What If…

Ten years ago, Sydney asked – what if the city’s public spaces were taken over by artists? In response they came up with their first Art & About program. Ten years later this event is one of the most loved on the Sydney calendar – taking art out of conventional venues and putting it in unexpected locations. Join in all the excitement and come along to one of the many events as part of Art & About Sydney this year from 23 September – 23 October.

икониThe Sydney Underground Film Festival has today announced their audacious line up for the fifth annual festival. True to its pursuits as a festival showcasing films that push the boundaries of convention, this year’s line-up will include a unique mix of both local and international films that delve in to the perverse, the political and the diabolical.

Screening 100 shorts and 21 features over one huge weekend, the Festival will kick off on 8th September with the Sydney premiere of the eagerly anticipated SUPER from director James Gunn (TROMEO AND JULIET, SLITHER) and starring Rainn Wilson, Liv Tyler and Ellen Page.

Festival highlights are also set to include GUILTY OF ROMANCE from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono (SUICIDE CLUB), music documentary LAST DAYS HERE from American filmmakers Don Argott and Demian Fenton, WILLIAM S BURROUGHS: A MAN WITHIN by American filmmaker Yony Leyser, the politically charged documentary BETTER THIS WORLD from Kelly Duane de la Vega & Katie Galloway, and Sydney based film X from local filmmaker Jon Hewitt. There are also favourite short film sessions such as ANIMATION FORNICATION, LOVE/SICK and LSD FACTORY and also screening will be short films by Guy Maddin, Jonathan Caouette, Don Hertzfeldt, and Harmony Korine.

Sydney Underground Film Festival director Stefan Popescu said ‘We are delighted to present the program for the 5th annual Sydney Underground Film Festival. Our aim for 2011 was to present a diverse program that was wild, edgy and unconventional and we are certain this year’s line-up will titillate the senses and provide Sydney film-goers with a cinema experience they will never forget!’

DATES: 8th – 11th September 2011
LOCATION: Factory Theatre, Marrickville
TICKETS: www.suff.com.au

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Have you always dream’t of being Britney’s back up dancer, soft shoe shuffling like Fred Astaire or free styling like Usher?  Well here’s an event that will have you tapping your feet in no time.  From September 16-18 Homebush Olympic park will transform into one big dancehall for the 2011 Australian Dance Festival. A dance extravaganza that celebrates the best of the best of dance in one weekend of performances, competitions and dance workshops.

Professional and non professional’s dancers can get involved in classes including Hip Hop, Contemporary, Break Dancing, Jazz Funk, Broadway, Lyrical Jazz, Tap, Free-Style, Musical Theatre,Bollywood, Wacking/Voguing, Latin, Musical Theatre, Krumping and Acrobatic Dance the whole gamut of dance styles all under one roof!  This is an event unlike any other dance event in Australia and brings together best of the best dance teachers and choreographers this country has to offer.

Australian dancers are some of the most talented in the world if you don’t believe me check out this clip from last year’s event! We really can fly!

http://youtu.be/2UFfkw9Xyms

There will also be a Guinness Book of World Record attempt for The World’s Largest Remote Dance Class which involves a group of people coming together to perform a routine they have been taught ‘remotely’ (via the internet).   The song of choice this year will be Lady Gaga’s hit track ‘Born This Way’ in support of the Festival’s signature charity ‘The Butterfly Foundation’*.  All donations from the attempt will go to the charity. A community based charitable organisation that supports eating disorder sufferers and their careers.

You can jump online and join in on the attempt by learning this routine by Patron of the Festival Jason Coleman:

http://youtu.be/i9nMruMOq28

Brisbane quintet Topology are proud to present their album “Airwaves”.  Created in collaboration with Melbourne based trio Loops,  the album pays homage to some of the most influential broadcast speeches of the first century in radio and sets them to music

To make the album the group collected over a hundred of the most iconic broadcast speeches of the last 100 years, and after meticulously determining each speaker’s distinctive musical qualities, emotional context, key etc. then set about composing and orchestrating music to accompany each.

Importantly, the speeches have not been altered in any way; they remain at the same pitch and timing as they were delivered. The end result is that “Airwaves” is all the more impressive, the music flowing with the original emotion and timing of the speech. For example Gough Whitlam speaks in B-flat major and in a waltz rhythm; Charles Kingsford-Smith on the other hand speaks in E major.

You can check out some of the speeches at the following links:

Bill Clinton – ‘I did not have sexual relations…’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBzd_RqHSdw
Gough Whitlam – ‘Well may we say’:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ZccNJjrVk
Martin Luther King – ‘I have a dream’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUu1BPMdzu8
Gandhi – ‘Spiritual message as music’:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb5tDpLo9Yw

You can also catch Topology perform the album in its entirety at two select shows: Saturday August 20 – Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank and Sunday 2 October – Brisbane Powerhouse.

The Refugee Art Project presents fear+hope, a group exhibition by asylum seekers who live within Australian detention centres. Our friends at Design Federation caught up with Safdar Ahmed & Anton Pulvirenti to ask them about this exhibition that kicks off at the Mori Gallery in Sydney on Monday, 20th June 2011. Here is a snippet of what they had to say!

How did the Refugee Art Project begin?

Safdar: Anton and I both come from a fine arts background. We met and became friends at art school, in the year after I had finished high school, and have always shared a passion for talking and thinking about art. Last year I was speaking to a friend (the co-founder of this project, Dr Omid Tofighian) about refugee issues and it then occurred to us that an art exhibition might be a great vehicle for understanding the position of refugees in Australia. We started to visit the Villawood detention centre for art classes shortly thereafter, and Anton soon joined us to assume a teaching role.

Anton: My involvement began with an invitation from Safdar to join the project. As a long time friend, he was well acquainted with my art practice. He was also aware of the thesis I am completing at The Sydney College of the Arts on my grandfather’s internment at Loveday camp during the Second World War in South Australia. He thought that going inside Villawood would help me shed light on my grandfather’s experience in Loveday of which little is known.

How did you meet artists inside the Villawood detention centre and who are they?

Anton: Safdar had already met some artists. I knew no-one on my first visit. I sat simply sat down, commenced a portrait, and soon made new friends! The artists are predominantly from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq. They have all escaped some form of religious or political persecution.

Read the rest of the interview here.

What: The Refugee Art Project – Fear & Hope
Where: The Mori Gallery
168 Day Street, Sydney (5 mins from Town Hall)
When: 22 June – 8 July 2011
Open Tuesday, Thursday – Sunday, 11am – 5pm
Late night Wednesday, 11am  – 8pm
Cost: Free

The 2011 Sydney Writers’ Festival proudly presents some of the world’s finest poets, novelists and authors of literary nonfiction, including 2010 Man Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson; Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours and By Nightfall, Michael Cunningham; the acclaimed David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet) and Aminatta Forna (The Memory of Love), as well as internationally renowned Australians Peter Robb, Kim Scott, Markus Zusak, Sonya Hartnett and John Tranter.’ Read more here.

It promises to be a powerful and engaging lineup. Catch one of the many events, the festival is running now & finishes on the 22nd May 2011.

Graduates from TAFE NSW – Sydney Institute will showcase their creativity through photography at their first ever exhibition held as part of the 120th year celebrations of TAFE NSW – Sydney Institute and in conjunction with Head On Photo Festival.

Captured will showcase the works of graduates who are working all over the world in advertising, marketing, the arts, fashion and media. With each image you will enter their world and witness it through their eyes. So come and see their point of view, Captured forever in print.

What: CAPTURED – Graduate Photography Exhibition
When: Now until the 15th May 2011 – Mon-Sun 10am-4pm
Where: TAFE Ultimo Gallery
Address: Harris St, Ultimo (between Thomas St and Mary Ann St), Sydney
Cost: Free

Fifty fist-sized teapots have met their fate at the skilled hands of a select group of established and emerging artists. With the fabulously diverse line-up consisting of painters, print makers, photographers, graphic designers, typographers, digital, textile, and street artists, there’s sure to be eye candy to satisfy any sweet tooth.

Artists include Bec Winnel, Aramas Ridge, Caitlin Shearer, Gimiks Born, Sam Octigan, TEZ, Alex Louisa, Ellen Stapleton, Eirian Chapman, Jessica Singh, Rebecca Murphy, Burntfeather, and many more fabulous Australian talents.

Everyone is welcome to attend the exhibition opening night on April 13th, 6-8pm, at Paper Plane Gallery in Rozelle, Sydney. There will be free refreshments, delicious hot and cold teas, and nibbles served throughout the evening.

These tempting teapots will be on show until May 1st.

Australia’s cult art magazine announces The Empty Exhibition, a group show to celebrate the launch of the 20th Issue of Empty magazine.

The artists selected reflect the diversity of styles that are published in the magazine. From photo realistic paintings, to surrealism, street art and documentary photography.  The Empty Exhibition will showcase a broad range of works from Erik Sandberg, Meggs, Nic Plowman, Beastman, Aaron Nagel, Andrew Quilty, Karim Hamid, Tamara Dean, Christian Rex Van Minnen and David Kassan.

The Empty Exhibition kicks off on 14 April at aMBUSH Gallery and then moves north to open at the National Grid Gallery on 29 April.  Two exciting openings at galleries well known for their support of young and talented artists and collectives.

Where: aMBUSH Gallery, 4A James Street, Waterloo Sydney
When: Begins on Thursday 14 April & continues until Sunday 19 April, 12-4pm daily
More info: www.ambushgallery.com