Sydney’s art scene welcomes the return of featuring its most popular annual art fair, Art Sydney. Offering art for every budget, Art Sydney 09 will present over 100 galleries and the work of over 800 artists. Paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, ceramics, photography, Indigenous art and much more will be exhibited providing visitors with the opportunity to learn about and purchase the art and also meet the artists.

Click here for a special ticket price of $40 for opening night (normally $50) which includes complimentary drinks and live entertainment, simply enter the promotional code VIP1.

You can catch all the action at the Royal Hall of Industries at Moore Park from Thursday 22nd to Sunday 25th October 2009.

At a star studded event at Sydney’s Pavilion restaurant, internationally acclaimed actor David Wenham, Director Jeremy Sims and Packed to the Rafters star Jessica McNamee joined this year’s awards host Eddie Perfect to announce the nominees for the 2009 Inside Film Awards.

Samson & Delilah led the pack with nominations in eight categories, closely followed by Balibo with nominations in seven categories and Mary & Max with nominations in four categories. These nominations came in a year of huge competition with 191,433 ratings being recorded, more than three times the number recorded last year.

It was a great year for the indigenous film community with audiences embracing both indigenous culture and stars. Along with Samson & Delilah’s success, the short film category was also dominated by indigenous talent. The nominees in this category are the Deborah Mailman directed Ralph, Jacob produced by Darren Dale and Aunty Maggie and the Womba Wakgun directed by Leah Purcell.

Back in Sydney to begin a second decade in 2009 the Inside Film Awards celebrate and champion Australian film and creative talent as decided by the general public. This year’s Inside Film Awards are on Wednesday 18th November at Sydney’s Luna Park.

For tickets and to check out all the nominees, you should click here.

Two Flat Whites have had the pleasure in interviewing some wonderful Australian film identities which include Allanah Zitserman, Warwick Thornton, Adam Elliot, Clare Bowen, Dan Castle and Tony Mason. Simply click on the ‘previous interviews’ tab on Two Flat Whites.

The Sydney International Food Festival is for food lovers. Replacing the well-loved Good Food Month, it will see the best chefs from Australia and around the world bringing their fare to Sydney in a range of tempting ways – from fine dining experiences to street festivals and night markets.

The Festival brings old favourites like Hats Off Dinners, Let’s Do Lunch and the Night Noodle Markets back to the city and the culinary diversity of the city’s suburbs and regional NSW will be showcased by a huge new program of community festivals across Sydney and NSW.

The Sydney International Food Festival is on now and runs up until the 31^st October 2009. Find out more right here.

The Hardware Gallery is not your typical inner west boutique art gallery. The Gallery is turning ten and if you haven’t been you are missing out! They feature a new exhibition about once a month with a focus on young and emerging artists.

In addition to there exhibitions, Hardware Gallery also offers a wide range of art services. With over ten years of experience servicing artists, collectors, businesses, students and the public, Hardware has expertise in a wide range of areas. From framing family photos, to handling and installing collectable artworks, Hardware’s Art Services Team is uniquely qualified, professional and friendly.

If you like music, in the custom-built Hardware Gallery Record Room, there are thousands of used vinyl records for sale. Specialising in dance, but a scattering of funk, jazz, pop, rock, R&B, classical and more, they have over 10,000 records with more coming in all the time.

What: Hardware Gallery
Where: 263 Enmore Road, Enmore
When: 11am to 5pm – Tuesday to Saturday
Contact: 02 9550 4595
Cost: Free

The 2009 Shoot the Chef winners have been announced. The criteria was simple, photographers were asked to ‘shoot a chef’. It could have been a three hat chef, the local take-away cook around the corner, or perhaps their favourite or most interesting home cook.

Entries were open in two categories, professional and student. In each category, the first prize included a trip to Europe of their choice to visit one of 15 European culinary capitals including London, Paris, Milan, Moscow and Dublin.

The winner of the Professional category was Jonathan May, for his shot Dinner for two with Manu. The winner of the student category was Sophie Schirmer for her photograph titled Murder My Sweet. You can check out all the images right here.

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Houses are never free and rarely show you how to save you money – but that’s about to change thanks to the latest residential development in Taylor Square. As part of the City of Sydney’s Art & About Festival, a 25m2 Live Green House will be built at Sydney’s Taylor Square along busy Oxford Street, Darlinghurst.

From the 15th to 18th October 2009, the Live Green House will be open free to the public showcasing the latest practical information on sustainable living from vertical walls, green roofs and balcony gardening to eco linen, cooling paint, self-cleaning concrete paver’s, solar power and government rebates.

There’ll also be a range of products on display from leading designers showcasing reusable design including chairs made from road signs, recycled kinetic jewellery, fold-away beds, lights made from recycled plastic bags, milk bottle stools and bags made from juice containers.

Visitors to the Live Green House will be able to speak with the architect of the House, Martin Urakawa from Archology, and take away ideas for reducing the environmental footprint of their home including how to save money on water and energy bills and create balcony gardens and green spaces.

Find out all you need to know about government rebates for rainwater tanks, solar hot water and electricity, and insulation, and see the latest sustainable products – everything from building materials, to appliances, plates, bed linen and computers.

The City of Sydney produced arts festival, Art & About, brings stimulating and engaging art and events to Sydney residents and visitors from the 1st to 25th October 2009.

Art & About is part of Crave Sydney, a major celebration of Sydney’s unmatched way of life, offering 31 days of food, outdoor art and fun. Art & About is one of seven events in Crave Sydney.  Other events include Sydney International Food Festival, Darling Harbour Fiesta, Sydney Harbour Island Hopping, World’s Funniest Island, Seven Bridges Walk and Breakfast on the Bridge.Full program details and speaker times are available on the Art & About 09 website at www.artandabout.com.au/livegreen or call (02) 9265-9333. To plan your Crave Sydney experience visit www.cravesydney.com

The Live Green House is sponsored by the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water who provide a residential rebate program – further details can be found at www.environment.nsw.gov.au/rebates.

A monumental event in human history such as the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall has been seized upon left right and centre by Big Business this year. One major alcohol corporation has decided to cash in on the blood letting and horror that went into bringing Democracy to the Eastern Bloc and add Über money to their coffers by tapping into the Über cool market of 18-35 year olds with this Über now concept.

It seems the formula is this, find an iconic event in history (something like Tiananmen square for example which hasn’t been used yet but you can expect to see edgy comps requesting participants to create a red t-shirt depicting Über cool tanks and dead people for their latest range of products and you can win big!) Then – with lots of gritty graphics and Über modern styling – promote it as though your Brand somehow has something Über significant to contribute to the epic sweep of the human narrative. Guaranteed to promote your company to the ranks of Über cool via the process of association.

Get your Über on via this link

Article written by David Goldberg via Design Federation

‘Akina is a villain with a button fetish. She attacks teddy bears to steal their button eyes!’ Our friend Akina has launched a brand new website with lots of new hand made treasures to feast your eyes on.

Also released is the fourth book in her series of sell out releases, Poems for Piotr is Lang Leav’s first venture into her exciting collaboration with music composer Cyrus Meurant. The elegantly hand-crafted book is accompanied by a music album, featuring the voice of Angela Little, (Ophelia of the Spirits) who was hand picked by Baz Luhrmann to perform in his epic movie, Australia.

Contemporary Sydney artist, Lang Leav weaves the enchanting world of Akina. Her imagination stretches across a variety of disciplines encompassing fashion, art, poetry and books. Known for her versatility, Lang has completed a wide range of projects both independently and through a number of exciting collaborations. The distinct nature of her work alternates between the whimsical and melancholy, expressing an underlying complexity beneath its child-like facade.

Lang is a recipient of The Qantas Spirit of Youth Award and was later granted a prestigious Churchill Fellowship. Her fashion label Akina has achieved critical and commercial success, stocked in key boutiques around Australia and later in cutting edge Harajuku, Japan.