Biblical mythology, idyllic landscapes, wild animals, political caricatures, sensuality and hardcore pornography all come together in this collection of monochromatic lithography prints, derived predominantly from the AGNSW's collection. Linked by the medium of printmaking, as a whole what they show is the diversity of art and ideas in the Romantic age, an era which is too often simplified as having a coherent doctrine. Comprising mostly English and French prints from the late 18th century through to the mid 19th century (by which time lithography became superseded by etching), highlights include a series of William Blake's deft and idiosyncratic reworkings of Old Testament passages and Eugène Delacroixâ's careful studies of lions and tigers. And yes, there is a touch of xxx, just look out for the work with all the people standing around it. Image: Eugène Delacroix, Royal Tiger, 1929.
Emily Floyd prefers to keep things real. In fact, inauthentic gestures are so bothersome to her that she’s created three installations, entitled Garden, Our Community Garden, Alternative School and Farmers Market, to represent genuine solutions to the realistic possibilities of food shortage, catastrophic climate change and political despotism. Collectively, Floyd’s installations seek to combat these threats by incorporating manifold types of information. URL codes are inscribed on the artworks alongside naturally occurring patterns. Sculptures take on comfortingly familiar shapes, such as the giant double helix Garden Sculpture, while others fail to ascribe to any such obvious signifier. Floyd’s work is between an antithesis and an answer to modern Australia, in that The Fertile Void holds all the answers while sincerely knowing none of them.Photo courtesy of Emily Floyd & Anna Schwartz Gallery
Fringes are easy to identify, mainly because by definition a fringe forms the outer edge of a discernable whole (or, in other cases, it’s the bit of hair just above your eyes). Verges are a lot more exciting in comparison, because they promise that something greater is on its way, something unseen but sure to dazzle in its nascence.So the University of Sydney’s Union is promising a lot with its chosen title and, judging from previous incarnations and a peek at this year’s line-up, The '09 Verge festival will certainly deliver a pyro’s stash of explosive cheer.It all goes bang on August 28th, with a massive Festival Opening night that combines indie electro outfit Telefonica, the Purple Sneaker DJs and the launch of SeeSee Miscellany Magazine – a creative writing periodical that is flare-worthy in its own right.Also, a favourite festival piece returns this year with the Night Markets on September 4th, giving everyone an opportunity to navigate the fairy realm’s equivalent of Westfield.As part of VergeTalks, On Blue King Brown’s Natalie Pa’apa’a, The Herd’s Tim Levinson, Rolling Stone’s Dan Lander and musicologist Dr Cecilia Sun will get together to talk about the role of music in revolution on September 9.However, the heart of a good Verge festival is its Tent, which this year kaleidoscopes from OH&S-defying electric wunderkinds Dorkbot, through to Western Chinese rockers Askar Grey Wolf, and blossoming out as a blissful, chai-swilling gypsy music love nest. In fact, there’s so much cascading out of that piece of canvas that I’m not even sure if I’ve linked the correct adjectives and nouns. Ah well, it’ll make for a delightful surprise on the night.Photo by Amelia Schmidt
A night at the theatre does not necessarily end after the third curtain call, and nor should it in some cases. Version 1.0 is a Sydney-based company that recognises the potential power in theatre as a tool of community awareness and transformation. Furthermore, they understand that to properly affect you must show and not tell – for the preacher is always alone in his or her pulpit.This kind of ruckus is Version 1.0’s new offering, an exploration of violence in our homes and in the footy codes that, for many Australians, are vital to our cultural identity. When the politics of power and control are so prevalent in domestic life, what are the consequences of having sex-scandal sports stars as our most readily available role models? Are we marked by the sins of the football?We have 5 double passes to give away for the preview this Thursday night, thanks to Performance Space! Just email your details to hello@concreteplayground.com.au with 'This Kind of Ruckus' in the subject line.
The Oxford Art Factory will be celebrating their second birthday this month in a fun-filled extravaganza of music and general partying on down with your pants down. The venue is looking back at its year of spectacular entertainment, which has included hundreds of amazing musicians, artists and performers every night of the week. The night for your diaries is Friday August 21, when you will not only get the opportunity to see such Aussie acts as Sticky Fingers, Leader Cheetah, Fashion Launches Rocket Launches, The Protectors and DJs Quincy, Exercise Mike, Graz, Harry Cotton, Lewis B and Ironman, BUT you will also see all of this for exactly ZERO dollars. Gratis, nada, zilch. So there’s absolutely no excuse for you to forget OAF's birthday.
This one man show might be about a bee sting, a childhood, a relationship with a woman - oh no, that's right, it's about nothing. But it does tell you that up front in the title, so you should be prepared for it. Not so much stream-of-consciousness as random puddles of it, Brooklyn playwriter Will Eno's script is erratic but deadpan, placing the audience in a state of awkward self-awareness and uncertainty for its whole 63 minutes. The rambling monologue is delivered with uneasy severity by Luke Mullins who displays a knack for comic timing that he hasn't been able to exploit in his other recent productions (The War of the Roses, The Duel). The attempts at clever self-reflexivity fall on the shallow side, but this is an intriguing hour of theatre from director Sam Strong, providing an uncomfortable window onto one man's bittered psyche. As Mr Pain says at one point "it might be beautiful, if you like that sort of thing." https://youtube.com/watch?v=l436LcnXnpU
A quaint garden scene in cross-stitch with something that is not quite right. It’s one third of Megan Yeo’s series, Midsomer Murders (Tea Cosie Terror), which leaves no question as to whether this craft is art. Also in this exhibition is Linden Braye’s Rat and little lost glove … are they victims of some crime of passion involving sock puppets Sooty and Sweep? Funkadelic … a jilted prom queen’s revenge in acrylic on canvas? Jade Pegler’s The Decedents … possible love children of diva Grace Jones and that carnivorous plant from Little Shop of Horrors? Curator and artist Kath Fries (whose own work Ariadne’s Thread creeps unassumingly across the gallery ceiling), envisaged “a conceptual thread†running between the artists in Le Fil, and you’ll discover one of the things that joins them is their turning away from the perceived boundaries of the needle-and-thread medium.Image: Megan Yeo Midsomer Murders (Tea Cosie Terror 1). Cross stitch on printed fabric. Courtesy the artist.
Travel to the empty part of the map marked, "There be monsters here" and you might find some of the “strange and wonderful life and adventures†artist Alli Sebastian Wolf has injected. Obsessed with C-grade sci-fis, cartoons and scrapheap theatre, Alli’s approach is definitely on the side of cultural renegade, citing, “Drunk teenagers stealing the expensive booze from their folks’ liquor cabinet†as her inspirational modus operandi, as well as, somewhat startlingly, likening herself to a butcher who can hack up a cow and make good use of the bits. What she has certainly made use of is lots of tin-foil, cardboard and objects with a leaning for telepathy, “A lampshade absolutely insisting it’s a time warp or the packing box that has to be a castle.†This is a world of pure play but Alli is careful to make clear that, “Poetry and critique of the world can sneak under the radar like that.†Groucho Marx’s nipples are in evidence, alongside references to Quixote and the Bayeux Tapestry in a 15m frieze that visually represents all the landscapes in Alli’s head – a love song to fantasy.
The deal with sharehouses is that those sharing don’t always agree on their vision of the ideal home. As a result, most houses come out looking a little flustered, if not downright chaotic. The solution? One new sofa, clean and fresh from IKEA. Few housemates will argue with new, comfortable furniture and, thanks to the Home Project, you get to stamp your style all over the loungeroom.The concept of the project is simple: take a classic, affordable IKEA couch and ask Australian artists to work their magic with it. Highlights include Del Kathryn Barton and Romance Was Born’s iconic imagery, Akira Igosawa’s futuristic visions and the guerilla gardening skills of Mickie Quick. Gosia Wlodarczak will also add a live element with one of her ‘drawing performances’ to open the event.Head to Carriageworks to check out what’s on offer, then bid online at Grays. Bonus charity points are also awarded to those making a savvy purchase, with all profits going straight to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.
Sarah Blasko’s live shows have proven to be precious gems, as she successfully offers unique and heartfelt folk pop songs combined with energetic theatricality.In October Blasko will perform at the Enmore Theatre where, with help from her touring band, she will introduce audiences to material from her newest album; and add new textures such as string instruments and percussion to augment her previous work.On her third album, As Day Follows Night, the songs are more mature-sounding and are the perfect slice of pop introspection. Recorded in Sweden with producer Björn Yttling (Peter, Björn & John) the sessions resulted in a warm sounding collection of angelic songs.Special guest support will be Swedish singer-songwriter El Perro del Mar on what will be her first tour of Australia. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ADm41Aw3LXo
Marionettes awaken powerful emotions in people. Many pale-faced adults will mumble about childhood fears, of puppets grinning soulessly at the prospect of dragging screaming kids under the bed. But there's more to life than bed-wetting terror, and Canadian puppetmaster, Ronnie Burkett, uses his craft to bring both heartache and joy into the land of wood and string.Billy Twinkle: Requiem for a Golden Boy, follows the eponymous hero, a puppeteer, as he plunges through an existential crisis and into the ghostly aid of Sid Diamond, his old teacher. Drawing at times from Burkett's own life, this sweet tale is a marionette epic filled with characters both bizarre and memorable. The quality of Burkett's mastery is such that you'll often forget that it's only his hands and chameleonic voice breathing life into Billy Twinkle's universe.Photo by Trudie Lee
Ok, so there are lots of people in the band, they are from Townsville (so hot right now no pun intended), people say they are Christians, they were featured on JJJ unearthed, they are signed to Spunk (the eponymous Aus Indie label who put out records by Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Holly Throsby etc). Those are some details. The Middle East's music is drop dead beautiful, with Jordan Ireland's vocals (akin to Belle And Sebastian, or Sufjan) over lovely instrumentation that can go from whimperingly picked guitar to all-out sing along with crashing cymbals and horns in just one song.Their debut EP Recordings Of The Middle East was originally self released a couple of years ago but is now being reissued by Spunk who are keeping details hazy. This ungoogleable band developed a fair amount of hype without even a live show, but have since notched up a few on their belts to much acclaim, including a spot at this year's Splendour. Luckily for those who haven't seen them they have announced their debut headline tour down the coast and are stopping in at Manning Bar. Join in with the kids (the show is all ages), and get swept away. It should be a very nice evening of music. Supporting are Dragging Pianos (also from Townsville) and Sydney's Jonathan Boulet. https://youtube.com/watch?v=EjB2hbMYIXo
If you imagine combining that dust storm with bass amps, amphetamines, booze, and loud guitars, all running off a generator in the desert, then you might be able to picture the beginnings of Nick Oliveri’s musical path with Kyuss, in Palm Desert, California. Oliveri, and then Kyuss guitarist Joshua Homme went on to become the key members of Queens Of The Stone Age, sharing vocal and song writing duties on the bands albums Rated R and Songs For The Deaf. With his punk influences, the hideously-goatied Olivieri spat out some of the more abrasive yet memorable Queens songs- “Cocaine, nicotine, valium, vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol wwwaaaaahhh! (lengthy scream)â€, on Feel Good Hit Of The Summer. After the often volatile and inebriated Oliveri was fired from Queens (he was once arrested for performing naked in Brazil) he formed his own band Mondo Generator, playing a more intense brand of punk/metal. He has moonlighted and collaborated on a plethora of projects including the Mark Lanegan band, Brant Bjork and The Bros and seminal scum-punk band The Dwarves, which bring him to Australia. He continues his moonlighting ways by playing a few solo shows whilst here, and he'll be showing us his acoustic side with songs from his two truly solo albums Demolition Day and Death Acoustic at The Hopetoun October 10th.Nick Oliveri from Mondo Generator from Music Feeds on Vimeo.
Once again the City of Sydney is transforming, well, the city of Sydney, with its public art program Art&About. While there are many pretty things lining the more conspicuous promenades, it’s down the laneways where the – dare I say it? – more interesting things are happening.Now in the second year of its most recent incarnation, the 2009 Laneways: By George! program is set to stimulate a rethink of what, in this fun-crushing age of public liability, we can do with public space in this city.For four months you can visit a 7 metre bar that responds to visiting crowds with the force of virtual weather, get lost in an Infinity Forest (think Yayoi Kusama but outside with trees), or maybe just unwind in a planter box.Neeson Murcott Architects, Chalk Horse and Freehills, gave me a little insight into the impetus behind their installation in Tankstream Way, PS: Potential Spaces:"We can and should make the streets whatever they have the potential to be," they said. "The laneway does not have to be a dark and lifeless passageway and we hope this project will encourage people to use and enjoy the spaces of their city more - to see the potential of the public realm rather than to shy away from it."While their project has some serious undertones, it promises to enliven the laneway in a slightly less than serious way. Go play.
Crave: the festival's festival. An event created on behalf of the NSW government to draw dollars, jobs and foreign folk to our soil, Crave is a celebration of the artistic, culinary and aesthetic offerings of our dear resplendent Sydney - basically an excuse to be the big fat show-offs that we are. It’s the technicoloured umbrella under which a buffet of joyous events will occur throughout October, including the Sydney International Food Festival, Art & About and the Darling Harbour Fiesta. ‘31 days of food, out-door art and fun’ they say, and you don’t even have to pay for them all. Free events include Breakfast on the bridge where you and 6,000 other cheery early morning revelers will be given the opportunity to down your hash browns atop a national icon. Beat that Rio and your peacock-feathered Carnaval.
Before China flung open its imposing red doors to an international market, it was very much the quiet kid in the corner with super strict parents who didn’t talk to anyone for fear of inviting a wedgie. This was the backdrop for the early years of young Li Cunxin's (Chi Cao) life in Mao’s Last Dancer, adapted for the screen by Aussie director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) and writer Jan Sardi. At the tender age of 11, Li was plucked from his town and family in rural China by Madame Mao’s cultural delegates and sent to study ballet in Beijing. Years of rigorous self-discipline and draconian tutelage bestowed on Li the goods required to represent China in a 3-month cultural exchange at the Houston ballet in Texas. In a series of flashbacks and forwards, we see Li’s baby steps into the USA’s capitalist landscape (disco, Pepsi and chicks) starkly contrasted with his earlier life in Communist China. Buoyed by the accolades that accompany his stunning performances (and, thanks to choreographer Graeme Murphy, they really are stunning), and the flush of budding romance, the impending return to his homeland becomes decreasingly appealing. Li opts for a shotgun marriage to his new sweetheart instead, providing him with grounds for defecting. What happens next is a predictable combative pas-de-deux with a pretty peeved bunch of Chinese officials and Li's new American friends. If you liked the book, can stomach a bit of cliché and a script that occasionally teeters on template Hollywood schmaltz, Mao’s Last Dancer is worth it for the impressive cinematography and technically brilliant dance sequences smattered with some genuinely stirring emotional moments. https://youtube.com/watch?v=8ufBNOkTvdQ
So this week it has all been about redheads. The Devoted Few, a great news piece I saw on BBC about 3,000 red heads getting together in Breda, Netherlands, and now La Roux, whose name translates from the French as “The Redâ€. I am here to tell you that Jackson, with her partner in synth crime Ben Laingmade, are here playing the Parklife tour and are stopping in up the road at The Enmore Theatre.The London duo are still pretty fresh, having released their first album last year after briefly toying with the idea of writing acoustic music. They are far from fledgling though; their singles hitting the top ten in the UK and their heads being all over the UK press. Not Your Toy is their latest single and is a good example of their slick synth-driven pop, with the very memorable vocals of 20-year-old Jackson over the top of dinkey 80’s derived electronic pop. Their live show is much hyped including praise from NME, which described the singers performance as holding “Gobsmacking intensityâ€. They have been all over the globe lately drumming up hype and playing festivals and shows, including Lollapalooza, a spot on the massive US TV show Jimmy Kimmel Live, a support tour with the geezer princess Lilly Allen and they even teamed up with Franz Ferdinand to cover Blondie’s Call Me at a NME festival.https://youtube.com/watch?v=9lVaWYkKOdY
News has started to filter through the music industry rumor mills that legendary indie rock band Pavement are reforming for a tour next year and will be coming to Australia. For those who saw the band in the 90s this news might not be so exciting, but for those of us too young to experience the live show first time around, this is probably the best news we’ve ever heard! We needn’t wait until next year though. Pavement front man and Silver Jews member Stephen Malkmus is touring Australia next week accompanied by his band The Jicks which includes former Sleater-Kinney member and (my all time personal hero) Janet Weiss on drums. These legends of the indie world are performing at The Metro supported by some of the best new Sydney acts, Bridezilla and Songs. You’d be stupid not to go.
Ornithologists and rock fans achtung! Get your binoculars out and head down to Little Birdy at the Enmore. One of the many bands in the seemingly endless pool of talent originating on the west coast of Australia, Little Birdy have just put out a new single off their 3rd studio album Confetti.The single is named Hairdo and that will do for a fine segue into the fact that Sydney’s own indie-pop powerhouse Red Riders are supporting: frontman Alex Grigg would definitely be up for best rock band curly bouffant award if there were such an award (hello MTV?).Hairdo is a shift down in gears from previous singles; the Paul Kelly assisted Brother and the upbeat pop/soul stomp of Summarize. Hairdo is a meandering keyboard driven (dare I say Strawberry Fields influenced?) pop tune that almost falls into the 3rd single equals ballad category but then lifts for a glistening chorus.Kudos to the birdies as the have curated a great lineup of music for the night with Brisbane’s malnourished Triple J Unearthed winners Hungry Kids Of Hungary opening with their bright and shiny tunes as well as the aforementioned and big haired Red Riders.https://youtube.com/watch?v=XTL5XlrxCtE
There's a reckoning on its way, according to some, and its future is told in the passing of broken seasons under acid-smoked skies. When the monkey faeces finally hits the industrial fans, you had better hope that you paid enough attention to the Survivalists when you had the chance.Welcome to Bustown, the junkyard wonderland that exists in writer Lachlan Philpott's vision of the apocalypse's afterparty. Yesterday's mistakes are gone and the survivors have made their sort of paradise. But now the time's come to clean up and move on, and for those who can still pump blood to wonder where exactly they should go to next. Catch the 2009 vintage of ATYP's nursery, as these talented young performers come of age in their final production under the guise of the YAP ensemble.https://youtube.com/watch?v=BZxbwyU5mTQ
Duke Magazine’s White Men Can’t Crump party has got me reminiscing all my favourite 90s R&B and Hip Hop, and you can’t ever look past N.W.A with Ice Cube, Dr Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren and Arabian Prince (Professor X). Straight Outta Compton is still one of the best gangster rap albums of all time!Arabian Prince left the group in 1998 and has had less success than the group’s other members – but don’t assume that means he’s less talented. The always-on-it Stones Throw records released an anthology of his work last year titled Innovative Life and reminded us all what an ingenious writer/producer he is. MC’ing and DJ’ing his signature electro rap, don’t miss Arabian Prince in Sydney this week supported by Def Wish Cast, James dela Cruz (the Avalanches), and local DJs.
The advent of the music blog has been reshaping the musical landscape with the likes of stereogum, pitchfork etc. almost determining the future of bands with their gospel.If we turn our collective digital attention back to our big dry country, there are some heavy hitters in the blogosphere here too (see Polaroids of Androids, A Reminder etc). One of these, the very boganesquely titled Who The Bloody Hell Are They, is this week programming indie establishment Mum at World Bar. The acts appearing are some of whothehell's picks of Sydney's music scene at the moment, including Megastick Fanfare with their organic and percussive yet melodic back-to-Africa sound and local folk troubadour Fergus Brown who's been demanding some attention lately for his whimsical and light hearted tunes.Other upstarts Peacocks and The Winter People are playing live as well as the whothehell bloggers themselves arming the decks.
Following the October long weekend, tolerance for ill-conceived built environments will suffer another crushing blow. Like it or lump it, architecture shapes every space we inhabit. Advocating the dictum ‘good architecture, good life’, the annual Architecture Festival takes place on World Architecture Day, Monday 5 October, in the some say ill-conceived hub of Customs House, Circular Quay and the Sydney Opera House. Festival organisers have programmed a stellar line-up of events including talks, walks, a gigantic Lego play station and a narrated harbour cruise to take in the architectural prowess of Sydney’s foreshore. One of the more tempting programs on offer is the Powerhouse Museum self-guided walking tour around Pyrmont and Ultimo. Able festival goers can pick-up a recorded guide by Curator Anni Turnbull and wander the surrounding neighbourhood. The highlight of the festival will be the much anticipated tète-à -tète between Pritzker prize-winning architect Glenn Murcutt AO, novelist David Malouf and academic Julianne Schultz. This trio of exceptionally well-informed minds will vouch for the value of good architecture as vital to the betterment of humans the world over, while also dabbling in a smidge of back-catalogue style discussions around their lives and work. Anne Watson will also lead a lecture on the blight of Australia’s architectural history – the replacement of Jorn Utzon by Peter Hall as the completing architect of the Sydney Opera House.Image: Angelo Candalepas, All Saints Primary School, winner of the Sulman Award this year
University comedy troupes and political satire can either be the best thing in the world or the worst. Just look at The Chaser, as an example of either, depending on your taste.I'm guessing that we are in pretty safe hands with The Invisible Dot though. They're a team of 6 young comedians and writers from England who've won a slew of awards in both Edinburugh and Britain. Their play The Party is about a bunch of idealistic young idiots who form a political party in an attempt to solve the problems of the world. The premise is loose and open-ended enough to allow the troupe to riff on a bunch of political topics including China, sex trafficking, cycle lanes, unfair trade coffee and when they should break for cake.
Rob Bryant, General Manager of the OpenAir Cinema can sum up the experience in three words, 'Sydney in summertime'. This isn't just an outdoor cinema, Mr. Bryant explains, "It's an experience of Sydney. We all live here and we all run around like mad everyday, just keeping our head above water here, but we don't all that often stop. [The OpenAir Cinema] gives 60,000 people the opportunity to just take stock of where we live." Preferably with a beer in hand while munching on some gourmet catering. And of course the Mr. Bryant also calls the event, "a festival of films, which this year boasts, preview or premiere films and a lot of current releases, all the Boxing Day big releases and a couple of January releases." The full program will be released on December 11, but Mr. Bryant gave Concrete Playground a sneak peak, starting with opening night and the Australian musical Bran Nue Dae; "a lovely story set in Western Australia, centring on the importance of home" starring Geoffrey Rush, Missy Higgins and Australian Idol's Jessica Mauboy. Also previewing are Clint Eastwood's Apartheid story Invictus (starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon), Rob Marshall's all-star musical extravaganza Nine and John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic The Road. OpenAir Cinema audiences will get first look at the raucous British political satire In The Loop, designer Tom Ford's directorial debut in A Single Man, as well as Mel Gibson's return to the big screen in Martin Campbell's The Edge of Darkness. Mr. Bryant eagerly describes the latter as "an edge-of-your-seat, thriller kind of thing," while he is also keen about bringing a little horror to the Botanic Gardens with a special preview of The Wolfman. "It might be the first [horror film] ever [programmed] actually. It's got a fabulous cast, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins, Benicio Del Toro, Hugo Weaving and it's inspired by the original Wolfman, which was really the founding father of all horror films." If scaring yourself silly in the Botanic Gardens isn't your thing, then Mr. Bryant suggests the Boxing Day films like Sherlock Holmes or The French Kissers, or perhaps some favourites from 2009 like (500) Days of Summer and Where the Wild Things Are. But as for bribing Mother Nature for fine weather, Mr. Bryant admits "Well you just can't, can you?!" Offering that, "We've reached the stage where when it rains you've got 1600 people sitting there "" you get a poncho "" you sit there and people have a wonderful spirit about it." Rain, hail or shine, the OpenAir Cinema draws a "rock concert-like" demand for tickets, with last year selling, 20,000 in half an hour, 40,000 in the first day. So when presales commence 9am on December 17, it's time to book your next visit to Mrs. Macquaries Point and that marvelous postcard view of Sydney in summertime. We have a double VIP pass to give away for (500) Days of Summer at the OpenAir Cinema. Just send us your details to hello@concreteplayground.com.au with "OpenAir Cinema Giveaway" in the subject line for your chance to win. https://youtube.com/watch?v=qtLbLBi5Jyk https://youtube.com/watch?v=PVKyeMQcUNY https://youtube.com/watch?v=2B2N_iRUJ7Y https://youtube.com/watch?v=E9Ovkye6lac
In German it means "silence", and in Ruhe we find the intersection between many types of quiet. It is the opposite of the note, a pause in the musical score important enough to have its own notational symbol, and then it is the appreciative reverence of those listening to a musical performance. But the darker sense of silence comes to the fore in Ruhe: the tight-lips and downward gaze of those not wishing to speak about a past of atrocity.Based upon interviews recorded by Dutch artists Armando and Hans Sleutelaar in the 1960s, Ruhe melds the rich, masculine voices of the Collegium Vocale Gent choir with the confessions of former SS members. This is the Australian premiere of Belgium's Muziektheater Transparant, and audience members are invited to take their seat amongst the performers. When the music of Schubert is constantly jarred aside by ghosts, will you want to cry out for the blessing of silence?Image by Hermann Sorgeloos
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.
