Giselle is a very famous classical ballet from 1841. It’s usually performed by very stuffy traditional ballet companies. Luckily for us contemporary dance company Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre has taken this seminal text and ran with it - pushing it in a far stranger direction than anyone would expect. The story is basically about jilted female spirits who rise from their graves at night to seek revenge upon men by dancing them to death. Horror and absurd humour figure heavily in what is a very dirty sexy and brutal piece of contemporary theatre. It has been touring the world pretty much non-stop since it’s 2003 premiere in Dublin and now it’s coming to Carriageworks as part of the Sydney Festival. Lucky us.https://youtube.com/watch?v=RsT6e7iMj_M
I wonder how many family albums contain at least one photograph of the Sydney Opera House in the background? A nice shot of the kids in front of the architectural attraction. Yet while this landmark’s existence has become somewhat familiar – recognized as one of the iconic buildings of the 20th century – it certainly hasn’t stopped generating discussion (remember ‘NO WAR’ painted on the façade in 2003?). Nor has the Opera House ceased to reveal unknown dramas and complications that took place during its conception and construction. It was in 1957 that the Danish architect Jørn Utzon flew to Australia to begin work on his ambitious design, and it was in 1966 when Utzon was forced off the project – never to return to the country. Between these two dates is an array of activity, argument, ego and skepticism, coupled of course with a spectacular and lyrically inimitable building. The Edge of the Possible traces the birth, reception and secrets of the Opera House (such as Utzon’s love of sliced oranges as the source of inspiration for the design) through never before seen footage and rare interviews. And, seeing that the controversy over the Opera House would cost several of Utzon’s other projects to be abandoned or rejected, this documentary is an important testament to the worth and value of building something against convention and restraint. Guest speakers: Director of the film Daryl Dellora and Producer Sue Maslin. Supper provided!
I'm pretty sure we could just run the title to this event and a link to tickets and it would sell out in a heartbeat, but the very occasion of director, writer and raconteur John Waters (aka the man who brought the term 'teabagging' to mainstream lexicon) appearing at the Sydney Opera House deserves a little more than that. With his trademark pencil-thin moustache and dry Baltimore accent, the "pope of trash", the "king of filth", the, let's face it, genius behind such classic tales of subversive film fantasy as Hairspray, Cry-Baby, Pink Flamingos and (my favourite) Polyester, John Waters is heading to Sydney. For Mardi Gras! John Waters! All hail. Accurately titled, This Filthy World promises to be a spoken-word vaudeville act, based on a documentary of the same name with new material as penned by Waters. Live, his monologues are dirty, pithy, and more often than not, sidesplitting. He's more than happy to delve into personal territory, revealing tales of those who negatively affected his life, his Dreamland allies, his interests in true crime and the perennial favourite topic: otters, cubs and bears. See? Something for everyone. And for those who want to ask him for the millionth time, did he really get Cookie Mueller to have sex with a chicken and make Divine eat dog faeces for his movies, there'll be a Q&A session afterwards. https://youtube.com/watch?v=YnpofBtijF8
Humans and their desire to experience images of dazzling immediacy and sensory adventure were given a wonderful (but soon to be forgotten) gift in 1962: the ‘Sensorama’. A pre-digital and therefore mechanical device, the ‘Sensorama’ was designed by Mr. Morton Heilig, who celebrated his prototype as the ‘cinema of the future’ and the ‘theatre of experience’. Combining sound and 3D images with everything from manufactured wind to aromas, the excited Heilig had hoped that these sensory ingredients would awaken us to the potential of producing momentary realities within immersive environments. Although Lynette Wallworth and Morton missed each other’s existence (through the accident and randomness of birth), I get the feeling they may have been friends had they met at a party or at some other event where people socialise. Wallworth, an Australian artist who exhibits both nationally and internationally, is a little like a technologically savvy mystic, often conjuring up moving images that respond to touch or our presence in the space. (A great delight if you have ever thought that images should be more attentive and courteous.) A little too real to be dream-like and a little too dream-like to be familiar, Wallworth’s environments are an exercise in unexpected concentration and unusual exploration, often involving wordless narratives that attempt to emotively fertilize a sense of intimacy and empathy between the moving image and the participants moving body. And although the Wallworth experience is usually no roller coaster ride, it may offer a moment of sensory gratification and some time for healthy reflection. So if you are worried and sceptical about a mindless sensory experience don’t be. While escapism might have a bad reputation with the diligent pragmatist in you, it is often necessary in order to uphold a daily routine saturated in insistent reality. The desire to escape is in fact a pragmatic one. Moreover Wallworth’s visual and sensory escape is founded in content, drawing on issues such as grief, fragility, belief and ecology in a way that won’t leave you with a sore throat (as though something had been forced down it). So if you want to take advantage of an exchange Heilig and Wallworth never had you might like to schedule a visit to CarriageWorks, where Wallworth will present three interactive works: Invisible by Night, Evolution of Fearlessness, and her most recent piece, Duality of Light.
We all remember that time you stole Georgia Hutchison’s shoes after PE, and she came out of the shower all kind of confused and it took her ages to realise they were actually out in the playground being poked by curious ibises. She was kind of a mean kid and everyone had a good laugh and it was fine and all, only next time, you might want to think about funnelling that commendable spirit of larrikinism towards something a little more meaningful. You know, maybe help cast light on apartheid? Or protest against your country’s involvement in a morally and legally dubious war? Or draw much-needed attention to the scourge of unscrupulous advertising and engineered consumerism? If you’re short on ideas, Iain McIntyre’s How to Make Trouble and Influence People: Pranks, Hoaxes,Graffiti & Political Mischief-Making from Across Australia has a few. McIntyre chronicles two centuries of “creative resistance†in Australia with historical snippets, 300 photographs and 14 interviews with pranksters including The Chaser comedians (on breaching APEC lines in 2007), BUGA-UP (Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions) and Dave Burgess (who, along with one Dr Will Saunders, cheerfully decorated the Opera House with an anti-war manifesto back in 2003). If you need any more coaxing to get into the trouble-making spirit, McIntyre will be launching his tome at two Sydney events: first at Berkelouw Books in Newtown, with a little help from politician Dr Meredith Burgmann (Mother Inferior of the Order of Perpetual Indulgence) and musician Simon Hunt (Pauline Pantsdown); and second at the Red Rattler, where he’ll be joined by Rachel Evans (No To Pope Coalition) and Dave Burgess, plus a bevy of musicians and projectionists. 6pm on 3 December, upstairs, Berkelouw Cafe and Bookshop, 6-8 O’Connell St, Newtown. Free. 8pm on 5 December, Red Rattler, 6 Faversham St Marrickville. $10.
King Khan & The Shrines are pretty much the most fun you will ever have at a live show - their psychedelic, raucous, in-your-face, garage explosions will have you screaming for more and rolling around on the floor.The 11-member band (which includes 60-year-old Chicago-born Ron Streeter who performed as a percussionist for Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder) are journeying down under for the first time, performing at the Falls Festival and with their first Sydney show scheduled in January at the Oxford Art Factory with support from Royal Headache.
What's the worst thing you could do on your 21st? Get the wrong friend to give the wrong speech? Vomit back into the yard glass and then continue drinking? Pick a theme that doesn't contain the elements of both wit and style? Hah, these are all the playful antics of pre-adults compared to the biggie: you end up murdering your father and seducing your mother.Cut to Thebes, where King Oedipus is chatting to Dr Freud about how he experienced deja vu the first time he saw his wife's vagina. And it's all about to go down hill from there. Featuring live music and remixing by the talented Dublin theatre outfit, Pan Pan, this is the work that Sophocles and Jean Cocteau would've produced had they lived together and been Irish. Possibly.Image by Marcus Lieberenzhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=uJk2wJqoAZs
Details on what you can expect from Smoke and Mirrors, the new show debuting at this years Sydney Festival, are about as vague and mysterious as the show's name would suggest. We could tell you that it's a "part vaudeville, part fantasy" and also that it's "a lavish and lyrical journey across an illusory landscape". But that doesn't really mean much. What we can definitely tell you is that its directed by Craig Illiot and stars iOTA – those same guys who brought us the awesome and super camp musical Hedwig and The Angry Inch back in 2007. And we also know that it’s been produced by the people behind La Clique, the astonishing cabaret crowd-pleaser that’s been rocking the Spiegeltent for the last three years. So then, we can also safely assume that Smoke and Mirrors will be a world-class anarchic cabaret masterpiece, full of songs and magic and dirty jokes. And that it will be gayer than Liza Minnelli.
Why have fairy tales become so 'happy' in the last hundred years? The Grimm boys loved to throw in buckets of blood, sex, trauma and sadism amongst their princesses and dwarves, but as soon as Disney appeared on the scene it was all cut out and replaced with high saccharine tunes.Devil May Care brings a modern tale to the stage that rekindles the darkness of times past. Ruby Moon, a little girl of the suburbs, sets off to visit her grandmother and never arrives. What's more terrifying? That the Big Bad Wolf caught her? Or that she'll become another tabloid face, a forever child locked in an unsolved abduction case until the day someone digs under a neighbour's floorboards?https://youtube.com/watch?v=VgggLeCH0Fo
We really should have thrown a party when Concrete Playground was switched on eighteen weeks ago. That's generally when launch parties happen, right? Either way, we think that it's high time we bought you a beer (or a wine, or even a vodka) to say thanks for stopping by each week, and we have a few things to show you that we hope will make up for lost time.To mark this grand occasion, and to extend our appreciation to the people who inspire us, we will be unveiling Conspirators, a book and film project that showcases the work of Sydney’s creative community.Some of our city's best and brightest are featured in Conspirators (fifty of them, in fact), and many will have work on display, including Bababa International, Ben Frost, Claire Greaves, Greedy Hen, Joseph Allen Shea, Lucinda Schreiber, Michaela Gleave, Samuel Hodge, Tom Polo, WEBUYYOURKIDS and Will French.We'll also have live performances by Space Invadas (Katalyst + Steve Spacek), The Paper Scissors, The People’s Republic and DJ Exercise Mike.***RSVPs have closed. Sorry kids.***
Long the stuff of leaden machismo and a symbol of tough love, the sacred image of the cowboy has an almost equally long history of being skewered in art. From Andy Warhol's 1968 feature Lonesome Cowboys to 2008's Japanese cult cinema hit Sukiyaki Western Django, the tale of the lonesome outsider with a bolo tie and a saddle full of baggage, is always a welcome image to be toyed with.Intercultural and indigenouse performance company Marrugeku employ this figure in their latest dance theatre work Burning Daylight. Set in Broome, this work explores the local history and folklore, delving into the town's frontier history as an "Asian Wild West" between the 19th and 20th centuries while addressing its current status as a tourist destination.Director Rachel Swain has pieced together an exciting team, necessary to fully explore not just the themes but the technical prowess that this eclectic performance demands. The work incorporates films described as "karaoke noodle western videos" by director of Samson and Delilah Warwick Thornton, and the renowned choreography of former member of Le Ballets C de la B Serge Aimé Coulibalay from West Africa and Dalisa Pigram from Broome.At the forefront of this multi-faced production is actor Trevor Jamieson, beloved in Ngapartjii Ngapartjii and Sermesah Bin Saad, better known to most as So You Think You Can Dance's Suri.Having already toured Switzerland's famed Zurcher Theater Spektakel, Perth and hometown Broome, the Sydney sessions of Burning Delight are sure to have lucky audiences blissfully lost in Marrugeku's reverie.To win a double pass to see Burning Daylight just email us at hello@concreteplayground.com.au.
In a post-apocalyptic world, ruined by the scientific hubris of mankind, only a small contingent of machines remains: those that wrought the destruction, and a handful of handmade dolls cowering in the ruins. The appeal of Shane Acker’s gothic tale to producer Tim Burton is obvious; visually and thematically, the two are on common ground, and for the most part this makes for intriguing viewing. However, despite the provocative premise and the beautifully rendered world, 9 feels largely derivative. Alongside the sparse and clunky dialogue (voiced by Elijah Wood, John. C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly and Christopher Plummer), there are Jurassic Park style thrills, Star Wars spirits and a Harry Potter Horcrux thrown in for good measure. Knowing this film is an extension of Acker’s Academy Award nominated short only underscores the narrative holes; would Acker have been content with his short and not been tempted to tease it out into a feature. Nonetheless 9 heralds the new, exciting and manifest talent of Acker into the fantastical world of animation. His painstaking aesthetic puts him into the company of Henry Selick (Coraline) and of course Tim Burton (Corpse Bride). And with such promise, one can only hope Acker continues to develop his potential. We have 10 double passes to give away, courtesy of Nixco. Just email your name and details to hello@concreteplayground.com.auhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=mDH0e73_j8M
Australian audiences are destined to begin and end 2009 in a French classroom. Pourquoi? Early 2009 was spent watching Laurent Cantet's Palme D'Or winning The Class, fascinating in François Bégaudeau's unvarnished and compassionate look at his own life teaching in a multicultural Parisian school. Comparatively, The French Kissers feels like the students are taking their right of rebuttal. Cartoonist/graphic novelist turned director Riad Sattouf has brought his own inked high school to life with a raucous, ribald and alarmingly reminiscent take on teenagers. Fronting a superb ensemble cast is Vincent Lacoste as Hervé, your typical, hormonally charged and scholastically disinterested 14 year old, who would be blind if the old wives' tale about masturbation were true. Utterly committed to the task of finding a girlfriend, Hervé and his longhaired sidekick Carmel (Anthony Sonigo) do all they can to win over the fairer sex. Awkwardness, miss-fires and some revelatory 'sock time' follow until Hervé finally locks lips with the lovely Aurore (Alice Trémolière). Laying bare the nature of teenage sexuality against the backdrop of single parent households (that subplot being yet another source of embarrassed chuckles), The French Kissers is a brilliantly paced, fabulously directed debut by Sattouf. Opening on Boxing Day, it’s a fun and frisky romp that promises enough laughs to tempt you away from your summer holidays, and back into the classroom.
¡Hola! May be the extent of many Australians’ Spanish capabilities, but the Hola Mexico Film Festival would like us to learn another word: revalucion! Yes la revolucion is coming, with the festival looking to commemorate 99 years since the Mexican Revolution by screening one of the country’s most expensive films ever made: Tear this Heart Out (Arrancame la vida). Based on a beloved novel, it is the story of a young beauty who marries a much older General, with both becoming embroiled in the political machinations of post-revolutionary Mexico. Director Roberto Sneider will be on hand introduce the film in a special event to benefit Movember. Also showing as part of a Tribute to Mexico are five films from the masterful Julio Bracho. As a glimpse into the golden age of Mexican film, Bracho’s features will be available to view at complimentary screenings. From old to new, Mexico’s latest hit, Sin Nombre, is taking opening night honours in this year’s festival. Produced by Mexican superstars Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, Cary Fukunaga’s film took out best director and cinematography at Sundance this year. A Latin American odyssey from Honduras to the promised land of the United States, Sin Nombre has been delighting festival audiences worldwide. Making up the thirty plus films programmed in the festival’s fourth year are shorts, documentaries and a couple of sex comedies (evidently a Mexican film staple), as well as Q&A screening with Amar a Morir director Fernando Lebrija. This stylish film about a banking heir escaping to a beach community even stars our one and only Craig Maclachlan. 
The Dendy Newtown and Opera Quays will be hosting the festival, so rock on over and say ¡Hola! https://youtube.com/watch?v=Lw3AlNqEc64 https://youtube.com/watch?v=VTSi0pKjC5g https://youtube.com/watch?v=cQv0L1rJE9U
The imagination of Adam Cullen is a weird and wonderful place. Grotesquely Pop-tastic, this mini retrospective of work resembles a circus of demented figures cast from wild brush strokes and bold lashings of paint splattered across the canvas. Cullen lures his audience into a rainbow coloured nightmare, where buxom honey bees skulk away from the fleshy leftovers of a mysterious science experiment. Here, crazy-eyed garden gnomes stare provocatively at the viewer in a pre- (or post?) coital fling with a monkey. A Henry Rollins-esque figure howls to the sky, possibly singing (probably screeching) while in the background, a limbless bleeding torso scales the wall. Cullen is an artist unafraid of the controversial and the dangerous. He baited infamy in his art school days by dragging a rotting pig’s head around chained to his ankle. He later collaborated with Mark ‘Chopper’ Read on a children’s book. He then caught the art world off guard when as an established ‘grunge artist’ he took home the coveted Archibald Prize in 2000 with a portrait of David Wenham. Clearly, Cullen is not a man who responds well to being pigeonholed. Image: Adam Cullen, K-mart Hillbillies, 2005.
Sam Smith equals awesome video art. His work defies any complaint about video as a skill-less medium. Special Effects, Smiths second solo show at GRANTPIRRIE, combines geometric sculptural forms and meticulously produced video works. Part critique, part celebration, Special Effects plays on the ways in which digital effects have so come to shape contemporary visual culture. Film sets, green screens, the flickering light of a home television set, feature alongside a plywood camera lens, in a constant blurring of the distinction between the real and the digital. Into the Void, one of the video works in the exhibition, is Smith in New York City in search of Yves Klein's paintings and the possible site of Klein's 1960 work Leap into the Void. Although obviously a homage to the seminal artist, Into the Void, quite seriously considers the possibility of video as a medium for extending investigations into spatial and temporal limitations in art, concerns pertinent to Smith's practice.Beautifully constructed and infinitely watchable, Special Effects is a must see exhibition.Image: Sam Smith, Into the Void, video still.
Quirky and fun is all very well, you may say, but give me the melodies! Pair a song with that adorable image! If it's good enough for the Beatles and Björk, it's certainly good enough for you, modern day pop artist!Thankfully, Emiliana Torrini knows the score. Quirk, fun and songs she has â€" in bucketloads. Jungle Drum has infected your consciousness by now without you even knowing it (it makes me do a weird little jig around the room every time I think about it). If you think you're ready to take your jig out in public, here is your chance! Emiliana will be gracing us with her presence for a headline show in Sydney, alongside her Falls, Sunset Sounds and Southbound Festival appearances. Don't forget to stock up on the album, EP and remixes anthology pre-show to ensure that you're properly prepared. Tickets are on sale now.https://youtube.com/watch?v=iZ9vkd7Rp-g
Upon sighting the work of Charwei Tsai, all the irritating background noise rumbles and fades into the distance. Quietly consuming all attention are Buddhist mantras delicately handwritten on the surface of ice, tofu and lotus leaves. Flouting the art = commodity equation, Tsai’s installations are an exquisite meditation on the relentless passage of time, as her natural artworks deteriorate and die before their audience. Tsai has been artist-in-residence at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation for the month of October, where she created the spiritual jungle that is Water, Earth and Air. Co-curated by Tsai and Suhanya Raffel of the Queensland Art Gallery, this exhibition is on show until late December. Regular visits are recommended to bear witness to the slow mutation of texts on the rotting canvases, and in doing so, experience the full spiritual thwack of this awe-inspiring show. Image: Charwei Tsai, Lotus Mantra ll, 2006, black ink on fresh lotus,dimensions variable. Image courtesy Zhuang Wubin and Singapore Biennale
Page 8 is an autobiographical one-man show about growing up black and gay in 1970’s Australian suburbia. It could, potentially, be awful when you think about it. The "Growing-Up-Gay One-Man Show" is one of the most painful theatrical genres ever created. Up there with French-Canadian puppetry.Luckily for us, this one-man show comes from David Page, one of the driving forces behind acclaimed indigenous dance company Bangarra and the eighth of twelve siblings. David's younger brother Stephen Page directed the show and it seems like the Pages want you to view their family as a sort of Koori Jackson 5. But they’re more like a dirt poor Royal Tenenbaums. Troubled, close-knit and all incredibly gifted. In other words, there are no LaToyas.This is a great show, produced with a lot of restraint. David Page's performance is stripped back and unpretentious. He has a great amount of natural warmth and ease on stage. The set design is similarly simple and elegant.A lot of the clichés we’ve come to expect from the genre are still there. Old home movies, costume changes to switch between kooky characters and camp nostalgia (Hey guys, remember Countdown? Remember bellbottoms?) But you forgive all of it, because this is such a touching story and so well told.The Pages have wisely chosen to omit their international successes and instead focus on the early years of David's life. His dad's alcoholism, how he sacrificed a musical career to care for his sick grandparents, got up at 4 in the morning to lay concrete while doing drag shows at night and generally carried himself through a tough upbringing with an incredible amount of self-sacrifice and dignity.At one point he leaps on top of the kitchen table to do an imitation of Michael Jackson's dance sequence from Billy Jean. Then, when the bassline kicks in, he seamlessly moves into a Corroboree. A moment later he drops the whole thing and continues on to another thought. It’s not just good, it’s virtuosic.
WOWEE ZOWEE. When news hit mid-October that Pavement were reforming for an international tour, there was a kind of hush all over the Twitter. That is, at least in the little world occupied by those of us who worshipped pop tidbits such as the Pacific Trim 7" (not the CD so much, because the vinyl featured the extra track about "the groovy scene in Australia", I Love Perth) in the 90s, and those who have come to think of the band as an iconic lo-fi precursor to the music they're digging now. Apparently enough fingers were crossed by hopeful fans, because out they're trotting from their range life for an Australian tour in March for the first time here since 1998. If this blurb sounds like it is dripping with nostalgia and syrupy teen fandom, that's because, well, it is. For the sake of stopping myself from starting in on a "Pavement ist rad" inspired justify-their-existence bio piece, I'll just point out that Melbourne's upcoming Golden Plains festival felt it enough to announce only one band in the initial press release. You guessed it. In the last decade, many bands have reformed (for cash, presumably) and toured to occasional success, but most have simply sullied memories of former glory. Believe me, I've walked out of quite a few of the latter. Given that most members have continued on with other musical projects post-breakup — frontman Stephen Malkmus solo and with his band the Jicks, Scott Kannberg/Spiral Stairs solo and as Preston School of Industry, Mark Ibold as member of both Free Kitten and Sonic Youth, and various members contributing to Silver Jews line-ups — this looks set to be enchanting (and possibly slanting). Heaven isn't a truck, it's a Pavement show. They play the Enmore Theatre on 3rd March, 2010. https://youtube.com/watch?v=AnrM4UjaQmY
Coco Avant Chanel is not a film about fashion. Instead, Anne Fontaine’s film seeks to gain traction in a time where the legend of Coco has been overshadowed by her famous initials, eschewing a sartorial focus in order to reveal the character underneath. The making of the womenswear icon unfolds in richly decorative episodes; we see Coco abandoned as a child, forced (albeit with little loss of dignity) into the role of a courtesan and, finally, left to her own devices as the infamous Mademoiselle. Audrey Tautou brings femininity to title role, as well a little brutishness and an innate comprehension of the French aesthetic. At times, the film feels stalled by its attempts to draw out glimpses of the popularly recognizable Coco, stony-faced and smoking, from the lively young woman onscreen. However, it is true for all matters concerning Chanel that recognition is key, and Coco Avant Chanel falls just on the right side of the logo-covered surfboard.https://youtube.com/watch?v=EMMYZopiqhA
Be transported with the new exhibition in the Art Gallery of NSW’s Asian gallery: Silk Ikats of Central Asia.Despite the sense of tranquility normally characteristic to the Asian gallery, the vibrant colours and designs of the ikat robes (on loan from the Islamic Arts Museum, Malaysia) create an exciting and intoxicating energy. Silk ikat robes were collected and worn throughout Central Asia during the 1800s to signify wealth and status, and this show does their exquisite nature justice.
A new experiment in the world of bio-art is guaranteed to appeal to all of us who couldn’t quite look away from Dali’s cow’s eye; but there’s much more to this performance than sadistic appeal. In a wild collision of freak show, pornography and film theory, not to mention blood and sperm, Grind House Alley has something for everyone. The poetics of the molecular are something rarely witnessed by most of us and not truly understood by any of us, which gives this performance a shamanistic, superstitious power. Anthropomorphism blends with the abstract to confront and seduce us. Life and death are played out each night before our eyes in the form of living cells, as the voyeuristic experience taps into our unspoken, primordial urges. For those unsure of what to make of the performance’s vivid immediacy, an artist talk will help to answer all questions about this brave new world.
You’ll laugh and you’ll cry at Tracey Moffatt’s filmic collage, Mother. It is a predictable, somewhat maudlin homage to the mother figure, and makes for a very satisfying 20 minutes of celluloid absorption. Emerging from the dark focus room at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (with inward vows to call your own mother) you excuse yourself to one of Michael Parekowhai’s The Brothers Grimm figures for almost bumping into him. He doesn’t seem to mind; he’s unassuming and impenetrable, like all his brothers who fill the main gallery space. The three antelope figures, a buck and two doe, make an elegant and complete addition but they also seem to care little for our intrusion into their space, looking downward and beyond us. The overall feeling of Parekowhai’s Seldom is Herd is one of slick surfaces and misleading guises, with an inkling that if you spend a bit of time with them, they may just follow you home.Image: Michael Parekowhai, The Brothers Grimm, 2009, automotive paint on fibreglass, 163 x 52 x 49 cm each, courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.
The video and film works of Jess MacNeil, Shaun Gladwell and Daniel von Sturmer all share something in common: confusion. And the more you watch, like repeating a word over and over until it loses meaning, the more alien the images feel. It’s a tenuous and delicate feeling, and MacNeil’s shadows, Gladwell’s incredible suspension, and von Sturmer’s obliterating drip seem to capture and hold the viewer in this state for just the right amount of time. Rising Tide displays the MCA’s collection of video and film work and is the second in a two-part exchange with the Museum of Contemporary Art, in San Diego, California. There are 12 artists and artists’ collectives represented here, and it seems an adequate overview. The highlight is Patricia Piccinini’s Sandman, in which she re-imagines the ocean world. As the swimmer descends the ocean’s depths, the unknown of the underwater appears more intimate and less intimidating than the swirling waves above the surface.Image: Patricia Piccinini, Sandman (video still) 2002, 16mm film transferred to DVD, 3 minutes, MCA, courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.
Portrait of a Distant Land brings together six bodies of photographer Ricky Maynard's work, varying in style and subject. His most recent photo series, and his first ever series are displayed together in the first room and there is a nice counterpoint as we see Maynard's development in style and perspective, yet constancy in tone. The iconic first series, The Moonbird People, documents the muttonbirding season in Tasmania and highlights include Rookery, Trefoil Island, an elegantly composed and textured image, and the exhausted figure in Jason Thomas, the last evening load. Providing a unique historical context to the show is another exhibition upstairs which is curated by Maynard. Here he displays those documentary photographers who have informed his practice, including Dorothea Lange, Paul Strand, Walker Evans and Lewis Hine. Image: Ricky Maynard, Untitled from the series No More Than What You See 1994, 29 x 46 cm, black and white gelatin silver print, courtesy the artist and Stills Gallery Sydney.
We are curious and complex beings. For thousands of years, artists have drawn deep from the baroque well of intangible human nature, but equally fascinating are the patterns and quirks of our physical forms. No wonder great things evolve when art and medicine combine.Sue Healey's work, The Curiosities, is a cutting-edge marriage of science and dance, exploring the awe-inspiring organs that we all possess. Her choreography is brought into the realm of viscera by four stunning dancers, Lisa Griffiths, Rachelle Hickson, Adam Synnot and Nalina Wait.Joining Healey in her medical mystery tour are Prof Richard Harvey, a specialist in the heart's development, as well as a talented cabinet comprising composer Darrin Verhagen, digital animator Adnan Lalani and lighting designer Joseph Mercurio.This is not anatomy for beginners, but rather the next stage in our quest for knowing inner space.There will be an artist talk after the performance on Thursday 5th November.https://youtube.com/watch?v=IAz8-IiGWsI
Australians may not entirely embrace Halloween, but there’s no question that we dig the genre films served up alongside. And so it is that the Fantastic Planet Film Festival descends upon the Dendy Newtown, spreading some sci-fi and horror thrills for local audiences. Boasting both world and Australian premieres, the festival will open with Nathan Christoffen’s Eraser Children. Despite screening an unfinished preview, Eraser Children took out the Best Australian Film at the recent Melbourne Underground Film Festival. It looks to be a dystopic trip into the future in the vein of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and Fritz Lang’s infamous Metropolis. Also premiering is the revisionist vampire flick (no Twihards here) Strigoi as well as a special Halloween screening of Woody Harrelson kicking carcass in the much anticipated Zombieland. Rounding out the program are more grisly looking features, shorts, Q&A sessions and a closing night screening of super-hero love story Franklyn (starring Ryan Phillipe and Eva Green). Also on the cards are some extra curricular activities at Mu-Meson Archives, Metro Screen and Club 77: for further details, check out the program. https://youtube.com/watch?v=pn4BtzFlbwc https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qs050qAhGNg https://youtube.com/watch?v=XTvKpx_x1Bw https://youtube.com/watch?v=1K-CBZ-ysQc
From the outset, Genova makes no apologies for being difficult. The film opens with the death of Barbara (Catherine Keener), wife of Joe (Colin Firth) and mother of 16 year-old Kelly (Willa Holland) and young Mary (Perla Haney-Jardine) in a horrific car accident. Unable to face the idea of simply getting on with life in Chicago, Joe moves himself and his daughters to the North Italian city of Genova (Genoa in English). Once there, life regains some semblance of normalcy for Joe, who takes a position at the local university, and Kelly, who befriends and beguiles some local boys. Things are less functional for Mary, who struggles to deal with her guilt over the death of her mother and her increasingly frequent hallucinations.Much has been written about Genova as a noir film. Part of this must be because the film’s most tenuous moments occur when nothing happens. Director Michael Winterbottom creates high tension in places of natural risk: the ocean, the narrow city streets, the seaside cliffs and wilderness. Death and cataclysm seem to loom just outside of the frame, never actualizing, but wielding a claustrophobic force all the same.If this makes Genova sound disturbing, that’s because it is â€" but it also stays with you for all the right reasons. Nothing is overplayed for effect; the city and the characters are allowed to stand on their own and contribute to the story what they will.https://youtube.com/watch?v=oUMzWOPDBok
Long before Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson graced our screens in Newlyweds; before The farmer wants a wife and the chaotic disaster of Britney and Kevin’s love life chronicled, there was the (Aussie) mother of all reality shows: Sylvania Waters. The 1992 documentary followed the day-to-day happenings of Sydney couple Noeline Baker and Laurie Donaher and their grown-up kids, and quickly became a cringeworthy cult classic (largely due to the cantankerous character of Noeline). Sydney-based artist and curator, Daniel Mudie Cunningham, has brought together ten contemporary artists and artists collectives to make work that responds to the tv show in the exhibition, Reality Check: watching Sylvania Waters. The exhibition has been in the pipeline for over two years, and throughout 2009 each artist and group undertook a residency at the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery where they were graciously granted access to episodes of the show and media surrounding the rise and fall of the Baker/Donaher clan. Reality Check explores all facets of Sylvania Waters, presenting work across mediums. Artists Archie Moore and Holly Williams examine the mechanics of the reality show (something that we all have become unwitting authorities on nowadays). Artist collaborative Ms. & Mr. ponder what could have been with their video piece on the Archibalds of Glebe, runners up to star in the 1992 show. Noeline was undoubtedly the star, and for anyone old enough to remember the show, she is the first thing that springs to mind. The Kingpins and John A Douglas explore what it means to be Noeline. Try your luck with mermaid-cum-advice columnist in Douglas’ Ask Noeline … (not an ogre). Reality Check will be like a walk down memory lane for some, but let’s just hope all this attention won’t spark talk of a reunion Hey Hey style. John A Douglas, Ask Noeline … (not the ogre) 2009, screen capture from video installation, courtesy the artist and Chalk Horse Sydney
Imagine that you have a box filled with many toys, some new, some old, and each one has the ability to come to life when shook up by a hyperactive child. Next, imagine that this chest of thrills has fallen into the thespian clutches of the Actors College of Theatre and Television, busted open and unleashed upon the unsuspecting minds of you and your loved ones.This is an artist's rendering of what you can expect from the Imagine Festival - two nights and days worth of art and antics at the Cleveland St Theatre. Storytellers unleash primal screams and peyote dreams while burlesque dancers coil around the stage until the A.M., when poets and yogis apparate for breakfast and energising classes. Do not be fooled by second-rate American festivals from the past - Imagine festival is the best way to savour the right lobes of your fellow Sydneysiders this weekend.
In sharp contrast to the ever-growing presence and dimensions of warehouse-cum-gallery spaces, there is the James Dorahy Project Space. Perched above Macleay Street in Potts Point, it’s a refreshingly intimate and domestic feeling space. The attraction lies not only the New York apartment feel of the gallery, but in the represented artists and this week, JDPS presents Nuha Saad: Imagined Constellations. Saad is interested in form and colour, order and repetition. Continually interrogating domestic space, the Sydney-based artist's past work has incorporated the finer details of the home, like cornices and skirting boards, commenting on the trimmings we add to the necessities. Imagined Constellations features a series of wooden blocks, some painted, some not. The poetry is in their constellation – patterns and forms emerge from Saad’s placement of the pieces, and also from the wood itself. The cross section of the wood is like a thumbprint, at once individual and universal. As the title suggests, the arrangement of the forms here are guides to something greater in our universe.
Oh Mercy are one of the crop of Australian bands that are indulging their more sensitive side, leaving the angular jaunts and sweat for harmonicas and acoustics, not afraid to demand attention for their lyrics rather than their volume. I'm thinking of bands like The Panics or The Middle East, and solo artists like Whitley and even the young Aus-Idol-turned-credible-folkey Lisa Mitchell with whom the Melbourne youngsters have just been touring with. The two songwriters in the band, Alexander Gow and Thom Savage, barely scrape 20 years old, but with a musical pedigree that has them plucking their band name from a 1989 Bob Dylan album, they pen words and melodies that stick in your head and have demanded the band some much deserved attention, including tours with Ben Kweller and Little Birdy and spots on the Big Day Out and Come Together festivals. They have released two EP's, the latest one with the witty yet juvenile pun-title In The Nude For Love. This tour sees them spruiking their debut long player Priveleged Woes. The all opera-jazz-singing and piano-shredding pop dynamo Megan Washington and her band are supporting. Get along for sweet melodies, heartfelt tunes and not-too-sore an ear.https://youtube.com/watch?v=oYMSJFwtmcM
According to the ever-dependable Bureau of Meteorology, this Sunday promises to be a bloody brilliant spring day (fine and sunny with a top temp of 28 – yes!). Just perfect, I should think, for a picnic.And what do you know; the good folks over at FBi Radio already have one planned. To celebrate the recent opening of Ballast Point Park in Birchgrove, FBi proposes a meeting of blankets, food, ginger beer, kids, dogs and portable radios – tuned to 94.5FM of course - this Sunday the 13th of September from 12 - 5pm.Feisty Birchgrove residents saved Ballast Point Park from development a few years back. That's one for the people, people. Now McGregor Coxall Landscape Architects have transformed it into something truly amazing. Apart from incredible harbour views, there's poetry (thanks Les Murray), art, wind turbines and a giant skeleton of an oil tank.Dust off your picnic basket, shake out your blankets, pack the pate and crackers and make it a splendid Sydney Sunday in the sun.
Flo Rida has the silliest name in rap, but Beyonce is a fan of his which makes me think twice before throwing criticisms. He also wrote one of the catchiest rap jams of 2008, Low, featuring T-Pain. I seriously love that song. AND he toured with the 2 Live Crew when he was just starting out as a rapper. I think I’m sold! Before supporting Beyonce on her Australian tour, Flo Rida (aka Tramar Dillard from Florida â€" get it?) is touring Australia with his second album R.O.O.T.S. He’s enlisted Australia’s very own Beyonce protégé Jessica Mauboy to accompany him for his Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth shows after he guested on her debut single Runaway earlier in the year. How low will they go? You’ll only know if you spend your pocket money on tickets to the show.https://youtube.com/watch?v=3VVuMIB2hC0
If you’ve ever bothered clicking on one of those facebook video posts captioned ‘check this out â€" the most inspirational talk, like, ever’ it was more than likely filmed at TED. Every year at TED conferences around the world, forward thinkers gather to hear some of the world’s most innovative, dynamic individuals deliver their ideas to a likeminded audience, in what are often funny, inspiring and eye-opening talks.Until now, the only access us idea thirsty Sydney folk had to these incredible speakers was via the TED website, where the videos are posted, sometimes months later. But for one night only, in an independently organized event, four local speakers at the pinnacle of their fields, will address a Sydney audience. The 2.5-hour event will take place mid-September and tickets are available to plebs and professionals alike. Surplus proceeds of all ticket sales will be donated to Kiva, a worthy organization you can read more about on the TEDxNSW website. So if the thought of yet another labotomising evening of Tuesday night television isn’t enough to catapult you from the couch, think of all the karmic credit you’ll be clocking up simply by buying a ticket.https://youtube.com/watch?v=GXEbqKaFf6A
Featuring a tiny wooden echidna with oversized quills and a Tasmanian Devil fashioned from patchwork Tassie sea kelp, this new exhibition of contemporary Indigenous animal sculpture is so much more than just cute, quaint or crafty.The artists featured in Menagerie hail from all over our continent, and represent an impressive breadth of style and practice. The animals represent not only a significant part of the artist’s, and their community’s, day-to-day life, but stand for greater stories, linked to country and creation. One thing shared is the obvious affinity the artists have with their subjects, which comes through in their playful approach to art making.Opening this week at two venues, Menagerie is a unique chance for contemporary Indigenous sculpture to stand against the cutting-edge design of Object Gallery and the classic natural history collections of the Australian Museum.
In celluloid we might have a chance to fight mortality and stay forever young, but who owns the images of ourselves on film and what happens when people start messing with them? Citing Laura Mulvey's essay Visual Narrative and The Pleasure Principle, the Paramount Pictures logo and independently run amusement parks like The Ned Kelly Museum as their starting points, William Mansfield and Eddie Sharp's interactive sculpture and video installation Scenes from Paramount Mountain explores cinema, immortality and the politics of owning and re-appropriating images. Through live feeds, faithful miniature papier-mâché reproductions and lo-fi video effects they have conjured up a haunted theatrical space of open-ended narratives. Opening on Friday night at Serial Space, the exhibition is a sneak peak of the larger theatre-based installation Some Film Museums I Have Known, which is commissioned by ACMI to coincide with the 2010 NEXTWAVE festival in Melbourne.
When a band are described as recalling Liars, Sonic Youth and echoes of an African mountain tribe you have to take notice. Another reason to notice Sydney's No Art, is that despite having been together less and a year, they've already performed with Midnight Juggernauts, Lost Valentinos, Sherlock's Daughter, Songs, and Kirin J. Callinan. Oh, and then there is the music; sprawling, drum-driven journeys through jungle, electronica and 90s indie rock peppered with sweet feminine vocal cries. See them do their thing on Saturday night at Spectrum for with venue dressings by superbly talented visual artist Kevina-Jo Smith, and a couple of DJs of the African tribal persuasion. No Art also have 50 free limited edition CDs available to the first folk who ask nicely. Sounds amazing.
With the innumerable Animal Collective ‘homage’ bands circulating the local live scene, it’s a wonderful and refreshing thing to hear a performer who borrows sounds of now, but uses them to create something engaging and unique. With roots in pop, r&b and atmospheric electronica (think Stereolab and Prefuse 73), Danimals recordings are as fun as they are interesting.His reverb-soaked summery vocals layered and looped over and over, strong groove rhythms, and playful accents of quirky R&B pop initially hold your attention because of their charm, but the longer you listen the more the nuanced, developed production shines through. The Sydney artist writes music solo but performs live on synthesiser accompanied by three drummers; Julian Sudek from Mercy Arms, Moses Macrae from Good Buddha, and Sherlock’s Daughter drummer Will Russell. See Danimals supporting Shady Lane at their album launch show August 22, or on September 10 at the Hopetoun Hotel
Adam Norton's work often been interested in space exploration – not so much the scientific realities, but how we talk and think about it, the fictions we build up around it. In 2011, he was commissioned to create the Mars Gravity Simulator where audience members could test their ability to move in the gravity conditions found on Mars. It spanned the divide between science and art, serious endeavour and playground fantasy. The other recurring theme in Norton's work has been a fascination with the divide between military and scientific institutions and everyday life. In Camouflage suit experiment, he fashioned military wear out of domestic goods and tested them out around the Sutherland shire. The Tank Project meanwhile unleashed armoured carriers into the back alleys and laneways of Sydney's CBD to the bemusement of office workers who discovered them on their lunch breaks. Norton's new exhibition, Interplanetary Society touches on both these themes, recreating the covers of a range long-forgotten books which tapped into the Apollo era interest and optimism around space travel. Neither part of the official record nor conveying much in the way of establishment approval or credibility, the books instead capture a yearning for something more, a dissatisfaction with earthbound life and the now quaint-seeming belief that solutions to all our problems may lay beyond the stars. Norton, a sydney-based artist, has revived these titles from obscurity in striking works of vinyl on paper and acryclic on canvas which convey a wide-eyed buoyancy and an interest in UFOs and possibilities of other life forms. Amongst the titles recreated is Irving Adler's 'Man-Made Moons' , where a moon floats on a sea of deep blue and Mars, Percival Lowell's earnest survey of the canals and oases of the red planet. Most of the works show the straightforward confidence of Hollywood action posters or video game adverts, remnants of an unshakeable belief in what space travel would bring. There are a couple of more reflective works, though, with the downbeat astronaut in We Are Not The First a rare concession that the mysteries of space may not easily reveal themselves. Perhaps the key work though splashes the words We Are Not Alone across the canvas. Gallery 9 is open Wednesday to Saturday, 11- 6. Photo by Simon Hewson.
In their quest for the perfect pop song, Gung Ho's Michael McAlary (guitar/vocals) and Ollie Duncan (bass/vocals) aren't doing too badly so far. They've spent many an hour in bedrooms self-producing their debut EP, Anywhere Else. Frustrated by the limitations of professional studios, they decided to take matters into their own hands. Their commitment to DIY is paying off. Over the past few weeks, Triple J has had the EP's three singles — 'Twin Rays', 'Side by Side', and 'Stranger' — on high rotation, and Gung Ho are on the eve of an extensive East Coast tour. All of this follows a highly charged 2012, which saw the duo support The Rubens, Bleeding Knees Club, and DZ Deathrays, as well as win over the crowd at Peats Ridge. With its reverb-enriched harmonies, seriously dexterous bass lines and punk-tinged feel, Anywhere Else is immediately accessible but certainly not predictable. https://youtube.com/watch?v=UY06ajzAMWU
Gavin Roach's one-man monologue makes its way back to Sydney after sell-out seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe 2012 and the Melbourne Fringe 2011. It's an expedition through the intimate emotional and physical world of Felix, who is about to go on a date for the first time in a year. Accustomed to interacting in cyberspace, Felix grows increasingly uncertain and frightened and starts to wonder why he ever wiped his Grindr app off his smartphone. According to Stage Whispers, Confessions of a Grindr Addict is one of those rare one-man shows that enables you to "forget that's what you're watching". Read the rest of our ten best things to do at Sydney Mardi Gras.
The 4th Brazil Film Festival runs in Sydney from February 19 to March 1 and presents 10 of the most acclaimed recent Brazilian film productions as well as a selection of short films. Here's a preview of five movies that have us totally intrigued. 1. Heleno is a portrait of real-life 1940s soccer star Heleno de Freito's romantic and professional exploits. Shot entirely in black-and-white, this looks to be a glamorous chronicle of the 'Cursed Prince', complete with well-dressed busty ladies, fast cars, and snappy dialogue. 2. Mulatas. The first word that comes to mind when you think of Brazil is probably 'Carnival'. This doco interviews the women embodying Rio de Janeiro's exuberant Carnival samba culture, the mulatas. Delving beneath the surface of a national symbol, the film explores the stigmas associated with the provocative dance style and its impact on the mulatas' personal lives. 3. Hauling. Sao Paulo is home to a marginalised subculture of professional recyclers, including Claudines, a man who for many years has based his livelihood on carefully salvaging what others would view as junk. He's not the only one, either. This documentary offers a fascinating look at Brazil's recycling underworld, covering both its social and environmental aspects. 4. Highrise. What does life look like from the perspective of the Brazilian upper classes, dwelling high above street level in the penthouses of major cities? Highrise scrutinises the country's social and economic disparities by entering the lofty homes of some of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Recife's wealthiest denizens, interviewing them about their motives for choosing the high life. 5. Amazonia Eterna. The Amazon is the last great forest wilderness, and the balance of its ecosystem affects all life on Earth. This documentary examines the way local inhabitants view their home, its significance and its future. The film will be accompanied by a panel discussion chaired by Green Cross Australia, raising awareness of parallels between conservation issues in the Amazon and Australia. https://youtube.com/watch?v=nq7XsCyZRVI Top image from Hauling by Sean Walsh.
Like longer days and warmer temperatures, Tame Impala is now a thing that without which summer would potentially just cease to exist. Luckily the band has released a spectacular sophomore mind-trip just in time to help each of us switch seasons in a blissful state of cloistered delirium, and are touring it this December so we can see what all the wooziness looks like in 3D. Like the title suggests Lonerism fleshes out the themes of isolation put forward on debut LP Innerspeaker, and makes being alone and a little bit crazy seem like the ideal state to be in. In "Why Won't They Talk To Me" Kevin Parker sings about being "out of the zone", while spacey guitar riffs layered with and asphyxiated by other instrumentation adds to the listener's jonesing for marijuana, sunshine and solitary time out. However so long as everyone else is in the same mindset there's no reason why these songs should be enjoyed in that state only, especially when Tame Impala's live shows guarantee so much pretty stuff to look at. https://youtube.com/watch?v=b0jqPvpn3sY
They named their band after a recreational drug, they had a hit (or two) and suffered a pretty long comedown. But the perpetually relevant Dexys are back with a new album, more of the soul-tinged pop tracks that propelled them to fame three decades ago and dapper new threads to wear while they play them. With three of the original members and a compact new moniker Dexys are heading to Harvest in November to put on one of their infamous live shows, characterised by great outfits and a Dexedrine-like energy. They’ll put on one Sydney sideshow at the Enmore on the 15th, playing old hits alongside new ones from their well-received 2012 album One Day I’m Going to Soar. “We’ll wear great clothes and make soulful music”, was the promise frontman Kevin Rowland made to the original line-up when he formed the band back in 1978. They’re still doing both those things, and that’s well worth paying $68.70 to see IRL.
From the deepest oceans to the highest peaks, the wonders of the Earth defy belief. To some Earth is a battleground, a place to be feared, and plays host to danger, torment, and horror. While the rich live in splendor, the poor fight, and die, for scraps. But a brave few dare to talk, to share the marvellous and the macabre, the savage and the serene. They are the documentary-makers, and their medium is showcased stunningly in another round of the annual Antenna Documentary Film Festival. There are more than 30 feature-length documentaries in 2012's festival, but here's a list of five most intriguing titles to get you started. 1. Tomorrow Outraged by a Russia gagged by Putin's regime, anarchist art collective Voina ('War') stage prankster stunts that have won them worldwide admiration and support from the likes of Banksy. Tomorrow, an unnerving but highly captivating portrait, follows the group as, led by the brave and fearless Vor, they plan to leave their mark on their authoritarian state that holds them in shackles. 2. The Ambassador Featuring murderous thugs, shady opportunists, and crooked diplomats, The Ambassador is a frank and daring but also comical investigation into the African diamond trade. Director Mads Brügger infiltrates this dark world, disguising himself with an alter ego that verges on being a Borat-like caricature and tests the limits of those he encounters. 3. Mongolian Bling Old meets new and east meets west as Benj Binks investigates the Mongolian hip hop scene, and its unique characters, all of who come together in a fascinating mix of bouncing beats and broken stereotypes in Mongolian Bling. 4. Girl Model In a film filled with shocking revelations and stark realities, Girl Model sees the dark truths of the beauty industry torn open and shows the world the shocking exploitation and global trafficking that exists at its heart. 5. We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists They started simple, just a group of pranksters working together to have a laugh, but the online activists known to the world as Anonymous grew serious quickly, attacking authority and spawning a global disobedience movement. We Are Legion is their story. The Antenna Documentary Film Festival screens at the Dendy Newtown and Dendy Opera Quays.
Car parks are usually thought to be places to simply park a car. Or a slightly different vehicle. But lately they’re being used for more arty happenings. First a Kings Cross car park was used in SafARI, and now The Vic’s abandoned car park is been transformed into a beer garden and multipurpose creative space called The Projects. Street art is a big part of these arty bits n’ pieces, most likely because they have a handy giant 20 x 8 metre wall to play with. Every fortnight it’s going to be graffiti-ed or street art-ed up by artists including Sofles, Roach, Pudl, Numskull. For the last Sunday before Christmas their Marrickville back lot will become extra Skate friendly. Their Skate Day threatens flatbanks and quarters, small-form basketball and even a little food on the side.
Samoan choreographer Lemi Ponifasio was struck with the inspiration to create Birds With Skymirrors while working on the remote Micronesian island of Tarawa. There he witnessed giant Man of War birds with strips of glinting black video tape dangling from their mouths, at once a symbol of beauty and of the devastating oceanic pollution that effects even the most “untouched” parts of the world. The resulting production is a melancholy depiction of that tiny Kiribati island in the time of climate change. Traditional I-Kiribati dances, which are modelled on the movements of those same birds Ponifasio saw in the sky, are combined with dramatic lighting, film footage and chanting, intensifying the beauty and the anguish of the island’s inhabitants at the same time. Following performances at Théâtre de la Villa in Paris and the Edinburgh International Festival in the UK, this is the Australian debut of this emotive composition.
First Draft the gallery has a quiet sibling in the form of its Depot, hidden along the city edge of Wolloomooloo. The Depot has the occasional exhibition, plays host to some interesting residents and mostly just lies low in the shadow of St Mary’s Cathedral. On a regular week it’s a hive of artistic activity, but this week it's rolling into the weekend with something special. The Depot is putting on its first end of year Christmas party in the form of Night Depot. Expect musical experiment and a line up of performers curated by Tom Smith, including Pettigrew and Lucy Cliche. Entry is at 7pm for an 8pm start.
