Politics and religion are two topics that should never be broached with strangers. Unless, it seems, you are at the Sydney Opera House. Recently, the Opera House has hosted a number of big-hitter and controversial intellectuals, including the political activist Noam Chomsky and religious philosopher Daniel Dennett. Now here comes the militant atheist might of Richard Dawkins. Dawkins is one of today's most prominent scientists, atheists and religious sceptics. As one of the leaders of the atheist movement, he is known for his unrelenting criticism of non-scientific (read: religious) views of creation. Although be warned: Dawkins is not for the faint-hearted. When it comes to evolution and religion, few are bolder than this mild-mannered Englishman. Yet perhaps in the wake of Alain de Botton's 'Atheism 2.0' (also at the Sydney Opera House), Dawkins has softened his hard-lined approach, replacing religious mockery with appraisal of scientific beauty. In this talk he heralds the 'magic of scientific reality' as being more beautiful than anything conjured up by a magical deity. In conversation with theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, Dawkins promises a 'family friendly' approach to evolution and religion. Although you have been warned.
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
Brazilian migrants landed in Sydney in two waves, so we have two Brazilian heartlands. The earlier wave of migrants landed in the 1970s, living around Petersham. The second wave landed in the nineties and settled in Bondi. The Bondi Pavilion South American Festival has straddled both eras, running as a celebration not only of Brazilian culture, but all things Latin American. Newly rebirthed by the White Party's high-fashion party aesthetic, and renamed as this year's 'Bondiesta', the festival brings this new style to its old digs. Bondiesta's inaugural run will see music across two stages from Clave Contra Clave winners Mi Tierra, Tribalismo's army of DJs and drummers, batucada provided by Rhythm Brazil and more. To go with the sounds, the festival also offers dance workshops, latin craft how-tos, South American food and art markets in the Bondi Pavilion. Also in the pavilion is Emmanuelle Bernard's black and white photo show Rio in Bondi, illustrating the parallels between the two famous beach cities. With a suggested dress code of "tropical vibrant colours and exotic allure" this will be an interesting festa, if only to see what Sydney's second wave Brazilian population make of 'exotic', given their own Brasileiro point of view.
Imagine for a moment if Peter Parker hadn't been such a nice kid. Imagine if that shy orphan teenager, ignored by girls and bullied by guys, suddenly found himself possessed of spider-like abilities but instead of deciding to help mankind he chose to exact revenge upon all who'd spurned him. Put another way, what if Peter Parker had found his uncle's shotgun instead of the ability to cast a web and then some dumb jock had thrown one too many milkshakes into his face? Chronicle, by first-time director Josh Trank, shows us how things might have turned out. It tells the story of three teenagers suddenly gifted telekinetic powers following their chance encounter with a mysterious subterranean glowing crystal (you know, a tale as old as time). The whole affair is conveniently captured on film thanks to the decision by Andrew (Dane DeHaan) to begin chronicling (wink) his entire life, thereby placing this film as the latest entry in the burgeoning 'found footage' genre (think Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield). While at first Chronicle may seem like just another superhero origins story, it quickly becomes something much more thanks to the angry and troubled loner twist. Abused by his drunken father and ignored or bullied by his classmates, the newfound superpower ironically offers Andrew normalcy until — as his cousin ominously portends — hubris ultimately takes hold and vengeance begins to trump acceptance. From that moment on there's an eerie Akira-meets-Columbine feel to the whole thing; an unsettling yet familiar study of what can happen when angry, troubled youths find themselves in possession of something devastating and lethal. https://youtube.com/watch?v=L0moMB9qjMc
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
National Theatre Live performances are one of the best ways of taking in a dose of theatre, especially if isn’t part of your regular diet. Filmed onstage in London and broadcast to cinemas all over the world, you can be sure that these screenings will be lovingly directed and excellently acted. With that in mind, you might enjoy Andrew Upton’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s classic, The Cherry Orchard. If you don’t know much about Chekhov other than that gun thing, here’s the low-down: it’s early 20th century Russia and there is more than a whiff of revolutionary feeling floating about. When Ranyevskaya (played by Zoe Wanamaker) returns to an easy moneyed life on her family’s orchard after ten years abroad, she manages to overlook the increasing instability of the status quo. After ignoring the entrepreneurial schemes of the peasant Lopakhin, she and her brother find themselves striving to hold on to the home they grew up in. Directed by Howard Davies (who previously directed the Sydney Theatre Company’s performance of the same adaptation), this performance promises to be a poignant and tragically funny interpretation of Chekhov’s last play. The Cherry Orchard will be released in Australian cinemas on July 23rd.
The Kills have all the components of an authentic East London indie/garage-punk/battery-acid blues duo pretty much covered, including a story of meeting in a hotel room and early record sleeves shot in photo booths rather than with a professional camera. As of two weeks ago they even have an ex-cocaine addict supermodel closely associated with the band. They're also rather good at performing. Now on their fourth album, frontwoman Alison Mosshart's raw vivacity is still as visceral as guitarist Jamie Hince's effortless cool is, well, effortless and cool. Her renewed stage energy could be attributed to the fact that Mosshart has just completed a two-album stint at the front of Jack White's The Dead Weather, and Jack has probably stipulated that Mosshart refrain from ferociously prowling across the stage and playing off highly-stylized drum machines and samples for fear that she might steal his thunder (yet she still sometimes does anyway). The Kills' sound isn't exactly groundbreaking but it's great to thrash around to, drink some whiskey and be generally captivated by the duo's extreme coolness. Just don't throw a pint on stage, because this has been known to get you booed and ejected after being singled out by a surly Hince challenging you to try entertaining a crowd. https://youtube.com/watch?v=w3fZP7QC4PE
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.
Art vs Science - let's think about it. Science: noun: The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. Art: noun: The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. If the definitions don't seem to help all that much you might find solace in the synthy-crunchy-insistent-electro-pop of this Sydney three-piece. Recently ascending to platinum heights on the back of their self-titled debut EP, their second album The Experiment has also garnered wide appreciation and made ears happy both here and abroad. The first tour since their return from the US, Art vs Science will take to the stage at the Enmore, supported by the big-beats and high-flying vocals of Strange Talk. It's enough to make Galileo and Picasso friends. https://youtube.com/watch?v=roijtWmsCAM
Tony Phillips' Veil examines cultural difference as both a construct and a shaping mechanism for our views in his depictions of Papua New Guinea. Disavowing primitivism, these pieces aim to show the inadequacy of the anthropological method of developing mutual understanding between cultures. Marianne Potts' prints in Catacombs and Caves engage with both her own heritage and the history of a place. Taking printmaking to the point of what she calls 'paper sculpture', Potts has undertaken as series of works depicting the 7000 year old system of caves and tunnels on the island of Malta, where she was born. Simultaneously close to home and focussed on incomprehension, Mike Barnard has created a series of paintings based on his experiences of watching news coverage of the war in Afghanistan. With a conceptual palette of updated Baudrillard, the works in What's on the other channel? place images 'torn from the headlines' in dialogue with the artist's domestic space, exploring the way we develop narratives in relation to our changing media context and interfaces. The most abstract set of works in these shows, Alexandra Clapham and Andrew Haining's some from the other, is also the most literal in its address of place. With raw-seeming geometric constructions, the work draws attention to its own occupation of space and functions as a framework for dimensionality. Image: Catacombs & Caves, Marianne Potts
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
Darius Devas is a freewheeling filmmaker who has forged a career out of his passion for adventure, the importance of place and his sensitive ear for listening to the stories of others. His company, Being Films, already holds a small selection of works that may at first seem light-handed in their treatment of subject, but their apparent softness belies a nuanced, committed retelling of personal worlds. Devas' latest feature, Goa Hippy Tribe, is a documentary that traces a link across three decades between a community of hippies on an Indian beach to the social networking phenomenon of Facebook. Despite many of his subjects claiming to revile the medium, they all acknowledge that it was the perfect tool for reconnecting their mature selves back into their playful past. Following a massive friend-finding online, the Goa alumni organised a reunion on the beach in 2009 and Devas joined them to document the gathering. The result is a heartfelt collection of memories and stories that stretches beyond the cliched definition of 'hippy'. This Tuesday, Devas will screen a special session of Goa Hippy Tribe at the Chauvel to help launch the official SBS interactive website. Definitely grab a seat at this event to learn more about film with soul and of the positive side of social media when it comes to preserving and sharing memory. All money raised at this screening will go towards Devas' upcoming residency at the Binger Writers Lab in Amsterdam. https://youtube.com/watch?v=s0seVPeoPXs
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.
When most kids were learning how to finger-paint, Yann Tiersen was mastering the classical piano. When most kids were reading whatever The Very Hungry Caterpillar translates to in French he was deciphering complex sheet music, and when his friends were probably running around in Baguette-crumbed shirts he was training at musical academies in Rennes, Nantes and Boulogne. That’s enough to drive anyone insane so it’s not altogether surprising that at thirteen Tiersen smashed up his violin and formed a rock band. But it was only after they split and he spent a summer recording alone in his apartment that he became the totally genius multi-instrumentalist composer and virtuoso performer we know today. Rediscovering the violin and turning the humble accordion into a transformative tool of aural seduction, he’s wooed both audiences and filmmakers with his electrifying command of acoustic instruments. Remember the whimsical accordion music in Amélie? All Yann! Skyline is Tiersen’s seventh studio album, following on from the brooding Dust Lane and chartering more ambitious territory than ever. Bulking up the keys and strings with heavy guitars and swelling synths (often simultaneously), this is a show you literally have to see to believe.
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.
What exactly is Cinema Burlesque? Who cares! It's free, it has nothing to do with That Film and you can watch it while nursing a cold one at the Town Hall's pop-up bar that is so much more than just a pop-up bar. Throwing open its doors between 5pm and 10pm every night of the Sydney Film Festival, the Hub will be the nerve centre of 2012's programme. Curated by those cultured revellers The Festivalists, it will be kind of similar to their supremely awesome Jurassic Lounge, except that instead of dinosaurs there will be a giant portrait of Willem Dafoe. Dafoe's large-scale snap will be accompanied by those of 24 other iconic actors and directors, lensed by Fabrizio Maltese and gathered from major film festivals across the globe for the Hub's headline exhibition. There will also be screenings, talks, panels, parties, live music, DJs and sound and video mash-ups by VJ Tom Loud, all put on with the overarching aim of letting film fiends experience the festival as an insider. And it's free! See our picks of the 10 best things to see at the Sydney Film Festival.
Here is something that could either be truly amazing or amazingly bad — twelve ukulele players juxtaposing madcap antics against comically budget special effects. The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra is actually a bit of both. Trading on Wellington’s reputation as being a cross between Middle Earth and the Middle of Nowhere, and the fact that the unpretentious uke is currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity within hipster circles, the orchestra employs that sincere brand of irony perfected by Flight of the Conchords (not very surprising fact: Bret McKenzie is actually a member of the band). But WIUO wouldn’t have had four best-selling EPs if they were just a bunch of average musicians strumming along to lyrics about hilariously mundane sexual encounters. They can actually play their instruments very well, and it’s this mix of quintessentially Kiwi self-effacement and undeniable skill that makes them so charming. Their last Australian tour sold out early, so get in quick — Brett McKenzie’s presence remains uncertain, but fantastic ukulele solos, heavenly harmonies and chaotic banter are 100% guaranteed.
There are as many ways to say “I love you” as there are ways to avoid saying it. We say it to friends, to family, to lovers and maybe even to the guy at the local pie shop when he lets you off $0.30 for those plastic packets of tomato sauce. We say it over Skype conversations and in text messages, we say it with chocolate, we say it with wine and we far too often say it because of wine. In the book and exhibition ‘Love is Here’ 35 artists say it with pictures, revealing their own creative and personal response to one of the world’s most overused phrases. Luckily, however, all of the works being exhibited are far more earnest and original than gifting a box of assorted chocolates or hiding a ring in a big hunk of cake. Those taking part in the exhibition include Daniel Angley, Rachael Baker, Ben and Jodi Churchward, Rach Burke, Tal Fitzpatrick, Erin Forsyth, Alice Kenny, Fee Harding and Jennifer Ho — who were shortlisted from all around Australia. And if you’re looking for another way to express your own feelings of adoration, whether they’re for your granny or your local pie guy, check out the accompanying book — it’s ‘perfect bound’ so the individual pages can be torn out and gifted.
Sydney is full of strange lace. Wrought-iron lacework drips from balconies and gates around the city, reminding us of foreign design fashions long past. The Powerhouse has always had an interest in lace too, but as part of Sydney Design they're bringing their interest to the fore. Love Lace is an exhibition drawn together around the theme, made up of finalists and winners of the Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award. From a laser-cut cardboard web, to a scarred lorry, to the more traditional cloth work, the award takes a broad view of what can be considered lacy; the Museum is even about to wrap its brick courtyard in a canopy of lace pillars, as part of its new renovation program. Alongside the show, the Museum is hosting professional masterclasses and a symposium. And if the exhibition itself doesn't satisfy your appetite for intricate looped needlework, lace from the age of Shakespeare on up is at their Lace Study Centre, where you can check out the older brethren of this year's competition winners, or even have a go at making some yourself. Image by boccalatte.
Art is difficult to talk about and even more difficult to unconditionally support – but not so for Gene and Brian Sherman. Gene, the former director of Sherman Galleries, and husband Brian are synonymous with cultural patronage, and Words, Etc. at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation is simply the next link in the chain.Thus far, the bi-monthly-ish events, focusing on the written or spoken word, have been the site for a guest lecture on the significance of Australian literature from academic Nicholas Jose, and the launch of Anne Summers’ The Lost Mother: A Story of Art and Love.This month, Andrew Cameron, Deputy Chair of the Biennale of Sydney, will launch Contemporary Art + Philanthropy: Private Foundations — Asia-Pacific Focus, a new publication which contains contributions from Gene Sherman, Nicholas Jose, Elaine W. Ng, Carrillo Gantner and Britta Erickson, addressing the role and impact of private philanthropy in the contemporary art sector.Image: Permanent installation at SCAF, designed by Chris Bosse (LAVA). Photo by Melody Willis.
It’s been said that the British royal family’s descent into irrelevance began in the late 1960s, when they agreed to be involved in a television documentary cunningly titled Royal Family. Anna Wintour, Queen of Fashion, had better hope The September Issue doesn’t sound out a similar death knell for her.This film offers us commoners a fly-on-the-wall view of the creative processes behind one of the great tomes of the fashion world, US Vogue. Director RJ Cutler’s cameras tail Wintour, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, as she and her staff prepare the September 2008 issue of the magazine â€" and the result is everything you expect. Celebrities are openly ridiculed, sumptuous clothes are flicked carelessly about, and in one brilliant, couldn’t-script-it-better-if-you-tried moment, an impossibly flamboyant Andre Leon Talley (the editor-at-large) intones deadpan his need to preserve his “aesthetic†on the courts, whilst proudly showing off his collection of Louis Vuitton tennis gear. If it all feels a little familiar, it probably is: the film plays out like a (better) sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, a film whose depiction of a despotic fictional fashion editor was widely rumoured to be modelled on Wintour.Dashes of humour and slick editing combine to make The September Issue an immensely watchable film â€" as long as that’s all you’re after. Punters hoping for any semblance of profundity may be partly mollified by telling interviews with Wintour, in which she muses that her successful siblings probably find her job amusing (one brother, for instance, is political editor of highbrow British rag The Guardian). And Wintour’s right-hand woman Grace Coddington, as one of the few Vogue-rs willing to tell her ‘no’, is a welcome slap of reality.Ultimately, if you’re the kind of person who believes the fashion industry is wasteful, that its gatekeepers are over the top, and that it consumes the minds and attention of thousands of bright sparks whose efforts might be better directed towards curing cancer or creating the perfect souffléâ€" well, The September Issue is not going to change your mind. But much like Vogue itself, it does offer a pleasant enough distraction.https://youtube.com/watch?v=xp8iIyKDOtk
Flamenco is one of those art forms that plays tricks on your mind. Many people think of Spain as a pan-flamenco nation, for one, and so are confounded when unable to find the flamboyant rhythms and flourishes of the dance in the north. Born in the fiery southern region of Andalucia, flamenco's history ducks and weaves through poetic and political lines, becoming a physical polyglot of Arabic, Spanish, Jewish and Gypsy traditions.Eva Yerbabuena, the pre-eminent Spanish flamenco dancer, rides the ambiguity of flamenco's spirit with her own passionate fervour. Having lived her entire life within its embrace, Yerbabuena teases and tweaks flamenco through her work to demonstrate that there are no true conventions in this art form.It is hard to discern where flamenco and Yerbabuena end, if at all, as the audible rhythms of her feet flow up and through her body, into a mix of contemporary music, jazz improvisation and familiar Spanish sounds. Accompanying Yerbabuena is her guitarist husband, Paco Jarano, whose virtuoso craft guides an ensemble of guitarists, vocalists and a percussionist. Flamenco lovers, both long-term and those yet to realise, must do everything in their power to experience this wonder in its limited Sydney season.Video from Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey (2002)https://youtube.com/watch?v=KLDSN-4iIms
Sydney Long’s iconic painting Pan has become so much a part of popular Australian culture that it’s hard to imagine the work being responded to as radical. Long’s contemporaries were the Heidelberg School, painters who took to the fields and sat on hills, like the cliffs at Coogee, painting landscapes en plein air. Celebrated artists like Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton were invested in creating realistic representations of the Australian bush, capturing its unique light. Along comes Long; tendrilous trees drip into form while a reed-pipe toting satyr plays to his coterie of nymphs. This stylised, decorative form, which has been linked to Art Noveau and Impressionism, not only revolutionised Australian landscape painting, but earned Long his place in public collections such as the AGNSW. Pan hangs in this exhibition alongside other examples of Long’s work, such as By tranquil waters and Spirit of the plains, providing a rounded representation of the artist’s development as a landscape painter.Image: Pan (1898); oil on canvas; 107.5x178.8cm; AGNSW collection.
Step out of character, become yourself is the fruition of the Rob McHaffie’s stint in the Byron Bay hinterland earlier this year. The exhibition title is borrowed from the walls of the Nimbin Museum, and the show itself is totally Byron, peppered with all the connotations that the coastal haven holds for us stressed-out city folk. The tongue-in-cheek, humble-in-size canvases explore how this place can simultaneously stand for spirituality and luxury: idyllic scenes of nature are tempered by symbols of mod cons, as seen in African fertility sculpture having a caffe latte. McHaffie is funny and playful while rendering his complex characters human. The young Melbourne-based artist has a penchant for the grotesque and this comes through in elements of his paintings, where faces warp and features blur. Although he successfully highlights the ludicrousness of some situations and characters, he is not judging, rather he is supporting his companions as they move between spiritualism and materialism.
There are few things in this world more appealing than the little creatures, epic adventures and magical universes created by the god of anime, Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle). His latest film follows the story of a young goldfish on her quest to become human, through the challenges of metamorphosis, morality, young love, a tsunami and a grumpy old woman.The childlike playfulness of Ponyo is reminiscent of Miyazaki’s earlier film My Neighbour Totoro, while this time he uses the sea, rather than the forest, as the mysterious world within which the story unfolds. The plot, characters and visuals also surprise with moments of unexpected humour and sophistication that will keep all ages in the audience hooked.The English version features the voices of Noah Cyrus (daughter of Billy Ray and sister to Miley), Frankie Jonas (younger brother to the Jonas Brothers) and Cate Blanchett, though purists may prefer to see the film in the subtitled format - which will also enjoy a limited release here. That said, the strength of Ponyo is in its stunning hand-drawn animation, making it a definite one to catch on the big screen.Email your name, number and address to hello@concreteplayground.com.au to win one of ten double passes.https://youtube.com/watch?v=5mE_UZ87jZ0
Take a trip down memory lane with Richard and Stephanie nova Milne (aka Ms&Mr) and you find the lane soon becomes a labyrinth where parallel worlds collide, time is non-linear and anything is possible. Case in point: their new exhibition There There Anxious Future, where the past, the present and the time ahead are all smooshied up in the prettiest smoothie you've ever seen at. Continuing the duo's ongoing exploration of 'retroactive collaboration', Ms&Mr have used elements of their personal archives to give their former selves entirely new contexts and experiences. The highlight is Frame Drag where we see Richard as an 11-year-old stroking a grown-up Stephanie with tender knowingness, as if the past is consoling the future. As always, the effect of layering the poor quality home movie footage with new animation and HD technology is one of disorientation; it appears as neither vintage nor modern but of a different dimension entirely. There is nostalgia here, but it is also an optimistic liberation of memories from the past into living narratives. Acknowledging that time is ongoing and providing a wormhole into the future, another video work, 2024, Preparation for space-time dilation and Her, presents a 'preparation' for the arrival of Stephanie who will join Richard on the screen in 2024. Thankfully in the meantime we will be seeing a lot more from Ms&Mr, as they are about to feature in a group show at MOP Gallery as well as make appearances later in the year at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and The Physics Room in NZ, not to mention presenting a new work for the Campbelltown Arts Centre Illume series in January. Living simultaneously in multiple time zones mean you can be so prolific.
Are your weekends behaving like those annoying soft toys in grabber machines? Like elusive soul-sucking hussies watching you with mocking eyes as you try to pick them up with your silly crane thing, before it's game over and you're empty handed? You rue all the lost pennies, hours and dignity, and then it's Monday again. Here's a weekend you can come away from feeling like you sunk your metal fingers into something. It may not be as bright and fluffy, but it will leave you feeling like you actually did something, actually went somewhere - like, I don't know, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Greece, Czchoslovakia and France. The Classic European Film Festival, presented by Washington DC film critic Eddie Cockrell, will screen eight legendary cinematic gems - including Hiroshima Mon Amour, The Fireman's Ball, The Passenger, Z, Babbette's Feast and Raising Ravens - over one weekend, with panel discussions following each film. Image: The Fireman's Ball (1967) https://youtube.com/watch?v=nl_vc_IVFao
CarriageWorks' brick nooks and cast iron crannies ooze with flavour, and the building’s trainyard surroundings make you feel like you’ve taken shelter in a decaying industrial landscape.In 2007, De Quincey Co wove themselves into this landscape for their entrancing work, The Stirring. Certainly they have woken some force within the building, because now the mechanical history of CarriageWorks tick-tocks back into life with DQC’s new piece, RUN – a performance engine.Mobility and momentum are the core principles of RUN, as DQC’s superhuman performers transform CarriageWorks into a living machine - an entity that evolves through live video capture and is heralded by Jim Denley’s harmony of flesh and musical instrument.
These days, exhibition openings aren’t too shoddy when it comes to luring you in. Most of us have been known to submit to the temptation of a free drink or two, and maybe even a couple of canapés on the side. One young photography festival, however, has discovered a new draw card: the big screen. Shutterbug, now in its second year, is a national quest to highlight, award and celebrate the work of emerging photographers. The projection night at the Chauvel features the finalists’ work alongside talented guest photographers projected onto glorious celluloid. This doesn’t mean that the drinks and canapés are forgotten either: both are complimentary beforehand. Add to this potent mix an after party, champagne and industry professionals, and you have a roaring success in hand.
We dump our rubbish in the bin and then it’s whisked away to a happy ending. But what if it suddenly all came back to haunt us?Activate 2750 has Melbourne-based artist Ash Keating, in association with the MCA, SITA Environmental Solutions and Penrith City Council, using a short film and gorgeous stills to reveal the bizarre fairytale of a glitch in the waste disposal process.Heeding the adage, “build it and they will comeâ€, two Transformer-masked custodians erect a mound of intercepted rubbish at the centre of Penrith’s shopping district and, like undead baseballers, a clan of trashy pilgrims blow in for the party.
Royalty sells – just ask Queen Elizabeth II. While her ancestor, Queen Victoria’s later years have been adapted into film and portrayed by the likes of Judi Dench et al, little attention has been devoted to her earlier years. Queen Victoria was a molly-coddled child governed by an overly protective mother, who subsequently went on to become our longest reigning sovereign. Jean-Marc Vallée directs a romantic period piece tackling palace power struggles; the tumultuous early years of Victoria’s reign over the British Empire; and the love story that develops between Her Royal Highness (a shinning Emily Blunt) and the suave Prince Albert (Rupert Friend). Predictably, the film suffers from some historic inaccuracies and at times glosses over important events, but the cinematography and costumes are stunning and lavish without being gaudy, making The Young Victoria is a warm and quaintly decorative drama.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKs3yIZolsM
There’s nothing indecent about a bit of exposure, which is exactly what Object contributes to the overall fanfare of Sydney Design 09. Fashion, no stranger to partial nudity, is represented in the form of MATERIALBYPRODUCT’s range, which plays literally on the age-old term ‘fashion house’. Their ‘curtain gowns’ - which are a little bit curtain, a little bit gown - are presented by models who are undressed and redressed before your eyes, ostensibly to perform the versitility and wearability of the range. In another take on exposure, the Manufacturing Mavericks talks reveal the manufacturing and marketing experiences of six entrepreneurs in the design industry. Question-time with drinks afterwards gives you the chance and dutch courage to pick the brains of those who have been there and learn from their experiences. IMAGE MATERIALBYPRODUCT, 2009, Crystal Dunn wearing Curtain Gown. Art Direction & Design: 3 Deep Design, Photo: Jeff Busby.
As far as I’m concerned, there is just nothing sexier than a man in glasses. This is why there are only two musicians in the world for me: Buddy Holly and Elvis Costello. Considering that one is sadly deceased, there can be little confusion as to who I’ll be following around Australia come October this year.To be fair, there is a little more to Elvis than the glasses. His genre-defying musical accomplishments, for one. His career spans pumping dance floor hits, moodily melodic ballads, gems of pure pop genius and, my personal favourite, despairing stalker seduction. I Want You beats The Police’s Every Breath You Take hands down. And I’m firmly convinced that there is no one in the world who could resist Elvis’ deep, rumbling croon. The man could take over the world if he decided to.So if you do head along to check out Elvis, just know that your chances are nil. His number one fan will already be there.https://youtube.com/watch?v=hwRvNIurhjc
Kino Sydney is a monthly short film night with a unique concept: all the films screened are made specifically for the night and they are not competing against one another. The result is a free forum for ideas, where filmmakers collaborate with one another to produce short works that defy their lack of financial support.It is no surprise then that such a great idea is part of a global movement. Born in Montréal in ‘99, Kino has cells in Canada, the US, France, Germany, the UK, South Africa and Australia. Sydney’s particular chapter was founded by The Festivalists, a non-profit film festival company headed by Mathieu Ravier and Marianne Alla.For those only wishing to participate from the safety of a comfy cushion, Kino nights also offer the best cinema deal in Sydney: an open slather of hot food, Coopers Pale Ale and Jamesons Irish Whiskey for a modest $15 cover charge. An interview with Mathieu Ravier can be found here.https://youtube.com/watch?v=x6OeuAJCwu4
Ever spent the day holed up in your 9-5 cubicle musing on the lack of creativity in your life? Wondering where you could go to just make and do? Feel like you don't really have an artistic bone in your body but would love to just give it a go? Well, have we got the safe family environment for you. Hyde Park. Sunday. September 18. 12pm. It is here that the very first World Fingerpainting Day will be held. And if the social media kids behind RepoSocial have their way it will be a global event with guerilla finger painters around the world taking to their civic parks and getting their hands dirty with all and sundry. As the press release states, 'the goal is to get the forty year old banker painting next to the four year old girl.' Sound dodgy? Yeah, parks already have that rep. Either way, it's this writer's cyncial and jaded view that probably needs a touch up from that great God Creativity and his spawn, Free and Open Thought and Inner Child. Australia is an incredibly over-regulated country and as such I think it is probably a good thing to take advantage of events such as these which don't necessitate OHS heavy handedness or rigid rights and wrongs. Be flexible. It is actually much easier to be cynical than not (as much a speech to myself as to you). So get your fingers warmed up, don your oldest t-shirt and get ready to get messy. With the kids. With the bankers. With the shop keepers. With your locals. It is your city, Sydneyites, get boundless.
Harry Harlow was a man fascinated by the nature of love and affection, but his desire to comprehend this took curious forms. As a psychologist, he investigated the significance of maternal affection by depriving monkeys of this care, then force mating these females and, eventually, isolating monkeys in his 'pit of despair' for up to two years. Talk about tough love. While 'scientific detachment' is a popular ideal, Harlow really took this stuff to a new level. That said, he also managed to cleanly dispose of those '50s notions of motherly love as a harmful indulgence, and opened the door to a new era of child psychology. Transforming this complex and disturbing tale into live performance is challenging stuff. The Harry Harlow Project delves into Harlow's own psyche, drawing on the evidence that he later in life suffered from depression, as well as his work. Minimal props and a clever use of projections, with detached artists/scientists manipulating this technology, and a twisted, expressive physical performance by James Saunders make this production emphatic, haunting and surprisingly personal. https://youtube.com/watch?v=6344mw5ZY6k
Japanese architectural duo Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA) have created an acrylic structure that uncurls in waves along the rectangular expanse of the SCAF gallery space in Paddington.Upon entering, you find yourself in a negotiation with your own reflection and as you’re filtered through the chambers, you must try not to knock over the seemingly fragile building. Walk right up to the apex of one of the cul-de-sacs and experience how sound warps, and notice the illuminated, glowing quality that the edge of cut acrylic has. Outside on the balcony is a video work by SANAA in which they rearrange acrylic pieces, showing beauty and structure in chaotic order. The exhibition is accompanied by a beautiful SCAF publication and on August 15 there will be a free public lecture by Kazuyo Sejima followed by Margaret Throsby in conversation with Yuko Hasegawa and Kazuyo Sejima. The talk starts at 3pm at Tusculum Auditorium in Potts Point, with reservations to be made at eleni.ragogo@raia.com.au.Image: Zazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa, SANAA, image courtesy of Paul Green.
Michael Stevenson’s Introduccion a la Teoria de la Probilidad opens up an intriguing world of political power play. Amid the white shores of Contadora, a Pacific island off Panama, we meet an improbable list of leading characters: The last Shah of Iran, General Omar Torrijos, Manual Antonio Noriega and Patty Hearst. In the wings are Carter, Regan and Napoleon. Stevenson used the diaries of José Jesús Martinez, a close friend and aid of Torrigos, as a basis for the exhibition, and you’ll understand why as the story unfolds. Martinez, a professor of philosophy and mathematics, is humane, poignant and delicate as he ponders the individual and the universal. Take the time to watch the video work in which the tale of chance and tactics is told; it’s the centrepiece of the show. A series of photographs accompany and the ground floor gallery space holds a display of works from Stevenson’s earlier exhibitions.Image: Michael Stevenson, 1974, 2002, black and white photographic enlargement, 19.5 x 40.8 cm
For those versed in Chinese lore, the Battle of Red Cliff is a famous clash, forming a major part of the medieval text Romance of the Three Kingdoms, itself based on events from the 3rd century AD. Now, this decisive battle is the subject of the most expensive Chinese-language film ever made, originally released across Asia as a two-part epic. So, it's understandable why a single, 133min international cut is going to cause problems. Characters and stories that are deeply embossed into Chinese psyches are thrown across the screen with scant explanation for the ignorant Westerners among us; the result being a well-cut piece of bloody poetry lacking in meaty narrative. This, however, seems part of director John Woo's master plan. If you want to watch impressive battlefield orgies at an energising pace, then welcome aboard. But, afterwards, grab a copy of the Romance and settle down with a steaming cup of artisan tea. Red Cliff Parts 1 & 2 are screening at Dendy Opera Quays on Feb 17 to celebrate Chinese New Year,. https://youtube.com/watch?v=KyLgDcvqVAw
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who know how to knit and those who don’t. And then there is Alana Clifton-Cunningham. Combining wool with leather, timber and semi precious stones, this Fashion and Textiles lecturer at UTS creates woolly wearables that hover somewhere between fashion, sculpture and bandage-chic. Using a combination of hand and machine knitting techniques, these finely crafted garments prove that wool has burst free from the shackles of multi-coloured scarves and frumpy jumpers. No longer can it be pigeonholed as the sensible yet dowdy winter necessity. Arise, oh wool, and take your seat at the table of cool. (re)skin: contemporary knitting coincides with Sydney Design 2009 and runs until August 20.
The artists represented in New Friends, Art and Adventure love clay and know how to use it. They understand that ‘ceramic’ doesn’t only mean vases and bowls, while paying homage and their respects to these classic forms. The exhibition showcases diversity: from organic pod sculptures to a rendered brick wall, from a traditional floral vase to a skeletal bell-like shape. It also represents a variety of approaches and techniques with twelve artists from Australia, Japan, Indonesia, India, Cambodia and Laos coming together. To coincide with the twelfth Australian Ceramics Triennale, New Friends, Art and Adventure will open Thursday 16 July.
The current shows at the ACP present the diversity of contemporary photographic practice. In Francesca Rosa’s Interior Disaster we see still-life compositions that provide documentation of a decomposing household. Familiar things like mattress quilting, linoleum and dated kitchen tiles make a delicate contrast to the devastating effects of Cyclone Larry.Gallery 3 holds Christopher Ireland’s portrait series, Breathe. The Sydney-based photographer captures the faces of women who have lost their husbands to asbestos-related diseases, creating poignant images full of loss, sadness and hope. Finally, a dramatic counterpoint to the domestic and intimate is provided by the jaw-dropping, large-scale aerial mining landscapes by Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. While you’re aware that you’re looking at the massacred landscape of Western Australia, their beauty is undeniable.Image: Edward Burtynsky, Otter Juan Coronet Mine #1 Kalgoorlie, Western Australia 2007.
Dappled Cities are one of Sydney’s ‘it’ bands in the best possible sense. They’re cool, they wear Ben Sherman, and they have an amazingly original sound that just makes you want to bop your head around like one of those dashboard doggies. They will be touring their new album Zounds (out August/September) around Australia but you can catch them at the Metro on August 22, supported by their friends Philadelphia Grand Jury. When asked what he was most looking forward to on tour, lead singer Dave Rennick said “The best part of being in a band is touring. It's a great excuse to get fired from day jobs, hit the open road, and sleep with other grown men. On a more serious note, Dappled Cities take great pride and joy in playing live to the freaks across the country. It's a naturally euphoric experience.â€https://youtube.com/watch?v=S3AZo1ie2Ks
Chali 2na has one of the most unique and unforgettable voices in rap, his dramatic low bass baritone first heard with Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli, now as a solo artist with a new long awaited solo record released (after five years in the making). The fact that he’s touring with Jay Z’s once rival Nas just adds pack to the already very forceful punch. One of the statesmen of American hip hop, Nas is often applauded by championing rap with a social and political conscience. He supported Kanye West on his Australian last year and his dynamic and impressive performance was well-deserved of a headline slot, which is why it is great to see him return to Australia with a tour of his own. With Chali 2na on the bill and impressive local supports this will be a night of old-school beats and good vibes.
Every once in a while a film comes along that makes us wish to be a school girl in 1960s London being romanced by a much-older man who, although guided by a skewed moral compass, is the perfect person with which to explore the best and worst of what adulthood can mean.Unfortunately, An Education is not that film.Psych! An Education is totally that film. In fact, you’ll find yourself identifying with so many contradictory characters that it will send you into spasms of recognition. All of us have been a Jenny (Carey Mulligan) â€" bored but not boring, fighting conservatism while on the path to good-on-paper success â€" and all of us have also been a David (Peter Sarsgaard), joyfully exploiting life’s shortcuts and in love with the idea of an escape. When the two meet by chance and fall into a relationship, all sorts of complications arise. Scriptwriter Nick Hornby is too clever to rely on a familiar exploited/exploiter dynamic for the schoolgirl and her fatherly lover. Jenny is loaded with a fierce integrity to offset her vulnerability, and Peter proves to be a seductive, shadow-type figure for both Jenny and her repressed father Jack (Alfred Molina).That the film’s Danish director, Lone Scherfig, is married to a psychologist is a very relevant side-note. The characters’ deep-seated complexities are next-level, but an uncomplicated plot and understated acting from nearly every cast member makes An Education something like a lesson in sweet, neat cinema. https://youtube.com/watch?v=oYkLgaQ27L8
The most electrifying force in rock music history was inspired by a vacuum cleaner. Brothers Malcolm and Angus Young named the band after spotting AC/DC initials on their household Hoover in 1973. Nearly four decades and 200 million record sales later the power is still surging, despite losing iconic front man Bon Scott to alcohol poisoning in 1980. Even though many bands failed to maintain the same success after the tragic loss of a lead-singer (Queen, INXS), replacement Brian Johnson stormed in and took them to their first US number one album with For Those About to Rock We Salute You and again with recent album Black Ice. The veteran Aussie rockers return to our shores this February with the Black Ice Tour, raved by critics as the wildest, loudest, most raucous and explosive show the band has ever done. Now, let me think: a 90,000-strong stadium screaming along to 'Hells Bells', 'Thunderstruck' and 'You Shook Me All Night Long', while the stage explodes and lightning bolts inevitably strike from above? It should go down as one of the most memorable gigs of 2010. And to top it all off, Wolfmother are supporting. https://youtube.com/watch?v=X80Qjh9Yivs
When I attempt to beatbox, I sound like a dog growling and spitting at the same time. It’s one thing to make beats with a drum, but how on earth can you do it with your mouth?Rahzel is the first rapper to make it big in “the fifth element†of hip hop - beatboxing. He not only creates beats, but masters full songs with absolutely no instrumentation. He can sing a chorus and provide a backing beat simultaneously; achieving bass, treble and vocals all in one. He’s wowed audiences across the world by performing tracks so slick it's as if they’ve been mastered in the studio. He’s the most energy efficient electronic instrument on the market, using only the power in his lungs. A former member of The Roots, Rahzel grew up saturated in the hip hop scene. He looked up to his cousin Rahim of the Furious Five, went to Grandmaster Flash shows and became a roadie for the Ultramagnetic MCs. His dream to gain respect for beatboxing as a true art form, and you can make it come true when he performs in November at OAF with with DJ JS-1 (from the Rock Steady Crew).https://youtube.com/watch?v=xgDZesi4ugU
