Hundreds of years have passed since many of the masterpieces featured in The Greats at the Art Gallery of NSW were made. Botticelli, Boucher, Raeburn, Gauguin, Degas, Monet. Drummed in by high school textbooks, these names are part of the vocabulary of any good art-goer. But what do they mean today? Can they still surprise us? Looking back on the stiff social decorum of the 12th through 19th centuries, it’s easy to underestimate the power of these paintings. However, many of the artists in this exhibition were true game-changers and provocateurs in their heyday. In fact, they were frequently shunned for their boldness. One of Australia’s favourite painters, Archibald Prize-winner Ben Quilty took time to share his thoughts on getting the most out of these artworks and understanding how they resonate with our contemporary era. “All of the works in the show were radical for their time, really,” says Quilty. “Something we tend to do in Australia is lose context of pieces and what they meant at the time of their production. Context is essential in order to get your head around them and to give them the credit they’re due. These paintings were made hundreds and hundreds of years before a camera was invented.” THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF CRAFT One of the striking things about the paintings featured in The Greats is their technical precision. The highly controlled execution of these works is the product of painstaking hours of academic practice rather than a sense of innate genius that blossomed overnight. “Back then, all children left school being able to draw beautifully,” says Quilty. “But drawing wasn’t the true skill. It was how you then contextualised and used drawing to make an image that was radical; an artwork that spoke to the contemporary world and challenged people’s notions.” In many ways, it was the structure and rigour of art education that lifted artists into the annals of history. These masterpieces are the reward reaped by societies who choose to value art. “Absolutely, art was seen to be as important as philosophy, mathematics and Latin,” says Quilty. “And it was the ones who made some sort of symbol or statement or conceptual investigation into their societies that went on to become great artists.” JOHN SINGER SARGENT: BREAKING WITH TRADITION One of the boldest paintings to stir up a sensation toward the end of the nineteenth century was John Singer Sargent’s Lady Agnew of Locknaw (1892), one of the works you shouldn't miss at The Greats. “Looking at that painting, there are works in the Art Gallery of NSW’s collection that were directly inspired by it,” says Quilty. “People tend to think it’s just a funny old thing but it broke with so many traditions of that period.” The subject of the painting, Lady Gertrude Agnew, is depicted in a decadent armchair against a silk tapestry printed with Chinese characters. However, it is her casual posture and piercing gaze that shocked viewers of the time, who condemned the work as indecent. “If you were a young adult when that painting was made, it was totally radical to see a female figure splayed out and laidback rather than very poised,” says Quilty. EL GRECO: PAINTING OR POSTER? Perhaps one of the more ambiguous paintings you will see in The Greats is El Greco’s An Allegory (Fabula) (1580 – 85). A boy, a monkey and a grinning man are huddled around a flame. Unlike other works in the show, this painting is far from the art of religious iconography or the commissioned portraits of aristocrats. Something mysterious is unfolding amid the arresting play of light and shadow. This work is also one of Quilty’s top picks for the exhibition. “This painting strikes me as so contemporary,” says Quilty. “The first time I saw this work, it was like looking at a black and white poster. There is something very graphic about it. It’s very different to the rest of the show and so enigmatic. It’s beautiful and dark and foreboding. I guess this is the painting that makes me want to go to my studio and accelerate my practice.” DIEGO VELAZQUEZ: PERFECT POACHED EGGS The Greats has its share of showstoppers; however Diego Velazquez’s Old Woman Frying Eggs (1618) is all the more impressive knowing the artist was a mere teenager when he painted it. From the metallic shine of kitchen utensils to the gentle mingling of egg and water, the textural precision of this work is truly arresting — making it another of Concrete Playground's artworks you shouldn't miss at the exhibition. “Seeing every piece of that painting — the hands, the fingernails, the shadow of the knife — it’s extraordinarily beautiful," says Quilty. Velazquez would have been mixing his own paint too. The pigment came straight out of the ground and was mixed with oils and binders to create something for us to see more than four hundred years later. It gives me goosebumps. You win, Diego." Above all, this painting highlights the fundamental skills necessary to create a long lasting works of art. "When it comes to painting, you have to be aware of the boring and scientific side of things," says Quilty. "Part of the craft of being an artist is that you have to respect the materials you’re using and their histories. But you know what, if anyone can paint eggs poaching in boiling water like Velazquez can, I’ll do anything for them. It’s an extraordinary feat for an eighteen year old man.” The Greats: Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland runs October 24 to February 14. Tickets are $22 adult, $18 concession and available from the Gallery or the website.
Balmy summer nights in Sydney, bring 'em on. Rooftop wines, twilight beach strolls and a plethora of blockbuster exhibitions opening their doors across the city — not to mention the after-hours parties that come with them. Bringing some of the world's most groundbreaking, celebrated and iconic art to the city for your perusing pleasure, the Sydney International Art Series is currently boasting two world-class exhibitions at the Art Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Of course, Sydney galleries don't just shut up shop after you've soaked up The Greats: Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland and Grayson Perry: My Pretty Little Art Career, there's a whole bunch of late-night events to see through the evening. Here's a round-up of the must-do cultural programs to catch over the coming months. UP LATE WITH THE GREATS When the sun goes down every Wednesday, the Art Gallery of NSW decks the halls with jam-packed evenings of talks, guided tours, and live music. A super-charged extension of the Gallery's usual Wednesday night Art After Hours program will run on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, dubbed Up Late with The Greats. After the Gallery's usual closing time of 5pm, you can take an extended jaunt through The Greats exhibition — featuring the likes of Titian, Botticelli, Gauguin and Degas, all the way from the National Galleries of Scotland — and partake in a ramped up range of activities. On Wednesday nights, celebrated comedian and SERIOUS art nerd Hannah Gadsby will be unveiling her SERIOUS art history chops and treating gallery-goers to a VERY SERIOUS rundown of different eras of Western art history each week. There'll be salon drawing on Thursday nights, and live music by members of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra on Friday nights. On all three nights, Young Henrys will be serving a limited edition masterpiece-inspired brew at the Gallery’s pop-up bar. Up Late With The Greats will run Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays from January 6 – 29. MCA ARTBAR The Museum of Contemporary Art’s monthly ARTBAR has become a firm fixture on Sydney’s after-dark cultural calendar. After knocking off work on Friday, head down to Circular Quay for an extra dose of art, a splash of wine and your choice of fun-filled activities — with the added bonus of panoramic views of the harbour from the Sculpture Terrace. Past curators have included the likes of Pip and Pop, Blak Douglas, Haines and Hinterding, and Rebecca Baumann — each building uniquely flavoured late-night events. Wander in on the last Friday night of the month and you can expect a lively conglomeration of art, music, design and performance. It’s an excuse to let loose alongside some of Sydney’s best artistic talent. The next ARTBAR for 2016 will be curated by the supremely colourful Rosie Deacon. Who knows what’s in store for this one, but knowing Deacon, we will likely see something big, crafty and carnivalesque. MCA ARTBAR curated by Rosie Deacon will take place on Friday, January 29, with the following editions of MCA ARTBAR taking place on February 26, April 1 and April 29. DINE AT CHISWICK AT THE GALLERY It makes perfect sense to conclude an art adventure with a culinary adventure, right? Matt Moran’s Chiswick at the Gallery offers a cool and classy dining experience inside the Art Gallery of NSW. The ethos underpinning this restaurant is all about seasonal produce and inventive creations. Hence this season’s lamb comes from Moran’s family farm in the Central Tablelands, while the locally-grown herbs and vegetables come courtesy of Chiswick’s resident gardener. Head along for a bite to eat during summer and you can take advantage of a special dining package developed to complement The Greats. Take your pick of two mains, two desserts, a glass of Ross Hill Estate wine, plus a ticket to the exhibition for $75 per person — pretty great value. After taking in some old world inspiration, you can retreat to Chiswick for a more contemporary and replenishing experience. It's staying open for dinner on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in January as part of the Up Late with The Greats. For bookings, contact Chiswick at the Gallery on (02) 9225 1819. MCA'S GRAYSON PERRY-INSPIRED GIN GARDEN If you haven’t dabbled in a spot of gin drinking, now is the time. Young Henrys, Archie Rose Distillery and the MCA have joined forces to open a pop-up Gin Garden, coinciding with the blockbuster exhibition Grayson Perry: My Pretty Little Art Career. Ushering in some English charm for the summer — with the added perk of Australian sunshine — this quirky watering hole ought to be the perfect accompaniment to arty afternoons at the MCA. Archie Rose has set forth on a mission to revive Sydney’s once-thriving passion for spirits with their dedicated Rosebery distillery. The team will offer expertly crafted cocktails incorporating native Australian ingredients, such as blood lime, Dorrigo pepperleaf, lemon myrtle and river mint. If beer is your beverage of choice, Sydney’s star boutique brewers Young Henrys will be pulling a few pints too. Once you’ve had your fill of Grayson Perry, this is the leafy little pop-up is ideal for a refreshing sip of gin and a conversation (or debate) about contemporary art. The MCA Pop-Up Gin Garden will be open Thursday to Sunday from 4pm till late, until February 14, 2016. MCA LIGHTS ON LATER The MCA's late-night program is your go-to inner-city art adventure in Sydney, with this summer's program brimming with activity after hours. Every Thursday evening until 9pm, enjoy late-night access to Grayson Perry: My Pretty Little Art Career and other MCA exhibitions. Discover and design your alter ego in a hands-on workshop, listen to MCA curators and guides, watch one of Grayson Perry’s popular TV documentaries, join a Subversive Tour of the exhibition led by a cast of diverse and eclectic guests. Then wind down over a glass of wine, a bit to eat and live music on the MCA’s Sculpture Terrace. Want to go on multiple Sydney art adventures without going broke? You can buy discounted tickets to the Sydney International Art Series by purchasing an Art Pass. It gives you access to both The Greats and Grayson Perry this summer for a discounted rate. Nab one from artpass.com.au.
Convincing people to eat their daily dose of fruit is about to get a whole lot easier. In the single greatest agricultural triumph since Nick Offerman opened that pizza farm back in July, Australian supermarkets will soon be stocking fairy floss flavoured grapes. And who said you can't improve on nature? Officially trademarked as Cotton Candy Grapes, the variety was developed by Californian grape growers Grapery, who created it accidentally while cross-pollinating different breeds. The result is an extra sweet grape that reportedly tastes uncannily like everyone's favourite school fete treat — although Grapery CEO Jim Beagle assured The Huffington Post that they have "basically the same nutritional content as almost any grapes in the grocery store." Cotton candy grapes please never go away.???? I may or may not buy 2 bags at a time whenever I see them at the store.? #tiumeals #tiuteam #fitforfall #charitychallenge @toneitup #cottoncandygrapes A photo posted by Lyndsay (@lyndsayruns) on Sep 14, 2015 at 1:32pm PDT Unsurprisingly, the grapes have proven a major hit in the United States, blowing up on social media and warranting mentions on both The Today Show and Good Morning America. If that wasn't enough, they've also been given the official Ryan Seacreast seal of approval — a sure-fire sign of quality if ever there was one. Cotton candy flavored grapes exist. There is hope http://t.co/qVUXXy3GjJ — Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) August 9, 2013 Australia, meanwhile, will be getting its first taste of these little miracles come February next year, after Grape Co. Australia secured the license from Grapery to grow and sell the variety down under. Of course, the question on everyone's lips is whether or not you can turn them into fairy floss flavoured goon. Because that would be a gamechanger. Cloudy? Worry not, there's candy cotton grape gelato. I mean, cotton. candy. Grape. Cotton candy grape! (one of those silly saturday today, definitely :D ) A photo posted by Rebecca M (@reblondonfridge) on Sep 12, 2015 at 4:10am PDT Via Good Food and The Huffington Post. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
Eight independent local designers will soon converge on Crown Street for a powerhouse pop-up. From June 9–21, you'll find them at Blank_Space Gallery showcasing their latest creations, from fashion and jewellery to ceramics, furniture and objects. Though their works are diverse, these artists share a commitment to local, ethical and sustainable making and have all spent time in Chippendale's WIP (Work in Progress) Studio. The group is made up of jewellery designers Alexandra Dodds and Pip Stent, who both source Australian materials, from recycled silver and gold to fair-trade diamonds; fashion designers Annie Hamilton, Jillian Boustred and Mimi Holvast, whose high-quality, locally made garments feature hand-illustrated prints and linen; and ceramicists Emily Ellis, Gretel Corrie and Milly Dent. WIP Shop will launch on Saturday, June 9 and will be open 10am–6pm every day until June 21, except the Queen's Birthday public holiday. ANd on Thursdays, the shop will stay open until 9pm. Images: Bel Campbell.
Adena Jacobs’ Wizard of Oz at Belvoir is something of a nightmarish dark twin to Spring Awakening. Each initial meeting Dorothy (Emily Milledge) has with her entourage of Scarecrow (Melita Jurisic), Tin Man (Jane Montgomery Griffiths) and Lion (Paul Capsis) is a dance of sexual defiance, after which Dorothy emerges stronger, until she meets her match (or mentor) in the sadist Witch (Luisa Hastings Edge), whose fluorescing face is a menacing triumph of design on the part of Kate Davis (of Melbourne's THE RABBLE). When Jacobs put a glass box on stage last year in Hedda Gabler, Sydney’s critics worked themselves into a Simon Stone association flurry, immediately lumping her into a false category of ‘those auteur directors who like nudity and glass boxes’ (eg Simon Stone, Barrie Kosky and Benedict Andrews; who, by the way, are as different from each other as they are from David Williamson and therefore don’t constitute a meaningful category). In Oz there stands the offending glass box again, but it’s pretty small and mobile; also there are microphones that drop intermittently from the ceiling. Yes, Ralph Myers’ design has the look of German auteur theatre, but Jacobs’ work is much more robust than merely abiding by a certain fashion. Jacobs was criticised in Hedda for creating a flat, lifeless production, although some, like Rima Sabina Aouf and Alison Croggon pointed out that this was, in fact, an accurate depiction of disconnection and cruelty respectively. And here’s the thing: Jacobs’ work is dark. Like, properly dark. The notes on Belvoir’s website state that The Wizard of Oz takes a significant departure from the original story and is not appropriate for the kiddies. It’s also not appropriate for adults. Nothing about Jacobs’ work is appropriate, and in stark contrast to Stone’s work, which at times trivialised great stories into edgy-looking soap operas, Jacobs is dancing with the devil. Or in this case, with a disturbing scarecrow played by the inimitable Jurisic. Dorothy meets the Scarecrow through a curtain that cuts Ralph Myers’ stark concrete set in half. Jurisic hangs from a noose like rope extending from the ceiling as Dorothy hugs her through the curtain at the waist. Dressed in a scrappy white lace dress, Jurisic makes audible, rasping breaths through a stocking covering her face until Dorothy releases her. Oz is an outstanding piece of theatre and there are only two flaws: we don’t see enough of Paul Capsis, and the picnic scene between Dorothy and the Witch reads as an unfinished improvisation. Jacob’s Oz is unsentimental and intelligent, and each member of the tremendous cast is as fearless as the next to reveal the grotesque in themselves.
When it comes to Italian food in Sydney, we're spoilt for choice. We've been treated to an influx of new Italian restaurants over the past couple of years — some serving classic pasta, others serving Italian-esque fusion food, and one ditching the new-wave to wheel out small plates on a marble trolley. We've teamed up with Disaronno to celebrate Italian culture and bring you this list of the best new Italian dishes in Sydney. A classic Italian cocktail is the perfect accompaniment to an Italian meal, so toast to Disaronno Sour Hour by mixing 50ml of Disaronno (an amaretto-flavoured, Italian liqueur) with lots of ice, 25ml of lemon juice, 5ml of sugar syrup and an egg white (if desired) before digging in to one of Sydney's best dishes. Buon appetito. ACME: SQUID INK MALLOREDDUS, TUNA, BOTTARGA ACME is anything but your typical Italian restaurant. In fact, #notanitalianrestaurant is one of owner and chef Mitch Orr's favoured hashtags. The expertly-curated small menu at this Rushcutters Bay establishment is Italian-focused, but a diverse range of other culinary influences puts ACME in a league of its own. It's tough to pick a favourite dish, but we're huge fans of the squid ink malloreddus ($26) — juicy chunks of tuna, bottarga (a yummy salty fish roe) and malloreddus (a small half-shell pasta) made with squid ink. The delectable dish is complemented by equally gorgeous decor: large windows and backlit mirrors create an intimate atmosphere perfect for date night. BIG POPPA'S: RICOTTA GNOCCHI WITH KING BROWN MUSHROOMS, BROWN BUTTER, TARRAGON, AMARETTI AND PECORINO There's just so much to love about Big Poppa's. For starters, it's open until 3am and is home to a massive cheese fridge that houses the restaurant's 25-plus (!) varieties. Downstairs is a cocktail bar with low lighting, leather booths, and a vintage mosaic of Biggie Smalls. Upstairs, you'll get more of a classic ristorante vibe — but it's combined with the venue's characteristic hip hop playlists. Wherever you choose to sit, don't miss the new, and insanely good ricotta gnocchi ($25). This decadent vegetarian dish features brown butter, king brown mushrooms and pecorino cheese atop ricotta-stuffed gnocchi. I, MACCHERONI: TORTELLI REGGIANO WITH SPINACH, BURNT BUTTER AND SAGE I, Maccheroni is a delightful addition to Rose Bay, offering locally-sourced Italian fare in a small, beautifully-designed space — think exposed-brick walls, blackboards, and a single communal table. Chef Marcello Farioli (formerly of 10 William Street) has designed a concise, rotating menu that applies modern techniques to classic recipes with phenomenal results. The undisputed standout? The tortelli regianno ($28), a mouthwatering combo of spinach, sage, burnt butter, and a generous heaping of parmigiano-reggiano cheese to top it all off. Order this, fall head over heels, and then consider learning how to recreate it at home in one of the restaurant's cooking classes. MEZZANINO RISTORANTE: PIATTINI MENU For something a little different, head to Mezzanino, the new restaurant above Danks Street Produce Merchants. In this sprawling, sunlit space, piattini (small plates) will come straight to your table on a marble-topped carrello (cart) courtesy of chef Riccardo Interdonato (formerly Grossi Florentino). Sourced fresh from the markets downstairs, these seasonal plates are simply delizioso. Try the impossibly juicy meatballs served in a lush tomato sauce or the caprese salad with a delectably creamy mozzarella. While there's also a traditional menu, we think it's a lot more enjoyable to gorge yourself on heaps of smaller ones. BAR MACHIAVELLI: CULATELLO WITH BURRATA CHEESE, FIGS AND RUCOLA Save this one for a night when you're in the mood for a cheeky splurge. Sister restaurant of Sydney institution Machiavelli Ristorante, Bar Machiavelli is a dramatic venue featuring towering ceilings, dark-wood tables and exposed-brick walls onto which cinematic images are projected. As is to be expected from chef Paola Toppi, the menu is focused on homemade pasta and antipasto. We've fallen for the culatello ($29), a premium prosciutto topped with to-die-for burrata, fresh figs, and a generous heaping of rucola. Gorgeously plated, this light dish is the perfect choice for a sweltering summer night. Visit Disaronno and mix yourself up a Disaronno Sour — it's the perfect accompaniment to a classic Italian meal. Images: Steven Woodburn.
If you prefer your craft beer with sunshine, Sunday Sounds is where it's at for you. This year, for Sydney Craft Beer Week, The Beach Club in Collaroy is taking their event up a notch by launching eight never before brewed beers, with an extra special collaboration beer to surprise patrons. While entry is free, $30 schooner books can be purchased on the day, which includes your choice of six out of the fourteen beers they'll have on tap.
Lovers of quality vino, make Double Bay your next stop. In February, we introduced you to Mistelle, a slick new joint on Kiaora Lane. And now it's found itself in some esteemed company, with brand new venue bibo joining the harbourside suburb's wine bar set. bibo is brought to you by two Guillaume expats: head chef Jose Silva, who ran the kitchen at the previous incarnation of Bennelong, and restaurant manager Jonathan Mallet, formerly of Guillaume in Paddington. Pooling their years of fine dining experience, Silva and Mallet have decided to focus on premium quality (yet not too pricey) Mediterranean dishes, with an emphasis on Portuguese food, which Silva grew up eating and cooking. "It reflects the way I like to eat," Silva says. "You can come in for a snack and a glass of wine or a full meal." Among the menu's Portuguese classics, you'll find bacalhau (salted cod) croquettes, runner bean fritters and clams Bulhão Pato (aka clams in white wine), as well as Portuguese tarts from Silva's Petersham bakery, Sweet Belem. For more contemporary palates, there are braised Rangers Valley short ribs and bone marrow with anchovy crumb. Taking care of the drinks list is head sommelier Louella Mathews (ex-Rockpool Bar and Grill), with her trusty assistant, Ambroise Moriceau (ex-Momofuku Seibo). "Every wine chosen is from a different region, with a different climate, soil type and tradition," says Mathews. "We are offering guests a selection from the best sites in Australia and around the world." In addition, bibo has exclusive access to a very special private cellar, containing a selection of aged Australian Shiraz, Cabernet and Cabernet blends, including a small collection of Penfolds Grange vintages 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1984. "We have compiled a special museum release section in the wine list and have begun our own provenance program. This will allow us to list a wine at its ideal drinking age and ensures that guests are drinking wine that has been kept under optimal conditions," Mathews says. bibo's New York-inspired interior — layered with dark wood, marble and textiles — is the work of Paul Jones of PJ Architects. The main bar overlooks leafy Bay Street, but there's also a large outdoor terrace and an upstairs private room. bibo is located at 7 Bay Street, Double Bay and is open Wednesday and Thursday 5.30pm to midnight, Friday and Saturday midday to midnight, and Sunday midday to 5pm. For more information, visit bibowinebar.com.au.
One of Australia's most redeeming qualities is its ability to give good afternoon sun. There's something about its familiar glow that almost demands casual drinks — whether it's cracking open a cold beer after a day out, heading to the pub after a long day of work, or deciding on a whim that your backyard is perfect for having friends over. When you have friends this summer, heed our advice and take it to the next level by implementing a killer theme. We've spoken to a few of our favourite chefs, musicians and artists, to get their insights on creating the perfect balmy afternoon. On this adventure we've spoken to Luke Lucas — uber talented, Sydney based typographer, creative director and co-creator of the now defunct Lifelounge magazine (may it rest in peace). Each issue of Lifelounge was themed, so we thought Luke was the perfect person to ask for some tips. Read these, and get creative the next time you have friends over. THEME COMES FIRST, IDEAS COME SECOND The first step in throwing a next-level summer party is choosing the theme. No exceptions. You'll probably have a million ideas, but they'll most likely be unrelated to each other. Having a theme is a great way to bring everything together in a cohesive format. You could be really into the idea of having a pinata in your backyard. Once you've decided that your party is going to be all about food, you can make it into the shape of a burger. "Coming up with the theme was the very first process we went through for each edition of the magazine," says Luke. "I think if you try to retrofit content to suit a theme then it can feel a little contrived or forced so for us the theme had to come first. For the most part curating content or designing within the bounds of a them gives you the ability to connect concepts and ideas that don't naturally go together but when presented within the theme are perfect partners. It can be lot of fun." IF YOU DON'T LIKE SOMETHING, CHANCES ARE OTHERS WON'T EITHER Everything in Lifelounge made it in because it was something Luke liked — not what he thought other people would like. "We were mostly creating the magazine for ourselves," he says. "It was a way of expressing thoughts and ideas about things we were passionate about. There wasn't a great deal of thought put into how appealing it might be to others." When you're thinking of a party theme, make sure it's something you're into. Don't go for a double denim theme just because you know your friends will like it. Pick something your passionated about — that could be a 90s theme. You're much more likely to get people hyped up. "I think if you are passionate about something then the way you present that passion is naturally infectious," Luke says wisely. DON'T COPY YOUR FRIENDS Trying to one-up your mates with a better 90s party than they threw last year isn't going to work. You won't be able to do anything new, and everyone's costumes or activities will most likely be the same as last year. Instead, use last year's raging party for inspiration. If they did 90s, shy away from decades and try for something else – a clothing related double denim theme for example. As Luke says, "there needs to be enough of a point of difference between themes so we can create unique content and design treatments for each edition." WHERE TO GET YOUR INSPIRATION "We're influenced by everything we see, hear, touch and experience. Inspiration can come from any combination of those sources but for me it rarely presents itself if I'm searching too hard for it. Ideas present themselves when my mind is clear or I'm doing some kind of activity that involves little thought — like taking a shower or waiting in between sets in the surf." In the words of Mad Men's Don Draper, "think about it deeply, then forget it. An idea will jump up in your face." Enjoy your summer afternoons with the new low-carb Heineken 3 — we're helping you make the most of them. Images: Luke Lucas.
Throw those GoPros, bubble bottles and novelty gumboots in your rucksack, Splendour in the Grass is returning to North Byron Parklands for another year of festival merriment. After a fake lineup posted was 'leaked' prior to the official triple j announcement to catfish all us suckers eagerly awaiting the list of acts that will be appearing, the details for Splendour 2016 are finally here. In what is the best news we've heard this year, The Strokes (The Strokes!!!) will be Splendouring for their only Australian show. It also seems the predictions for The Cure were incredibly, amazingly correct — meaning that we'll be seeing both The Strokes and The Cure this July. It's almost too much to handle. Joining them is one heck of a lineup that includes The Avalanches — who haven't played a gig (that wasn't a DJ set) in over ten years. Fingers crossed the show coincides with new music. Iceland's Sigur Rós and Irish artist James Vincent McMorrow will also being doing one-off Australian shows at the festival, Courtney Barnett will make her first appearance at Byron, while James Blake and At the Drive-In will return, as will locals Flume and Sticky Fingers. Anyway, we know what you're here for. We'll cut to the chase. SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2016 LINEUP The Strokes (only Aus show) The Cure Flume The Avalanches (only Aus show) James Blake At The Drive-In Violent Soho Hermitude Band of Horses Sigur Ros (only Aus show) Santigold Matt Corby Sticky Fingers Boy & Bear Courtney Barnett Jake Bugg The 1975 Leon Bridges Duke Dumont (DJ set) James Vincent McMorrow (only Aus show) The Kills The Preatures What So Not Years And Years Gang Of Youths Illy Peter, Bjorn & John Golden Features Crystal Fighters Ball Park Music Tegan & Sara DMA'S Jack Garratt Hayden James City Calm Down Snakehips Mark Lanegan Michael Kiwanuka Jagwar Ma King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard The Jungle Giants The Internet Motez Marlon Williams Lido Emma Louise Kim Churchill Nothing But Thieves Lapsley Kacy Hill Slumberjack Robert Forster (10 Years On) Beach Slang Urthboy Little May Boo Seeka Ganz Spring King Melbourne Ska Orchestra Fat White Family Total Giovanni Methyl Ethel Slum Sociable L D R U In Loving Memory of Szymon Blossoms High Tension Roland Tings Sampa The Great The Wild Feathers Harts Ngaiire montaigne Tired Lion Green Buzzard Jess Kent Gold Class Lucy Cliche Opiuo Mall grab Dom Dolla Paces Just A Gent Dro Carey Running Touch Wafia World Champion Suzi Zhen Remi Nicole Millar Dreller Feki Kllo Banoffee Plus... Moonbase Comander The Meeting Tree Twinsy Purple Sneaker Djs Human Movement Panete Swick Amateur Dance Ribongia Splendour will return to North Byron Parklands on Friday 22, Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 July. Onsite camping will once again be available from Wednesday, July 20. Tickets go on sale Thursday, April 21 at 9am sharp AEST. More info will soon be available at the official Splendour In The Grass site. Image: Bianca Holderness.
OK Go, that band whose music videos consistently outperform their music, would find it hard not to be impressed by Birdman. That's because the film features one remarkable, continuous shot that goes for 119 minutes and is called Birdman. It's a cheat, of course. Like Timecode before it, there are cuts amid the long takes, but much of director Alejandro González Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's remarkable achievement is how seamlessly they’re all pieced together. Filmed like a play but choreographed like a dance, Birdman is cinematic ballet where the way the story is presented is just as critical to its telling as the story itself. And what of that story? It’s a simple one, but like all good tales, the simplicity of plot is offset by characters possessed of deep complexity. None more so than Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), a washed-up movie star whose career faded into obscurity after turning down the lead in ‘Birdman 3’ (allusions to Keaton’s career post Batmans 1 and 2 are clearly — and gleefully — embraced by all). Thomson has gambled everything on one final shot at restoring his credibility: a Broadway adaptation of a Raymond Carver story that he has singlehandedly adapted, directed and is starring in. There's a matryoshka doll feeling to it all: the movie, filmed like a play, about the movie star putting on a play. The effect is at once mesmerising and unbalanced, neatly reflecting Thomson’s own tortured subconscious. When narration sporadically occurs, it is not in the voice of Thomson, but Thomson ‘doing’ Birdman — the same gravelly exercise in duality that defines the Bruce Wayne/Batman dichotomy. Then there’s the supporting cast, albeit one where ‘support’ is a giant misnomer since Keaton needs no assistance and each of the supporting actors puts in a lead-worthy performance of their own. As Thomson’s friend and agent, Zach Galifianakis shows remarkable, understated reserve, while Emma Stone is refreshingly dark as Thomson’s recovering drug addict daughter Sam. Naomi Watts and Andrea Riseborough both demonstrate incredible depth as Thomson’s on-stage co-stars, but the standout is unquestionably Edward Norton. He plays Mike Shiner, an unspeakable egotist and critical darling whose dedication to method seemingly knows no bounds. Norton's scenes with Keaton showcase two of the finest performances of the year, and are spectacularly — most notably in their self-aware jibes at actors and critics. This is a film that almost commands repeat viewings, if only to marvel at its mechanics. Yet Birdman offers so much more than form. Darkly comedic, intellectually challenging and emotionally confronting, Iñárritu's film is a tantalisingly original piece of cinema that belongs on everyone’s must-see list for 2015.
You've probably heard of Salt Meats Cheese — the hospitality group has blown up in recent years, and now it has six venues across New South Wales and Queensland. The latest SMC to join the clan is a flagship store inside Circular Quay's Gateway dining precinct. This new iteration has taken over what was briefly Popina Kitchen, which was a collaboration between the group and North Bondi's Shuk. Taking ownership of the space, the Salt Meats Cheese group have changed things up a bit for the new flagship — it's a little different to its siblings. For one, with room for 110 guests, it's huge. And secondly, it will be the first SMC with a menu headed up by Massimo Mele. Inspired by Mele's childhood memories of Italy, the venue serves classic Italian fare with a couple of modern twists. Think deep-fried pizza with house dip, cavatelli with mushrooms and kale pesto, and a dish of tagliolini with raw tuna, rocket, garlic, chilli and capers. Each pizza at the new venue is made with a thinner Roman-style base than the Napoli-style bases SMC is known for. There are eight varieties to work through, from a classic margherita to a pork and fennel sausage pizza with charred broccolini and fontina cheese. To match the fare, Adriano Risi has curated a wine list of local and Italian varietals, with big influence from his home state of Tasmania. There's also a daily aperitivo hour from 5–6.30pm where you can grab $10 cocktails and $5 wine and beer, with complimentary bar snacks to top it all off. The Circular Quay outpost is open for business and a rooftop bar is set to join the offerings soon. The changes signpost a shift in direction for the group, which could be a good thing — we didn't think the Broadway store quite reflected the group's standards when we visited last year. Salt Meats Cheese Sydney is located on Level 2 of the Gateway building at Circular Quay and is open Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner and Saturday for dinner. Images: DS Oficina.
Tea trolleys and shoe shines while you wait aren't just an old world creature comfort relegated to 1920s era Sydney — if you pop by George Street right now, you'll find just that (and a big queue). The Grounds of Alexandria's highly anticipated city salon is just one ambitious cafe to open in Sydney within the last six months. From Chippendale's multifaceted neighbourhood brunch spot, to Warringah's indoor garden oasis that naturalises an otherwise typical shopping mall, Sydney's cafe culture has become somewhat less easily defined than in recent years — in many ways, more dramatic. With so many openings hitting the city in a six-month period, we whittled it down to our favourite newcomers raising the bar for Sydney's caffeine scene. Well, our favourites so far — there's still another six months to go. Image: Bodhi Liggett.
Keen to gift Rushcutters Bay with an authentic taste of Rome, Flavio Carnevale has pulled up stumps on his southern Italian-inspired Popolo to make way for new venture MARTA. As Popolo prepares to relocate to slightly more formal CBD digs, the space at 50 McLachlan Avenue has been transformed into a bright and buzzy neighbourhood osteria and bar, as imagined by award-winning Melbourne architects, DesignOffice (who're responsible for the epic Higher Ground). The all-embracing space is decked out in black and olive neutral tones, boasting a sunny courtyard and an array of seating options to suit any occasion. Moving away from the food of the Basilicata region, MARTA's food and drink offering will take its cues from the lively venues of Rome, where Carnevale's hospitality journey began. Head Chef Christuan Jordaan is leading a menu that is both refined and full of personality, featuring dishes like bombolotti, crumbed mozzarella and rice croquettes and tiella gaetana, a pie-like dish of thin pizza layers filled with baby calamari ragu. Daily house specials hope to inspire regular visits and it won't be open for lunch anymore — just dinner six nights a week and brunch on Sundays. Meanwhile, a bar area with high-topped tables will be ideal for those drinks-focused drop-ins — sessions spent sipping spritzes and quaffing wines poured from Carnevale's handmade terracotta decanters. Marta is now open at 50 McLachlan Avenue, Rushcutters Bay. It will be open Tuesday to Saturday from 5.30pm and from 9am on Sunday. Images: Alan Benson.
Secret Garden by the numbers is a pretty impressive feat. With around 6000 tickets sold, around 60 bands, producers and DJs, over 80 artists and creatives, an epic team of staff and around 300 volunteers, there's a significant amount of people power involved in one of Australia's most unique festivals. Snuggled amongst acres of the Downes family farm, not far from Campbelltown and Camden, Secret Garden sprawls across two days: small Friday and big Saturday. Local newcomers, homegrown favourites and international stars played across four stages this past weekend, from Friday, February 27 to Sunday, March 1. But the music isn't the sole star of the show. Secret Garden feels like a giant, outdoor Jurassic Lounge that happens to be a music festival. And, like the Lounge, it's not just the entertainment that makes it. It's the art and the play that make it. And especially, the audience. The role of art and audience participation is a huge priority for Secret Garden, a fact reflected in the lead-up to ticket release time. The festival keeps its lineup secret, even after tickets go on sale. "[Festivalgoers] don't know who's playing [until after tickets are sold out]," says assistant volunteer manager Sebastian Scott. "So the people that are coming are attracted by the sort of art that they're going to see." Attendees see immersive, artistic environments and activities littered throughout the farm. There's a faux Chinatown, laid out in red fabrics and, after dark, glowing red lights. There are strange, pink jellyfish creatures hovering over the tiny Fern Gully stage. A 'Pillow Fort' draped soporifically in quilts and bed sheets. A lonely kissing booth. A game show arena littered with paper maché giant landmarks. These environments are made by volunteers, pioneered by creatives, artists and the production crew purely for the festival. About 80 professional architects, designers and prop makers work on these creative areas, according to festival co-founder and director Clare Downes. Year round. Then there are 300 volunteers who do a four-hour work shift in return for a ticket. Secret Garden started out as a family affair and Downes say this is the reason SG's stayed different to other festivals. "We're not trying to gouge them with huge drink prices. We're not concerned with a big festival bottom line." The festival's more concerned with not taking itself too seriously. "What we want to create is something that's just playful and fun. And we just want to make people laugh." It shows. The first night, as I type up my notes at the back of one of the stages, a man swoops over and puts his arm around me. "You look like my FRIEND." he says. It sums up the festival vibe neatly. He takes a selfie of us. A little later I run into him with his mates at a smaller stage. I really do look like one of his friends. We take another selfie. Music is undoubtedly the main event, however. Friday night highlights include legendary kids entertainer Peter Combe crooning like the Frank Sinatra for under 5s. His backup band skips across styles — metal, pop, Led Zeppelin. Aussie duo Tees explode in a burst of fog and bass, Lizzy Tillman’s vocals floating dreamily over Sean Duarte's mesh of notes. Then there's Gang of Youths; rough-shouldered, hirsute and handsome. They sing soulfully and bop like teens in a mirror. Little Bastard follow with pure, energetic fun. The audience shifts while Little Bastard on stage: from mere excitement to an unabashed, dorky joy. Saturday sees the bigger stages open. Sydney outfit The Morrisons are first up, playing big band folk, like a mash up of the both Inside Llewyn Davies and O Brother Where Art Thou's T Bone Burnett. The Gooch Palms get lead singer Leroy Macqueen naked again. "This is the last chance you’ll get to see this for a year!" he advises. "Is he doing that?" Someone in the crowd asks. "Penis!" Yells someone else. MacQueen sings lost Novocastrian pub punk, with ocasional muscular, Michael Stipe falsetto. Sans pants. Little May’s rich, ethereal emotion keeps the crowd moving, while a criminally small crowd at Sharon Van Etten's slowly increases acceptably. Amid her band's warps, wefts and walls of sound, Van Etten shakes about like a super-expressive Cat Power. Back near the pink jellyfish, Remi's got a drummer, he's got beats, he's got moves. But, most of all, he’s got THAT voice. Smooth and limber, his vocals fly. Up next, it's Fishing; dressed in sepulchral white masks and shrouds, they drag the crowd into rapturous dance, from one end of Choy Lin to another. By the end of Saturday night, that lonely Kissing Booth — long unstaffed and left for festivalgoers to fill — is finally, properly going. There are four happy women inside, kissing and hugging. Andrew, a guy in a harlequin outfit, has tired of kissing and waves around the booth's blackboard. He spruiks. He'd seen the booth empty and thought "why not?" It felt safe. The people here are a bit special: "No other festival I've been to has this vibe." One of the final sets of the festival sees Donny Benet plays the tiny Fern Gully stage, under the canopy of pink jellyfish. He's good. All the music was good. The art was good. But what's the secret? The people — from the festival team to the audience — made this thing. Secret Garden runs on people power, and with numbers increasing every year, it's clear the teeny festival that could has a lot of love behind it — even with one of the heaviest police presences we've seen at a festival yet. Images: Anna Warr and Jack Toohey.
One of the biggest films of 2015 sees a team of valiant superheroes do battle with a malevolent android named Ultron. A hulking hunk of metal bent on human annihilation, he’s the latest in a long line of movie robots run amuck, one that stretches back all the way to Fritz Lang’s silent Metropolis and encompasses many of the all-time great science-fiction films, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator and the criminally underrated masterpiece that is Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. But while Ultron is busy making life difficult for Iron Man and pals, a smaller film is offering a more nuanced take on the dilemmas of artificial intelligence. The directorial debut of writer Alex Garland, Ex Machina is a (relatively) low-budget techno thriller that poses some big, frightening questions about where humankind may be headed. Carried on the shoulders of its three central performances, it’s an intriguing piece of understated science fiction that’ll leave you pondering its content long after it comes to an end. The film follows Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a programmer for a massive internet search engine, who wins a mysterious company-wide lottery. His prize: spend a week with the company’s eccentric founder Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac) in his remote mountainside home and research lab. There, Caleb finds himself introduced to Bateman’s most incredible invention yet: a humanoid robot named Ava (Swedish actress Alicia Vikander). The purpose of Caleb’s visit, Bateman explains, is to spend time speaking with Ava, to determine whether she has truly achieved artificial intelligence. As the week stretches on, however, Caleb begins to sense that something is terribly amiss. Although it’s his first film in the director’s chair, Garland is certainly no stranger to science fiction, having previously written the screenplays for Sunshine, 28 Days Later and Dredd. Still, Ex Machina is certainly his most cerebral work — slow moving, but never dull. As Ava and Caleb grow closer and Caleb begins to question Bateman’s ultimate goals, the film forces us to consider a number of difficult ideas, from what exactly it means to be human to what responsibilities come with playing God. A big part of what keeps the film engaging are the performances of Garland’s three leads. Gleeson’s awkward, good natured Caleb strikes a stark contrast with Isaac’s macho take on Bateman, whose heavy drinking and aggressive alpha male personality adds an uneasy tension to many of their exchanges. So too is it difficult to pin down the dynamic between Caleb and Vikander’s seemingly innocent robot, especially when she begins to show hints of romantic interest in her new companion — feelings that he soon begins to reciprocate. The film is at its best when it's exploring these kinds of emotional, social and technological grey areas. Hidden character motivations leave viewers in the same spot as Caleb, feeling increasingly uneasy, and unsure of exactly where they stand. If you just want explosions, go and see Age of Ultron. But if you’re looking for something a little more intellectually rewarding, Ex Machina is the ticket for you.
It has been more than three years since Bruce Munro's spectacular Field of Light started illuminating Uluru, with more than 450,000 people flocking to the Red Centre to see its ocean of colour over that time. In fantastic news for anyone who hasn't made the trek yet, or anyone keen to view its beautiful, multi-hued splendour again, the eye-catching installation's stay has been extended — and, while that's happened before, this time the gorgeous piece will keep shining indefinitely. This is actually the third time that Field of Light's run has been lengthened. Initially set to remain in place until March 2017, it was first expanded until March this 2018, then until December 2020. Now, the artwork's 50,000 glass lights will twinkle across an area of 62,500 square metres — the size of nine football fields — without an end date. To keep the installation beaming as brightly as possible, Field of Light has just undergone a $1 million refurbishment, overseen by Munro. As part of the process, each individual stem of light was replaced, as was the entire fibre optic cabling that connects the sea of frosted glass spheres. [caption id="attachment_619578" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Field of Light: Bruce Munro. Photo by Mark Pickthall.[/caption] As well as casting Australia's sacred rock in a whole new light, the Uluru display is the largest incarnation of Munro's project, which previously illuminated the grounds at the likes of London's Victoria & Albert Museum and the Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. Run on solar power, and named Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku — which translates to 'looking at lots of beautiful lights' in local Pitjantjatjara — for its Northern Territory stint, the installation took 40 people six weeks to set up. Between late 2018 and early 2019, the artist also created an ANZAC-inspired version in Western Australia, called Field of Light: Avenue of Honour. The British-born Munro, who first came up with the idea for Field of Light while visiting Uluru back in 1992, said in a statement that he is "truly honoured that the Field of Light will remain at Uluru". He continued, "the ancient landscape of the Red Centre continues to inspire my thoughts, feelings and ideas that shape my life and work." Keen on making the trip? Check out out Weekender's Guide to the Red Centre During Field of Light. Images: Field of Light: Bruce Munro. Photos by Mark Pickthall.
Can it be? Looks like your favourite black comedy of the late '80s — full of suicide, scrunchies and Christian Slater’s dazzling smile — is being remade into a glam and glitter musical. Heathers, the 1988 cult film, is arguably the edgiest of the high school satire canon. Telling the story of two high school students who unwittingly turn suicide into a popular teen craze, Heathers makes Clueless and Mean Girls look like after-school specials. Complete with double murders and underage terrorism, this brutal take on teenage groupthink is hardly a likely candidate for the jazz hands of musical theatre. And yet… Complete with romance, brilliantly brutal insults and teens wearing colour-coordinated powersuits to school, something tells me this creepy Tim Burton-esque tale has always been waiting to be set to music. How very.
We're just days out from one of the Mornington Peninsula's most hotly anticipated launches, with the team behind Pt. Leo Estate announcing the cultural and culinary haven will open to the public on Wednesday, October 25. Gracing 134 hectares at the Peninsula's southern tip, the multifaceted family-owned property will boast a 110-seat restaurant, an enormous cellar door and a sprawling sculpture park, pegged to be the most significant of its kind in the country. With panoramic Western Port Bay views as the backdrop, the sculpture park will debut with over 50 large-scale works from both Australian and international artists and is set to evolve and grow over the years. Meanwhile, the semi-circular cellar door and restaurant is the work of acclaimed Melbourne architects Jolson, taking pride of place at the property's highest point and featuring sweeping views across the vineyard, the sculpture park and the Bay. The eatery's menus, created by Culinary Director Phil Wood (ex-Rockpool and Eleven Bridge) will centre around seasonal, regional produce, kicking off with dishes like a beetroot pancake with salmon roe and lemon curd, and a wallaby pie. Meanwhile, a central woodfired oven will work magic with quality local proteins like duck and beef. The restaurant's pitched as a comfy, casual venue, with a second more intimate dining space slated to open towards the end of the year. Pt. Leo Estate will open at 3649 Frankston-Flinders Road, Merricks, from Wednesday, October 25. For more info, visit ptleoestate.com.au. Images: Anson Smart.
Ever since we first visited the Eveleigh Creative Precinct, a newly developed arts and culture precinct in Redfern, to check out the Cake Wines Cellar Door, we knew the space was in for something special. And this week Henry Lee's became the latest delicious tenant to open its doors in the creative hub. Preceded by the recent launch of the cellar door and design spaces by Frost Collective and Massive Interactive, this new concept cafe is in great company — and it's bringing even more local talent into the mix. The kitchen is all about seasonal produce, sustainable living and supporting the area's ever-expanding creative populous, whether it be in the food and drink industry, or arts and culture. Keeping it local may be the trend of the moment (and one that's supported by CP), but Henry Lee's is certainly putting their own distinct spin on the concept — one we haven't seen in many other cafes. Think dishes of beef cheeks braised and smoked in Grifter Brewing Co.'s watermelon pilsner ($23) and a burger using LP's Quality Meats' maple bacon and a coffee-infused bacon jam ($16). The dreamy menu doesn't stop the local love there though, with the absurdly good-looking Push the Sky Away Porridge made using Urban Beehive's thyme honey, and the Polly Jean, which features salmon cured with citrus and Poor Toms Gin ($19). With coffee by boutique Sydney roasters The Little Marionette, an entire menu of chai teas and complimentary sparkling water for each table, they're certainly serving up the goods. This well-crafted menu is no surprise from founders Kath and Aaron Devaney, who have owned and operated two well-regarded cafes on the Central Coast (Black Treacle Cafe & Bakery and Long Jetty's Green Tangerine) and are sincerely passionate about the artisanal vibe. With local produce used this intricately, you can tell the Devaneys are genuine about supporting locals businesses and creating a self-sustainable community. Henry Lee's is located at 16 Eveleigh Street, Redfern and is open from Monday to Saturday from 8am to 3pm. For more info, visit henrylees.com.au. Images: Zachary Duffy.
The crew who brought you ACME, the elegant, understated and Italian-ish eatery in Rushcutters Bay, are back (and more powerful than you could ever imagine) with their new project Bar Brose. As you may have guessed, Bar Brose is a wine bar that's just opened in Darlinghurst. The nod at rose is a bit of a red herring as they serve up a broad range (a very broad range) of drinks. Their French-inspired menu is just as you would imagine; minimalist and varied, with fair whack of dessert options. Chef Analiese Gregory, formerly of Quay, is the force behind the food, comandeering a menu which includes adventurous dishes such kingfish, quince juice, apple and geranium ($18) and aged beef tartare with coffee and pickled raspberries ($18) alongside more traditional titles: spaghetti carbonara ($20) and Iceberg salad ($10). Gregory's menu sees simple but rich flavour combos, really embodying that Frenchy feel. She's got a penchant for desserts too and you may be tempted to skip dinner entirely and jump right ahead to a buffalo yogurt sorbet with maraschino cherries and meringue ($12) or the crisp potato, brown butter mousse and salted caramel concoction ($12). Potato for dessert! See, we told you. Venue manager Matty Hirsch says the project was a result of opportunity and planning when the space became available. "The Passage closed its doors in December of last year, but the license was just too good to give up — late trading hours and the ability to function as both a bar and restaurant," he says. "There are plenty of patrons at ACME who ask where to go for an after-dinner drink and the neighbourhood seemed to be missing this kind of spot." Though they sprung from the same loins, there are a few important differences between Bar Brose and Acme, the most notable of which is the abundance of women in the kitchen. "There are most definitely quite a few ladies in the house," says Hirsch. "It's… not to prove a point or make a statement, but women always bring a different and special touch to service, wine and food and it's important to showcase that." Right on, Bar Brose. Find Bar Brose at 231A Victoria Street, Darlinghurst. Open Wednesday - Thursday 5pm - 12am; Friday - Saturday 5pm - 1.30am; Sunday 3pm - 12am. Images: Bodhi Liggett.
There ain't no burger like a Queensland burger, it seems — even if you live in Sydney. Perhaps that's why the Sunshine State's finest purveyors of beastly meat-and-bread combos keep expanding down south. First it was Ze Pickle; now, it's fellow Gold Coast-based outfit Brooklyn Depot. Of course, you can't tell the eatery's state of origin from their name, but you can tell the theme of its cuisine. Yes, everything American is on the menu here, including stacked towers of beef and cheese, a hearty list of wings, rings, strings and things (i.e. All The Sides), and their signature drinks: not only alcohol-infused shakes, but also rum old fashioneds. After wowing Surfers Paradise over the last year, sharing the love with Surry Hills — and making locals feel like they've been whisked to a bustling corner diner in New York — is the next thing on burger bar's agenda. Come May 19, that means more US-style meals more often — as if Sydney was wanting in the American-style burger department. But we're swayed by their famous 'Brooklynised' fries with bacon, onion rings, cheese sauce and frickles (aka battered and fried pickles). We'd say it all sounds too delicious to be true; however when it comes to Queensland culinary delights gracing Sydney's streets, that's swiftly proving the opposite. First it was doughnuts. Now, it's the kind of burgers most people only dream out. And soon, ice cream sandwiches will join the fold. It truly is a glorious time to be alive. Find Brooklyn Depot at 65 Holt Street, Surry Hills from May 19. Check out their website and Facebook page for more information.
Traditional gardening takes time, effort and a propensity for getting your hands dirty. Saving you on every count, a team of art students from the University of Maribor in Slovenia have developed a CNC (computerised numerical control) machine that lets you print your own garden and pot plants, because art. And because environmental awareness. And because seeing grass grow from a mud outline of your own face is peak eerie. Called PrintGREEN, the printer pipes out a mixture of soil, water and grass seed onto a felt-covered sponge surface in sophisticated shapes — think typography, intricate mandala-like designs and yes, even human faces. For extra cool factor, it can also print along the z-axis, forming three-dimensional mud pots that sprout their own grass. [embed]https://vimeo.com/68193572[/embed] The world needs more greenery. Leaving aside the fact that if we don’t have enough of it life on Earth will literally collapse, studies have shown that trees are nature’s valium and an extra ten on every block can actually calm us down. And they're pretty. PrintGREEN is so far just an art piece, but it’s not the first venture 3D printing has made into the horticultural realm. Thanks to the wonders of technology, you can print your own grow box valve, your own urban farm, and your own hanging window garden. (That last one is also designed by a college student, this time from Philadelphia University. Kids these days.) This kind of technology has been touted as the future of manufacturing. See 3D-printed clothes, 3D-printed furniture and this 3D-printed 80s Knight Rider car. Sigh. We get these little glimpses into the future and it’s scary but beautiful. Via Mentalfloss.
First an app, now virtual reality. Icelandic queen of raising the bar Bjork has announced plans to pair her newest video with virtual reality headset, Oculus Rift. Working with longtime collaborator and director Andrew Thomas Huang, Bjork has made her new video for 'Stonemilker' — from latest (and leaked) release Vulnicura — available to view through the headset. If Bjork's bookshelf of previous videos is anything to go by, this is going to be one wild world to explore with the Rift. Bjork is no stranger to harnessing new forms of technology to complement her work. The singer released a special app in conjunction with her 2013 album Biophilia. Bjork's upcoming retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art, opening March 8, is sure to contain some pretty interactive elements with predictably mind-blowing technology. So why Oculus Rift, why now? In a recent interview with Fast Company, Bjork chatted about the OR endeavour, explaining apps are "punk", Oculus Rift takes things next level. "It can’t just be working with the gadget for the sake of the gadget. But also it’s about budgets," Bjork told FC. "You can do apps cheaply. Apps was kind of punk, actually. It was like starting a punk band again. Filming for Oculus Rift is not." So, will you be able to watch Bjork's new video on the Rift? Business Insider predicts Oculus Rifts will be available to consumers in 2015, and Oculus VR CEO, Brendan Iribe, told Dublin's Web Summit 2014 that a consumer-version of the company’s Rift VR headset is "close"; so you could be forking out your salary for one in mere months. Release dates for the 'Stonemilker' video are yet to be announced. Via The Verge.
In the latest trend of booze-fuelled yoga, Handpicked Wines is bringing two yoga teachers into their cellar door for a yoga and wine pairing. The event will run every Saturday of Aussie Wine Month, with a one-hour yoga class followed by a half-hour wine tasting with a Handpicked sommelier. Teachers Nicole Lee and Emmie Rae are focused on strengthening mind, body and spirit in a class mixing a healthy workout with meditation and breathing exercises. The exclusive classes are limited to ten people per class, so be sure to purchase tickets in advance and don't forget to bring your yoga mat.
Mosman locals may have noticed the newspaper covering the neighbourhood's Salt Meats Cheese. Never fear, the former deli will reopen next Friday, June 2 as a restaurant and pizzeria with a fully redesign fitout and menu to boot. While Italian-style pizza has been a feature since opening their Alexandria original, the brand's conversion toward pizzeria has continued to expand with the more recent openings of Salt Meats Cheese Broadway and Drummoyne, both of which have had more of a restaurant focus since launching. The brand isn't exclusively repositioning in the restaurant direction, though, and is more tailoring their stores to the local market. In the case of Mosman, the team received feedback from locals that a pizzeria with a family-friendly vibe was more in line with what they are after. So, that's exactly what co-founder Edoardo Perlo has created — in the classic, "if you build it, they will come", Field of Dreams fashion. The existing high seating has been replaced with low tile-top tables to create a casual dining room rather than a delicatessen layout. They'll be hand-tossing up their signature pizzas from a newly installed oven, with the menu including fan favourites like the truffle mushroom ($23) and classic buffalo mozzarella ($17). The pizzas will be accompanied by a selection of entrées, antipasto, salads, pastas and sides — think saffron and provolone arancini ($14), sausage and mushroom lasagne ($17), a salumi board with house-made focaccia ($23) and truffle fries ($9.50). A special pasta and pizza kids menu will also be on offer, further catering to the family feels that seem to suit the local Mosman clientele. The bar has also been given a refurb, featuring a partnership with Regal Rogue, Australia's first native vermouth, who are bringing a series of spritzes to the cocktail menu — including elderflower tonic, ginger beer and bitter lemon varieties ($13 each). The drinks menu will also include Italian and Australian beers, wines and cocktails, so adults can enjoy a drink or two whether or not they're with family. Salt Meats Cheese Mosman will reopen on June 2 at 3/803 Military Road, Mosman; open Monday through Friday from 5pm to 10pm and Saturday through Sunday from 11am to 10pm.
They've just wrapped up one of their most successful projects to date, but Kaldor Public Art Projects aren't ones to rest on their laurels. Following the wildly popular Marina Abramovic: In Residence, they've announced their next project, a groundbreaking new work with world renowned choreographer Xavier Le Roy. Working in collaboration with Kaldor Public Art Projects and Carriageworks, Le Roy will develop a brand new exhibition called (rather ambiguously) Temporary Title, 2015. Premiering on Friday, November 20, the project will be the result of a series of open rehearsals (which you’ll be able to peek at for free) and will involve Hong Kong-based choreographer and dancer Scarlet Yu, along with 18 Australian performers. There'll be no props, no costumes, and all performers will be naked for the whole thing. Inhibitions, leave 'em at the door. The legendary French choreographer has picked a solid crew of Australian performers, a diverse group of different ages, demographic and performance experience hailing from Sydney and Melbourne. They’ll be very closely involved in the development of the exhibition, encouraged by Le Roy to discuss ideas and realised them through movement, instead of simply being directed with specific instructions — a pretty unique, organic process. Visitors to the rehearsals and performances change position between observer and participator — so expect anything and everything. Le Roy will also present three performances of his seminal solo work Self Unfinished, staged over three nights at Carriageworks at 8pm, November 17, 18 and 19. It's a must-see if you're a big fan of Le Roy or you're completely new to his work — this piece was first performed in 1988 and marked his very early experiments with the body and performer/spectator dynamic. With Temporary Title, 2015 being staged as an unconventional exhibition and Self Unfinished in a more traditional theatre setting, this will be quite the well-rounded intro for many Sydneysiders to the celebrated choreographer's work. It's not the first time Le Roy's performed in Sydney either — his work Untitled, 2012 was one of the most talked about pieces in the 27th Kaldor Public Art Project, 13 Rooms. KALDOR PUBLIC ART PROJECTS PRESENTS XAVIER LE ROY Open rehearsals — Thu 5, Thu 12, Wed 18 and Thu 19 November Keynote address — Sun 15 November Self Unfinished, 1998 — Tue 17, Wed 18 and Thu 19 November Temporary Title, 2015 — Fri 20 November 3-9pm, Sat 21 November, 12-6pm, Sun 22 November, 12-6pm All be presented at Carriageworks, 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh. Head to the Kaldor Projects website for more info.
Summer is officially over. We know that not just because Sydney has gone all dark and stormy, but because Vivid Sydney has this released their full 2017 program. Get ready to be ensconced in sparkly lights once again — the festival of light, music and ideas will be back for 23 days from May 26 to June 17. The most overt aspect of the program is the lights, and this year their kaleidoscope is set to extend over to Barangaroo for the first time. A new precinct for 2017, it will extend the reach of the CBD's lights and further light up Darling Harbour with a trail of installations that will wind through the Streets of Barangaroo and along the waterfront. One of the works, A Day in the Light, will be an outdoor theatre of light and sound — getting a seat at one of the area's new restaurants (like 12-Micron or Banksii) will likely be hard to nab. The Sydney Opera House's sails will this year be lit up with imaginary creatures by cinematographer, editor, and graphic designer Ash Bolland. Vivid light hotspots, the Royal Botanic Garden, the MCA, Chatswood, Taronga Zoo and Martin place will all be lit up as well. Vivid Music just seems to get bigger with every passing year — in 2017, there will be over 250 gigs. Joining Fleet Foxes for the Vivid LIVE component of the program at the Opera House will be legendary French electronic duo AIR (for their second Australian shows ever), the ethereal Laura Marling and our own Nick Murphy (Chet Faker's new moniker, ICYMI). The Avalanches will also make an appearance on the Opera House's Northern Broadwalk to perform their seminal album Since I Left You in its entirety for the first time since 2001. The band will be joined by Briggs, Sampa The Great and DJ Shadow. The City Recital Hall has a solid program sorted as well, with Dappled Cities, Dianne Reeves and a party by Paul Mac slated. But not all the gigs will be held at formal venues. The Vivid Music program will this year extend to Carriageworks for an exclusive gig from Goldfrapp and the return of Fuzzy Music's huge party Curve Ball, over to Cake Wines for a rooftop party and Oxford Art Factory for the Women in Electronic Music showcase. Vivid Ideas is, of course, back for the brainiacs among you — and this year it's scored iconic artist Shepard Fairey as its big-ticket speaker. Don't know the name? He's the artist behind Obama's HOPE campaign. As well as an exclusive talk, he'll also create a large-scale public mural somewhere in Sydney's CBD (!!) and exhibit some of his works in an exhibition at Darling Quarter. There's plenty more where that came from, check the Vivid Sydney website for more details. Image: James Horan.
Ever wish you had a clean-cut way to make your roommate clean their pizza bits off the couch? Or a way to motivate yourself into replacing endless procrastination with something resembling work? One brilliant Sydney artist has found the path to this domestic Eden in her art. In a ridiculously adorable mother-daughter story that has 'Where You Lead' blaring in my head, artist Brenda Samuels has produced Paintings With Mum, an exhibition at Marrickville's Airspace Projects gallery that emerged from a "domestic-artistic arrangement” with her daughter, Miranda. Seeing her mum struggling to find time to paint on top of looking after her and the house, Miranda concocted a motivational payment system, where eight hours of washing, tidying and cooking would earn her one oil painting from her mother — leading to at least one painting each week. The Paintings by Mum exhibition has been curated by Miranda and has the feel of a domestic take on Andy Warhol. Expect Milo cans, Coles Smartbuy packaging and a big ol' heartwarming.
So, you’re looking for a beautiful new... something. A design object. Made locally. Look no further than Local Design, nestled in the heart of the new Kensington Street precinct in Chippendale. Part design hub, part studio and part gallery, Local Design was a meeting of minds between founders Emma Elizabeth and Tom Fereday, who wanted to create a place in Sydney where people could come to source local products and product designers. Local Design is the first creative concept space that has showcased authentic Australian designers within a heritage architectural landscape. Home to the work of some of Sydney’s most talented up-and-coming designers, the space is intended to be open to anyone who’s curious about design to wander in and have a chat. “We want to make it easier for people to learn about design, and find local designers – whether they’re looking for a particular product, or need a designer to work on a project,” says Tom. “It’s not often you can go into a storefront with design objects and have two designers that can talk you through exactly how something was made, and the thinking behind it,” adds Ryan, a fellow designer also part of the space. And we agree – it’s pretty awesome to ask all the questions and peek inside the creative process before you hand over your hard-earned cash. Local Design isn’t a passive business, hosting regular events to show off the fine creations that grace the space. Next up on the event calendar is the launch of Tom’s own new Wes by SD Element furniture range on Thursday 18 February — inspired by none other than Wes Anderson and his unmissable colour palette of dreamy cinematic hues. You read that right, a furniture collection inspired by Wes Anderson. We’ll fight you for every last piece. Always looking for the next project, Local Design is sending 10 of its finest to Milan this year, and has plans to move into a new Alexandria space soon. From February 22, LOCAL DESIGN will take over 42 Church Ave, Alexandria to create a new creative concept space that will consist of a gallery showroom, photographic studio, workspace and private event venue. Find Local Design at 46-48 Kensington Street, Chippendale until February 22. Open Monday - Friday 9-5pm, Saturday 10-4pm and all other times by appointment. Images: Bodhi Liggett.
Whether you spent your entire primary school education grinning smugly from the King square or languishing in Dunce position, you still have a point to prove, right? Here’s your chance. The Oxford Tavern is hosting a handball competition inside a pub. Inside a pub! And, as if that weren’t kickass enough, the champion wins his/her height in cheeseburgers. His/her height in cheeseburgers! Officially known as the Inner West Handball League, the contest kicks off next Thursday, March 19 at 7pm. The rules are exactly as you would have, or should have, followed them at school. That’s four squares, labelled King, Queen, Jack and Dunce (some rebellious schools included Ace as the server). When someone gets out, everyone moves up one rank. There’s no double-bouncing, no fulls, no using any part of your body except your hand to hit the ball, no grabbing, no rolling and no hanging out in other people’s squares. And bullying is absolutely not permitted. Spots are limited, so if you’ve got the goods, you’d better email forbes@drinkndine.com.au as soon as your super-fast reflexes allow it. For the rules, check out Fennell Bay Public School's hella sick PDF. For 'tips', watch ol' K-Rudd do some damage at Brisbane High School.
If you're keen to have your say in Australia's upcoming postal vote regarding same-sex marriage, then make sure you're enrolled to vote by August 24. With 14 percent of young Australians yet to do that, time is running out. But what if you just enrolled over a beer at the pub? Sydney party crew Heaps Gay is taking matters into their own hands. From August 17–20, they're hosting an Equality Weekender. Essentially, it's a massive, nationwide enrolment drive, involving barbecues, parties and assorted spontaneous events where you can enrol or update your enrolment details right there in the bar via postal forms and iPads. So far, more than 40 venues have signed up, including The Lansdowne, Mary's, The Unicorn, Vic on the Park, The Lord Raglan, Cake Wines, World Bar, The Imperial, Stonewall and Volumes Festival. Each venue will be holding a 'rego party', with enrolment forms, envelopes or (much easier) iPads to get that enrolment sorted, as well as plastering the walls with enrolment posters featuring artwork by Luke Arnold. "There is an old rule to never discuss politics in a pub, and while some folk in Canberra want to make this issue purely political, we recognise that it is squarely about equality, respect and love," said Jake Smyth, co-owner, The Lansdowne, Mary's and The Unicorn. "We are throwing a party to all to register to vote, to have your voice heard, to speak out for the family members, the friends, the teenagers whose voice has been ignored for too long. Vote yes to marriage equality!" Heaps Gay's founder and director Kat Dopper hopes to see plenty of young Australians show up at these events. "Young people have such a huge part to play in the conversation of marriage equality. By holding these events and encouraging people to bring a little positivity into the world, we hope that people will get more involved and more engaged in this issue. This isn't just about marriage, this is about equal rights — and we need each and every one of you to join in." The Equality Weekender is happening August 17–20. Check out the website for events, or if you're a venue, to sign on up.
It's not just a case of the show needing to go on for the folks at the Moulin Rouge. It must, and it is. 17 years after the big-screen release of Baz Luhrmann's smash-hit movie musical, the story of doomed lovers Christian and Satine has made its way to the stage in an expectedly spectacular fashion. The lavish adaptation premiered at Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre on July 10, with its first season running through until August 19 before an expected Broadway bow afterwards. Moulin Rouge! the Musical follows the tale film fans fell in love with, as well as the music — plus new pop tracks that hit the airwaves in the nearly two decades since the movie's original release. It's directed by two-time Tony nominee Alex Timbers — who also has a Golden Globe to his name for co-created TV series Mozart in the Jungle — with music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by his frequent collaborator Justin Levine. Aaron Tveit (TV's Gossip Girl; stage productions of Wicked, Rent and Catch Me If You Can) takes on the role of Christian, as played by Ewan McGregor in the movie, while Tony-winner Karen Olivo (the revival of West Side Story, In the Heights, Hamilton) steps into Nicole Kidman's shoes as Satine. "I first encountered Alex Timbers through the remarkable and inventive production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and the brilliance of Here Lies Love," said Luhrmann in a statement when the state adaptation was first announced in 2016. "I immediately recognised the young director's creative spirit and felt we shared similar sensibilities and instincts." Continuing the show's list of talent, writing duties fell upon acclaimed playwright and screenwriter John Logan, whose resume includes Skyfall, Spectre and Alien: Covenant as well as the Tony Award-winning play Red. "It's immensely gratifying to know that a new wave of artists will be leading Moulin Rouge! into its rightful theatrical realm," said Luhrmann. Image: Moulin Rouge the Musical/Matthew Murphy.
Autumn is here and there is a definite chill in the air. We'll soon be charging into the season of cosy pub meals, mulled wine, 24/7 melted cheese cravings and questionable thermal wear. But before total hibernation sets in, spend May enjoying the final scraps of warmth and flitting from one snug gallery to another. Because quite frankly there's a host of new exhibitions worth leaving the house for in May — with fans of photography being ridiculously spoilt for choice. From the New York subway to the boardwalk of Cannes to the backstreets of Cuba to a barbershop in Sydney's west, there's a truly international flavour to the inspiration behind this month's exhibitions. Stills Gallery also hosts its final show before closing its doors for good, so make sure to get along and say adieu.
The sun is shining, your out of office is set and you've already spent a good amount of time curled up streaming tv shows. Now's the chance to catch up on your reading — so, find a shady spot on a beach, next to a pool or by a waterfall and start making your way through our favourite ten books of 2018. It's a mixed bag this year, we've been turning the pages of the latest brain-contorting Murakami novel, a chilling — real — look inside American prisons, a witty retelling of the Illiad and a homegrown memoir that's both moving and educational. Some of them are immersive, some of them knotty and uncomfortable, which makes them perfect for mulling over during the holidays, and provide flavourful fodder for otherwise bland Christmas dinner conversations. Take your pick. MILKMAN BY ANNA BURNS In search of a cerebral workout? Anna Burns' Milkman is just the ticket. The novel made her this year's Man Booker Laureate and continues the prize's trend of riving audiences into seemingly irreconcilable factions with its dense prose and no-easy-answers-given plot. There is its 18-year-old female protagonist, its undeclared always opaque setting (Belfast, in the 1970s), and its dearth of habitual interpretative signposts including paragraph breaks, dialogue and punctuation. But such a formalist echoing of the narrative's own syncopated and lacerated content (sexual harassment, the IRA, civil unrest and bombings) is meant to confound our ordinary ways of apprehending narratives, since these mechanisms fail or risk misconstruing tales of trauma. To truly enjoy the book, one must simply give oneself up to its paranoid, relentless cadence; its rules (or lack thereof). As Harriet Baker of the Times' Literary Supplement puts it, "Burns doesn't write about fear so much as create the experience of it." NORMAL PEOPLE BY SALLY ROONEY Sally Rooney's writing will make you feel lots of things. First, it will make you feel under-accomplished — she's just 27 and her new novel Normal People is not only her second, but is also so commended that it's been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Then, it will make you feel uncomfortable, empathetic, frustrated, hopeful and heartbroken. The Irish story follows Marianne and Connell's relationship from high school through to their mid-twenties, and, from each of their perspectives, explores the nuances of the power dynamics between them. From a literary point of view, it's easy to get through, but sometimes hard to digest — its relatability for anyone who's ever tried to navigate love and relationships can be, at times, exposing and confronting. Like her first novel Conversations with Friends, the book hinges on its excellent dialogue, which is fluid and effortless, and includes some of the most real and 'millennial' conversations in contemporary literature. Would recommend if you liked Girls but wished it was elevated to the standards of The New Yorker. KILLING COMMENDATORE BY HARUKI MURAKAMI You know you're reading a Murakami when a seemingly mundane situation — say, a recently divorced man painting a portrait — suddenly isn't so mundane anymore, and now you're asking an invisible man to help you save a young girl, probably a mental manifestation of your dead sister, who's lost in another dimension. And Killing Commendatore is a typical Murakami novel: the unnamed protagonist is a lonely young man and the book is filled with scenes that are both routine and brain contorting. While it can feel like a bit of a slog at 704 pages, there's enough Murakami mind-boggling to keep you interested — and a hilariously bad sex scene (which was shortlisted for a Bad Sex in Fiction Award) thrown in for good measure. And what better time to while a way a day with a lengthy novel than during the summer holidays. EGGSHELL SKULL BY BRI LEE The mark of a good book, in my opinion, is that it makes you either learn or feel something. This does both. Eggshell Skull is a memoir from Bri Lee tracking her year spent as a judges associate in the Queensland District Court, working mostly on sexual assault cases. Lee details the legal process and her experience within it, both professionally and personally, with brutal candour. In 370 pages, expect to feel a wide range of emotions — sadness, confusion, rage, shame — at how bafflingly unjust our legal system can be, particularly for women. ENIGMA VARIATIONS BY ANDRE ACIMAN If, like me, you only discovered André Aciman last year with the release of the film adaptation of his first novel Call Me By Your Name, you too may find yourself itching, or indeed aching, to read more of his work. Though its title appropriates the name of Edward Elgar's famed suite, Aciman's latest effort bears a rather 'enigmatic' relationship to those glorious pieces of music (they are never mentioned in the text, but without saying too much, there are a number of textured thematic coalescences). As was assuredly the case with Call Me By Your Name, the estival settings of a number of Enigma Variations' sections make it the perfect companion for a lazy sun-dappled afternoon beneath a tree, cider or other appropriate beverage in hand. CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN BY SAYAKA MURATA Best-selling Japanese author Sayaka Murata's English-language debut is a quietly brilliant critique of late-capitalist culture and society. In particular, it addresses the conformism that this system often demands and perpetuates. Her novel never moralises nor condemns the choices of those who do conform in order to get by, but it certainly penetrates its subject with fluorescent lighting of a convenience store. Told through the eyes of its 36-year-old protagonist Keiko Furukura who, realising at an early age that society has only disdain for figures of alterity, has pursued anonymity by working at the same convenience store for the last 18 years. And so Convenience Store Woman performs that rare literary art of de-familiarisation: what Keiko finds at the store, appositely named Smile Mart, are purpose and a place of belonging. Her boss furnishes her with a manual (more of a script, in the theatrical sense, actually) and a uniform. Keiko's humble hard-working existence then is neither to be transcended nor deified. Instead, it offers her a vantage point from which to call into question the arbitrary rules of society: she is the social misfit who aspires to, and in her perfection thereof, defamiliarises the coordinates of conformity. This de-familiarisation is also achieved through Murata's fabulous characterisation of Keiko as someone to whom society's mores seem impenetrable and amusing ("Good, I pulled off being a 'person,'" she says). At this time of the year, this novel invites us to recognise the ways in which convenience is almost always a chimera of ease made possible by the invisible labour of others. THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS BY PAT BARKER With a title that speaks volumes, Pat Barker's retelling of the Iliad is the summer must-read book for all of us out there who sat through Classical Studies wondering, and what about the women? (Not just the regal Helens, mind you, the other women). Barker (re)narrates The Trojan Wars from the perspective of a female slave, Briseis. (In Homer's original, Briseis is less a character than a plot point; a princess-turned-trophy). This is of course an 'impossible' history, since such a woman as Barker's protagonist would have been deprived of all means of inscribing her voice into history. She acknowledges this, saying: "We need a new song." In this the novel gets right to the heart of the matter that history's structure and shape often exclude women 'before the fact,' since 'feminine' expression is often understood to be subjective, unreliable, and the like. But why do we deem 'masculine' modes more objective? Barker has to imagine — and does so admirably well — what the idiom of a woman whose body is fought over by two Greek soldiers would have looked like. And so from the beginning of her narration, Briseis deconstructs masculinist history: "Great Achilles [...] Brilliant Achilles, shining Achilles, godlike Achilles…How the epithets pile up. We never called him any of those things; we called him 'the butcher.'" AMERICAN PRISON: A REPORTER'S UNDERCOVER JOURNEY INTO THE BUSINESS OF PUNISHMENT BY SHANE BAUER Like the collocation of the words 'business' and 'punishment' in its title, Shane Bauer's fascinating book-length work of investigative journalism should unsettle you. Yes, it's about American prisons, one if we're to be as objective as possible, but in case you should naively believe that we in Australia live in some antipodean paradise, let us remember that private for-profit prisons exist here too and continue to treat inmates appallingly. Bauer's perspective is all the more fascinating when we turn to his biography: he was imprisoned for two years in Iran, and wrote about this elsewhere (A Sliver of Light, 2014). Now, in American Prison, he writes about his four months tenure as a guard in a private prison (he infiltrated Louisiana's Winn Correctional Center). Understaffed, underpaid, with cut-throat budgets for inmates and prison guards alike, such institutions ensure anyone who wasn't a fully fledged criminal when they went in, will almost certainly be one when, or if, they get out (setting a prisoner is free is almost always detrimental to a prison corporation's bottom line). Bauer notes how insidious the late-capitalist mechanisms that wear down bodies are, writing that "to treat everyone as human takes too much energy. More and more I focus on proving I won't back down." This book will likely leave you feeling enraged — I for one believe that's a good thing. SMALL FRY BY LISA BRENNAN-JOBS Steve Jobs has been firmly deified by society, not least of all by predominantly young male techies. It seems we're always willing to excuse behaviours in a 'genius' that would be immediately recognisable elsewhere as rather sociopathic. Sometimes these behaviours even receive the euphemistic title of 'eccentricities'. In her controversial memoir Small Fry, Lisa Brennan-Jobs supplements the public persona of her father with that of the private one she knew (or hardly knew, he denied he only recognised her as his own daughter when sued by the government for failure to pay child support). It would be too forgiving, though, to say that this somehow humanises the godly Jobs. But nor is Small Fry a tell-all work of scandal or revelation. As one reviewer put its, "Brennan-Jobs's book seems more wounded than triumphant; it can feel like artfully sculpted scar tissue." To say more here would be to spoil this enthralling work of autobiography. NO FRIEND BUT THE MOUNTAINS: WRITING FROM MANUS PRISON BY BEHROUZ BOOCHANI Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani has been detained on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, which was, until last year, one of Australia's offshore refugee detention centres — or as Boochani calls it "a prison" — for five years. While he's been there, he's written damning articles for The Saturday Paper and The Guardian, among others, and a book: No Friend But the Mountains. He wrote it, not on paper or a computer, but "thumbed on a phone and smuggled out of Manus Island in the form of thousands of text messages". The book is blistering in its condemnation of Australia's treatment of asylum seekers and, at the same time, poetic. Boochani weaves together, and juxtaposes, lyrical verse describing another time and place with disturbing scenes from the present: attempted suicides, violence, hunger. Boochani gives a voice, and a face, to the refugees that Australia's government tries so hard to silence. Words by Leah Lynch, Lauren Vadnjal, Melanie Colwell and Samantha Teague.
The team at the recently reopened Newtown restaurant Hartsyard has come up with a cracking way to help blast away those Sunday morning hangovers — and it involves generous feasts and bottomless vino. It has launched a new series of Sunday long lunches, which promise to go down a treat during these next few weeks, kicking into gear from September 23 and running until the end of November. The restaurant ran a similar series of lunches in August, and they were so popular, the team decided to bring them back. Chef-owner Gregory Llewellyn will be whipping up a $55 set menu up for grabs from 12–3pm each week. It's still in the planning stages, but we're told to expect dishes like raw fish, oysters and roast cuts of beef. If you have dietaries, Llewellyn assures they can be accommodated for, too. Meanwhile, the bar will be open and slinging its full range of liquid offerings, which just happens to include $14 espresso martinis. And for a special treat, you'll also be able to match your lunch with two hours of bottomless vino for $25 a head. Yes, really — $25. For $25 on top of the set menu (which'll set you back $80 in total) you can spend your Sunday drinking unlimited wine, thanks to the folks at Sparrow & Vine. On the day, you'll be able to choose from either a pinot grigio or nero d'avola from the Barossa Valley vineyard. You can your reserve your spot at the boozy Sunday lunch, running from 12–3pm, via the website. Images: Alex Mayes
The world is still reeling from unexpected the death of the Thin White Duke. Many beers have been raised, many toasts have been spoken and many impromptu karaoke sessions have been belted out in cars, bedrooms and showers around the world all in celebration of The Man Who Fell to Earth and graced us with his magic sance for 69 awesome years. Over the next few weeks, official tribute events are happening around the country in droves. Here’s a breakdown of some of the best. SYDNEY Care?-E?-Okay! Six Decades of Bowie It’s exactly what it… sort of sounds like. A free karaoke event celebrating Bowie’s discography in Newtown, starting at 10pm and running til 6am the next morning. Rock on. Where: Tokyo Sing Song, basement 145 King Street, Newtown. When: Thursday, January 14 Vale to our hero: A tribute to David Bowie A free musical and visual event showcasing Bowie’s life and career in the Gallery Bar, kicking off at 10pm. Where: Oxford Art Factory, 38-46 Oxford Street When: Friday, January 15 A Special David Bowie Tribute Event The details of the event are still to be announced but in Bearded Tit tradition the event will be free and feature DJ Sveta and surprise guests. Where: The Bearded Tit, 183 Regent St, Redfern When: Sunday, January 17 MELBOURNE Let’s Dance and celebrate the life of Bowie Blasting Bowie classics from 10pm-1am. Entry is $5 or free if you come in dress-up. Where: Ding Dong Lounge When: Thursday, January 14 The Speed of Life: A night of Bowie at The Curtin An all-Bowie DJ set from 10.30pm til late. Free entry. Where: The Curtin, 29 Lygon Street When: Friday, January 15 David Bowie Tribute Screening A screening of Bowie’s 1986 class Labrinyth. The rooftop session sold out but an extra session has been added so get in quick if the Goblin King is your jam. Where: Lido Cinemas, 675 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn When: Thursday, January 28 BRISBANE David Bowie Video Tribute Night From 6.30pm, the New Globe Theatre will be screening a recording of Bowie’s final concert as Ziggy Stardust in 1973 followed by a 90-minute compilation of music vids, performance footage and doco bits and pieces. Free entry. Where: New Globe Theatre, 220 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley When: Thursday, January 14 REBEL REBEL David Bowie Celebration An all-vinyl dance party tribute to the “fallen alien rock god with a red mullet haircut”. The event starts at 8pm and features film and music, with all proceeds from the $10 tickets going to charity. Where: Beetle Bar, 350 Upper Roma Street When: Friday, January 15 Ziggy Played Guitar – David Bowie Tribute Night for Cancer Charity The lineup for this gig hasn’t been announced yet but will be a tribute to the life of David Bowie and feature a solid local crew. Tickets are $12 + booking fee or $15 on the door with proceeds donated to cancer charities. Where: The Foundry, 228 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley When: Sunday, February 21
You know when you wander through an exhibition and pick out your 'fantasy' piece? The artwork you'd buy (if you won the lottery or inherited a small fortune) to hang in one of your several homes, castles and/or palaces? Look, there's a more attainable way to snap up a work you love, and it's the annual auction at Firstdraft. This year, the auction features over 120 artworks from emerging and established artists, most of whom have exhibited, volunteered or directed there in the past. The event is a massive fundraising initiative for the organisation (it allows them to run free shows) and the perfect way to support your local arts community whilst also acquiring a work you love by an exciting, highly collectable Australian artist for a great price. "Collectors can expect artworks to sell for between $50 and $5000, with the majority going for around $200-$500," says Firstdraft's Georgia Hobbs. "We try and ensure there are opportunities for collectors at all levels to buy and artworks are sold in both silent and live auctions." So, art fans and would-be-collectors, save your pennies for September 1. Doors open at 6pm and the live auction kicks off at 7pm sharp. See the full list of artists included here. Image: Holly Macdonald, Venting, 2017, Stained porcelain, stained slip, ceramic pencil, plaster, courtesy the artist.
Curated this year by Sophia Kouyoumdjian, Primavera 2017: Young Australian Artists at the MCA will exhibit work from eight selected artists exploring the theme of 'Ancient Futures' and considering the relationship between existence in the present, and the past. Artists Laura Hindmarsh, Teelah George, Jacobus Capone, Elena Papanikolakis, Adam John Cullen, Nicole Foreshew, Kynan Tan and Tom Polo work across a range of disciplines including video, installation, painting, photography and collage. About half the works will be created especially for the exhibition, and each artist will be specifically questioning the ideas of archives and collections — whether human or natural, physical or digital. For the uninitiated, Primavera is the MCA's yearly exhibition of Australian artists under 35 years old. Now in its 26th edition, the show has a rep for catching artists early in their careers who then go on to achieve international acclaim. Kouyoumdjian says part of a thrill of the show, besides the art itself, "is about what the experience of exhibiting at the MCA, a unique and significant institution, can mean to an artist's career." Basically it's a chance to see the ones-to-watch while they're still the ones-to-watch. While you're there, make sure to visit the Hilarie Mais exhibition also opening August 23. Image: Jacobus Capone, Dark Learning (still), 2015.
We love doing anything in our yards — barbecues, clothes drying, gardening, totem tennis — and now, there’s a new balmy, back-garden activity to embrace: theatre. After a successful season in Bankstown during the Sydney Festival, backyard performance event The Tribe comes to Surry Hills as part of Belvoir’s 2016 season. In front of intimate audiences of about 50 people per night, actor Hazem Shammas will spin a story of Arab-Australian migration. (They’re looking for backyards for this, so if you live within 1km of Belvoir, get in touch with them.) Of course, there’s plenty to get excited about in the traditional, comfy theatre venues as well. Orange Is the New Black star Yael Stone will be returning to the stage to star with Dan Spielman (ABC1’s The Code) in The Blind Giant Is Dancing, a politically charged Australian classic by Stephen Sewell that might help explain the state of our country’s politicians. Kate Mulvany has worked a new Jasper Jones adaptation for the kids in your life, Lally Katz tells a mythical version of how her parents met in Back at the Dojo, and Leah Purcell presents her colonial-set Balnaves Award-winning commission, The Drover’s Wife. Jada Alberts will explore American playwright Will Eno’s "monologue for a slightly foreign man", Title and Deed, and in the middle of the year, Hannah Gadsby will pop in for three nights. The 2016 season is the first for artistic director Eamon Flack, a Belvoir regular who’s worked with both of his predecessors, Ralph Myers and Neil Armfield. The last few years have seen Belvoir emerge as something of a home for queer and feminist theatre as well as Indigenous artists in Sydney, and it looks like some of those voices will continue to play a part in the company. For those just wanting to be able to see more theatre in the first place, the best news of all might be this: under 30s tickets will finally be available for Belvoir shows. Subscription packages start from $177 and single tickets from $32 if you fall into this camp. Consider it a great place to funnel all those dollars that will never add up to a deposit for a home in Sydney. To see the full Belvoir 2016 program and to book subscription tickets, visit the Belvoir website.
Operating under the (often correct) assumption that if some is good, more must be better, everybody's favourite American bar and eatery, Surly's in Surry Hills, has launched an upstairs expansion. The recently-renovated upstairs area, christened Smokey's Cabin, continues the convincing Americana theme with a dark interior, neon bar signs, wood paneling, exposed bricks, charismatic brown Chesterfield leather sofas and, of course, the massive BBQ plates (with cornbread stacked high on the sides) you've come to love. This atmospheric attic space also features an epic mural by Sydney artist Sindy Sinn, featuring spooky skeletons on motorbikes. But the best part? Those bound-to-be-popular shuffleboards on which you can work off some of that BBQ and those crunchy chicken wings. Smokey's Cabin is open Wednesday to Saturday at 182 Campbell Street, Darlinghurst.
There's a brand new festival coming to New South Wales, sporting a mini-Meredith lineup, an outdoor cinema and an independent record market. Plus, it's in one of Australia's prettiest coastal towns. Fairgrounds is Australia's newest boutique music festival, coming to the NSW town of Berry this December. It's just two hours out of Sydney on the south coast, so one easy peasy road trip. Pioneered by Handsome Tours, the shiny new festival fuses local food, boutique beverages, markets, movies and music in one sweet-sounding event. Taking cues from the recently-announced Meredith lineup, Fairgrounds' folk, pop and garage-focused lineup will see LA-based crooner Father John Misty headline, with Brooklyn glitchy duo RATATAT and dream pop legends Mercury Rev at the top. San Francisco's quirky characters Unknown Mortal Orchestra will be there, alongside folk-rocker Jessica Pratt, Sydney's immortal Royal Headache and the gospel dancehall blues of C.W. Stoneking. While music is your main drawcard to most festivals, Fairgrounds has given more weight to the in-between elements than many festivals do. Foodies will find a gastronomical paradise at the event, the Fairgrounds Garden Bar, with wines and local nibbles sourced from neighbouring estates. Think gourmet cheese plates, Kangaroo Valley Olives and fresh rock oysters from An Australian Affair Oyster Bar, harvested less than half an hour from the festival site. There's more casual offerings onsite too, from woodfire pizza food truck Happy As Larry to Enmore American nosh-lovin' newcomers Bovine and Swine Barbecue Co and Mama Linh’s Vietnamese Street Food — all washed down with Young Henrys and Berry's own Silos Estate wine. Fairgrounds’ Village Markets will also be right there for the best in South Coast snacking, including beef jerky, popcorn, homespun cakes, fresh donuts and much more. There'll be markets and field games — sounds like someone enjoyed Secret Garden Festival — and the best bit? There'll be an outdoor cinema: Fairgrounds' Cinema Under the Stars, presented by Madman Films. FAIRGROUNDS 2015 LINE-UP (SO FAR): Adam Gibson and the Ark Ark Birds Ben Abraham C. W. Stoneking Father John Misty Le Pie Jessica Pratt Le Pie Meg Mac Mercury Rev Methyl Ethel Ratatat Royal Headache Shining Bird Unknown Mortal Orchestra Fairgrounds Festival is happening on Saturday, December 5 in Berry, NSW. Earlybird 'Fairgrounds Founder' tickets are $110 and go on sale on Thursday 20 August at fairgrounds.com.au and moshtix.com.au. Kids under 12 enter the festival for free. You can choose to stay offsite in a B&B, or Fairgrounds offers onsite camping. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
Hold our calls, feed our fish, tell our mums we love 'em. There's a brand new, purpose-built pop-up hotel travelling around Australia called 'The Spontaneity Suite', and it's just landed in Victoria's Yarra Valley. Hotel booking app HotelTonight (which just launched in Australia in June) and Ovolo Hotels (Sydney's 1888 and Blue Hotel and Melbourne's Laneways Hotel) are behind this, teaming up for one jaw-dropper of an activation. This stunning little moveable hotel room, valued at $32,000, is built from — what else — two shipping containers, and will be travelling around Australia. It's a fully-stocked suite with all the trimmings, with interiors designed by Coco Republic. We're talking rooftop hot tub, cocktail station, rain shower, stone bathtub, Egyptian cotton robes, lambskin recliners, terrace and straight-up insane panoramas of the nearby vineyards, framed by a floor-to-ceiling glass window wall. Sick of that horrible, horrible view? The suite's equipped with Apple TV. Available to book exclusively through the HotelTonight app, lucky adventurers can book a stay in The Spontaneity Suite for a one-night stay for just $99, with limousine transfers from Melbourne, a personal concierge, a TarraWarra Estate wine-tasting tour, all your meals and everything from the minibar included. Yep, what the actual. The catch? It's only available between August 27 and 31. There's another night you could aim for on September 1, but the price starts at $32,000, dropping by $1000 every ten minutes until someone snaps it up. All dosh raised from this night and all other nights booked will go straight to OzHarvest, top marks. Sydneysiders, if you can't make it to the Yarra Valley, keep your hat on. The Spontaneity Suite will pack up and move to a secret location somewhere in Sydney next, then head on to other pretty Australian sites. Want to try your luck at booking a night? Download the HotelTonight app via Google Play or iTunes. Via Traveller.
There's a brand new brunch haven in the north, right on the damn beach. Housed in the Avalon Surf Club, the just-opened waterfront space (dubbed The Avalon on the Beach) is the northern beaches' newest bragworthy spot — doubling up as a slick, casual restaurant and breezy, beachy kiosk. Come summertime, the ground-floor kiosk is likely to be swarmed with afternoon bathers — mirroring equally successful set-ups like Manly Wine, Balmoral's Bathers Pavilion, Tamarama Kiosk and even Coogee Pavilion. Sitting almost on the sand, this pretty little kiosk will be serving up Double Roasters coffee, bacon and egg rolls with tomato chutney, bircher muesli with roasted pistachios, gruyere jaffles, prawn sliders, burgers and Instagrammable ice cream cones by the sea daily. But the clincher? Of course, they'll be cooking up fish and chips for all your nostalgic summer needs. On the upper level of the Avalon Surf Club is the casual dining restaurant; serving 180 degree views of Avalon Beach with your lunch. Open for lunch and dinner daily and breakfast on the weekends, the restaurant features a seasonal menu that has been crafted by newly appointed head chef Athos Galassi and focuses on locally, ethically and sustainably sourced produce as much as possible. You can rock up for bar snacks like prawn rolls, spiced salami nduja bread or Coffin Bay oysters, or if you’re up for something a little more substantial, there’s a hefty lunch and dinner menu. Think blue eye cod al cartoccio, chargrilled spatchcock, spinach and ricotta retolo and the mighty Round Table burger. The Avalon is the newest incarnation of the surf club space, under the direction of Trippas White Group — the huge hospitality group behind 360 Bar and Dining in Sydney Tower, Centennial, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain restaurants and Queens Park Shed. Find The Avalon on Avalon Beach. The Kiosk is open Tuesday to Sunday from 7am - 4pm, while The Avalon on the Beach restaurant is open Tuesday to Friday midday to late, Saturday 8am to late and Sunday 8am to 5pm.
If you work up an appetite while roaming Vivid this year, make tracks to Martin Place, is looking like one of the festival's tastiest, most spectacular hubs for a pit stop. One reason for this is Motti+Smith, who've collaborated with Stagekings on Lux Populi. It's a massive glowing tree made of a kilometre's length of neon rope, which reflects nearby buildings, creating a corridor of light. Beneath the branches, you'll find Porteno, Sydney's legends of Argentinian fare, cooking on a roaring open fire. And joining them will be a bunch of guest chefs, including Luke Powell of LP Quality Meats and Ibrahim Kasif of Stanbuli. Keep an eye on the Vivid-inspired specials menu, which will change weekly. Match your smoky goodness with a pick from the bar, which will be big on boutique drops and crafty numbers from around New South Wales. There'll be gin and vodka by Archie Rose, beer by Cattleyard Brewing and wines by Azure. Come sugar-hit time, step into Motti+Smith's magical Glow Cave Dessert Bar. Inside, you'll be wandering through a wonderland of desserts that glow-in-the-dark, including glowing donuts. Be sure to turn up in your '80s fluoros. Judgement will be left at the cave door, alongside your health kick.
For one night only (December 15), Sydney Living Museums will bring together some of your favourite artisan foods for their annual Christmas Fare at the Hyde Park Barracks Museum. Featuring up to 50 stalls, this is your chance to grab an edible Christmas present for that difficult to buy for person, in the form of food, or grab a last-minute addition to your Christmas table spread. Sydney's finest artisan producers and stores will be there supplying their gourmet food and artistic wares. There will be a pop-up bar, food stalls serving ready-to-eat food, live entertainment and as a bonus, you'll get free entry to the Hyde Park Barracks Museum for the night. It's your chance to try some of the Sydney icons you've been meaning to tick off. The Christmas Fare food line up features Newtown brewers Young Henrys, our favourite butter company Pepe Saya, fermentation experts Cornersmith, pudding from Black Star Pastry, gourmet marshmallows from Black Pantry and the best bagels money can buy from Brooklyn Boy Bagels. Entry to this festive delight of a food fair will only set you back a gold coin donation. Keep Thursday the 15th from 4pm-9pm free.
This year, Sydney Harbour's New Year's Eve extravaganza will be inspired by an artwork of a much smaller scale — a intricate paper creation by Surry Hills artist and paper engineer Benja Harney. You'll have spied Harney's playful piece, which was commissioned by the City of Sydney, on NYE promo banners and public transport signage across town. Now, it's been revealed that the artwork also played a crucial role back in the planning stages, when creative agency Imagination were dreaming up the fireworks, projections, and light displays set to take over Sydney Harbour next week. Crafted from thousands of pieces of handcut paper, Harney's multi-layered design is the culmination of over 600 hours of work and more than likely a fair few papercuts. Featuring over 75 individual pieces and depicting 20 different native species, it's a fun, papery homage to the artist's favourite city. The iconic crests of the Opera House are represented by a waratah, a thong stands in place of a city skyscraper, and sparkly paper explosions capture the magic of those NYE fireworks. While the world will get to see it all come to life during next weekend's midnight spectacular, the vibrant work is also set to become a part of the City of Sydney's art collection.
The PACT Centre for Emerging Artists is teaming up with performance collective Applespiel for a 24-hour live event in protest of proposed government cuts to the arts sector. Specifically, they'll be hosting an all night telethon, with the aim of raising not money, but rather excellence, in the hope of acquiring enough excellence for George Brandis' controversial National Centre for Excellence in the Arts. The event is titled In Pursuit of Excellence: A Telethon for Excellence. Sounds excellent. Taking place in the PACT Theatre in Erskineville, the tongue-in-cheek telethon kicks off at 6pm on Friday, July 17 and will be taking pledges of excellence until the same time the next day. There'll be panel discussions, dances, exhibits and live performances, plus video statements from arts organisations far and wide. Entry into the event is free, although donations are most welcome. Those wanting to stay the night should bring a blanket and snacks (enough to share please!), while drinks will be available from the bar. If you can't make the event in person, you can stream the whole thing live at www.inpursuitofexcellence.net. The Telethon for Excellence is part of a broader movement of events and protests under the #freethearts banner, which aims to draw attention to and hopefully reverse the planned government cuts to the Australia Council. Under the most recent federal budget, the amount of money allocated to the peer-reviewed arts funding body will be slashed by more than $100 million over the next four years, and instead go to the newly created Centre for Excellence. What is most troubling about this change is that rather than being decided by an independent body, the provision of grant money would fall to the Arts Minister, aka Brandis himself. According to a statement from Applespiel, "This Telethon is at PACT to highlight what we stand to lose: the space and support for independent art makers. Because that’s what spaces like PACT do best, they nurture and grow the practices of artists, they allow space to fuck up, to try something new and difficult, to learn. Without these spaces, where will independent artist go?" For the full rundown on the Telethon for Excellence, including information on how you can pledge, check out the event page on Facebook.
Need to do refresh your spring or summer wardrobe? Online vintage treasure trove Hawkeye Vintage will let you into its covetable virtual closet with a huge sale on bags, clothing and accessories. Held over on its Instagram on September 11–12 and 18–19, it'll feature 1000s of items from the 70s to the 90s, including the likes of Chanel bags and Gucci scarves. The pieces on offer will run from the affordable right up to the super expensive, but all will be going at a reduced price. Given some of the brands on offer — including Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel, YSL, Celine and Fendi — you'll be able to pick up some bargains, or opt for a few investment pieces. As the sale will be help on Instagram instead of in-store (unlike the brand's previous sales), the rules are a little different. There'll be no jostling over bags and boots at this one. You'll find all the nitty-gritty over on one of Hawkeye's Instagram Story highlights, but the short of it is this: when you see an item you like, DM sold with the item number and description, wait for a confirmation message and then you'll need to make a payment within 30 mins. There are a few different payment options available, too, including layby, and shipping is free across Australia. Hawkeye Vintage Marathon Live Designer Sale runs from 9am–5pm.
