everyday food stuffs (lettuce, bran, Panadol etc.) or just plain go at it with a spoon. Our only concern with this venture, a concern that’s vague and hard to concentrate on in midst of our excitement, is the dreaded Nutella shortage that once swept over our nation. We’ll have to learn our lesson and build a little emergency stockpile to get us through the inevitable shortages. But for a Nutella-themed dessert bar, it’s totally worth it. Tella Ball Dessert Bar will open in Dulwich Hill on Monday, February 29. Location TBC. Check the Facebook page for updates. Image: Foodcraft Espresso.
Can you feel a tingling in your toes as your feet start to defrost? That’s the feeling of winter slipping away (or maybe you’ve been sitting cross-legged for too long) and with its demise comes the return of the 20th season of Australia's beloved Moonlight Cinema. Ahhh balmy nights on the grass, we have missed you. Heralding the coming of the warmer months, Moonlight Cinema is a summertime tradition and they always nail the balance between new releases and cult classics. While the film program is yet to be announced, the team have revealed they're bringing back one of their favourite, adorably novelty events. Moonlight Cinema fully understand that while your pooch may not be able to recite Mean Girls the way you want him to, you still want to bring him to the flicks with you. Now you can! The puntastically-named Doggie Nights is a night you can bring pooch along (ideally dressed as Regina George). Nosh-wise, Moonlight Cinema will again let you BYO movie snacks and drinks, but the unorganised can also chow down on a plethora of US style food trucks — the perfect, messy treat made for reclining on bean beds. Bean beds, doggies and snack trucks, is there anything better? This season includes screens in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, running through December to March. Get your pens out and jot down these dates. MOONLIGHT CINEMA 2016 DATES: Sydney: Dec 3 – Mar 27 (Belvedere Amphitheatre in Centennial Park). Adelaide: Dec 3 – Feb 14 (Botanic Park) Brisbane: Dec 16 – Mar 6 (New Farm Park at Brisbane Powerhouse) Melbourne: Dec 3 –Mar 27 (Central Lawn at the Royal Botanic Gardens) Perth: Dec 5 – Mar 27 (Kings Park and Botanic Garden) The Moonlight Cinema kicks off on December 3. For more information and bookings here.
You may have heard that Chinese artist and political commentator Ai Weiwei's work will be hitting Australia for the huge blockbuster summer exhibition Andy Warhol Ai Weiwei at the National Gallery of Victoria in December. But in a bizarre twist, the artist's work and freedom of speech is being threatened by none other than Lego, the Danish toy company that has brought delight to kids dads everywhere for generations. In a move that shocks nobody who’s ever stood barefoot on a tiny plastic brick, Lego have revealed themselves to be pretty damned villainous. Weiwei announced via Instagram on Saturday that Lego refused his studio’s order for bulk bricks on the grounds that Lego “cannot approve the use of Legos for political works”. The order was going to be used to build a room-sized installation of portraits of Australian activists who fight for human rights and free speech. Weiwei sardonically adds that Britain is opening a Legoland in Shanghai as a direct result of the special political relationship between the UK and China, which most definitely falls under the category of 'political works'. In September Lego refused Ai Weiwei Studio's request for a bulk order of Legos to create artwork to be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria as "they cannot approve the use of Legos for political works." On Oct 21, a British firm formally announced that it will open a new Legoland in Shanghai as one of the many deals of the U.K.-China "Golden Era." A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Oct 23, 2015 at 6:04am PDT As expected, the resultant internet furore has been A+. One plucky Twitter user @dgatterdam astutely reused an Ai Weiwei quote “Everything is art. Everything is politics.” to generate debate while others proceeded to give in to their baser instincts and gave the (in some cases literal) middle finger to Lego. @aiww Uh oh, no one tell @LEGO_Group I used my Legos to make a political statement! #legosforweiwei pic.twitter.com/euOyW86xrP — Mila Johns (@milaficent) October 25, 2015 Both approaches worked in spreading the word however and it wasn’t long before the good people of the internet were offering up their own Legos for Weiwei's use instead. Weiwei made a statement yesterday that his studio will be collecting donated Lego in different cities to create the exhibition anyway (suck it, Lego, may you walk on a sea of thousands of your jagged blocks for eternity). He also said that he would be changing his exhibition piece to reflect the events and defend (more fervently) the tenants of free speech. In September 2015 Lego refused to sell Ai Weiwei Studio a bulk order of Lego bricks for Ai's artworks to be exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne on the basis of the works' "political" nature. Ai posted this notice on his Instagram on Friday, October 23rd. Lego's position triggered a torrent of outrage on social media against this assault on creativity and freedom of expression. Numerous supporters offered to donate Lego to Ai. In response to Lego's refusal and the overwhelming public response, Ai Weiwei has now decided to make a new work to defend freedom of speech and "political art". Ai Weiwei Studio will announce the project description and Lego collection points in different cities. This is the first phase of the coming projects. A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Oct 25, 2015 at 10:37am PDT So how can you stick it to Lego and send your own blocks to the cause? We expect the Weiwei studio to announce collection points in the coming weeks and we’ll keep you updated. In the meantime, follow Weiwei's tweets, check the studio website and collect up all your old Lego pieces because soon enough they’ll be going down in history. Via New York Times/NPR. UPDATE OCTOBER 28, 2015: National Gallery of Victoria has been announced as the first international Lego collection point for the Ai Weiwei project. The artist today confirmed that the NGV will become the first Lego collection spot outside of Beijing. From Thursday, October 29, a car will be placed in the NGV sculpture garden in Melbourne as a repository for the Lego blocks. Donors are encouraged to bring in their Lego blocks and drop them through the sunroof of the vehicle.
If you only get stranded on one island this year, make sure to make it this one. After the colossal success of the previous two years, Wine Island is returning to Sydney Harbour this November for another long weekend of fun, food and sweet, sweet wine. For those who missed out in the past, Wine Island is more or less what it sounds like, in that it's an island where you drink a lot of wine. More specifically, it's a three-day mini festival on Clark Island in Sydney Harbour, where you can spend your time knocking back glass after glass while feasting on mouth-watering cuisine. Similar to last year's lineup, there will be a range of activities to enjoy – think masterclasses, silent discos and treasure hunts. Yes, treasure hunts. And, just to add a little extra grandeur in 2017, they've added the Wine Island Superyacht into the mix, so you can ditch the crowd and instead sail to the island on a really big yacht, taking a detour to enjoy the harbour, of course. Once ashore, your ticket gets you access to private masterclasses and exclusive culinary experiences. Wine Island 2017 is set to run from Friday, November 10 to Sunday, November 12. Tickets will go on sale to members (you can sign up here) on Monday, August 28. In the past, general admission tickets included vintage ferry transport to and from the island with a glass of sparking on board, five wine tastings, masterclasses and your own wine glass — so even standard ticketholders can expect pretty luxe treatment. Images: Jack Toohey.
