no layout says...

OUR NEW FAVOURITE DIGITAL LIBRARY: NO LAYOUT DISPROVES THE BELIEF THAT PRINT AND ONLINE ARE SUNDERED ENTITIES AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET.

Based in Italy, Switzerland and the United States, No Layout is the love child of the digital age: a single online destination housing, and facilitating the low-fuss reading of scores upon scores of print magazines. It taps into the longing we all have to sit cross-legged beneath a leafy tree, knees draped with an intriguing publication and brings it into the office.

A digital library for independent publishers, No Layout focuses on art books and fashion magazines – but never delves into the ho-hum. Whether you’re on an iWhatever, a laptop or a slow ol’ work computer, No Layout lets users flip through full content on any screen without downloads, fancy browsers or apps. 

I managed to track down editor-in-chief Jonas Brunschwig for a chinwag about what’s in store for your new favourite website (other than this one, of course).

Covered: the future of publishing, being passionately dispassionate and avoiding anything lukewarm

Liz Niland: Who’s behind No Layout & when did it come about? 

Jonas Brunschwig: The site came about last summer and we are based between Switzerland (Daniel Pianetti – project manager), Italy (Bogdan Licar – chief coder) and the United States (myself and Daniel at times). 

LN: What was your motivation in creating No Layout? More...

no layout, jonas brunschwig

project5 on the promenade

Sydneysiders; leave this weekend’s battle between that redhead and those red togs behind in the ballot box and get thee to Cockle Bay Wharf for Project5 - a pop-up combination of live beats and paint-while-you-wait art.

aMBUSH Gallery has recruited top artists Anthony Lister, Meggs, Ears and Webuyyourkids to work live on the Promenade to the cranking mixes of the Future Classic DJs. In support of the Information & Cultural Exchange, the pieces will then be auctioned on October 14 with all proceeds going to charity.

Project5 starts 6pm-9pm Friday, and continues over Saturday and Sunday 12-3pm.

future classic djs, cockle bay wharf, sydney, ambush gallery, anthony lister

there's a chair in there

If you go down to the garden today - the Gazebo Wine Garden that is - you're sure of a big surprise: seven individually artworked Eames chairs are suspended from the ceiling until the end of June. 

Showcasing the work of Sibella Court, Mary Shackman, Daimon Downey, Arnie Arnold, Ben Frost, Brett Chan and Sarrita King, Art In The Garden is also functioning as a fundraiser for the Ted Noffs Foundation. If a particular chair takes your fancy, join the silent auction for your chance to take home a sweet piece - and help support people living with drug and alcohol abuse problems.

gazebo wine garden, sydney

sweet sixteen at somedays, sydney

Featuring 16 of Australia's finest photographers, the aptly titled exhibition Sixteen offers up a slice of life as captured by both established and up-and-coming snappers. Taking inspiration from the new and the old, the exotic and the local, this exhibition - at Surry Hills' Somedays Gallery - is sure to be as captivating as it is diverse. The 16 photographers on display include Jackson Eaton, Pedro Ramos, Sam Ash and Oliver Bryce Yates. 

Check it out June 10-27.

somedays gallery, jackson eaton, pedro ramos, sixteen

review: waiting for godot, new theatre, sydney by liz niland

Waiting For Godot is, essentially, about nothing more than life itself. In explaining the tale of Vladimir and Estragon to my dear plus one, the closest modern narrative to which it could be compared is Seinfeld – to which, admittedly it bears very little resemblance.  But similarly, Waiting for Godot takes the everyday of life and pulls, pushes and expands it into a two-hours-plus exploration of the human condition.

In the purest explanation, Waiting for Godot is a live-action rendition of the oxymoron “bitter sweet”. A yearning for young pink radishes exists alongside the contemplation of a hanging suicide, while physical and emotional abuse comfortably lay somewhere in between.

Let’s go. We can’t. Why not? We’re waiting for Godot.

Samuel Beckett has been, rather expectedly, asked in the past whether the “Godot” for which his protagonists are waiting is in fact “God”. And no doubt, when you see this production, this too will cross your mind. He has however, vehemently denied this definitive reading, saying that the one “Didi” and “Gogo” are waiting for is subjective to the viewers themselves. One person’s God is, after all, another person’s Buddha, which is, of course, another person’s Johnny Depp.More...

waiting for godot, new theatre, samuel beckett, luke rogers, patrick connolly, alan faulkner

bloodwood, newtown

Trendy haircuts, top-notch pad thai and uniquely jazzy threads are all part of the landscape in Sydney’s Newtown, but it’s been quite a while since a destination restaurant reared its head in the city’s inner west. Down the other end of King Street, past the Bank and past the Townie, Bloodwood, the brainchild of a handful of Sydney’s finest chefs, is a place to which you can just as easily take a date, your mother, or a whole party posse for both eats and drinks.

While there’s plenty to choose from on the drinks list – from South Australian shiraz to the Bloodwood’s own alcoholic iced tea – the food was what we came in search of. The lauded spiced lamb kibbeh with silken eggplant, kale and bullhorn capsicum sauce got the nod from our crowd, as did the lucky last-minute inclusion of the herby chickpea pancake with zucchini, pumpkin, and Persian fetta. More...

bloodwood, newtown, restaurants

review: king khan and the shrines and oxford arts factory, sydney by liz niland

I received the Holy Water from the mouth of the King… At Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory. In the space of one very sweaty hour of dance-fuelled excitement, I went from being an inquisitive music fan keen to see the buzz from Berlin, to a sequin-loving, jazz-hand waving, disciple of the one and only King Khan. Taking to the stage in a leopard-print blazer, feathered headdress and a sultry swagger not seen since the early days of James Brown, King Khan provided a show that had pizzazz above and beyond that displayed by many, if any, of his contemporaries.

And while I’ve spent the majority of the last decade building a career that’s mostly far removed from psychedelic rock music, one of King Khan’s “Shrines” took just one round of ‘Welfare Bread’ to have me re-evaluating my chosen path. The Shrine in question was Bamboorella - the Gogo Queen of the Underworld. Dressed in a sequined dress and matching headband, her sole task was to shake her pompoms to the infectiously funky beats created by the balance of the Shrines. When I grow up, I want to be Bamboorella.

Jumping from the stage to join the appreciative crowd for an all-in jumping-jazz rendition of ‘Took My Lady To Dinner’, King Khan didn’t wait long before stripping down to a pair of fetching black lycra shorts worked back with a golden cape. Needless to say, I was beyond besotted by the time I received a shower of Mount Franklin from the mouth of the man himself.

Image by Lou Helliwell

oxford arts factory, king khan and the shrines

zounds of summer

The night might not be still young but Sydney band Dappled Cities are keeping the party going strong with their newest musical offering. Taken from their third album Zounds, 'The Night is Young at Heart' shows the ever-evolving talents of these talented lads. Kluster spoke to Dappled Cities last month about the making of the album, and this single continues the epic sound the band have brought to the table this year. If you liked their first release 'The Price', tune your ears into some more Zounds for summer.

'The Night is Young at Heart' - Dappled Cities

zounds, dappled cities

thirst quenching

If you appreciate cheap booze and local Aussie creative talent, get thee to Sydney’s Darlo Bar tonight, Thursday August 27th, for a big hit of both. Kicking off at 7pm, the Thirsty Artist competition will be exhibiting the work of six very different artists, all looking to get their winning piece printed on the label of a case of Thirsty Artist wine. Terezka Beck took the crown last year with her painting, Baby Elephant.

This year’s finalists - Stephanie Geddes, Hedi Hereth, Lucy Loneragan, Kelly Geddes, Alan Harris and Jae Reno - will each take over a room of the hotel, personalising the space to reflect their artistic capabilities. Guests can enjoy a $1 Hahn Superdry or a drop of the Thirsty Artist wine while they experience the works. The winner will be selected by Darlo Bar staff.

thirsty artist, darlo bar, sydney

play me, i'm yours

Unleashing the talents of closet musos on Sydney earlier this year, the Play Me I’m Yours street piano spectacular is taking London by storm for the next fortnight.

Sing London and the City of London Festival have offered up 30 pianos for the joyous tinkling of the people, in parks, train stations and an array of other public areas. Anyone can approach the keys, but if you’d prefer to enjoy the talents of others, rather than marvel the crowds with a rendition of Chopsticks, check out the pile of free events on offer here. There’s everything from collaborations with a kazoo orchestra, to performances by the London Symphony Orchestra.  

Be quick though, the pianos are only in town until July 13; after that they’ll be donated to local schools and community groups. 

play me i'm yours, london

super sonic sale

Nothing beats a sale. Especially a sale that has way cool stuff on offer for way cheap prices.

Little Hero’s Super Sonic Sale guarantees to blow your mind with up to 75% off massive labels including AM Eyewear, Cheap Monday, Earnest Sewn, Romance Was Born, Therese Rawsthorne and Marsu Homme.

Take your best bargain-hunting game face to 458 Crown Street, Surry Hills and battle it out for five days only, beginning this Wednesday, July 1, at 4pm.  

And it’s not just random crap either. There’ll be stuff for chicks and dudes including swimwear, shoes, denim and accessories. Expect everything from end of season samples to current pieces all priced from a recession-beating $40!

Be sure to hit the ATM before you get there though, it’s cash only.

little hero

tetro: coppola's new baby boy

Opening the Director’s Fortnight sidebar at the Cannes festival in May, Francis Ford Coppola’s newest emotion-charged baby, Tetro, has been the catalyst for plenty of critical debate across the globe. Tetro is an intense family drama centred on the tensions between two brothers; young Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich) and his older sibling Tetro (Vincent Gallo). There are skeletons aplenty hidden in the characters’ closets, with all secrets tumbling forward into the light by curtain close.

Some critics think Coppola is simply reliving The Godfather, (he’s replaced the gun-toting gangsters with pencil-wielding creative types for this one though) while others think that Tetro is his greatest piece of cinema since his glory days of the 1970s. And given it’s not only Coppola’s first original screenplay since 1974’s The Conversation but was also self-financed by the proceeds from his foray into the wine industry, Tetro seems to bear a heavy load of high expectations.

There’s no Australian release date set in stone as yet, but if you’re currently residing in the Northern Hemisphere, get thee to the theatre and support some independent cinema. Otherwise, sit tight.

tetro, francis ford coppola