Gymnasts and circus-people are freaky. So are beatboxers. And drummers. It's all that weird coordination that they have going on. The Tom Tom Crew out-freaky the freaky by combining all of the aforementioned into a single show. It's Aussie hip-hop meets Aussie circus minus the mopey-looking elephants and bearded ladies. The crew - world renowned percussionist Ben Walsh, mix-master Sampology, beat-boxing whiz-kid Tom Thum, graduates of Australia’s famous Flying Fruit Fly Circus â€" Ben Lewis, Daniel Catlow, Shane Witt - and elite gymnast Karl Stock - are fresh from an international tour, including an off Broadway debut and 21 sold-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Ever seen a punchfront stepout roundoff backflip full twisting layout at the Opera House? A collision of acrobatics, beatboxing, scratching, drumming and bravado, the Tom Tom Crew are definitely worth catching.https://youtube.com/watch?v=BpTpDIud3IA
Crowded House, Jane Campion, Russell Crowe. Any time a New Zealander does anything noteworthy we wander over like the swaggering older siblings we are and claim them as our own. Now, finally, it seems that the Kiwis have claimed one back in some sort of covert sting operation. Shaun Tan is an Australian citizen with immigrant parents. He writes and illustrates children’s books about the migrant experience. He is one of those rare childrens book authors who share a space with legends such as Maurice Sendak (Where The Wild Things Are) and Raymond Briggs (Fungus the Bogeyman). Authors who create picture books of such complexity, emotional depth and originality that they are more like graphic novels. The Arrival is his most ambitious and successful work to date. It’s a surreal story of a foreign man who arrives in a strange land looking for work. And now those crafty New Zealanders have turned The Arrival into a play for children of all ages. It tells Shaun Tans classic story of the migrant experience without dialogue but instead through music, movement, puppetry and shadow-play. In unrelated news we’ll be waiting at the opening of Peter Jacksons’ Lovely Bones with chloroform and a duffle bag.https://youtube.com/watch?v=zs_rXxi0zhM
If you were a child of the 90s, there’s a good chance you'll hold fond memories of Aladdin’s magical carpet ride. It is in this mindset that you should head to the Chauvel for Rug Trip, an adventure through the crème de la crème of Flickerfest short films. The evening is in support of Carpets for Communities, a charity that aids child education by helping mothers produce and sell their handmade carpets. The program boasts award-winning shorts from around the world. Audiences will journey from the heated border between India and Pakistan to Fiji; from New Zealand to, er, Chinatown. And for that extra does of nostalgia, the line up also includes Deborah Mailman's Ralph, a story set in 1984 featuring a schoolgirl with a huge crush on The Karate Kid’s Ralph Macchio.
Is this like the recent divorcee who lets everyone know he's in a band, clinging onto the one interesting thing about himself for dear life? Is that what this is? Because book tours and gigs don't normally sit together. Each on their own could be a meal in itself — could excite enough. Maybe not. Bret Easton Ellis doing a book signing at Oxford Art Factory, supported by Australian new wavers Models kind of works. There's a synergy there (I've always wanted to use that word). It's just strange — almost as if there isn't much to say about his latest novel, Imperial Bedrooms. "Now twenty-five years later, Ellis returns to those same characters [from Less than Zero] and follows them into an even greater period of disaffection: their own middle age," says the press release. Yeah, that could be it. Maybe it is a result of Bret Easton Ellis's sometimes one-note writing. A natural segue out of an awkward smattering of audience questions about violence, beauty and affluence that could conceivably peter out with "Hey Bret, models are pretty cool, right? Have you slept with many models?" Or maybe I'm just bummed that he's not going to be here with Huey Lewis and the News. Admit it, we’re both giddily excited that he might throw shapes to Cut Lunch, Brooks Brothers trench coat kicking out behind him. *Limited tickets still available on the door
Throwing westerners into a chaotic foreign landscape of stark cultural contrasts will inevitably provide compelling ready-made drama, but can be precarious territory for a filmmaker. There is almost always the looming risk of over-exoticising, which can result in blatant cultural 'othering', stripping the endeavor of its authenticity. Fortunately, Australian writer/director, Claire McCarthy, navigates this rocky terrain with sensitivity and astute cultural awareness in her second feature film The Waiting City. Fiona (Radha Mitchell) and Ben (Joel Edgerton) are a young Australian couple seeking to adopt a young child from Calcutta, India. They've been waiting to collect her for two years. They have her name, they have her photo, but they don't have her — a fact that will test their already tenuous relationship to its limits. The longer they are forced to wait in the rambling, frenetic city, the more we see the seams of their marriage begin to fray. Fiona is a driven, successful lawyer who finds herself increasingly frustrated with her musician husband's laissez-faire way of life. Equally, Ben finds fault with his workaholic wife's inability to put her professional duties aside and surrender to circumstance. As red tape impedes the adoption process further, Ben and Fiona are forced to confront the real issue: that a baby may not provide the antidote to their fractured relationship. Based on McCarthy's personal experiences in Indian orphanages and countless interviews with couples in similar situations to her characters, The Waiting City has the kind of raw authenticity that can only come from a true understanding of its subject matter. Cinematographer Denson Baker does a great job of tempering the stunning locations with earthy grit, endowing the film with an almost documentary feel. Edgerton and Mitchell are equally convincing in their roles, delivering layered, nuanced portrayals of two starkly different people attempting to find unity. The Waiting City deals with themes of spiritualism, motherhood and the issue of international adoption, but is ultimately a film about intimate relationships and the stuff that binds them when all else falls away. https://youtube.com/watch?v=_3kEH2ITVdI
Chippendale is a former underbelly of Sydney with a sordid past of crime, drugs and prostitution, once home to a slaughterhouse and brewery — a brewery where the owner encouraged all manner of fun and games, including the unexpectedly dangerous sport of catching a greasy pig. Continuing the fun and games in July, Chippendale will be home to 100 of Sydney's emerging creative talents as the new digs for Underbelly Arts: Public Lab + Festival. Expect to roll up your sleeves and get your hands greasy as 15 new projects unfold from July 8 to 17. Ella McInnes and Natalia Ladyko of Umbrella Theatre invite the curious to F*&K Rhianna — Come Under Our Umbrella, Justin Harvey lures you in for a potentially perverse game of chat roulette, Reef Knot rely on your arty skills to create a series of modest, sustainable works along Kensington Street, and other visionary projects abound. In the lead up, FraserStudios is running free tours of the Lab at 6pm and 7.30pm where you can watch and learn as the projects emerge, transform and bubble toward boiling point. Or, if you fancy drawing and game-playing, join a free public session and help I Can Draw You a Picture create an on-site, souvenir publication. Saturday, July 10, is the halfway point for artists and audiences to cross paths in a wild, free day of art-making and debate. Finally, July 17 brings on the Festival from 2 to 10pm, a choose-your-own-adventure day of exciting performances, installations, burlesque, theatre, puppetry and sound. Don't let the greasy pig slip through your fingers; pre-sale tickets are available now.
Federico Garcia Lorca, the king of magical realism, isn't exactly your most typical of writers. So when a performance event claims to "smash open" one of his texts, you should be guessing that you're in for something extraordinary. The Rabble, who are responsible for this work, crack apart Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba like an egg and play around in the goo that emerges. The highly visual and visceral performance that results is a little like The Virgin Suicides on acid. Sexuality and repression, queens and monsters, tradition and savagery clash, mingle and create all kinds of weird offspring. Yet somehow this abstract and challenging performance is also irresistibly compelling. I suspect it has something to do with the way it assaults all senses at once: the visual design, the choreography of lighting and sound and the performance of the actors could all stand as works of art in their own right. Another possibility is the potency of the story at the heart of the action. Lorca's tale is excruciatingly tragic and beautiful, the kind that makes it hard to sit back and watch. Cageling is implacable, passionate and exceptionally vivid.
Young Israeli-born, London-based choreographer/composer Hofesh Shechter has been hailed as a revolutionary "set to do for dance what the YBAs did for art". Critics were reaching for all manner of superlatives after the premiere of Political Mother, his first full-length contemporary dance piece, describing it as "a work of galvanising, challenging power", "like a roar of defiance", "a fine, excoriating work" and "very, very exciting". Dance that looks almost like you could do it yourself, Shechter’s choreography is a collision of movement styles that draws on club dancing, militant street revolutions and contemporary dance, all set to a self-composed cinematic score played live on stage. The Opera House has some very canny programmers. I suspect they foresaw Gillard’s crushing of Rudd last week and so, cashing in on the mood of the occasion, scheduled Political Mother in the week to follow (by this time, a taste of blood still lingers, but we've tired of watching Julia and Tony flirt and Kevin shed). Fortuitous timing for a revolutionary dance piece. An audience Q and A will follow the 1.30pm show on Sunday, July 4.
Australia's premier cultural event devoted exclusively to exploring human rights issues through creative media is back in May and June for its fifth year running. The not-for-profit Human Rights Arts and Film Festival — championed by patrons Margaret Pomeranz, the Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, Isabel Lucas, Warwick Thornton and Geoffrey Robertson QC — will be showing first in Melbourne and then across Australia, coming to Sydney from May 29 to June 1. The festival uses a variety of media, such as film, art and music to celebrate awareness, participation and inspiration by telling the stories of people around the globe who are facing and triumphing over human rights issues. This year's selection includes a heartening doco about two girls embroiled in Thailand’s 30,000 child boxing tournaments. Buffalo Girls (7pm, May 29) shows the exploitation of the children involved, plus the adults, even their own family members, who take pleasure in watching the so-called sport, betting on the gory outcomes. On May 31, the Chauvel will host an evening of international shorts from countries as diverse as Germany, Singapore, Lebanon and Cuba. There will be documentaries, dramas, animation and musicals. Among the handpicked selection is Barking Island. Winner of the Palme d'Or for best short film at Cannes, the animation is based on the real events of Constantinople's stray dog problem in 1910. And on June 1 there's a screening of enlightening and moving short films by Australian filmmakers. The eclectic collection will explore issues from race and equality to stories from behind bars, an adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood, and the life and times of a much-loved transgendered icon (Carmen Rupe, directed by Lucy Hayes). It's also a chance to see films like The Chicken Hawk and the Crow, an animation in the Yanyuwa language with English subtitles, and Unity in Diversity — a documentary featuring children from the Springvale community talking about their journey to Australia. The full programme in Sydney and across Australia's major cities is available on the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival website. Image from Baldguy (Skallamann) dir by Maria Bock, screening in the International Shorts program.
There might be nothing more than pure nostalgia that takes you to see The Muppets, and for the younger readers out there nostalgia might not even be it. It might just be the vague familiarity of Kermit the Frog. Or just the desire to see that guy from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Whatever the reason, it's a good idea to get down to see it. The Muppets might rehash a whole bunch of jokes from back in the day, but surprisingly enough they're still laugh-out-loud funny. Add in to the entertainment some incredibly clever songs, including 'Party for One' and 'Am I a Man or Am I Muppet?', and it's a giggle fest all round. The film follows Gary (Jason Segel) and Walter (a muppet) as they journey with Gary's girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) to LA to see the home of the Muppets. They discover that the evil Tex Richman (Chris Cooper very much enjoying himself) has plans to knock down the old theatre and drill for oil, and so together with Kermit they set out to get all the old Muppets back together. Throw in a bunch of spectacular cameos (funny enough alone for the many unexpected faces that pop up), some maniacal laughing and good old slapstick humour, and The Muppets makes for some very entertaining holiday fun. https://youtube.com/watch?v=-WWWTW1P8rQ
It's tough not to like George Clooney. Some might envy the guy, maybe even resent him a little, but few could deny his genuine and diverse talents when it comes to movies. As an actor, writer, director and producer he combines faculty with flair in a manner that feels like a nostalgic Cary Grant-esque throwback to the movie stars of yesteryear. If any criticism (excluding those of jilted ex-girlfriends) were to be levelled, it might only be that despite having appeared in over 30 films, he rarely strays from his entirely comfortable (and hugely profitable) comfort zone. Having established himself in the mid-'90s as ER's impish yet charming Dr Ross, Clooney quickly embarked upon a succession of films in which his characters seemed entirely 'same song, next verse'. In essence, he'd become the go-to loveable rogue, the charismatic scoundrel, the 'George Clooney just playing George Clooney' guy. But then in 2005 everything changed. Clooney took on the role of disenfranchised CIA field officer Bob Barnes in Syriana and received the Academy Award for his efforts. Since then we've seen a whole slate of films in which he’s sought to extend himself as an actor and The Descendants is the finest example yet. In it he plays Matt King, a Hawaiian-based lawyer whose life is upended when his wife suffers a waterskiing accident and lapses into an irremediable coma. Pursuant to her wishes, she's to be taken off life support, and so Matt must travel between the islands informing family and friends and asking them to say their final goodbyes. It's an emotionally taxing and thankless task made all the worse by having to break the news to his two daughters, 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and 17-year-old tearaway Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), along with the bombshell discovery that his wife had been cheating on him prior to the accident. Directed by Alexander Payne (Sideways), The Descendants is a beautifully personal and nuanced story about love, loss and family. It's also terrifically funny at times, with almost every character gifted at least one laugh-aloud moment. Most notable, though, is Clooney's performance. Firstly, he's in every scene of the film aside from the opening shot. That's worth saying again: he's in every single scene of the entire film. But what really impresses is how un-Clooney it all is. There are no expensive suits, no beautiful women to charm and no lavish casinos to rob. If you can believe it, Clooney doesn’t even do 'The Clooney' (verb: to tilt one's head forward, look up through one's eyebrows and waggle one's head like a dashboard Elvis). Instead he plays a vain, vulnerable and altogether unassured parent grappling with grief, betrayal and responsibility. While The Descendants could very easily have regressed into a heavily cliched absentee-father/disgruntled daughter story, it instead serves up an intimate, thoughtful and endearing classic that's a must-see over the summer.
The year opens at Firstdraft with four solo artists who skillfully sidestep any accusations of navel gazing. More accurately, the focus of these exhibitions is in notions of the beyond. Each artist delves into subject matter which is almost out of their reach, extending themselves in the process. Laura McLean navigates the High Seas, using international waters as a cipher for autonomy. In seeking to negotiate this expanse beyond landscape and law, McLean draws on the romanticised pirate - a character that carries the additional weight of much recent news. The use of both large scale and detailed forms points towards the broader and more intimate implications of the works. In I got confused with the t'shirt, Elizabeth McCrystal documents the everyday routines of her subject over a two month period. Using these banal repetitions as a building block, McCrystal is able to delve into some big ideas, like existentialism, in an intimate and touching way. Jorge Araujo's TRANSAUSTRALIAN paintings focus not on a singular narrative generated by the artist. Instead, Araujo has worked from found photographs, transforming them into a consistent body of work through the application of his own style. Similarly, Tarron Ruiz-Avila has generated The Fall of Grace from glossy, preferably discarded, magazines, relying on intuition to create a new narrative. Image: 'I got confused with the t'shirt', Elizabeth McCrystal 2011
There are some people whose music feels like honey pouring through your ear, gradually dripping into your brain and warming up your insides. You start to feel the honey dripping down behind your face and moving your expression into a broad smile. You can't help it. It's almost as if there's a collection of cartoon music notes floating through the air ACME style, encouraging you to appreciate their music. Cat Power is one of these artists. Her soulful tunes are restorative somehow. They're beautiful, slow and intimate. Don't expect to rock out to Cat Power, but do expect some peaceful swaying. Don't get me wrong though, that doesn't mean that some of her music doesn't have an edge to it. She can be quite gritty when she wants to be. That's when she infuses the honey with chilli in some awesome, Jamie Oliver style combination. Basically, don't miss Cat Power at the Opera House this month. She's there for one night only and if you fail to hear the American songstress weave her magic, you'll be wondering why everyone around you has developed a sudden, goofy, lopsided smile. Join the club and develop your sweet tooth.
Downsizing has negative connotations. It puts one in mind of people in sweat-stained white collars carrying boxes filled with the few bits and pieces they hoped would make their office lives bearable. But for the theatre-maker, it suggests something a lot more interesting: a chance to switch from the grandeur of the expensive stage and play in more confined spaces. Canadian writer-performer, Anthony Black, takes on the challenge of presenting Invisible Atom in a four feet square shaft of light. Within this tiny space he is able to unfold the life of Atom, a stockbroker, happy boyfriend and fresh father whose life is too perfect. Black and director, Ann-Marie Kerr, have produced an intelligent work that links very human situations with the often confounding complexity of economics and physics. Moreso, they have proved how little we actually need to evoke an affective theatre experience. Image by Nick Rudnicki https://youtube.com/watch?v=qYFmwdOK-vI
For anyone who was a bit of a fan of Carnivale, and likes their circus performances to be just a little bit kooky and, dare I say it, off the wall, then Legs On The Wall is the theatre company for you. For the uninitiated, Legs On The Wall create spectacular worlds within your imagination, using acrobatics, amazing aerial displays, music and lights. For the Sydney Festival this year, Legs have put together a multimedia sensory overload complete with, and inspired by, the fortunate discovery of a collection of Federation era films featuring the travelling troupe of turn of the century performers, the Corrick family. To the backdrop of these familial entertainers, My Bicycle Loves You brings these characters back to the present day. Combining music, acrobatics, multimedia and the spectacle of the theatrical, you will be transported to a magical world where the pictures on the screen come to life and the heroes you see flip and tumble their way into reality.
In the future there will be a giant super tortoise crushing cop cars in Times Square. It could happen. For its fourth and final Visual Response competition for 2010, Australian INfront went with the theme 'The Future'. Guaranteed to provoke imagery of all manner of shiny, pre-apocalyptic gadgets, post-apocalyptic wastelands, robo-machine-zombie-cops and witty word play, The Future is a gold mine for 2D visionaries. Or a minefield. Over 100 entries were received for this Visual Response from artists, illustrators and designers (James Jirat Patradoon, MASH Studio, Mark Gowing, TOKO, Rhett Wade, Debaser and Synapse — to drop some names). The top twenty, as voted by the people, will be on exhibition at Roller for one night only. Get along, grab a beer and celebrate the year that was.
This Wednesday night, the Australian Centre for Photography on fashion-happy Oxford Street hosts Tea with the Fashionistas, a panel event populated by industry insiders poised to debate the eternal question: does fashion merely play into our consumer cravings, or does it represent a more significant role? Panellists include photographers, designers and fashionistas and before you let them do all the deciding, consider both sides of the argument. For the consumer-driven fashion market side, we have money-driven crimes of fashion like the seriously questionable Texas Tuxedo from Levis', which in its two tones of denim demonstrates all that is wrong with too much of a good thing; the blatantly populist Material Girl range from the inimitable Mads and her pre-pubescent daughter Lourdes, fronted by Gossip Girl star and serial-badass Taylor Momsen, which seems all the more about celebrity than clothes. And if you're not convinced that current fashion reeks of consumerism, think CanCan by Paris, Fantasy by Britney and Lovely by Sarah Jessica, the tritely-named troupe of celebrity fragrances. However, you may believe fashion is more than a fleeting trend, the view I think the panel may well be advocating at TWF. Cementing your argument in this corner is the continuing ability of fashion to transgress borders (follow pyjamas as they drift from the East's opium dens via Coco Chanel in the West, then onto the Antipodes to become the staple of an Australian label), eras and classes (those low-slung panted, lace-less shoed boys you see roaming the streets mean more than they seem, with fashion borrowed from inmates of the US prison system). Also, the fact that fashion is the sole creative outlet engaged with by everyone, everyday in some way, and the close link between fashion and the world’s political history — if lace-makers were being killed in Revolutionary France for their product’s association with the royalist ancient regime, how then can fashion be meaningless to society? So, armed with all you need to know to make an informed decision, make haste to ACP. Seats may sell out and they make no promises for latecomers. Image: After Guy, The Birthday Suit 2009
Across the first two levels of the MCA things are being re-rendered, repositioned, re-presented and reduced. Banal snapshots from Flickr and Google Image are finely replicated in watercolour by Jackson Slattery who forms new narratives with found images. A soccer ball finds itself made of polyurethane resin and automotive paint in Akira Akira's room of achromatic exercises in form and texture. Agatha Gothe-Snape records days of her life as studies in basic geometry and colour, and turns elemental human emotions into PowerPoint slides. A highlight of the 2010 Primavera is Sydney artist Emma White who reshapes the real with her polymer clay renderings of stationary, art supplies and other every-day tools of representation. In one new work on display here the structures and layers of representation are further complicated with a clay copy of a Hassleblad camera displayed next to a photo of itself. These simple, self-contained works are not quite trompe d'oil because central to their experience is that we are not completely fooled by them. There is always a moment of revelation when we get close enough for the illusion to collapse. Video didn't end up killing the radio star but it wasn't very nice to painting, which had terrible trouble being looked at let alone liked during the reign of new media. So it’s nice to see this year's curator Katie Dyer include such out-of-vogue art forms as oil paint and watercolour, as well as a strong overall element of old school craftsmanship. Image: Agatha Gothe-Snape, 'Wrong Solo 1'
Underneath the Old Fitzroy Hotel in Woolloomooloo for the next three weeks is the dark cavernous netherworld of nice sister Cat400 and mean sister Fluke, whose underground existence is turned upside down by a time travelling stranger dressed in white who has no memory but some sense. With the low-fi psychedelic appeal of writer/director Nick Coyle's past shows, including Hammerhead (is dead), Rommy is like something a bunch of teenage stoners would put on using whatever bin liners, ridiculous dance moves, dog costumes and red ukuleles they had lying around — except that the writing and the performances happen to be brilliant. Theatre made by Coyle is hilarious, dark, twisted, gloriously silly and — while he might not like to admit it — actually quite sad and moving. What I mean to say is, see this play.
The Italian Film Festival is about to dominate the Sydney cinematic scene for another year. Of the 25 films screening, opening night honours go to Daniele Luchetti's portrait of a working-class Roman, La Nostra Vita, which garnered Elio Germano Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. Also selected from Cannes is Draquila – Italy Trembles, Sabina Guzzanti's compelling examination of the 2009 earthquake that killed 300 and devastated the Abruzzo region. Further highlights include Giuseppe Tornatore's (Cinema Paradiso) glorious, high-spec period piece Barrìa, which was the first Italian film to open the Venice Film Festival in 20 years. The Front Line turns the true story of a daring prison break into a searing political thriller, strikingly produced by the Dardenne Brothers. The Man Who Will Come took out Best Film at the David Di Donnotello (Italian Academy) Awards, as it lyrically chronicles the Marzabotto Massacre of World War II. And after charming in German culinary fable Mostly Martha, Martina Gedeck and Sergio Castellitto reunite as a married couple in the tender drama Bets & Wedding Dresses. Lighter fare comes in the form of writer-director and actor Carlo Verdone's screwball comedy Me, Them and Lara, or the Florentine, single 40-something female comedy Marriage and Other Disasters. While committed Italian cinema fans might take up the challenge with What Do You Know About Me, Valerio Jalongo's behind-the-curtain look at the evolution of the local film industry. Capping off the festival in a spectacular closing night double feature is Vittorio de Sica's 1948, neorealist classic Bicycle Thieves, which will screen alongside Vittorio D., Marino Canale's captivating documentary about one of Italian (and indeed, World) cinema's most revered directors. It goes without saying that this is a must-see for all film lovers. https://youtube.com/watch?v=g_ZaT8zqWok
Adapting the work of an eponymous figure is undoubtedly a fairly daunting task. In this case, the work is Franz Kafka's The Trial: a surreal novel wherein Josef K is arrested for an unknown crime, tried in an unseen court and ultimately destroyed by the infinite and invisible system within which he is trapped. Intangible characters, abstract emotionality and a plot, like the trial itself, seemingly without progress sets up some very real problems for a theatrical production. Louise Fox's adaptation therefore makes significant decisions, such as generating a point of climax not present in the original novel, that are thankfully justifiable in the greater scheme of a truly visionary production. Under Matthew Lutton's direction, the cast balances moments of distinct characterisation, even humour, with an uncanny blending of personas. Composition and sound design work in such a way that we are uplifted by melody at one moment and disturbed by barely audible bass at the next. But perhaps the best quality of this production is its ability to embody the abstract labyrinth which is fundamental to Kafka's novel and aesthetic. Lutton's direction and Claude Marcos's set design work hand in hand to deliver a Lynch-influenced stage which has Josef K (Ewen Leslie) literally running circles. Leslie also deserves note for his performance in the lead role, which is nothing short of exceptional. That said, this production is not one which will create a consensus of opinion. Even the climactic point created a tangible sense of the audience shattering, rather than uniting, in response to the performance. But surely it would be disloyal to Franz Kafka for things to be otherwise? I'd advise you to see The Trial, just in case, because productions like this one only appear once in a blue moon. Image: Jeff Busby.
It's that time of year again when an innocent trip to the park or shortcut down a laneway could take you by surprise (or bring you flashbacks of Melbourne). Now in its ninth year, Art & About is back for a month of not only frivolous word play but also free public art projects, installations, dressed-up statues and outdoor galleries. Transforming Sydney’s laneways are nine contemporary artists, including Mikala Dwyer, Newell Harry and Simon Yates. Take a backstreet home from the office and you'll be immersed in unexpected works of art inspired by Dylan Thomas, Miles Davis and even the Underwood typewriter. Historical statues around town are treated to a makeover from Sydney's emerging artists, textile and costume designers. Reinventing them for modern-day Sydney, this quirky public art project introduces the likes of Captain Cook to the world of meggings, paisley shirts and '70s prints. Other projects include the Banner Gallery, a collaboration with public art aficionado John Kaldor, Sydney Life, an outdoor photo gallery capturing intimate slices of Sydney, and CAMP Stonewall, an outdoor gallery exploring the struggle for gay rights and revealing some of Sydney's 'coming out' stories. Sydney band Dappled Cities headline the free public launch in Hyde Park on Thursday, September 23 from 6pm. Image: Carmen, Elizabeth Street by Jenny Templin.
Sydneysiders, let's be honest; Cockatoo Island is Jurassic Park. A looming, gargantuan island of mystique and fossilised structures, with an eerie array of tunnels and apatosaurus-worthy grassy plains, this hub of artistic sorts seems only too appropriate for an exhibition entitled Unknown Territories — Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Hold the dilophosaurs, on with the art. The first ARP (Artists in Residency Program) is set to bring a host of new contemporary artists to this alluring heritage site, the island that successfully bore the wonderment of the 17th Biennale of Sydney earlier this year. With acclaimed artistic director Annie Laerkesen at the helm, the ARP is a new collective of sorts in which eight established and emerging modern artists bunkered down on the island to create an ongoing spring exhibition. Laerkesen selected artists at differentiating stages of career prowess, with the likes of Sydney-based installation artist Mikala Dwyer, artistic architect Richard Goodwin, interdisciplinary visual artist Keg de Souza, Cairns painter Daniel Boyd, Sydney favourite Justene Williams, installation and video artist Margaret Roberts, interactive media artist Mari Velonaki (work pictured) and Australian activist art collective boat-people.org installing their fresh and original works for the month of September. With site-specific pieces, robotic installations and a fusion of performance and video art, Laerkesen’s artist selection is drawing upon the mysterious qualities of the space itself alongside the fresh vision of her residents. "Notions of displacement, disorientation, intervention and reinterpretation underpin the works in this exhibition creating an exciting launch for this new creative initiative," she says. But despite ARP holding no responsibility for raptor assaults, the beauty of this little adventure is all in the ability to interact and engage with the space. Approaching via ferry with John Williams to soundtrack, a little artistic tyrannosaurical adventure never went astray.
Walk the streets of London or NYC on the first day of the year and you'll find only emptied cold streets echoing to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. But here in a city where sunscreen and festive cheer walk hand-in-hand, it seems only natural to stretch midnight celebrations 'til sunrise and over to the nearest city park. And so, the perennial question: will you see this New Year through, or will you be climbing into bed at a quarter-past 12 to arise for an early Field Day? Whatever you decide — although I daresay you'll change your mind after a few glasses of champers — Fuzzy has just announced a clanger of a lineup for Field Day 2011. The Ayawaska-inspired Klaxons will headline, along with the godfathers of hip-hop Public Enemy (rumour has it Flavor Flav still rocks out the clock) and a handful of Aussie and international favourites including long-awaited The Rapture, London indie band the Mystery Jets, bouncy crowd-pleasers Art vs Science and Sydney's beloved French DJ duo, Justice. There's also New York electro-rockers Sleigh Bells, funny Frenchies Jamaica, kooky Brit girl Marina And The Diamonds, and electro-king Erol Alkan. The list goes on with Tame Impala, Duck Sauce (Armand Van Heldon and A-Trak), Chromeo, Peaches, Trentemoller, Aeroplane, a DJ set from Baio of Vampire Weekend, and a hark back to the good ol’ days of Finger Lickin’ Fuzzy break-beats, Plump DJs. Nice! Now, a second question to pose: will you go for the standard long-loo-queue poor man's standard ticket, or for the slightly more expensive one where you get to wee when you want, feel very important buying drinks from the Botanic Bar, and (apparently) meet, greet and harass the acts on their way into the festival?
For 20 years in the festival business, Aunty Meredith is looking pretty damn spritely for her age. With ballots already overwhelmed, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the wonderfully maintained three-day Meredith Music Festival. Started in 1991 "as a party for about 200 friends to celebrate the end of the year, with live music, minimal hassles and the great Australian countryside", this good-natured and much-loved whirligig has built a fervent cult following over two decades of mud, sounds and a refreshing No Dickheads Policy. Tradition turns inevitably cheeky, with punters already gearing up (or gearing down) for the Annual Meredith Gift nude sprint race and determining how much goon they'll be needing to brave the dash. Like a regularly eclectic pass-the-parcel of birthday delight, this year's line-up features an impressive host of local and international acts with more assortment than a laden present table. With a nice focus on 90s iconography from whence the festival flourished, fronting the bill is the iconic return of Melbourne sonic instrumentalists the Dirty Three, as Mick Turner, Warren Ellis and Jim White swing back to the Supernatural Amphitheatre for the fourth time. Variety being the name of the game, the illustrious trio are joined by the multifarious yet cohesive likes of 'Pharrelll-approved' Virginian hip-hop duo Clipse, wonderfully youthful Californian duo Girls, iconic post-punk outfit The Fall, chillwave US synth saviour Washed Out and the swaggering Aussie drawl of Brisvegas alt-kings Custard. But with Meredith organisers toting a nice notoriety for well-informed selection, the beauty of this offbeat gathering is the propensity to discover new musical loves, as a large cache of acts claiming to be 'Australian-first-timers' mosey their magic selves out bush. Timetables to the wind, stumble upon a gem. Nestled between the hills of Geelong and Ballarat, as the sun splashes against the ghostly gums and scented cypress, this year Aunty Meredith is getting some birthday lovin'. While ticket ballot is now closed, remaining tickets go on sale September 7 at select stores, then September 9 online at www.mmf.com.au
The National Art School Gallery is a spectacular space and showing it off this Art Month is the international touring exhibition Erased. The show, which has travelled throughout Asia, has made its return to Sydney for the month that brings artists, galleries and gallery-goers out of the woodwork with a series of talks, late night openings and workshops. Erased is curator Natasha Bullock's assessment of contemporary Australian drawing and it offers artistic practices as diverse as mark-making to imprinting, gesture to sculpture. The six Australian artists include Vernon Ah Kee, whose masterful portraits seem to stare, blank eyed, into your soul; Christian Capurro, with nearly-there works on paper created through the action of erasure; Simryn Gill, who has captured the globe in haphazard sculpture; Jonathan Jones, with subtly embossed works on paper in conversation with graphite drawings; Tom Nicholson, who takes our eyeline upwards with his hung flags; and Raquel Ormella, whose whiteboard worlds are rich and inviting. The show is not only a great way of stepping into Sydney's sandstone past — the National Art School, nearly 100 years old, is located in the old Darlinghurst Gaol — but a fabulous way of surveying the art of drawing in the Australia of now. Gallery talk 5 March 2 – 3 pm free Art Forum series 16 March 1 – 2 pm free Art Month late night 17 March free Drawing Workshop 19 March 12 – 1 pm free Image: Vernon Ah Kee, Unwritten #10, 2008
The latest curated shopping experience, Magnolia Square, is set to pop-up at Paddington Town Hall this month. 'Pop up' it may but based on the list of boutique designers, artists and handmade gurus it looks like this will be more like a slow-mo binge for hungry shoppers. Drawing inspiration from the theme 'Paper and Thread', Jo Neville of Sydney institution Paper Couture will create an installation piece captured live on the Magnolia blog during the 3-day event. For those with a penchant for DIY, Jo will also be on hand to share moments of 'papery wisdom' with eager shoppers. If that's not enough to bring out your inner shop-a-holic and rain frogs from the sky, the list of retailers will. Drool over pieces by Sydney-based illustrator, Nikki Catalano, the soothing skincare of Myrtle and Moss and the one off screen prints from Me and Amber. Enter at your own risk for $5.
Most people can relate to being metaphorically stuck between a rock and a hard place, but when Aron Ralston used the idiom as the title of his memoir, his meaning was brutally literal. The story of this experienced, gung-ho climber who famously hacked off his own arm to escape from being pinned by a boulder, is brought to glorious, and yes, relatively gory life by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) and his remarkable leading man James Franco (Spiderman, Milk). Knowing Ralston's fate doesn't really constitute a spoiler; on the contrary, Boyle and his co-writer Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionare) seem to prefer it that way. In fact they have almost too much fun teasing their audience's expectations: hence the opening triptychs depicting masses of teeming humanity, and the lengthy shots of Ralston filling his water bottle and even grasping around trying to find his Swiss Army knife. Though bordering on laborious, this set up is done with Boyle's trademark kineticism and a thumping soundtrack, both techniques that are subsequently and powerfully juxtaposed once Ralston becomes silently, claustrophobically trapped. Much as Boyle has lots of cinematic tricks up his sleeve, it would all be for naught if Franco failed to hold our attention in what is essentially a one-man show. But captivate he most certainly does in an electric, unbelievably visceral performance as a man forced to face his own hubris, and then to do the unthinkable. This climatic scene really isn't as grisly as you'd expect, because Boyle and Beaufoy have engineered the film such that by that stage you find yourself needing him to cut it off. It's a striking conceit, and one made further compelling by Franco's jaw-dropping abilities (the scene was evidently shot in one take where they let him just go at the prosthetic arm – he even managed to snap the metal core). However Franco is so transfixing that when Boyle cuts away from him for a few sentimental flashbacks, the film immediately begins to sag. 127 Hours is immersive cinema in the most gut wrenching sense. If it gets a little mawkish, it's probably because it stays a little too faithful to Ralston's spiritual journey (he is now a motivational speaker), but considering the guy gave his right arm to live – again, literally – Boyle has crafted a deeply humane and beautifully triumphant tribute to both Ralston's flawed humanity and his superhuman quest for survival. https://youtube.com/watch?v=OlhLOWTnVoQ
Go to the Republic of China. Take a train across it. Take the cheap skate's option: an enticing ticket known as the 'hard sleeper'. It's not actually difficult to sleep on such a ticket, nor is it 'unsoft', just lacking in amenity by comparison to the more expensive 'soft sleeper'. After the trip, and taking in many of the country's more unusual towns and provinces, complete a one-month residency at Red Gate Gallery. This is what the artists involved in Hard Sleeper did to arrive at their destination exhibition. For two months in 2010, Peter Gardiner, China De La Vega, Frances Belle Parker, Phil James and Guy Maestri traveled through China by train as part of Imagine Australia. The work resulting from that trip will be exhibited at the Damien Minton Gallery from the middle of this month. Also on show will be photographs taken in China by project coordinator Catherine Croll. Those attending the opening on February 15th will also be privy to an address from art critic and writer John McDonald, who traveled with the artists in China.
Billy Connolly, a man whose name is synonymous with the f-bomb, is returning to Australia after a six-year hiatus. What is he bringing with him, do you think? Chances are Billy doesn't know yet himself. Now entering his fifth decade as a comic performer, Connolly has built his career using his preternatural ability to pull hilarity out of the proverbial bum of his life and observations of the world. Somehow the daily oddities that skim past us unnoticed are filtered through the Scot's mind and transformed into pure, gut-rupturing comedy. But it isn't simply a funny joke that has buoyed Connolly's career. His observation marks a natural genius for relaying the human condition, which he has also used to great effect as a successful actor. Whatever it is that he ends up bringing to our attention this year, it is guaranteed that Billy Connolly - the Man will deliver it with the right mix of panache, absurdity and four-lettered poetry. https://youtube.com/watch?v=TDORgNqmDAE
You know how often New Year's Eve always turns into a massive drama? You're trying to organise twelve different people to get to five parties and/or pubs around the city, while also trying to get a glimpse of the fireworks, and you're doing your damndest to make sure that this one night will be the night to end all nights. Well, try celebrating the Chinese New Year instead. Over a two week period in February, Sydney's Chinese population, along with everyone else who's decided that this year, the year of the rabbit, will be their lucky one, will be hitting Sydney's streets for a spectacular array of festival frivolity. Catch the dragon boat races down at Cockle Bay, watch the parade march from Town Hall to Chinatown, go on a Chinatown food tour, view a vast array of recent films from China in the Chinese Film Festival, and generally get in amongst the action as you usher in the lunar new year. Of particular note in this year's festival is the welcoming of a delegation from Hubei Province, famously home to the Three Gorges dam, who bring with them not only demonstrations of Wudang, a form of martial arts famous in the region, but also the Tujia Waving Hand Dance which will feature in the parade. So with your little nose twitching for some Chinese New Year action, hop along to the city during the festival for a thumping good time.
The 1970s were a phenomenally productive decade for Australian photographers and documentarians. There was Sydney’s first Mardi Gras, the massive campaign to save Tasmania’s Franklin River and the Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established in support of Aboriginal Land Rights. But as the 70s drew on, protesters pacified and photographers began looking elsewhere for what to capture of Australia. Spanning three decades of Australian photographers who have turned their camera eye to the abundance of space in this landscape of ours, Photography & Place displays works from Jon Rhodes, Ricky Maynard and Lynn Silverman to name a few. With the absence of human figure in these works, one must imagine human presence in a landscape in Anne Ferran’s Lost to Worlds, examine the residue we have left behind in Rosemary Laing’s panoramic series, or the cultural impact of inhabiting a place through Michael Riley’s series Flyblown. This retrospective is a thorough examination of a significant era of Australian photography and begs the question: what will define the next one? Image: Blue Sky, Paul Ogier 2009
Dorryce Rock's affection for colour is tangible. Even an image of any of her paintings will burst and churn with the energy and tension of it. In this, her second solo exhibition, Rock further develops her fascination with that particular kind of luminosity. The exhibition features over forty bright, neon paintings. Following on from her previous experiments, Rock continues to explore the interrelationship between nature and art, while continuing to push into new media. Most of these works are paint on perspex, a form which allows her to capture the texture of the paint as it falls, preserving its chemistry and form. And following in the wake of her collaboration with fashion designer Kit Willow, Glow will also include two carpets, both paintings transformed by Designer Rugs into a new kind of tangibility. Image: #1183, courtesy of Dorryce Rock
Between lockouts and the threat of imposed all-night kitchens, Kings Cross's nightlife has been taking some nasty knocks of late. So it's a relief to bring some good news your way. Key players in the Australian music industry — the Live Music Office and APRA AMCOS — have teamed up with the City of Sydney to put on a cracking free live music festival. To be held on Sunday, November 23 from 2pm and forming part of ARIA Week, IGNITE: Heat the Street will see 40 acts perform across ten music venues. And it won't cost you a pretty little penny. At this stage, the curtain has only been lifted on the first line-up. Leading the charge are indie singer-songwriter Odette, who's been supporting Lior of late; the soulful, gritty, hip-hop influenced Milan; Playwrite, who are currently touring the nation with their latest release; KLP; The Potbelleez; Sun Rai; and loads of others. Keep a look out for the next announcement. Among the venues involved are The X Studio, Uliveto, Gold Fish, Band Room and Kit & Kaboodle. If you're thinking that the IGNITE terminology is sounding familiar to you, you're probably right. This event is actually the second in a free festival series, which made its debut at Surry Hills on Sunday, 31 August. Following its Kings Cross incarnation, the template, officially dubbed 'Live and Local', will likely be rolled out all over Australia. So, wherever you are, you won't be too far away from an epic live music happening. Find more info for IGNITE: Heat the Street over here.
One of the most powerful players in the media game, Arianna Huffington, is coming to Carriageworks. Discussing her brand new book Thrive with the equally formidable political gun Annabel Crabb, Huffington is one of the planet's most kickass women, after launching the Huffington Post in 2005 and casually taking out one of Time's 100 Most Influential People just one year later. Being the first online-only outlet to take home a Pulitzer Prize for reporting, Huffington Post is undeniably one of the world's most widely referred-to sites (you've probably checked it today already). Huffington herself has spearheaded the whole escapade, currently the chair, president and editor-in-chief for the Huffington Post Media Group — a long way from her not-so-humble Cambridge graduate beginnings as a nationally-syndicated columnist. After all these years, the 64-year-old (!) can spin some pretty epic tales, like that casual meditation session she held with Deepak Chopra, being able to get a word in with Bill O'Reilly and running against Arnold Schwartzenegger in the 2003 recall election. Taking multitasking next level, the Greek-American powerhouse has penned her own lengthily-titled book, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom and Wonder. Somehow, in the midst of managing coverage of ebola breakouts, the Gaza-Israel conflict and the fact that Americans are totally over fast food burgers, Huffington now schedules in rest, mindfulness and health to her day (much more rewarding outcomes than all that money and power in her pocket). As part of the Sydney Opera House's Ideas at the House program, Huffington and Crabb will delve into the media heavyweight's rise and how success has affected her both positively and negatively. "We are thrilled to be presenting Arianna Huffington, she’s a visionary leader and one of the most influential women in media who continues to inspire," said Ideas at the House senior producer, Danielle Harvey . If you're after a much-needed 'stop sitting on your hands' type of wake-up call, throw some dosh on a ticket to this one-off meeting of total bosses. Huffington will chat with Crabb as part of Sydney Opera House's Ideas at The House program on Wednesday, September 10 at 6pm. Tickets are $55 and go on sale Monday, August 11. More info here.
Venice Beach's grungy hype-fueller Sky Ferreira will drop into the Newtown Hotel for a cheeky DJ set on Thursday, July 24. Preceding her Splendour in the Grass appearance, the Californian pop artist will spin some tunes supported by Fingertips and Snapback DJs. Fresh off the back of supporting Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz Tour, 21-year-old Ferreira will no doubt relish the change of pace with this laidback DJ set and an intimate all-ages show at the Metro — allowing her to showcase the raw vulnerability of her debut LP Night Time, My Time. Ever the boundary-pusher with a self-described destructive streak, let’s just hope the pop powerhouse manages to not get arrested, hospitalized or injured before making her much awaited return. Sky Ferreira will play at Newtown Hotel on Thursday, July 24 supported by Fingertips and Snapback DJs from 8pm (and FREE). If you're keen to see more Ferreira favourites head to her official sideshow at the Metro Theatre on Friday, July 25. Words by Jack Gow and Shannon Connellan.
Sexting teens, Palm Island, corruption at the Wollongong Council, missing persons — these are a few of the meaty subjects we've seen Version 1.0 tackle recently. The company sets the benchmark for documentary theatre in Australia, using a versatile kitbag of legal and historical records, multimedia and tech tricks, interviews with real people, and their own storytelling prowess to look at complex issues from many angles at once. In 2013, Version 1.0 will be venturing far from home for The Vehicle Failed to Stop. The work is inspired by an incident in October 2007 when Australian private security contractors in Baghdad shot dead two civilian women. The contractors, Unity Resources Group, claimed the women's vehicle had "failed to stop". Occurring during the fallout of a similar shooting by America's Blackwater Security, this event provides a window into the particular tragedy that comes with mixing war and commerce. The Vehicle Failed to Stop is on at Carriageworks from October 10-26. Thanks to Carriageworks we have two double passes to give away to the performance on Saturday, October 19, at 8pm. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address.
That the ocean is a primordial soup, there is no doubt. Scientific explorations into the dark depths have uncovered a universe of flora and fauna that challenge our conception of life and its forms, and there are still unknown pockets guarding even greater secrets deep below the waves. But there is a dire horror taking place in the oceans of the world. Behemoth swirls of plastic rubbish poison and throttle generations of marine life. Petrochemicals leech life from ancient biomass and greedy nets tear chunks out of the food chain. Now you're ready for Dean Walsh's Fathom. Presented as part of his Australia Council Dance Fellowship, this sequence of compositions seeks to explore the uncertain future of our planet's oceans. Walsh's work in preparation for Fathom has seen him study the physiology of marine animals, finding physical links and analogues between us and some of our oldest ancestors. What does it mean when we drive species of fish to extinction if our own genes still carry the memory of scales and gills? Calling upon his own experience as a scuba diver, and research into climate change, sustainability and the poised sword of extinction, Walsh's Fathom is an urgent piece for a dangerous time. Image by Heidrun Lohr
So, you haunt record stores and like to buy cassettes? You prefer your music a little more noisy than most? Some of it might even be classed as a little experimental? You're not a hipster but, really, they probably wouldn't have heard of this band before? If you haven't been already, I'd say Sound Summit is the festival for you. Held annually in Newcastle over the October long weekend, it's an innovative music extravaganza of epic proportions. This marks the first year that Sound Summit breaks away from the umbrella festival TiNA, big enough to stand on its own two feet. Luckily, the two still run at the same time so, if you're quick, you can catch events from both. The 2011 festival features four days of workshops, panels, exhibitions, shows and more. Many of the events are free, and the others you can buy as you go or lay out a mere $45 for the whole lot. Headlining are Japanese band Mono, with their chillingly evocative music, plus the similarly expectional Moon Duo and Wet Hair. There's an official soundtrack up to stream via the Free Music Archive to get you in the mood. Also look out for Space Summit, a day of events focusing on emerging venues, and showcases from labels and venues around the country. Image: from Sound Summit 2009, courtesy of Sound Summit
Russia does not have a good track record when it comes to the longevity of its soldiers. Back in 2000, a Russian submarine named after the city of Kursk had a hole blown in its side during a training exercise in the Barents Sea, causing both it and its crew to sink to the ocean floor. Though help was offered by other navies, word went out from Moscow that everyone on board the vessel was already dead and no rescue efforts were required. Later on, when the Kursk was dragged back to the surface, evidence on board suggested that this was not actually true. A decade later, British playwright Bryony Lavery (Stockholm and Frozen) visited the tragic tale of the Kursk through the eyes of a British submarine crew out in the Barents Sea. After tremendous acclaim in the UK, the aptly titled Kursk is travelling to the Sydney Opera House for a very brief season this October. Produced along with theatre company Sound&Fury, Kursk is an immersive experience that places the audience up close to the tension and suspense to be found beneath the surface of the sea. A promenade set will have you walking around as a witness to the events of August 2000, accompanied by a sound design that chillingly re-creates the experience of standing in a submarine. For those who seek an experience of the darker decisions of military politics, Kursk is definitely worth the plunge. https://youtube.com/watch?v=T8UHIlDpXmQ
It doesn’t get much fresher than this. One of Australia’s best-loved showcases of up-and-coming artwork is back again, bringing together a collection of the best student submissions from 2011’s HSC Visual Arts exams. And you know the drill. Expect 46 outstanding pieces of all sorts: sculpture, painting, ceramics, documented forms, graphic design, painting, drawing, print making, photo media, textiles and fibre, time-based forms and absolutely everything in between (and trust us, there’s always something a little unorthodox to be found if you look hard enough). In its 29th year, ARTEPXRESS has become one of Sydney’s most-anticipated artistic celebrations. More than 9700 student submissions are sifted through before the final cut is produced. It goes without saying that the quality is stellar, offering the general public unparalleled insight into the future of mainstream local art. Furthermore, it’s great exposure for our budding artists. ARTEXPRESS has gone on to show at international galleries all over the world in the past, including a 1990 and 1992 showing at New York’s Children’s Museum of Manhattan. Seriously, you don’t want to miss it. Image: Long after I am gone, Jordan Munns.
Body weight is a seemingly impossible thing to be competitive about. With different shapes, sizes, metabolisms and all those different ideas of attractive girth, you shouldn't be able to quantify it enough to compare numbers. TV tries all the same. Frustrated by these futilities of size, Jodie Whalen's Worth my Weight in Gold shows a short wall of screens with artist Whelan on gold painted exercise equipment. She exercises with passion, discomfort and sincerity. On two stands nearby are lumps of toffee representing the weight she's working off. They drip onto the floor. Art duo Catherine or Kate — Catherine Sagin and Kate Woodcroft — present the results of a residency in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland. Their series of photo pairs set a top row of, mostly bemused or welcoming, store clerks against photos of the two artists in each shop they visit. A tally is posted on the wall nearby. The margin of victory is pretty narrow. The artists say they asked each clerk to rate the pair of them "Who is better looking?" Though the smirk on each clerk's face suggests they liked the question most of all. A video work from the pair nearby interrupts a pastoral scene. Peloton co-director Adrian Gebers' elegant woodblocks riif on the typed '3'. His big letters with a germanic style feel like a child's game with numbers, taking a square 3 turning it constantly sideways to W to E to M and back again in paper and wood. In Erica Molesworth's vivacious Just Passing Through dust and smoke wrap around movement, shadowing the sifting of red earth and green fields laid out like a blanket over the landscape. In a video piece curling, red smoke gets sucked backward into a flare, to the accompaniment of grins. Molesworth's photos are concerned with mining and tourism's impact on rural world. But despite this, the exuberance she obviously felt in taking these images dominates them all. Image: Erica Molesworth, Just Passing Through
Bill Cunningham is a New York Times photographer who rides a Schwinn bike and wears a cobalt blue workman's smock. Sounds like a total hipster — except that he's 80 years old. And every modern fashionista knows his name. Day and night, the veteran cameraman pedals around Manhattan taking pictures of what people are wearing. But Bill, with his discreet 35mm Nikon, is not a fashion photographer. He simply likes the clothes: the cut, the style. The skyscraper-sized ambitions and supercharged egos of New York's status-obsessed socialites? You can keep 'em. The octogenarian shutterbug has long been a fixture at fashion shows, charity balls, high-society galas and social functions. Bill's keen eye captures trends before fashion columns have even been created; fashion critics unanimously agree that he has created the best record of New York style for the last 60 years. This 2010 documentary by filmmaker Richard Press is a loving portrait of the man, the mystery and the meticulous creative process. It includes interviews with some of fashion's most noteworthy names and colourful characters, such as Shail Upadhya, a retired Nepalese diplomat who has a collection of optically outrageous suits, and Vogue editrix Anna Wintour, who defrosts enough to smilingly acknowledge that "we all get dressed for Bill". Although Bill's passion is clothes, he only owns four outfits himself. He patches up his plastic raincoats with duct tape. He doesn't care how he looks. He refuses to accept so much as a glass of water at parties, never mind a free lunch: "If you don't take [anything], they can't tell you what you can do. That's the key to the whole thing." Bill's egalitarian spirit leads him to photograph only the clothes he thinks can be worn by people from all walks of life, and he is interested in "tastemakers", not superstars. He once overlooked Marilyn Monroe and Ginger Rogers in favour of some street kids because they wore more individualistic clothes, and he once snapped Greta Garbo without recognising her. Bill's monastic asceticism shouldn't lead you to imagine his life is deprived in any way; he's always smiling as he pursues his single-minded focus: the perfect shot. In his own words, he eats with his eyes. This documentary celebrates that creative freedom. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1qmszNAsehk
The whole world loves a love story, and this my friends is a corker. Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme was originally set in 1840s Paris about a group of struggling artists and their experiences of love, friendship, and heartbreak. In this superb new rendition of the story, director Gale Edwards has transported the story’s characters, including lovers Rodolpho and Mimi, to 1930s Berlin, where political volatility provides a dark backdrop to the glamorous Speigeltent setting of this operatic tale of infatuation. Basically though, this remains a passionate story about love bohemian style. Rodolpho is a struggling writer hanging with his crowd of equally poor but creatively adventurous artist types. Fate runs him head first into the intoxicating Mimi. They fall in love. Big, swirling, torrential amor. The heartbreaking ending, which I shall not reveal, only adds to the bitter-sweetness of this timeless and universally relatable narrative. In the current production, designers Brian Thomson and Julie Lynch dazzle us visually while the operatic gifts of two of the most exciting young singers in opera today add the finishing touches — Takesha Meshé Kizart as Mimì and Ji-Min Park as Rodolfo. Whether you're an opera aficionado or you've never thought to attend in your whole life, you will most definitely be swept away by this magically moving production. If you’ve ever been in love or lost it, how could you not?
bams & ted's latest pop-up venture is loosely based on two films. The first I haven't seen and the second I've seen too many times to count. The Edge of Love is the first, a film that looks to be about Keira Knightley's embarrassing attempt at a Welsh accent, and the second is Tim Burton’s neo-gothic masterpiece Edward Scissorhands. Considering that one is really crap-sounding and that the other takes place against the perfectly manicured lawns of suburban melancholy, both seem like odd inspirations for bams & ted's notoriously vibrant pop-up vintage stores/dress-up boxes. Add to this that both have an overarching theme of war (which is even more depressing than colour-blocked pastels) and the whole thing sounds equal parts dismal and awkward. But! If you're one of those who have actually seen The Edge of Love you'll probably be aware that it's not just about the difficulty of faking a Welsh accent. It's also about underground London during the Blitz, the poet Dylan Thomas and his 1940s bombshells, plus a whole lot of cutesy cardies, florals with boots, sexy pleats and velvet finery. And in August, bams & ted wage war on suburban mediocrity rather than third-world countries, roaming the generically landscaped lawns of American suburbia in search of eccentricity and difference. Expose your pro-war bias and arm yourself accordingly — possessing scissors for hands could actually be rather advantageous, because the threads at bams & ted's pop-ups are known for being very, very covetable. bams & ted launch their Edward Scissorhands collection on Thursday, August 4, at 6pm with live gothic entertainment, including burlesque dancer Diesel Darling performing a scissor-inspired set and local musician Matt Rochford with his take on Tim Burton's classic 1990 film.
"The unexamined life is not worth living" said Socrates, a conviction that would ultimately lead to his death in 399BC. His crime? Corrupting the minds of the young and impiety. But the message had already been delivered: what happens to you when you start to examine your very assumptions and unexpressed presuppositions? Are you living an ethical life? Do your actions correspond to your ethics? Renowned philosopher Peter Singer realises these are difficult questions to ask, but asking them nonetheless, he says, is an important part of being a sentient human being. First coming to prominence for having nudged the animal rights movement into action with his book Animal Liberation (1975), Singer is an eponymous figure in the world of bioethics and morality, tackling the subjects that define who we are and the way we live (e.g. poverty, immigration, abortion, euthanasia, animal rights and so on). To this end, his current focus on the internet and the ethical dillemmas and issues it unzips is apt. How are we to think about information, access, censorship, sexuality and community in an online world? As Singer has written, "today, if you have an internet connection, you have at your fingertips an amount of information previously available only to those with access to the world's greatest libraries..." With this kind of connectivity and fingertip power, Twitter, blogging or even a basic google search can quickly become a political tool. Plato described Socrates as a gadfly, constantly buzzing and stinging the side of the Athenian State in the service of truth. Singer too carries his own kind of gadfly sting, and it will be interesting to see this applied to the way we live in an online world.
A couple of months ago Chalk Horse moved. They went further into Surry Hills to Lacey St, about three minutes down from their old Cooper St digs, and became the first Sydney artist run initiative to turn into a commercial gallery. The big re-opening show was of paintings by Jasper Knight, because when one of Australia's highest profile artists co-founded your gallery and is one of it's directors you tend to leverage that. Then there was a group show, and now there's another group show, which is great because it's a chance to get their whole stable of artists on display in this space while it still has that new-car smell. Co-curated by longtime gallery manager Clementine Blackman and newer addition Kat Sapera, Nothing is true, everything is permitted promises to evidence the gallery's ongoing commitment to intelligent and rigorous work by emerging and mid-career artists across a variety of media. Chalk Horse is one of the galleries most likely to confuse you on entry, but it's also very good at explaining itself (the catalogue essays are really great) and it's a prime provider of high-concept LOLs. This show features work by David Capra, Yvette Coppersmith, Sanné Mestrom, Kate Mitchell, Christian Thompson, John A Douglas (image above) and Gregory & Watts. Image: John A Douglas, Starella
Here is the object. Here is you in front of the object. Here is a kind of click. It's not the audible kind, it's the one that happens in your head when a concept suddenly reveals itself in a material form. I'm not sure how he does it but Kenzee Patterson is an artist who responds to the world around him with honesty, intelligence and humor — an artist who manages to produce these, for lack of better word, clicks. For his first solo show at Darren Knight Gallery, Kenzee will be exhibiting The Camden Valley Way, a party of sculptures created in response to the artist's recent car journey's through regional NSW and suburban south-western Sydney. By the looks of it the work appears to be alive, possess a sense of wit and retain a certain mysterious clarity that could only come from the attractions of the road; housing estates, failed theme parks and home-made artifacts. All things aside, and by dint of promising you too much, this is sculpture worth seeing.
Isn’t there something just a little special about viewing art during the twilight hours? A flute of bubbles in hand, the hum of the outside world silenced for the day. Isn’t art always a little more fascinating when you’re slightly buzzed? Following in the footsteps of hot spots like MCA and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, a little ole’ local art collective is set to unveil a series of after-dark programs. Aiming to bring heightened interaction to a selection of exhibitions, the Kaldor Public Art Project will fuse art with workshops, creative discussions, performance, film, live music and best of all, cocktails. With the help of FBi radio, the University of Technology Sydney School of Design, open-mic initiative Kino Sydney and a curatorial collective titled N, Kaldor’s Parlour series will run over three Thursday nights during April. Centered around the project’s current The Dailies exhibition, each Parlour will be staged using Thomas Demand’s incredible works of paper and cardboard as a backdrop. April 5’s ‘Doppelganger’ Parlour will feature music by The Kingpins, Lara Thoms and Nat Randall as well as a discussion that will include “twins, stunt doubles, detective fiction and photocopying.” We’re as intrigued as you are. Doppelganger-themed films, games and model making workshops will all be staged somewhere in the vicinity too. April 12’s ‘Kino Sydney’ Parlour will see Professor Colin Griffiths and local architect Stephen Collier chat about famed architect Harry Seidler, who designed the event’s venue. And finally, April 19’s ‘Mirror’ Parlour will encourage a discussion on mirrors and screen mirror-inspired films. Each event runs from 5.30pm to 9pm and you have to RSVP to parlour.eventbrite.com.au to get your name on the door.
Earth Hour is a symbolic action. Although there is carbon saved by turning things off, the point is the unmissable demonstration that a huge chunk of the world's population caring about the same thing at the same time. If we can manage this for Earth Hour, why not for grander environmental things? The Hour started in Sydney in 2007, and has become an international event in the years since. There are Earth Hour events in Kenya, India and Ireland these days, but you don't need to travel so far afield to find a way to join in this time around. At its simplest, all you need to do is stay home and turn off the lights. But if you'd like to have a more social darkened moment, there's a new 'unplugged' sideline, with events like an Earth Hour acoustic set from The Hello Morning, or a nearly lightless, long distance Earth Hour Bike Ride out west. Along King Street, businesses have signed up to dim their lights and let you dine or drink by candlelight. Cafe Buzzbar and Bank's Thai are among the 43 joining in, with a full list hanging conveniently in the window of the Watershed. You join in with the broader environmental message, or just go in for the spectacle. But any of these small acts could lead on to bigger things. Image of Earth Hour Switch Off 2010 by Sewell / WWF.
