Posted by KB on July 5, 2011
In line with their vision of providing Sydneysiders with a fresh take on culture, artist-run initiative Serial Space is presenting their inaugural mini-sound festival, Next Next, from July 7-9.
The festival kicks off on Thursday with a performance by The Splinter Orchestra, marking the end of their two week residency at the space. The 35 strong group are Sydney’s foremost improvisational ensemble, creating sound through creative use of traditional and experimental instruments.
If you’re still on the fence about the whole experimental music thing, then check out Friday’s Great Music Debate: That Experimental Music Is Boring - apparently based on “history’s most frequently though, but least uttered statements”.
The festival continues over the weekend with Boredom and Danger, a forum on the contemporary and historical practices in experimental music, and culminates in a live performance from electronic artist Ivan Lisyak, together with an installation from Emily Morandini.
For all the information on the program, check the Serial Space website.
Serial Space is at 33 Wellington St, Chippendale.
next next, serial space, splinter orchestra, ivan lisyak
Posted by kluster on June 1, 2011
Last night, after popping by the Free Market for some comped goodies, we headed down to the The Paper Mill for the opening of the Paper Convention Collective's A4 Festival for some paper art and confabulation.
Last time we spoke to the folks at Paper Convention, we were surrounded by their paper towers at Finders Keepers SS10 Markets. This time, in Sydney’s rain-soaked CBD, we were equally impressed by the ways they make your average A4 piece into and range of unique, intricate creations.More...
paper convention collective, free market, paddington, finders keepers market, the paper mill
Posted by Danni Le Toullec on May 27, 2011
As light projections sprawl over the normally grey buildings that surround Circular Quay tonight, do not be alarmed. This isn’t a guerilla colour-obsessed artist working by night, it is in fact part of the exciting third annual Vivid Sydney 2011 festival which will be splashing light, music and colour all over the streets of Sydney from 27 May – 13 June 2011.
There are countless activities, performances and interactive light sculptures to fill your nights as well as a range of public talks and debates from leading creative thinkers around the world. Acclaimed French design collective SUPERBIEN have designed beautiful light projections which will be illuminating the Sydney Opera House.
As part of Vivid Sydney, Vivid LIVE invites a different curator to organize a program of events in the iconic Sydney Opera House each year.
This year, Stephen Pavlovic, founder of Modular Records, has gotten his hands on the line-up and done sweet sweet things to it. We have him to thank for bringing the likes of The Cure, Chris Cunningham, OFWGTA, Tame Impala, Bat For Lashes, The Avalanches, WU LYF, and Spiritualized to our shores. Following in the footsteps of Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno, it is the first time ever than an Australian has curated the event.
There is also the The Sony Lounge, Vivid Sydney's own pop- up bar, which is set up along the Western foyers of Sydney Opera House. A rotating lineup of DJs will play each night until June 5. After sipping some mulled wine, you can wander around and check out more than 40 light installations or drop in to see the Fire Dance.
So, as the mercury goes down in Sydney, you have no excuse to be a couch potato! Get out there and nourish your cultural soul.
vivid sydney, vivid live, sydney opera house, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, The Cure, Chris Cunningham, OFWGTA, Tame Impala, Bat For Lashes, The Avalanches, WU LYF, Spiritualized
Posted by kluster on March 22, 2011
Q. What do Welcome Stranger, Siberia Records and Lo-fi Collective have in common?
A. They’ll all be coming together this Friday (at Lo-Fi Gallery, of course) to present WS010.
Q. And what exactly is WS010?
A. Well according to our mates at Lo-Fi it’s, “An exhibition of recent works accompanied by a live performance installation from Siberia Records.”
See? It says so right there, on the flyer. Too easy.
Lo-Fi Collective are currently taking up space at: Floor 3, 383 Bourke St in Surry Hills 2010.
lo-Fi collective, welcome stranger, siberian records, ws010
Posted by KB on March 11, 2011
For an animal lover, the power of the pooch is not dissimilar to the effect of a cute baby on a clucky woman. The presence of man’s best friend can, as if with the flick of a switch, turn a usually rational, mature adult into a babbling lunatic. Such is the force of a much-loved pet. With so much unconditional love to give and unquenchable thirst for fun-and-games, it’s astounding to think that 20,000 unwanted, lost and stray pets every year are cared for at the Lost Dogs’ Home in North Melbourne, alone.
Somewhere Store and Gallery has got behind Australia’s largest animal shelter with the Besties exhibition, a fund- and awareness-raiser for helping Lost Dogs’ to continue to fight for animal rights and provide welfare and community services including responsible pet ownership programs.
The Besties launch unveiled 22 donated artworks inspired by artists’ personal experiences with dogs and cats. There were pugs in portrait and kittens on canvas. A “working” dog in a suit ran for the tram, perhaps sending a deeper message about the nature of nine-to-five.More...
besties, somewhere store and gallery, dogs, art, exhibitions
Posted by Sam Hartmann on February 25, 2011
Melbourne based artist Ghostpatrol started off in IT, but lucky for us he took a sharp left turn into art. This is a man who has dreams of creating large scale murals, travelling to the moon, trying his hand at taxidermy and having laser battles! As you can imagine his varied works are imaginative, unique and instantly appealing.
If you live in Melbourne you have probably seen his work in the streets, but Sydneysiders can enjoy Ghostpatrol’s creativity as part of Project 5, which opens tonight and continues over the weekend at Cockle Bay Wharf. If you like what you see, head along to aMBUSH Gallery on March 3, where works from the show will be auctioned off.
Covered: sword making, animation and secrets...
Sam Hartmann: You started off doing an IT degree, what inspired such a change?
Ghostpatrol: Drawing and painting are much more enjoyable. I was fortunate to be surrounded by supportive people and lucky to be welcomed into the Melbourne street art scene.
SM: Where did you get the inspiration to create artworks on pencils?
GP: I’m still thinking about this.
SM: Is there a medium that you have not explored yet that you want to?
GP: Bronze sculpture, moon travel, large scale murals, taxidermy, ceramics, sword making and laser battles.More...
ghostpatrol, project 5, ambush gallery, street art, interviews
Posted by KB on February 16, 2011
It’s more than likely that you’ve heard of Sydney illustrator Emma Magenta, or at least seen her work. After all, this prolific artist has three adult picture books under her belt, works as part of the Third Drawer Down collective and has illustrated two children’s books for Toni Collette as well as one of her own. Now she’s branched out with an animated series, The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch, comprised of 17 episodes, plus an accompanying hardcover book, interactive web component and an iPhone game. We caught up with Emma to chat about her latest creation.
Covered: the emotional abattoir, working with Toni Collette, sequels and being a hermit.
KB: So tell us about Phillipa Finch the character. Is she as sweet as she looks?
Emma Magenta: Phillipa Finch looked a lot sweeter before her heart was taken to the emotional abattoir. She is a girl whose sense of wonder has diminished due to her thwarted attempts to procure perfect love; ideal love. She is a portrait of what can often happen to a girl when she tries to hide her disappointment, as she comes to terms with her expectations of not just love, but life. She develops a shadow side that has obsessive compulsive disorder as a method of controlling her emotions. The shadow side makes itself present in the form of hyper attention to cleaning rituals, health and cup/pet collecting.
She is flawed yes, but that is the essence of the story I guess, it is only by accepting one’s own flaws that one begins to empathise with the flaws in others... then real love can take place.
KB: As well as the animation, there’s an interactive web component, a game and an illustrated novel. What prompted the decision to turn The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch into a cross-platform affair?
EM: I wrote the book for my own catharsis in 2008/2009 and then Rachel Okine (the producer from Hopscotch Productions) asked me to develop an animation series. So I wrote a script around the concepts in the book and The ABC network saw the potential of both mediums working as well as the potential for a game. The concept to make the website interactive occurred after employing the genius of Based on Birds. The main focus was to make any technology associated with the work very human based; things that would click emotion into play rather than the cerebral alone. More...
emma magenta, the gradual demise of phillipa finch, illustration, hopscsotch, based on birds, abc, toni collette
Posted by KB on December 3, 2010
Fancy yourself a bit of a dab hand with a camera? Do you have photo evidence of your rocking good times at Marion Bay? If your skills fit the bill, you could find yourself snapping along with the best at this year’s Falls Festival.
Tourism Tasmania have teamed up with Falls Festival for an exciting photographic comptition. Upload your photos and you could win flights, car hire, accommodation and, of course, tickets and photo passes for The Falls Music and Arts Festival Marion Bay, as well as the prestige of being Tourism Tasmania’s official photographer for the event.
You photos must be of Marion Bay and must be uploaded before December 12.
For full competition details and to vote on your favourite pics, hit the Falls Festival Facebook page.
falls festival, marion bay, photography
Posted by Danni Le Toullec on November 29, 2010
As part of their Design For Humanity charity initiative, Billabong held their second annual benefit to raise much needed funds for UNICEF's Pakistan Flood Children's Appeal last Wednesday night. Using the collaborative powers of the beautiful trifecta that is fashion, art and music - they managed to sell out Sydney's Oxford Art Factory. With 100% of all ticket sales going to the charity, to say the event was a success would be quite an understatement.
Australian fashion designer Lill Boyd collaborated with Billabong bikinis to produce a range of one-off swimsuits for the show. Bringing the beach to the factory, the glass divider room was transformed with sand, beach babes, beach balls, fluffy clouds and a deckchair. With long-legged, tanned beauties stomping down the Virgin Blue runway and an art wall decorated with glossy surfboards suspended against foamy waves, organisers did a great job of bringing everybody's favourite season to life.More...
billabong, design for humanity, pakistan flood, the vines, operator please, oxford art factory
Posted by Audrey Lee on November 29, 2010
It’s hard to sum up Hellen Rose in one paragraph. Sieving through the highlights from her raft of accomplishments alone would fill pages. Not one to conform, Hellen has achieved admirable success and commanded high levels of respect from those in the know for more than 20 years now. While she’s not busy pushing musical boundaries, her preceding reputation has also led her to tap into other creative pursuits, including acting and opening her eponymous performing space, the Hellen Rose-Schauersberger LabOratorium. And the list goes on. For a woman who has proven her worth many times over, we’ll keep the superlatives to a minimum and have Hellen shed some light on her past, present and future.
Covered: Back in the '80s…, constant adjustments, The Hellen Rose-Schauersberger LabOratorium, Moonlight film and a one-woman show.
Audrey Lee: You've been making music for more than 20 years now and have sung alongside bands including X and Dangerous Curves back in the 80s. Care to give our readers an insight of how your career in music first began? How have you and your sound progressed since then?
Hellen Rose: I started singing when I was very young. I come from a family where one side is music and the other is… all the other stuff that I’ve never been into. I snuck into a pub at around 14 and pushed my way onto the stage and just got up and belted out a blues number I was making up on the spot! My first live show with a band called Great Dane who were totally cool about it and the crowd loved it!More...
hellen rose schauersberger, X, ian rilen, george gittoes, dangerous curves
Posted by Hazel J Taylor on November 28, 2010
Photo by Jeff Busby
Edge of Night, the Australian Ballet’s most recent Sydney Opera House triple bill, shows off the divinely gorgeous choreography of Stephen Barnes and Tim Harbour through the bodies and souls of some of the world’s hottest dancers.
Choreographed in 2003, Stephen Barnes’ At the Edge of Night (first on the bill) is a delicate, intriguing and sultry piece set to a selection of seven of Rachmaninov’s Op.23 and 32 preludes. Barnes began with the preludes as the foundation from which he built the ballet. Sitting with his set and costume designer Michael Pearce, the decision was collectively made that the ballet should take an ephemeral quality, with broad themes which inspired more questions than answers.
As a result, the ballet does not commit itself to a definite time or place in history, although the dramatic deep maroon coloured dresses made of thick Chinese dressing-gown fabric, and professional business attire of the ballet gents emanates a post war vibe, particularly when coupled with the nationalistic Rachmaninov score. Barnes and Pearce note that the fragments of the story emerged from their analysis of the score. Evoking themes of the past, of memories and of dreams, the dancers appear throughout the piece as if floating through an old house like ghosts in the night, calling on memories and conjuring images of forgotten times.More...
edge of night, australian ballet, sydney opera house, stephen barnes, tim harbour
Posted by KB on November 28, 2010
Natalia Ladyko is our kind of girl. Not content with being great at just one thing, she’s turned her attention to a whole raft of rather impressive skills, adding things like “stilt-walker” and “aerial artist” to her resume. Now she’s teamed up with some other talented folk to create Umbrella Theatre, which will reveal itself to the masses as part of Peats Ridge 2010. We caught up with Natalia as she prepares for her first big festival performance.
Covered: Theatre magic, The Dark Crystal, video games and world domination.
KB: The name Umbrella Theatre conjures up quite a few images, but what’s it really all about?
Natalia Ladyko: Umbrella Theatre is an intimate travelling venue where you’ll never know what performance you’re going to get. We have a growing number of shows we perform in Umbrella Theatre, with duration never exceeding 10 minutes. As you queue outside the red curtains, you’ll hear laughter, screaming and God knows what else. But you can never assume you’re going to have the same experience as the people before you, or the people after you! We rotate between performances and most of our pieces have alternate endings. Or do they? To be more precise, it is a three-metre tall, custom-made umbrella where magic happens.More...
umbrella theatre, natalia ladyko, peats ridge, underbelly arts