The 1989 film The 'Burbs (starring Tom Hanks) is an underrated comedy about a suburban vigilante squad protecting their leafy suburb from creepy neighbours. Attack the Block (2011) is an overrated sci-fi flick about a bunch of London thugs protecting their housing estate from super-creepy aliens. Put them together and you get The Watch: a 'rated' comedy about a suburban vigilante squad protecting their leafy suburb from super-creepy aliens. It’s not quite as funny as the former, or as creative as the latter, but still has enough tricks up its sleeve to avert the instant fail. Directed by SNL's Akiva Schaffer and co-written by Seth Rogen and Adam Goldberg, The Watch boasts an enviable team of comedy heavyweights on both sides of the camera, with Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, and Vince Vaughn in the lead roles. Of those, Hill is the standout as the mentally unstable, police academy dropout Franklin, while the others rarely push beyond the tried and tested: Stiller is amiable and uptight, Ayoade is polite and awkward, and Vaughn is the chirpy man's man. The plot is similarly familiar, borrowing more than it invents, but at least it does so in a way that keeps the pace steady and the laughs frequent. For a cast of this calibre, the jokes do linger too long in the gutter, but The Watch never takes itself too seriously and as a result, earns itself enough leeway as a silly yet entertaining diversion.
Inside the Sydney Fringe Festival is another mini festival, the Festival of Weird Spaces. Things kick off on September 12 with the Artcore Guerilla Artfair at the Imperial Hotel (5-10pm and free entry). It'll be an art-fair of local, emerging artists in the basement, complete with an oh so secret feature band and lucky door prizes (for those of you who love a good freebie). On September 14 (also part of all things strange), will be some venues that you all know and love like The Duke, The Water Horse, RaBar, The Warren View and The Sly Fox, which will be subjected to what they’re calling 'Decoration Wars.' Hopefully nothing like The Block, you’ll need to grab a map and a voting card before taking a turn of these bars. Yes - kinda like a pub crawl and art class combined. There’s also a Pop up Festival on Saturday – and don’t we all just love a pop-up? Held at Camperdown Park will be The Collective Project Unit & Friends – Ska Band, whose influences include 1960s Jamaican party music and Skatalites. Other tunes include the barbershop style four-part harmonies of Tuxedo Vocal Harmony Quartet and Nathanial Pyewacket, an experiemental cross-platform performer (who builds his own electronic and electro-acoustic instruments). Apparently there’s more to be announced, but they can say that there will be a balloon artist there. Balloon dog anyone?
If you figured cemeteries were nothing more than gloomy resting lots, think again. For some of Sydney’s finest design folk, one cemetery in particular serves as an unlikely breeding ground for cutting-edge sculpture, and for the fourth year running they’re out to prove that our cherished deceased still manage to inspire. Launched in 2009, Hidden: A Rockwood Sculpture Walk is basically a stroll through grave sites that have been dressed up with thought-provoking sculpture. Staged inside the grounds of Rockwood Cemetery, the biggest resting ground in the Southern Hemisphere, everything from cement tombstones to bushy scrubland is temporarily transformed into remarkable, and sometimes even vividly colourful, artworks. In an attempt to highlight the site’s rich history, which runs all the way back to the 1800s, the walk includes things like gelato-toned birds perched high in tree branches (that can’t help draw attention to the estate's impressive greenery) and lacquered pieces of furniture, like chests of drawers and side tables, placed beside graves, luring the curious to spots that may normally be overlooked. A tombstone in the shape of a cross has been given a crocheted onesie further along the trail. Artists were asked to consider themes of loss, love, death and memory and the results are captivating. To ensure nobody gets lost, organisers have even knocked up an iPhone app to help steer visitors in the right direction throughout the grounds. But, whatever you do, take your time with this one — it’s not every day you find this type of living beauty in the home of the departed. Details on how to get to Rookwood by public transport are on the Hidden Visitor's Guide. The exhibition is open sunrise to sunset.
For those outside of international dance and art circles, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's name was all but unknown until last year, when Beyonce Knowles was accused of significantly copying the Belgian choreographer's work without permission. Thankfully, Sydney will have the opportunity to see De Keersmaeker's art under more joyful circumstances this September, courtesy of Carriageworks and the 18th Biennale of Sydney. The first piece is the Australian premiere of En Atendant, which is choreography of both movement and sound inspired by the 14th century ars subtilior method of composition. A quick cheat-sheet glance on the internet brings up images of convoluted manuscripts, where bars of red and black music notation curl into one another to form playful images, which perhaps leaves a subtle clue as to where De Keersmaeker will lead her audience. A few nights later is the second Australian premiere, this time of Cesena. Continuing the theme of bending music and movement, Cesena form fucks with 19 performers, so that dancers sing and singers dance. De Keersmaeker's company, Rosas, combines its dancers with the graindelavoix ensemble of Bjorn Schmelzer, an ethnomusicologist specialising in ancient forms of music. This collaboration promises to push both groups to the limits of their extraordinary skills. While both pieces are complete experiences in their own right, it is highly recommended that audiences treat En Atendant and Cesena as a diptych. En Atendant plays on September 11 and 12 and Cesena on September 14 and 15 at CarriageWorks. Check out our other picks for the best things to see and do at the Biennale. https://youtube.com/watch?v=17dSh-vCpJ0
A car-free George Street. It's a dream many Sydneysiders hold, and one that will come true on October 20, if only for a night. The Art & About closing night party is replacing George Street's usual gridlock of petrol-fuelled monsters with food trucks, dining tables, DJs, outdoor art installations and big screens. It's a celebration to mark the closing of a festival that pulls art out of galleries and into unusual places in the city. And it's a Moveable Feast, not just of tasty international street food, but of art, live music, documentaries, shorts and feature films. Delicious. The next step? Booting cars out of George Street for good. Have a look at the Art & About opening night, night noodle markets, the full exhibition program, and Concrete Playground's top picks of the bunch.
Forget the deluge of shmick festivals and late-night events with their familiar PR sheen. The Sydney Underground Film Festival is an honest-to-God fringe festivity — an intelligently curated counterculture weekend of weird, wack and unearthed cinephilia. The SUFF team pitches itself as "the purveyors of provocation, dissent, and civil disobedience". And rightly so. They've pulled off some crazy-as-hell nights in the past, and this year's program looks just as great. Festival opening night is always excellent — not just great new films but a big party with delicious food and drinks. Francophenia (Or: Don't Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is) is a hybrid doco/fiction which chronicles James Franco's work in General Hospital and the absurdity of celebrity culture. For politics junkies, there's Wikileaks: Secrets and Lies by UK director Patrick Forbes. And Mr Doodleburger, the murderous, redubbed alter-ego of Home and Away's Alf Stewart, will be unveiling his latest Summer Bay slaughter and doing a live Q&A. Warning: things are going get kooky.
Summer appears to finally be on its way (albeit a bit too slowly for most of our likings) and that means it's time to start thinking about which music festivals you want to head to in your best summery threads. Homebake is one such offering. This year the organisers have decided to go with a not-so-cheery doomsday theme and, breaking with tradition, have roped in a big-name overseas headliner for the festival's first global edition. Thrown in with acts including Kimbra, Jinga Safari, DZ Deathrays, Hilltop Hoods, Husky and Angus and Julia Stone (playing separately), the headliner this year is iconic American disco-pop outfit Blondie. At the time of writing, more acts are still to be announced. Not content with focusing just on tunes, Homebake also has a comedy stage (presented by the Sydney Comedy Festival), Cinema Pavilion (curated and produced by Kieran Darcy-Smith), and plenty of artiness thrown into the mix. Update: The full line up has since been announced, including Tame Impala, Tim Minchin, sonicanimation, Sticky Fingers and more. https://youtube.com/watch?v=WGU_4-5RaxU
Booze and fashion go together better than booze and art, so it's fitting that this year's sartorially themed History Week is kicking off with a round of talks at Sydney's best small bars. Squeeze into Grasshopper on the 22nd to unravel the innately intertwined realms of fashion, consumption and nationalism with 'Cold War Couture?: The Alternative Consumer Culture of American Vogue, 1945–1960' (or, as it could have been titled, 'How French Couture was Watered Down to Accommodate the Stingy Shopping Habits of American Women'). Closer to home, Since I Left You will partake in a little visual rummaging through the belongings carried from Britain to Australia by early settlers, drawing on pictorial and material sources to draw (well-founded) conclusions on the history of family life. And, of course, there's no way the unsurpassably dubbed Shirt Bar could avoid participation, so head to Sussex Lane on the 11th to unpick the threads of late-colonial larrikins over a single malt whisky.
As co-author Kate Mulvany explains in the program, Belvoir Downstairs' new Medea is all about playing. The action of Euripides' ancient version of Medea takes place offstage while two young boys — the playful, sulky, and serious Leon (Joseph Kelly) and the exuberant, sad, and dreamy Jasper (Rory Potter) — stay locked in their room, play around, and wonder what's going on between their parents outside, parsing overheard arguments as their mother, Medea (Blazey Best), comes in, talks cryptically, and leaves. Euripides' version of the story (spoiler ahead) has a distraught Medea kill her children after husband Jason (of the Golden Fleece) leaves her for another woman and tells her he's taking the kids. Anne-Louise Sarks was struck by the killing of four-year-old Darcey Freeman by her own father during a custody battle, and also by the effect on Freeman's older brother. This became linked to the ancient story of Medea, and Sarks found a willing collaborator in Kate Mulvany. (And, later, in ATYP.) The boys are joyfully clumsy. They have no compunction in looking silly as they muck about in their room. While the boys play, the production itself is rife with dramatic foreshadowing of death and tilts to its classical origins. The wrenching ending of Euripides' version is thought to have been a surprise for his audience, a final twist on the scale of Game of Thrones' first season, for an audience expecting a very different ending. Sarks and Mulvany’s version leaves this surprise as writ in the program, and next to the theatre door. But never in the words of the actors. In fact, even with all its foreshadowing, this production has a distinct lack of foreboding. The surprise instead is a rending final speech from Medea, leaving us in no doubt about her feelings toward her children. This speech is powerful. Despite a strong and funny performance from both boys, it stays with you afterwards as the emotional core of the play. The boys give us a second-hand account of the ups and downs of their parents’ marriage, but these final words give the play the equally strong adult grief that had been needed from its opening moments. Sarks and Mulvany's play owes a lot to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (including its clever word games). And, like that play, it's intellectually engaging, funny, slow-paced, and stuffed with all the drawbacks and benefits you get from having the major plot points take place offstage. This Medea is three plays in one. Multiple versions of reality coexist, like a twice-told myth or a child puzzling out the world in guesses. Two boys’ play reflects an adult world. A very modern custody battle goes wrong. A murderous classical story gets told. The boys — acted with flair, humour, and patience by Kelly and Potter — play with each other, play animal word games, and play war games over the production's on-stage hour. It should be a harsh story to work through, but the meat of this production is, indeed, the play. Instead of giving us Euripides' catharsis of horror and revenge, the play gives the boys one more final hour of powerful play — a long hour full of joy, puzzlement, escapades, and love. Photo by Heidrun Lohr.
Freshly squeezed is how I like my juice — pithy, colourful and frothy on top. It’s a good start to the morning. But how do you get the creative juices flowing? Sydney-based hybrid art collective stagejuice are onto it. Launched in 2010, freshly squeezed brings together some of Sydney’s most exciting emerging artists to mix, whip, taste and test new ideas, interdisciplinary art forms and collaborations in workshops with peers and mentors. Over a dozen artists are involved in freshly squeezed 2012, culminating in stimulating performances of experimental and raw ideas and pithy new work for all to see. 'Island' is this year’s springboard to stimulate inspiring, collaborative work and new thinking. The theme is responded to in any form, literally (or not) by artists including multiple-choice- theatre- making Carolyn Eccles, dancer Raghav Handa and web zombie Lara Lightfoot. Can’t wait for your fix? Check out some of the smoking new works on the freshly squeezed artists' blog. Freshly squeezed performances are on at 7pm on both days and also at 2pm on Saturday October 20. Tickets can be bought at the door or reserved via admin@stagejuice.com.au
Last year, Queen Street Studios helped launch Peep Show AR. It was an augmented reality tour of the 2010 postcode's art and history you could follow on your phone around the Sydney streets. In 2012, as part of Art and About, Show and Tell Open House is returning to the same fertile ground, this time inviting you to meet and explore the tenants clustered around the Oxford Street Cultural and Creative Spaces, including notables such as He Made, She Made, the Oxford Street Design Store and the (further off) Writers Room. All of the venues involved will be open to visitors from 11-2 (in the case of venues like Object and the Surry Hills Library, a little more open that usual), inviting you to stop in, knit, learn, chat or enjoy. Most of the venues involved are pretty friendly places, but its rare that many of them throw open their doors to the public at large. Who knows, what you hear about life as a Sydney creative worker, upcoming shows or live artists might keep you coming back on quieter days. Image by RachelH_.
The dreamy indie pop duo from Baltimore will bring the sounds of their latest album Bloom to our fair country come January. Yep, we're going to be inundated with a lot of awesome tunes this summer, so it might be time to have a word to your credit card now. Alex Scally (guitar, bass, keyboards, backing vocals) and Victoria Legrand (lead vocals, keyboards) have been recording and performing their beautiful, heady, emotive tunes since 2004 now, so if you haven't seen them live yet, here's your chance. They're heading here for Falls Festival, but will afterwards stop over in Sydney for a show at the Enmore Theatre. Beach House are known for their rather inventive videos (think exploding eggs and parallel universes in Lazuli and whatever you'd like to believe is going on in Lover of Mine's backyard fight party), and they also put on on one hell of a live show to complement those powerful waves of organ, guitar, percussion and voice. Until then we suggest enjoying their latest album with a few cold ones and, if you can facilitate it, a comfy backyard hammock. https://youtube.com/watch?v=FuvWc3ToDHg
The Words, a story within a story within a story, hinges on a moment in time that changes the lives of its protagonists and connects them across time. The three stories that comprise the film are as follows: Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid), a well-known author, reads from his new book, The Words, to an admiring New York audience. The book is about a young aspiring writer, Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), who, not for lack of talent, struggles to make it in the literary world — that is, until he finds a manuscript in an old briefcase bought for him in Paris by his new wife, Dora (Zoe Saldana). Back in New York after their honeymoon, Jansen makes the discovery and retypes the manuscript in one feverish night, not with the intention to steal it but because he wants to feel what it is like to write something so brilliant, something he, in reality, couldn't write. But the temptation overwhelms him after Dora reads the retyped manuscript and tells him how proud she is. The story is about a young American man (Ben Barnes) who settles in Paris after having met the love of his life there during the war. After experiencing tragedy, he too writes feverishly over a few days, completing a book about his life — about love, escape, and devastating loss. Much like how Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, lost a manuscript of his on a train, the young man's wife loses his. And so he and Rory are tethered. Rory's life spirals out of control after he meets 'The Old Man', about whom I will reveal little here, and the pleasures of fame and fortune are drowned by the consequences of stealing another man's words. The Words is an interesting, if flawed, meditation on truth and fiction and a lushly shot film. https://youtube.com/watch?v=gjmrDDD9o_k
In Flight of the Conchords he got famous for being one of the most shithouse managers in existence, but in real life Rhys Darby has proved he can put together a pretty choice show at a pretty impressive venue. Darby's next conquest will be the Sydney Opera House. As part of Just for Laughs 2012, he'll be taking it over with the Australian debut of Rhys Darby and Friends, which boasts a mean-as lineup of other funny guys equally unfazed about whether they're being laughed with or laughed at or whether there's really any difference between the two. They include the Pot Noodle guy, Brendhan Lovegrove, Ben Hurley and Chris Brain, and also present on the night will be Lucy Lawless-approved lady wisecracker Urzila Carlson. Since appearing in Flight of the Conchords, Rhys Darby has starred in a multitude of indie and blockbuster films, including Yes Man (2008), The Boat That Rocked (2009) and Love Birds (2011), and with Kiwi Gala he's now snapped up a Fred Dagg award for Best NZ Show at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. Tickets for it are selling heaps fast, so don't be a munter and get yours now.
Given their unique digs in an old Petersham news agency, it's no surprise that Newsagency Gallery continues to dish up left-of-centre works like the eclectic mayhem of Chas Glover's oil paintings and the multifarious street art of Indonesia's Survive Garage community. In August, the artist-run initiative is set to carry on in the same vein, inviting us to look through the lens at the lives of the photographers that we trust to bring us the news. Opening on August 9, the free exhibition is a chance to satisfy the media-mad voyeur in all of us, peering through the proverbial looking glass at the real lives of our news photographers when the agenda ain’t the news. Curated by photojournalism guru James Cottam, No News Is Good News collects the personal work of news photographers including Peter Solness, Sean Davey, Quentin Jones and Jon Reid, revealing what's behind the broadsheet. Newsagency Gallery is open Saturday and Sunday.
A good record store is an amazing thing. In a world where we can connect with whatever sub-sub-sub-culture we identify with after just a few clicks, where so much music is available to you every minute of every day, who do you trust to tell you who is worthy of your limited time? You need the people at your local record store — both the staff and the customers. Nowhere else gives you a safe space to indulge yourself; nowhere else can a chance comment lead you down a rabbit hole of discovery; nowhere else knows what you want before you even know you want it. Repressed Records is one such place. A Newtown institution, they remain a bulwark against the creeping gentrification and frozen yoghurting of King Street. And through their tradition of in-store performances, Repressed has helped a number of great local bands take their first steps. There are fewer and fewer places like Repressed around these days, so we have to make sure we look after them, and even if the bands playing at their birthday party were rubbish I'd be telling you to get down there. But, of course, the lineup is killer, packed full of Repressed favourites and local legends like the Bed Wettin' Bad Boys and Woollen Kits. If you like your guitars scrappy, your singers raw and your nose bloodied, I don't know why you would want to be anywhere else this Saturday. Their 10th birthday last year sold out well in advance, so make sure you get in quick.
Brand X is the studio formerly known as Queen Street Studio. This is the same studio that’s been running creative spaces for emerging Sydney performers and artists, letting them get together and practise their craft at an emerging price. Under the Queen Street name, they’ve been behind rehearsal spaces Heffron Hall and the Marrickville Palace, as well as the Underbelly-loving, now former Fraser Studios. A new space is coming along with the change of moniker, with the new space Brand X will be officially launched on Friday. And you’re invited. Occupying this newest city art space will be a selection of Sydney artists, and the plan is to rotate them in and out on six-month shifts over the next three years. Among the first detachment of creative space makers will be taxidermist Eloise Kirk, kinetic sculptor Johannes Mulijana and doodle-crocheter [NSFW wool] to the Sydney Lord Mayor, Kirsten Fredericks.
Carriageworks is pretty quiet on a Saturday afternoon post-Eveleigh Markets. But that's probably the best way to experience Working Class Hero (A Portrait of John Lennon), a video installation by Berlin-based artist Candice Breitz, which is tucked away in Anna Schwartz Gallery at the far end of the building. The installation features 25 John Lennon fans selected by Breitz to record their own version of Lennon's first solo album, Plastic Ono Band, and they all play simultaneously on individual screens. Standing right in the middle of the dark room, listening their voices echoing around the giant empty space is pretty surreal. It definitely adds to the experience. It might seem weird for a 'portrait' of John Lennon to not have any actual images of him, but in Working Class Hero, the focus is on the fan — their relationship with the music and the way it means something different to each of them. It brings to mind that quote from Almost Famous, about how being a fan means "to truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts". You can see it in their facial expressions, the emotion in their voices, the way they perk up or the way they start bopping away when one particular song comes on. Working Class Hero is the fourth part of a series of similar 'portraits' by Breitz — Legend, King and Queen, which were about Bob Marley, Michael Jackson and Madonna respectively — all available on her website. They're not essential viewing, but you do get a better sense of what Breitz is trying to capture. And the contrasts between the different groups of fans. For instance, there's a lot more dancing in the Michael Jackson and Madonna ones, while John Lennon and Bob Marley fans prefer to sing with a bit of swaying and head bopping here and there. Even if you're not a hardcore John Lennon fan, the experience of being a fan, and having that one album that you'll always know inside out, is something everyone can relate to.
If you've got an inquisitive mind and a sweet tooth, you're going to want to pay a visit to Eat the Collection, a one-night-only event at the Powerhouse Museum that will involve playing with the latest 3D printing technology — to print in chocolate. A part of Vivid Ideas 2013, Eat the Collection "explores the interaction of design, food and technology", with 10 of Sydney's most creative minds to lead proceedings. There'll be artists, graphic and industrial designers, sculptors and architects, including design studios Kink and Supermanoeuvre and LAVA founder Chris Bosse. They'll search the museum's online collection for an object to inspire their own drawing, which then gets printed out in 3D. Chocolate 3D. People are invited to come along and eat the 3D creations, as well as hear the stories behind them — their creative processes, what objects were used as inspiration, as well as learn a little bit more about the technology behind 3D printing. There's also going to be games, DJs, a silent disco and food and drink in the unlikely event that you get sick of all the chocolate.
Ever looked at the guy holding the 'slow/stop' sign on a construction site and wondered if he was internally grappling with philosophical questions as he flips the sign? Probably not, but you will after seeing this play. A Sign of The Times is a NIDA Independent and The Follies production written and directed by Stephen Helper and starring Scott Irwin, the play's central and only character. 'Man' is a former uni lecturer who, after it all gets too much at work and home, decides to give it all up and become the slow/stop man at construction sites. The audience is invited inside Man's head as he spends his days internally pondering life's big questions, using his knowledge of Shakespeare, Einstein, ancient Greek drama, T.S. Eliot and Robert Frost. According to Helper, the play was inspired by a chance encounter at some road works with a "friendly, energised" workman who left a lasting impression on him. But despite the heavy intellectual content, Helper says audiences can expect the play to be "very,very funny."
Feeling a bit over the regular Sydney party scene? Sometimes wish you could just be swept up and taken away to a dance floor where they play rock 'n' roll instead of dubstep and the boys wear starched-collared shirts instead of flannel? In the spring fling to end all flings, FBi Social will, on September 13, host Spring Prom, a night that's all about dancing in the spring. Set to have you jivin’ the night away are special guests The Fabergettes, a Sydney-based duet who describe their style as a doo-wop-garage-pop and sing about hairspray. On the night they will launch their Big Bruiser EP, which is packed with their vintage twang. Also on the setlist is Tim Commandeur's solo project, Alaskan Knight, and La Tarantella, who have dubbed themselves a modern dance band for people who hate dance music. Okin Osan will bring her '50s rock ‘n’ roll cum '80s American punk vibe. FBi Social have built a reputation for showcasing the best in local music, and prom night is no different. With FBi DJs also on the menu, this is a night not to be missed. So bring out your bobby-sox and corsage — nobody wants to be the wallflower at this party.
There was a row of empty chairs at the matinee performance of The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe I attended. Right in the front row, they seemed to stand in for the thousands, millions of people who have turned away, intentionally or unintentionally, from the stories told in the play. In a powerful two-hour exploration of violence, war, survival and hope in Africa and Australia, the silence, the emptiness of those chairs seemed to cut viscerally. The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe is not like any other play you'll see on a main stage (though it should be.) It's not even very like the other verbatim/community collaboration projects you might have seen recently. It's a bit rougher around the edges, a bit less slick. It doesn't fit so easily into Belvoir's tiny Downstairs space — though it would easily fill a village square. It's a little more naive, and that is absolutely intended to be a compliment. Director Ros Horin is less concerned with exploring theatrical strategies than she is in getting stories heard in the clearest, most fulfilling way, for both the teller and the told. To this end, she uses four African women, all migrants to Australia and attendees of a cultural group organised by one of the performers (Rosemary Kariuki-Fyfe), three actors, a singer and two dancers to explore what brought these women to Australia, what they left behind and how important it is for them to be heard. It is not possible to render in words the absolute horror and degradation these women have experienced, nor can I do justice to the transformative experience of sharing a tiny room, actual air-space and ability to touch flesh with a woman who has not only survived, for example, being a child soldier and sexual assault victim in Sierra Leone, migrated half way across the world, started a family, returned to Sierra Leone retrieve her daughter and bring her to Australia, but is capable of standing in front of a group of one hundred new strangers every night to relieve the experience. There are no flashing lights, no amazing transformations, no clever tricks. Just the truth. Which is absolutely galling. Horin and team navigate this obviously sensitive territory with beautiful sensitivity, laying clear for the audience when an actor is standing in for one of the women, replaying for us rehearsal discussions about boundaries, and perhaps most importantly injecting a healthy dose of humour and joie de vivre into the proceedings, which provides a surely necessary note of hope. You see, the important thing is that these women got out. They got here. And they thrived. And they obviously believe passionately in their right to be heard. Up until relatively recently, sexual abuse of women was not recognised as a war crime. Of the thousands of men who perpetuated sexual, physical and psychological violence against women as members of armies or rebel groups, only the most minute handful have ever been prosecuted. Rape is such a common occurrence that African women are told there is no point complaining about it, to get over it, move on. The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe enact the deeply radical decision to ignore that advice. The Belvoir season is, according to the website, completely sold out — but that's what they said about my matinee. As we hurtle towards an election which has been pockmarked with shallow, personality-based sniping, factual evasions and a race to the subterranean on refugee policy on behalf of both major parties, it'd be well worth your while to spend a few hours camping out at Belvoir in the hope of scoring a ticket to something that might remind you what a real problem looks like. And that Australia — as a nation, and as individuals of conscience — has a role to play in fixing it. Don't let there be an empty seat in the house: these ladies, and the thousands they represent, deserve your witness.
Despite prominently featuring his name in the title, Renaissance to Goya is mostly etchings and sketches from predecessors and contemporaries of Francisco de Goya, with Goya's own art confined to the final of the show's four rooms. Three quarters of the show is a pretty technical collection of nice art pieces occupied mainly with saints, angels and genitals. Hendrick Goltzius' the Circumcision of Christ (the minute blade and divine member dead centre) and Francisco Rizi's The Virgin appearing to Saint Simon de Rojas stand out particularly in the latter category. José de Ribera's Christ beaten by a tormentor shows a hazy, red chalk drawing image that feels like reportage from an Occupy police beating. Much of the best stuff is saved for the final room. Most is by Goya himself, but Luis Parent y Alcazar's A Masked Ball is chock full of tiny faces at the titular ball, each alive with excitement as your eye climbs the private boxes amongst the candelabras. Fernando Brambila and Juan Gálvez's Ruins of the church of the General Hospital is a beautiful, shocking image, with arches broken halfway through their curve and beams askew, like poorly made barricades. It's like looking at a photo of ruined Europe from after the Second World War. It hangs next to Goya's images of war and a tired Duke of Wellington. Goya's own figures are messy, delicate and expressive. For so many of his lighter subjects, these keen faces create comedy, pathos or pride. In his darker images, though, these feelings coalesce into sombre moments, like Edward Gorey sketches or an Art Spiegelman comic. The timing on the page, between Goya's images and titles, wouldn't feel out of place among the cartoons curated at the New Yorker by Spiegelman's wife Françoise Mouly. (Both of the latter are due here in October for GRAPHIC.) The sleep of reason produces monsters, in the series Los caprichos, is almost reason enough by itself to visit the exhibition. A man asleep at his desk is stalked by looming owls, bats and big cats. Scared, off balance and shivering, he huddles across the left of the etching while the monsters gather around. Equally strong is his Disasters of War series, a posthumously published reaction to war, famine and an opressive regime. It's harsh, sarcastic and horrifying. What bravery! shows sacklike, dead men surrounding a cannon as a woman lights its fuse, alone. A heroic feat! With dead men shows two men hanging from a tree. They are in five parts. One of them is whole. These Goya are stunning. But, while there are good things on show here, you want to be aware going in exactly how much on offer is Goya and how much renaissance. Images: Francisco Goya Y Lucientes, For being of Jewish ancestry and Francisco de Zurbarán, Head of a monk © The Trustees of the British Museum
The Dumbo Feather Conversation Series is back in 2013 with entrepreneur and social innovator Chid Liberty, CEO of Africa's first Fair Trade Certified apparel factory, Liberty and Justice, which creates economic opportunities for displaced African women. "We keep talking about poor people as if they don't make rational decisions," says Chid. "But they make much better, much more rational decisions than most wealthy people. All we're going to do is move the needle a little bit at a time every day." p> The Dumbo Feather Conversations series is a live version of Dumbo Feather magazine, which features inspiring conversations with "people worth knowing, across enterprise, education, science, sport, politics, fashion and the arts". You can start chewing over the issues of the night by having a read of Chid's Dumbo Feather interview here.
It’s always a huge year at Head On Photo Festival, and this year is no exception. Too big to fit in a single month, Head On sprawls over May and June, watching both the Sydney Writers Festival and the Sydney Film Festival open and close in its wake. This year’s selection of photography spends a lot of time overseas, with Calle Habana’s black and white Cuba, Ambition, Resignation, Alienation’s stolen light from '80s China, White Shadows’ window on life as an albino in Tanzania (also explored in the Human Rights Arts and Film Fest this year) and Yakuza’s journey into the Japanese underworld. There’s also Paul Blackmore’s stills from Beruit, and Stills Gallery’s photography from the late war correspondent Tim Hetherington. Closer to home, George Voulgaropoulos makes takes some stunning refugee portraits in Auburn, Fiona Wolf checks out the Parkes Elvis Festival, Jagath Dheerasekara checks out the Campbelltown fringe and indigenous retrospective from Barbara McGrady. There’s also a few words from Magnum photographers at the State Library and the Powerhouse. And these are just a toe in the water out of a flood of inbound photo shows coming our way all around town, including Andrew Quilty, the hidden Emma Hack, a look at the Ghanian way of death and many, many more. Image: Tim Hetherington, Kim, Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan © Tim Hetherington, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York. Part of Stills Gallery's Head On Show.
Julian Marley is bringing his dreadlocks and infectious roots-reggae to Australia this May on an express pitstop tour. The son of the famous Bob, who recorded his first demo at the early age of five, will showcase his soulful voice and hypnotic beats in one show only in each of Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns before continuing on around the world. Marley has music in his veins and experiments with the multitude of instruments that he can play until he creates something he likes. "I don't plan the next step", he says, "somehow things seem to just come together naturally that way." It is that impulse and spontaneity that make his live offerings worth experiencing. He won't be alone either, with The Strides and ManaLion supporting him in Sydney, as well as Natalia Pa’apa’a of Blue King Brown fame performing with the Rumwaropen sisters. It promises to be an all-round mammoth serving of soul that will set your hips swaying and your feet shaking. Julian Marley visits are rare, so make sure you get in whilst you can; you never know when he will be coming back.
It's Sunday afternoon — you did not want a cider, but you have had three — and you realise that you are having the same conversation you had last week, at the same table and you are with the same people. Now, you can start back on the life affirmation conversation, or skip that and head down to the Cherchez La Femme at the Vanguard to hear interesting, accomplished women talking about… whatever, in a relevant way. Plus there is a bar and you can bring your mates. This casual-feminist-forum-in-the-pub started three years ago in Melbourne and has found a permanent home at the Gasometer in Collingwood, so a Sydney sojourn is well overdue. I am imagining RocKwiz but everyone is Julia Zemiro and there's no obligatory head nodding ("Oh yeah, of course Nick Cave is actually pronounced ca-VAY.") Creator of Cherchez La Femme and organiser of SlutWalk Melbourne, Karen Pickering will be hosting the evening as women from science, the arts and Cosmo come together for that great female tradition, the Sunday debrief. On the panel will be playwright/Twitterer Van Badham, Princesses & Pornstars author Emily Maguire, fat activist Frances Lockie, Nareen Young from the Diversity Council of Australia and scientist Catriona Wimberley.
If you have seen the new single, 'Ballad of the War Machine', from Midnight Juggernauts, you might not know what to think. The throw-back, surrealist video clip had tongues wagging and mouths salivating a few weeks back for the return of the Melbourne trio, yet no one expected their return to be this covert. Like Cold War-era secrets, information on the new Midnight Juggernauts material was kept secret, as different versions of the video were distributed through blogs and discussion boards. The responses to this method of viral promotion were varied, yet the end result is a memorable experience that has only made anticipation grow in the bellies of fans. Since releasing their previous albums, Dystopia and The Crystal Axis, Midnight Juggernauts have been touring the globe before taking time off to gather inspiration for their next effort. If this lead single is anything to go by, Midnight Juggernauts will still be pushing boundaries and matching expectations. Their national tour takes in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne before the trio play at Groovin' the Moo. https://youtube.com/watch?v=VMeuC_aGuoo
Hannah is a mousy-haired, slightly pudgy young woman trying to negotiate life in the big city, with her three not-always-supportive friends at her side. Sound like a story you like? Well, it will be, but it's not the one you think, and the similarities with honest comedy (hon-com?) Girls end there. The Hannah in Girl in Tan Boots, a new play by Sydney writer Tahli Corin, has disappeared. She is represented on stage by one of those hauntingly blank missing-person mannequins. We learn about Hannah vicariously, through the eyes of Detective Carapetis (Linden Wilkinson), a Jane Lynch-esque figure soon consumed with empathy for the girl who vanished after getting on a train at Wynyard Station but has always been a bit invisible. After chatting to Hannah's work colleagues (Zindzi Okenyo, Madeleine Jones and Francesca Savige in fine form), a chorus of adult women with high-school popular-girl mentalities, Carapetis gets a lead: Hannah was obsessed with the personal ads in the commuter rag and looking for her own mystery man, Grey Suit. That's right, Girl in Tan Boots is so far the only play inspired by mX's Here's Looking at You column — and inspired richly. As a mystery, the play really keeps you guessing, and it also draws real meaning and depth from its set-up. If it has the aura of chick lit around it, it's only in so far as chick lit is written by women, about women and regularly has its literary value overlooked. Girl in Tan Boots is truly a funny and thoughtful dramedy that will entertain any kind of human being for its full hour and a half. As a statement on anonymous-yet-surveilled city living, it's poignant. There's a creative, flowing sense to Susanna Dowling's direction here that really works. The team has also incorporated sleights of hand (thanks to magic consultant Bruce Glen) that some might call novelty but that are actually awesome. Not only are the magic tricks fun, they're unnerving, and they hit the right note as the feeling that things are not as they seem builds and builds. Read more about Girl in Tan Boots in Zindzi Okenyo's Hidden Sydney interview here.
Kaldor Public Art Projects is back with their 27th show in 44 years. And they are obviously a superstitious bunch: hosting 13 international artists in 13 purpose-built rooms in the millennium's 13th year and calling the show 13 Rooms. Hmmm... It adds up to 11 days of artistic awakening down at Walsh Bay. And for the more adventurous, there is an after-dark option on Fridays. An onslaught of reactions to and interactions with the exhibition, Parlour Nights encompasses thinkers, artists, musicians and people who just like talking. With a little help from UTS and curated by SuperKaleidoscope, Parlour Nights will be set to the familiar beats of FBi DJs and lubricated by Grasshopper, one of our CBD's first small bars, now on pop-up duties. The drinks will be good, and even the coolest amongst you will be toe-tapping and shoulder-shrugging. So prepare yourself with a solid argument like 'Damien Hirst: art or commodity/art as commodity' and brush up on the mother of performance and video art, Joan Jonas. Oh, and if you love watching politely confused old people, hang out in the Xu Zhen room (or just click here). Parlour is free, but it's booking out. Reserve your place via Eventbrite.
For an Anzac Day experience all in one venue, head down to The Vic in Enmore as they host their inaugural Anzac Day car park party at their new outdoor venue, The Projects. There will be plenty of drinks. There will be plenty of meat, on spit roasts. There will be plenty of Anzac biscuits. There will be plenty of Two-Up. There will be plenty of music from Spurs for Jesus, Handsome Young Strangers, Jay Katz and DJs. Plus entry is free. Read the rest of our ten best things to do this Anzac Day.
Art plus bar. This almost universal gallery opening deal is a pretty tasty mix already. But the MCA adds extras to this time-honoured tradition with its now SMAC-winning series ARTBAR. They're evenings of strange and interesting things at play among the art, recurring monthly and curated by a rotating cast of local artists. This month the MCA is defying the dangers of the gymnasium and taking a poll of nine performance artists on the subject of the Workout. All nine artists will bring their creative exercise to the gallery floor. So get ready for an evening of activity for the brain, the body and the drinking arm. Image courtesy and © the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Photograph: Catherine McElhone.
Oh, 2003. It was the year when the American government served up 'Freedom Fries', when Apple launched a little music webstore called 'iTunes' and when a bunch of nerds spent 10 days building a website by the name of 'MySpace'. It also marked the arrival of a Sydney band now known as Dappled Cities — art rockers beloved for belting out lo-fi indie tunes with an off-pop bent. Their stage show garnered acclaim from critics and screams from fans, quickly leading to slots at SXSW and tours across the US and UK. They continued to cultivate their live theatrics, supporting the likes of Death Cab for Cutie and blowing minds with orchestrated baroque remixes. Now, after a decade on the road, the hardworking lads are ready to celebrate their aluminium anniversary by taking their tunes back to the sweaty underground club scene where it all began. The band will perform at the Oxford Art Factory on Wednesday, April 24, with fans able to request songs via the band's Facebook page prior to the show. Rumour has it that the boys will also be testing new songs from their unnamed fifth studio album, out later this year. Hallelujah. https://youtube.com/watch?v=dCnnWlFfYn0
Secret Squirrel Productions are back with their latest Underground Cinema screening. It's a day designed to get you as excited by the movies as you were seeing Jurassic Park — that's right, childhood blockbuster excitement is still attainable — so they have designed a type of scavenger hunt meets mystery screening. Last time, Bondi was taken over by a themed mob of cinema-goers who were treated to a skating show, a walk to the Pavilion and Catherine Hardwicke's Lords of Dogtown replete with in-character organisers steering them through the day. So what are our clues this time? Right, well the theme is snow, the dress code is all white with trousers and sensible shoes, the theme is a three-way slashie: forgeign/arthouse/horror and it is on in just under two weeks. Not a whole lot to go on, but sign up and you should get a few extra hints. Oh, and start writing your ideas down — you want to be one of the correct guessers on the next video of past events.
Stills Gallery can do no wrong, in my eyes. Their roster of artists is impeccable, and their exhibitions are always wonderfully thoughtful and beautifully curated. This new show is no exception. Featuring the work of Tim Hetherington and Doug Rickard, the exhibition is a collaborative effort between Stills Gallery and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, and is part of the Head On Photo Festival. A New American Picture presents a series of American street scenes lifted from Google Street View. Over the course of four years, Rickard trawled the website, searching for downtrodden, economically devastated areas of the US. Once a suitable vista was found, Rickard would photograph the computer screen. The result are faded, grainy pictures that look like quite cinematic. Given that they're screenshots, the images lack any great definition and many feature people and children with their faces blurred out, giving them a cool, surrealist vibe. They're terrifically interesting photographs, particularly when you consider the idea of a Rickard as a documentary photographer working remotely. My favourite works were those by Tim Hetherington. A photojournalist, he is perhaps best known for his work as co-director on the documentary film Restrepo (2010), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Hetherington's works capture American soldiers slumbering peacefully, taken while he was stationed in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley during 2007-08. The photographs themselves are sweet and beautiful, but it feels strange to look at images of these men. They look so serene as they sleep in quite childlike positions, and then you remember that they are in a profession of supreme violence. It's an incredibly jarring contradiction. Hetherington is able to shift perspectives on war and human suffering, which is no mean feat. Sadly, he was killed on April 20, 2011, by shrapnel while covering the frontlines of the conflict in Libya. Both Rickard and Hetherington are virtuosos of the genre and both have contributed greatly to contemporary film and photographic practices. Their images, though dramatically different, work well together. If you're a photography buff (and these days, really, who isn't?) then this is the show for you. Image: Tim Hetherington, Kim, Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan © Tim Hetherington, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
It would be easy to breeze through this collection, which takes in collages, installations, short films and sculpture and simply be stunned into submission by her Wangechi Mutu's maximalist aesthetic and singular style. Look closer though and there's a strong vein of political commentary in Mutu's work and a sense of lingering disquiet beneath the shiny veneers. Born in Kenya, and based in the thriving contemporary art scene of Brooklyn, Mutu has compiled a completely distinctive body of work which focuses on the themes of exoticism, representations of the female body and the bloody legacy of colonialism and slavery in Africa. The stunning large-scale Perhaps The Moon Will Save Us is a good representation of her modus operandi, being a fantastical creation which closer inspection reveals is made of mundane materials. What initially looks like scattered stars are mere holes smashed in the wall, while a sagging moon hangs over mountains made from packing tape and a makeshift fantasia of fake fur, thrift shop jewellery and ripped felt blankets. One of Mutu's many works to draw on African influences is Black Thrones where handsomely carved chairs sit atop empty thrones lavishly decorated with feathers, hair and horns. It's a piece grounded both in realism and fantasy. The striking visuals have a certain fairy tale quality, but also act as a reference to the hush harbours, where African slaves would gather out of sight of their imperial overseers to congregate, practice religion and sing. The piece also touches the idea of loss in its invocation of absent royalty, a theme which runs through much of Mutu's work. Enclosed in a shipping container where light pierces holes in the wall, Exhuming Gluttony: Another Requiem is another visually striking, but somewhat queasy, installation where a collection of animal pelts hangs on the wall like a hunting trophy, looking out over a banquet table and a series of suspended red wine bottles which drip slowly, like blood from a wound. There is a sense the scene has been abandoned, while the tufts of hair on the floor add a gruesome touch. Mutu is perhaps best known for her mixed media collages, and this side of her work is well represented with a number of works showcased. Feathers, plastic jewellery and explosions of glitter jostle for position with pictures of snakes, and images cut from motorbike magazines. Another highlight is Suspended Playtime, which features shiny black garbage bags rolled up into hanging baubles, in a work both sinister and playful. The hour-long looped film Amazing Grace, which features the famous spiritual sung in Mutu's native Kikuyu, has a bewitching, dreamlike quality, though many of the other short films feel anonymous among such distinctive work. Overall, though, it's a vital exhibition, from an artist literally capable of fashioning treasures out of trash and creating sobering political rhetoric out of the most abstract of mixed media collages. Wangechi Mutu, Perhaps the Moon Will Save Us (detail).
English producer/singer/songwriter James Blake will be bringing his fantastical electronics and boldly introspective melodies down under for two special Australian shows. The announcement follows the release of Blake's new single 'Retrograde', a piano-backed slice of rhythmic electronica further emphasising the BRIT-nominated 24-year-old's love of soaring vocals and R&B samples. It's the first track off his upcoming album Overgrown, due out on April 5, a wildly anticipated 11-track effort featuring collaborations with the legendary RZA and Brian Eno. These shows will let fans lift the veil on the magic in an intimate live setting. Tickets go on sale March 11 at 9am via Ticketek. https://youtube.com/watch?v=6p6PcFFUm5I
Director Sam Raimi is no stranger to reboots. His 1981 horror flick The Evil Dead just received the reboot treatment this year, and last year's reboot of the Spiderman franchise (The Amazing Spiderman) marked a mere decade since Raimi's own version of story came out. It's no surprise, then, that Raimi was the one tapped to direct Oz the Great and Powerful — a prequel to 1939's beloved Wizard of Oz. Nor is it a shock that he's now supposedly attached to direct a remake of 1982's Poltergeist. Basically if you want something done right, again, then Sam's your man. And he'd need to be, since tackling The Wizard of Oz — a film often ranked in the 10 best of all time — has traditionally been a fool's errand fraught with difficulties. Just consider 1978's The Wiz, an African American version starring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow (...if he only had a nose...). Then came Disney's terrifying attempt at a sequel, Return to Oz, in 1985. The opening scenes alone, depicting a frenzied Dorothy, strapped to a gurney and receiving electroshock therapy in a crumbling mental asylum, somehow failed to charm the hearts and minds of families in quite the same way as its predecessor — a task not helped by later scenes featuring masked murderous gangs with wheels for hands or a queen who froze people and wore their heads. You know, a children's movie. Finally in 2003, the Tony- and Grammy-winning musical Wicked opened on Broadway and has since become the 12th longest-running show in its history. Of all the reinterpretations, it's Wicked that fits most comfortably with the original, and so its story (the explanation of why the wicked witch became wicked) was the logical choice for Raimi's prequel, along with the 'how and why' of the Wizard becoming their great but mysterious leader. That man, Oscar Diggs (or 'Oz'), is played by James Franco, and his story begins as a lying, cheating carnival con man in Kansas. In a delightful homage to the 1939 version, Raimi also begins his film in black and white, and just like the original, that device makes Oscar's subsequent arrival into the fantastically colourful world of Oz all the more spectacular. Once there, he meets three beguiling but feuding witches named Theodora (Mila Kunis), Glinda (Michelle Williams), and Evanora (Rachel Weisz). Each claims the other is the 'wicked one' and begs him to save the land and its people by killing their rival. Oz the Great and Powerful isn't a film whose enjoyment is predicated upon knowledge of the original; however, its frequent tips of the hat definitely add an extra layer of enjoyment to the experience. And just like the original, Oz's journey along the yellow brick road leads to several chance encounters with some wonderfully creative, tender and amusing companions, including a small china doll and a wisecracking flying monkey (voiced by Zach Braff). Being Disney, it's obviously very much a children's movie, but one whose respectful treatment of the original still offers adults a chance to enhance, rather than replace, one cherished Wizard of Oz story with another. https://youtube.com/watch?v=yyywumlnhdw
Thursday, March 14, will see Mama Kin test out the floors of The Basement as she brings her self-proclaimed "foot-stomping soul" and a new band member across the country to Sydney. This national tour is on the back of her sophomore release, Magician's Daughter, a roller-coaster ride traversing the riotous and the raw, where her vocals finely balance between resonating power and soul-searching vulnerability, taking you on a sonic journey of smouldering songs.
In 16th-century England, John Donne had the freshest flow around. The boy could wield a quill (see above). Plus, by the time he turned 17, he had obtained degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge. Yet, as Wikipedia sadly records, "despite his great education and poetic talents, Donne lived in poverty for several years." Half a millenium on, and it seems that the fate of brilliant literary creators has not radically changed. Take Melbourne-based curiosity journal Ampersand, for example. Despite blowing minds worldwide through issues 1-5 (even rating a small mention in Huffington Post's '11 Amazing Magazine You've Never Heard Of'), their sixth instalment almost didn't make it out alive. Dead broke just before print date, the publication had to solicit funds from readers to get Issue #6 off the ground. And, oh boy, did the readers deliver (or over deliver, we should say). As a result, we are pleased to announce that the latest Donne-inspired edition of Ampersand, 'One Little Room', will be hitting all good bookstores this morning. And you can grab your copy for a mere $15. Rejoice. Furthermore, the Ampersand team will be celebrating issue #6 with a launch party. Hosted by Redfern's 107 Projects, the night will feature live readings from contributors Darren Hanlon, Jesse Cox, Lucy Lehmann, Nick Coyle, Alice Gage and Charlie Garber, as well as free beverages from Batlow Cider.
For over 50 years the Dutch company Nederlands Dans Theater has nimbly stretched the limbs of contemporary dance, and yet its appearances in Sydney are few and far between. This week is a rare exception, with four works from the company's repertoire to be viewed at the Sydney Opera House. While no longer the coolest kid on the barre, Jiŕí Kylián still stands as a tremendous figure in the field of contemporary dance choreography. Originally trained in ballet, Kylián took the precision and physical discipline of the form and contorted it with expressions of wit and experimentation to create his own style, demonstrated here by his two pieces Sweet Dreams and Sarabande. Also on show are two newer works, SH-Boom and Shoot the Moon (it is staggering how many of NDT's titles begin with an S). Choreographed by NDT's current artistic director, Paul Lightfoot, and his long-term collaborator Sol Leon, these works carry on in the vein of humour found in Kylián's; however, they have morphed into their own dramas, featuring almost love scenes and half-formed rooms. https://youtube.com/watch?v=xq2EgAm6vTo
Ash Grunwald is back, ready to tour his unique sound to the ears of Australians nationwide. He won't be alone though, having teamed up with bass-straddler Scott Owen and drumming maverick Andy Strachan of The Living End fame. The unlikely trio have been jamming and have created a heavier sound than Grunwald fans may be used to, but it is well suited to his rustic vocals and if the first product of their activity in the studio is anything to go by, the live show promises to be electric. The dreadlocked talent and his band of misfits will be taking to the stage at the Metro Theatre on Friday, June 21. Who knows how long this collection of Australian musical talent will band together for, so why not let them surprise you while they can.
The Winery Fashion Markets are a bit like having several incredibly stylish friends who allow you to raid their wardrobes (which are enviably full of international and Australian designer labels) once a month behind a Surry Hills wine bar. This winter, the Winery are transforming the laneway behind their bar into that market place. On the third Saturday of every month, some of Sydney's hottest fashion identities — bloggers,stylists and fashion publicists — will be selling their own pre-loved clothes. Some of the names confirmed for the market include Talisa Sutton (Badlands),Sara Donaldson (Harper and Harley), Rebecca Rac and Zanita Morgan (Zanita Zanita). There'll also be a DJ and other activities going on in the laneway. And if you happen to get cold or hungry in between shopping, they've got you covered. You can pop inside and keep warm with mulled wine, veal and chorizo sausage rolls or, maybe, some crab toasties.
The radio play has become somewhat of a neglected art form since television moved into homes. Why listen to descriptions of the visual when you can turn on the television and have the picture painted for you? The answer is because they are truly excellent. Listeners get to enjoy their own visual interpretation of the piece as they allow us to use our imagination and construct worlds and characters unique to our minds. Thankfully there are artists like the award-winning Nick Coyle (Me Pregnant!, Rommy) still writing radio plays. For one night only on Friday, June 14, he is performing his most recent work Batfeet, the radio play "not good enough" for the ABC, with Anna Houston and Tom Campbell. If you want the opportunity to (mentally) practice your artistic license then this is definitely for you.
The Art Gallery of NSW brings a bit of historic disorder to in its Wednesday night Summer in Soho series, accompanying the Gallery’s foray into the world of Soho resident Francis Bacon. This Wednesday, the speakers get personal for Valentine's, as curatorial assistant Macushla Robinson talks about Bacon and love, Katie Noonan sings about love (balanced by Brian Campeau's anti-love songs) and Barbara Dawson talks about the near-archaeological feat of moving Bacon's famously-messy workshop piece-by-piece from the UK to Ireland. Photo of Francis Bacon in his Reece Mews studio. May 1970 by Michael Pergolani. Dublin City Galley, the Hugh Lane.
So change is, on the whole, a good thing. The Oxford Street Design Store was made from the start to be a low cost storefront for local designers to get their work out, while events played out out back. Their low-cost City of Sydney lease just got renewed and to take themselves long term they're taking on lodgers. Once a month local artists and designers will take turns popping up in the store front, while related workshops play on out back. First up, at the newly-renamed Oxford Street Design Collective, is T-shirt powerhouse Lonely Kids Club. Lonely Kids are a normally online-only operation run by Warwick Levy, who collaborates with local artists to get their art on your front. While he occupies the frontage with a bespoke new range of designs, workshops will be run out back introducing artists to the wonders of screen printing. The Oxford Street Design Collective is open from midday Wednesday to Sunday. The $150 workshop, Screen Printing Digital Designs, will run Sundays 24th February and 3rd of March. For more info and to sign up, email the tutor, Badger Lane's Laura Walsh.
'Whip' Whittaker (Denzel Washington) wakes up in a hotel room, disentangles himself from last night's paramour, Katerina (Nadine Velazquez), surveys the wreckage of liquor bottles, does a line of cocaine, argues with his ex-wife, then heads to his day job. As a commercial pilot. While his co-pilot, the straitlaced Ken Evans (Brian Geraghty) thinks something is amiss with Whip, it is smooth sailing as Whip pulls off an audacious move to get the plane through some bad weather then rewards himself with a mid-flight vodka and orange juice. Then things start to go very, very wrong. In one of the most gripping set pieces seen on the big screen in years, the plane finds itself in trouble and not responding to any of the usual fixes. It is soon plummeting towards earth and the passengers and crew resort to panic and prayer. Whip, however, remains cool and in a brilliant piece of quick thinking, inverts the plane to take much of the force out of the landing. The manoeuvre mitigates what could have been complete calamity and when the wreckage is surveyed, only six people have lost their lives. After such a bold start, the film moves into the more familiar territory of addiction drama, but there is far too much complexity and moral nuance here for the film to be anything less than intriguing. It is revealed the plane wasn't properly maintained and was an accident waiting to happen. Whip's audacious actions were not performed in spite of his state of inebriation but actually because of it. Another pilot, one free of drugs and alcohol, could not have done what he did and saved as many lives as he did. He meets heroin addict Nicole (Kelly Reilly) in hospital, and the pair are soon shacked up at a secluded cottage, hiding from the world. But when the legal ramifications of the crash ramp up after Whip has a testy meeting with Hugh (an excellent Don Cheadle), a driven criminal lawyer who is confident he can have Whip's toxicology report thrown out as evidence, he falls back off the wagon, skulling vodka with a vengeance and hatching plans to escape to Jamaica in a small plane. Whip's actions become increasingly pathetic as his supporters try to curb his powerful self-destructive streak and keep him from having a public meltdown before the hearing that will hopefully clear his name for good. Still, he insists he drinks because he wants to. He's had years of practice at getting away with it and finds himself on the brink of freedom. If Flight loses its nerve somewhat in the closing minutes, it only serves to cast the truthful and arresting drama that has come before in an even brighter light. Featuring one of the best performances in Washington's career, it's a tough and taut film which asks questions that linger long after its closing credits.
Earth Hour is a symbolic action. Although there is carbon saved by turning things off, the point is the unmissable demonstration that a huge chunk of the world's population caring about the same thing at the same time. If we can manage this for Earth Hour, why not for grander environmental things? The Hour started in Sydney in 2007, and has become an international event in the years since. There are Earth Hour events in Kenya, India and Ireland these days, but you don't need to travel so far afield to find a way to join in this time around. At its simplest, all you need to do is stay home and turn off the lights. But if you'd like to have a more social darkened moment, you can head to a candlelit restaurant or one of a raft of other lights-off events. If you're in Newtown for Sydney's hour this year, the Fringe Festival is also putting on some entertainment up and down King Street while the lights are gone. Details and a map are here. Image of Earth Hour Switch Off 2010 by Sewell / WWF.
During a Q&A interview last year, Billy Bragg quipped, "You can experience a download but you can't download an experience." In other words, YouTube parties can hardly qualify as a substitute for packing into a crowded bar to watch a live band. This belief lies at the heart of SLAM Day. On 23 February 2010, when changes to Victorian Liquor Licensing Laws threatened the state's music scene, the people of Melbourne hit the streets in protest. Since then, SLAM (the Save Live Australia's Music Collective) has worked arduously to keep live music high on the political agenda. The first National SLAM Day was held on 23 February 2011. All over the country, music lovers organised gigs in small venues, creating a national celebration of independent live music. This year, the tradition continues, with literally thousands of musicians scheduled to perform this weekend. Whether you want to cool off with a cocktail and some original jazz or sink some beers and sing along to your mate's rock band, you're certain to find something on the SLAM program to suit your taste. https://youtube.com/watch?v=o0XGZqyZ-3c
Usher in hump day with the inner west's newest mid-week excuse for a party: Snapback. Every Wednesday, Sydney's toughest female DJs and MCs will converge on the Newtown Hotel to deliver up a weekly dose of beats, hip-hop and dance. Twin sister DJ act Twincest will kick off the launch party with their GD & T.O.P.-influenced jungle beats. You may have stumbled across them at any number of Sydney venues in recent weeks, from The Standard to the MCA's ARTBAR. Ozhiphop.com's Best Female MC (2012), Sky'high, is billed for the second set, with her no-nonsense, high-energy stories of overcoming a violent childhood on Sydney streets. Finally, World Bar/Girlthing regular DJ Astrix Little will keep the late-night revellers on their feet. Entry is free and Dcider ciders will be available for just $5.
