All posts by Michael McCallum

Anticipation is building as major works by artists Rocky Cajigan (Philippines), Chong Kim Chiew (Malaysia) Alia Farid (Kuwait), Brian Fuata (Aotearoa/Australia), I Made Djirna (Indonesia), Jumaadi (Indonesia/Australia), Vipoo Srivilasa (Thailand/Australia) and others are being prepared and installed for ‘The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT10) at the Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA).

They join previously-announced artists including Kaili Chun (Kanaka Ōiwi, Hawai’i), Gordon Hookey (Waanyi people, Australia), Kimiyo Mishima (Japan), Salote Tawale (Fiji/Australia) and Grace Lillian Lee and Uncle Ken Thaiday Snr (Meriam Mir people, Australia).

QAGOMA Director Chris Saines said the installation of the tenth chapter in the Gallery’s flagship series was underway, with the full list of artists announced for the exhibition, which is due to open from 4 December 2021 until 25 April 2022.

‘Since its first edition almost 30 years ago, APT has established an international reputation as a challenging and dynamic exhibition, highlighting the most exciting developments in contemporary art from across our culturally diverse region,’ Mr Saines said.

‘Presented at both QAG and GOMA and including recent and newly-commissioned works, APT involves a great depth of research by the Gallery’s in-house curators working closely with a broad network of artists and specialists across an expansive geography.

‘APT10 is full of stories of travel, journeys, migrations and connections to place. It’s layered with responses, questions and ideas about the present moment, the many issues facing humanity, and propositions towards the future from a diversity of cultural perspectives. It includes works of art that are by turn highly personal, deeply political, and full of joy.

‘We are now undertaking the mammoth process of receiving, preparing and installing 69 projects by more than 150 emerging and established artists, collectives and filmmakers from more than 30 countries.

‘With the global impact of COVID-19, APT10 has presented logistical challenges, but it has also been exceptionally rewarding to see how artists work through such tremendous change. It has necessitated new approaches to exhibition-making, and we’ve worked virtually with artists, advisors and collaborators to facilitate exchanges and outcomes from afar.

‘More than ever before, community and collaboration is a major feature of this Triennial with many artists achieving ambitious results through working with groups or as part of collectives, such as the Bajau Sama Dilaut people in Sabah Borneo, Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts in north-western Bangladesh and Seleka International Arts Society Initiative in Tonga.’

Mr Saines said the Gallery’s research arm, the Australian Centre for Asian and Pacific Art (ACAPA) had provided the framework for new initiatives that will further broaden community engagement – supported by the Australian Government through the Office for the Arts.

‘The ACAPA Pacifika Community Engagement Project, created with a dynamic team of ten local Pacific Islanders, and five community groups in south-east Queensland, has informed the way Pasifika projects in the exhibition are presented, broadened relationships and translated artwork labels into Pacific languages,’ he said.

The development of APT10 has also played host to the inaugural Creative New Zealand Pacific Curator Residency (Australia) with Auckland-based artist and curator Natasha Matila-Smith and includes learning initiatives driven by artist-in-residence Brian Fuata.

Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch said the Queensland Government was a founding supporter of the Asia Pacific Triennial (APT), which showcases and celebrates the diverse arts and cultures of the Asia Pacific region.

‘The Palaszczuk Government’s continued investment in the APT has enabled QAGOMA to build a truly outstanding event of international significance bringing communities together with powerful voices telling their own stories,’ Minister Enoch said.

‘Over the past nine exhibitions, the Asia Pacific Triennial has attracted more than 3.7 million visitors, which is great news for local tourism.

‘Most recently, APT9 alone attracted 718,000 visits, contributing almost $35 million to Queensland’s economy and generating more than 288,000 visitor nights.

‘That’s why the Palaszczuk Government is supporting APT10 with blockbuster exhibition funding.

‘The arts are key to delivering our plan for economic recovery from COVID-19, each year contributing $8.5 billion to the state’s economy and supporting more than 92,000 jobs for Queenslanders.’

Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the APT was featured on the Tourism and Events Queensland It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar.

‘Art events like this bring many new visitors to our city which benefits accommodation and transport providers, restaurants and local tourism operators,’ Mr Hinchliffe said.

‘We’re encouraging visitors to enjoy Brisbane’s great art institutions and local culture, as well as the city’s many tourism experiences.

‘Art, events and tourism are important for supporting local jobs and the Palaszczuk Government’s Covid-19 Economic Recovery Plan.’

The expansive, free exhibition will incorporate a multi-strand APT10 Cinema program, seven interactive artist projects for children and families as part of APT10 Kids, a two-night Up Late program in 2022 and a full-colour publication.

Also accompanying APT10 is Asia Pacific Art Papers: Contemporary Contexts, Practices and Ideas, a three-part digital resource offering new insights into the changing conditions and practices of artists in the region – assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. The first set of essays are online now at www.apap.qagoma.qld.gov.au

Among the many highlights of APT10 will be:

• Vipoo Srivilasa’s immersive, participatory installation Shrine of Life/ Benjapakee Shrine 2021, featuring five hand-crafted ceramic deities representing attributes important to the artist: identity, love equality, creativity, security and spirituality. Finished with gold lustre and floral embellishments, the work reflects Srivilasa’s holistic approach to life, and encourages audiences to appreciate the things that unite us.
• Hairloom 2021, a dramatic, newly commissioned ten metre-long loom of human hair by Rocky Cajigan, reflecting the artist’s personal history and exploration of the material, culture, indigeneity and museology of the Cordillera region of the Philippines
• A series of enormous sculptural vessels in fibreglass and synthetic resin by Kuwait City- and San Juan, Puerto Rico-based artist Alia Farid, offering a poignant message about the ever-increasing issue of water scarcity across West Asia.
• Senior Balinese artist I Made Djirna’s dense, cave-like environment created from found, natural materials, a work strongly informed by the artist’s Balinese culture, ritual and landscape.
• A new series of large-scale paintings by Indonesian-Australian artist Jumaadi, created on delicate cloth prepared by artisans in Indonesia and illustrating the unique storytelling of the artists that reflect on emotions ranging from love and human relationships to displacement and isolation.
• New work by Chong Kim Chiew, including a towering installation of maps painted directly onto tarpaulin, expressing a compulsive reorientation of the geographic and political topography of Malaysia and its Southeast Asian neighbours.

The full list of artists featured in APT10 is:

• 3AM est. 2016, Myanmar. Live and work in Yangon, Myanmar
• Bani Abidi b.1971, Karachi, Pakistan. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany and Karachi.
• ACAPA Pasifika Community Engagement Project (ACE)
• Air Canoe: Northern Oceania: Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and their diasporas.
• Edith Amituanai b.1980, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Lives and works Auckland.
• Nazgol Ansarinia b.1979, Tehran, Iran. Lives and works in Tehran, Iran.
• Maryam Ayeen and Abbas Shahsavar b.1985, Bojnord, Iran & b.1983, Kermanshah, Iran. Live and work in Tehran, Iran.
• Apenisa Bainivalu, Laweni Tekina Laiseane & Veniana Maraia Paulina b.1959, Mokani village, Tailevu Province, Fiji; b.1964, Naroi village, Lau Province, Fiji; & b.1951, Nasilai village, Rewa Delta, Fiji. Live and work in Nasilai village.
• Bajau Sama Dilaut Weavers Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia.
• Rathin Barman b.1981, Tripura, India. Lives and works in Kolkata, India.
• Rocky Cajigan lfontok and Kankanaey people, b.1988, Bontoc, the Philippines. Lives and works in La Trinidad and Bontoc.
• Chong Kim Chiew b.1975, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.
• Genevieve Chua b.1984, Singapore. Lives and works in Singapore.
• Kaili Chun Kanaka Ōiwi people, b.1962, O’ahu, Hawai’i. Lives and works in Honolulu, Hawai’i.
• I Made Djirna b.1957, Kedewatan, Bali, Indonesia. Lives and work in Kedewatan.
• Alia Farid b.1985, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Lives and works in Kuwait City and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• Between Earth and Sky: Indigenous Contemporary Art from Taiwan
  (Anli Genu, Dondon Hounwn, Fangas Nayaw, Etan Pavavalung, Aluaiy Pulidan, Ruby Swana, Yuma Taru, Masiswagger Zingrur).
• Brian Fuata b.1978, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. Lives and works in Brisbane, Australia.
• Hikaru Fujii b.1976, Tokyo, Japan. Lives and works in Tokyo.
• Joyce Arasepa Mary Gole OL b.1941, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. Lives and works in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
• Jamilah Haji b.1989, Narathiwat, Thailand. Lives and works in Narathiwat.
• Hao Jingban b.1985, Shanxi Province, China. Lives and works in Beijing, China.
• Hao Liang b.1983, Chengdu, China. Lives and works in Beijing, China.
• Gordon Hookey Waanyi people, b.1961, Cloncurry, Australia. Lives and works in Brisbane, Australia.
• Chia-Wei Hsu b.1983, Taichung, Taiwan. Lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan.
• Hu Yun b.1986, Shanghai, China. Lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia and Shanghai.
• Jumaadi b.1973, Sidoarjo, Indonesia. Lives and works in Sydney, Australia and Imogiri, Indonesia.
• Kā Paroro o Haumumu: Coastal flows, coastal incursions: Alex Montieth with Vicki Lenihan, Kaihaukai Art Collective: Ron Bull Jnr and Simon Kaan and local elders. Aotearoa New Zealand
• Grace Lillian Lee & Ken Thaiday Snr Meriam Mir people, b.1988, Cairns, Australia & b.1950, Erub (Darnley) Island, Australia. Live and work in Cairns.
• Amy Lien & Enzo Camacho b.1987, Dallas, United States, lives and works in New York, United States & b.1985, Manila, the Philippines, lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
• Minouk Lim b.1968, Daejeon, South Korea. Lives and works in Seoul, Korea.
• Kimiyo Mishima b.1932, Osaka, Japan. Lives and works in Osaka and Gifu, Japan.
• Phuong Ngo with collaborators b.1983, Adelaide, Australia. Lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.
• Nguyên Phung Linh b.1985, Hanoi, Vietnam. Lives and works in Hanoi.
• Nguyên Thi Châu Giang b.1975, Hanoi, Vietnam. Lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
• Jasmine Nilani Joseph b.1990, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Lives and works in Jaffna
• Shannon Novak b.1979, New Plymouth, Aotearoa New Zealand. Lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Phi Phi Oanh b.1979, Houston, United State of America. Lives and works in Da Nang, Vietnam.
• Archie Oclos b.1989, Manila, the Philippines. Lives and works in Manila.
• Lee Paje b.1980, Quezon City, the Philippines. Lives and works in Antipolo, the Philippines.
• Bagus Pandega b.1985, Jakarta, Indonesia. Lives and works in Bandung, Indonesia.
• Christina Pataialii b.1988, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Lives and works in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Pala Pothupitiye b.1972, Deniyaya, Sri Lanka. Live and works in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
• Shubigi Rao b.1975, Mumbai, India. Lives and works in Singapore.
• Syagini Ratna Wulan b.1979, Bandung, Indonesia. Lives and works in Bandung.
• Koji Ryui b.1976, Kyoto, Japan. Lives in Sydney, Australia.
• Tita Salina & Irwan Ahmett b.1973, Sumatra, Indonesia & b.1975, Java, Indonesia. Live and work in Jakarta, Indonesia.
• Seleka International Art Society Initiative est. 2008. Haveluloto, Tongatapu, Tonga.
• Thasnai Sethaseree b.1968, Bangkok, Thailand. Lives and works in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
• Kamruzzaman Shadhin & Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts b.1974, Thakurgaon, Bangladesh & est. 2001. Live and work in Dhaka and Thakurgaon, Bangladesh.
• Karan Shrestha b.1985, Kathmandu, Nepal. Lives and works in Kathmandu and Mumbai, India.
• Sumakshi Singh b.1980, Delhi, India. Lives and works in Gurgaon, India.
• Yasmin Smith b.1984, Sydney, Australia. Lives and works in Sydney.
• Vipoo Srivilasa b.1969, Bangkok, Thailand. Lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.
• Adeela Suleman b.1970, Karachi, Pakistan. Lives and works in Karachi.
• Som Supaparinya b.1973, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Lives and works in Chiang Mai.
• Svay Sareth b.1972, Battambang, Cambodia. Lives and works in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
• Amin Taasha b.1995, Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
• Salote Tawale b.1976, Suva, Fiji. Lives and works in Sydney, Australia.
• Shannon Te Ao Ngāti Tūwharetoa, b.1978, Sydney, Australia. Lives and works in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Than Sok b.1984, Takeo, Cambodia. Lives and works in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
• Subash Thebe Limbu Yakthung people, b.1981, Dharan, Nepal. Lives and works in London, United Kingdom and Kathmandu, Nepal.
• Michiko Tsuda b.1980, Kanagawa, Japan. Lives and works in Kanagawa.
• Lesieli Kato Kakala Tohi Tupou & Sione Maileseni b.1944, Lofanga Island, Ha’apai, Tonga. Lives and works in Halaleva, Nuku’alofa, Tongatapu, Tonga & b.1983, Tafoa village, Tongatapu, Tonga. Lives and works in Kapeta, Tongatapu, Tonga.
• Uramat Mugas (Uramat Story Songs) Indigenous Uramat Identity, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
• Mayur & Tushar Vayeda Warli people, b.1992 & b.1987, Ganjad, Maharashtra, India. Live and work in Ganjad.
• Yee I-Lann b.1971, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Lives and works in Kota Kinabalu.
• Yolngu/Macassan Project Yirrkala, Australia and Macassar, Indonesia.
• Yu Ji b.1985, Shanghai, China. Lives and works in Shanghai.

From QUGOMA media page accessed 8/11/21

On 3 November 2021, the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) will re-open NGV International on St Kilda Road and The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Fed Square.
On display upon re-opening, there will be the extended seasons of the world-premiere exhibitions Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories, Big Weather and Naomi Hobson’s newly acquired painting and photographic series at NGV Australia and Camille Henrot: Is Today Tomorrow and Reko Rennie’s newest work Initiation OA_RR at NGV International.
In November, visitors will soon be able to experience newly opened exhibitions, including:
Sampling the Future opening on 5 November at NGV Australia
Found and Gathered: Rosalie Gascoigne | Lorraine Connelly-Northey opening on 6 November at NGV Australia and Golden Shells and the Gentle Mastery of Japanese Lacquer opening on 25 November at NGV International
In December, visitors will be able to visit three new exhibitions opening on the ground floor at NGV International and the NGV Architecture Commission in the NGV Garden:
Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto opening on 4 December at NGV International
2021 NGV Architecture Commission pond[er] opening on 6 December at NGV International
Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala opening on 17 December at NGV International
The Gecko and the Mermaid opening on 17 December at NGV International
Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV, said: ‘The NGV is pleased to welcome visitors back to our venues in line with the Victorian Government advice. We are grateful for the ongoing support we have received via our virtual programming throughout the recent closure and look forward reconnecting with our valued community on site.

‘The wellbeing of our staff and visitors remains our top priority. In accordance with Victorian Government guidelines, the NGV will implement the appropriate public health and physical distancing measures to ensure the safety of both our staff and visitors,’ he said.
At NGV Australia, Sampling the Future reveals some of the extraordinary ways that designers are imagining our near and distant futures – from 3D-printed coral to hand-knitted architecture, and ancient materials from a distant future. The exhibition showcases new work by leading experimental and speculative designers, including speculative architects Roland Snooks and Leanne Zilka, Alice Springs-based designer Elliat Rich, Sydney-based duo Kyoko Hashimoto and Guy Keulemans, and Melbourne duo Georgia Nowak and Eugene Perepletchikov, among others.
Found and Gathered: Rosalie Gascoigne | Lorraine Connelly-Northey brings attention to the shared materiality at the heart of the practices of Rosalie Gascoigne (1917–1999) and Lorraine Connelly-Northey (b. 1967). Both artists are known for their transformative use of found and discarded objects to create works of art that challenge our understanding of the landscape, and Country. Through a major display of more than 75 wall-based and freestanding sculptural works on the ground-floor of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, the exhibition highlights each artist’s unique and significant place within Australian art and the sympathetic relationships between their works.
Also on display at NGV Australia are new works by Southern Kaantju/Umpila artist Naomi Hobson, acquired as part of the annual NGV x MECCA partnership. Known for her gestural paintings and intimate photographic works, a major new painting Deeper 2020 and series of photographic works January First 2021 explore Hobson’s cultural identity, connection to Country and love for her community.
At NGV International, Golden Shells and the Gentle Mastery of Japanese Lacquer will celebrate the Japanese historical ‘shell matching’ game, kai-awase, commissioned by Melbourne philanthropist and NGV donor, Pauline Gandel AC. Comprising two large lacquerware shell boxes and 360 matching pairs of gold-gilded and hand-painted shells featuring designs of flowers from Japan, the Asia Pacific region and Australia, this is the first kai-awase game to be produced in over 150 years and the first to be exhibited in Australia.
In an Australian-first survey of the French-born, Berlin-based contemporary artist, Camille Henrot: Is Today Tomorrow explores the artist’s playful and inventive approach to addressing life’s big questions. Working across diverse media including sculpture, drawing, video and installation, Henrot references self-help, online second-hand marketplaces, cultural anthropology, literature, psychoanalysis and social media to question what it means to be at once a private individual and a global subject.
Celebrated Melbourne artist Reko Rennie’s newest work, Initiation OA_RR, is currently on display at NGV International. Initially commissioned for RISING Festival, this video work is a follow up to his 2016 work OA_RR and will be on display on Level 3 until 30 January 2022. In the video Rennie cruises through Melbourne’s western suburbs in a hot pink 1973 Holden Monaro cope and performs a series of burnouts. Rennie uses a variety of visual cues to reference ‘Westie’ drag-racing culture, as well as First Peoples initiation practices in an urban context, and the traditional sand engraving motifs of the Kamilaroi/Gamilaroi people.
At NGV Australia Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories, the first retrospective of Melbourne-based artist and designer, Maree Clarke, who is a Yorta Yorta/Wamba Wamba/Mutti Mutti/Boonwurrung woman. Covering more than three decades of artistic output, the exhibition traverses Clarke’s multidisciplinary practice which often focusses on the reclamation of south-east Australian Aboriginal art and cultural practices, including elements of culture that were lost – or became dormant – as a consequence of colonisation.
Big Weather, also on display at NGV Australia, explores the sophisticated understanding of weather systems that exist within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural knowledge. The exhibition highlights the vital role Indigenous artists and designers play in sharing stories that ensure cultural knowledge is protected, celebrating an intimate understanding of the land, which has been handed down over generations and has been recorded through song, dance and art.
Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto is the first exhibition in Australia to exclusively focus on the significant contribution to twentieth-century fashion culture by the renowned French couturière Gabrielle Chanel (1883–1971). With more than 230 garments, accessories and jewellery pieces drawn from the rich holdings of the Palais Galliera and the Patrimoine de CHANEL in Paris, complemented by important loans from major public museums and private collections, Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto showcases the impressive breadth of Gabrielle Chanel’s output and her design codes.
The 2021 NGV Architecture Commission pond[er] is designed by a Melbourne-based team comprising architecture firm Taylor Knights in collaboration with artist James Carey, offering a space for visitors to cool off during the summer months and reflect on their relationship with the environment. Envisioned as a space that becomes part the NGV garden rather than a separate architectural object, pond[er] invites audiences to move through a series of interconnected walkways and accessible platforms. Visitors can immerse themselves within and explore the spaces of flora and water and can even step down and wade through the pink pond.
Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala is a major ground floor exhibition at NGV International that celebrates the NGV’s extraordinary collection of bark paintings and larrakitj (painted hollow poles) by women artists working out of the Yolngu-run art centre, Buku Larrngay Mulka Centre (Buku), situated in Northeast Arnhem Land. Before 1970, no Yolngu women painted sacred themes on bark or larrakitj in their own right; however, in recent decades, a number of women artists have taken to these media, becoming renowned both nationally and internationally for daring and inventive works that challenge tradition. The NGV has been acquiring important works on bark by artists from Buku for more than two decades, establishing one of the most significant collections of work by Yolngu women artists.
Coinciding with Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala, NGV Kids presents an all-ages exhibition, The Gecko and the Mermaid that celebrates the vibrant culture and community of the Yolngu people through the work of two artists and sisters, Ms N. Yunupiŋu and Eunice Djerrkngu Yunupiŋu. The interactive exhibition will introduce young visitors to the two sisters, their art works and Yolngu culture and community through a custom-designed space featuring hands-on and multimedia activities produced especially for this exhibition.

Source: NGA website accessed 8/11/21

The Art Gallery of New South Wales is pleased to present Family: Visions of a Shared Humanity, an important exhibition of unmissable video works for unsettled times, by some of today’s most internationally renowned artists.

Isaac Julien Western Union: small boats (The leopard) 2007 (video still) 16mm film transferred to digital video, colour, 5.1 surround sound Art Gallery of New South Wales, Lawrence Hinchliffe Bequest Fund 2018 © Isaac Julien Image courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

Created in partnership with Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), USA, and guest curated by Franklin Sirmans, director of PAMM, Family presents an urgent and powerful exploration of the interconnectedness of global humanity at a moment of division, from Sirmans’ own African American perspective.
The free exhibition features nine works by leading American, British and Canadian artists, including John Akomfrah (Ghana/UK, 1957), Garrett Bradley (USA, 1986), Stan Douglas (Canada, 1960), Theaster Gates (USA, 1973), Arthur Jafa (USA, 1960), Kahlil Joseph (USA, 1981), Isaac Julien (UK, 1969), Steve McQueen (UK, 1969) and Carrie Mae Weems (USA, 1953). Together these pieces open a conversation by asking ‘how do we see each other?’
This moment, marked in the United States and beyond by a litany of recent killings of black people, has also seen courageous activism and coalition building through recognition of the intersectionality of race, gender and disadvantage.
Art Gallery of NSW director, Michael Brand said Family is the first collaboration between the Art Gallery and PAMM, and part of our goal to represent diverse, multicultural communities within a local and global context.
‘I want to thank my colleague Franklin Sirmans for working with us so creatively within the confines of various pandemic lockdowns. We are proud to partner with our colleagues at the Pérez Art Museum Miami to present this moving and timely exhibition after the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and explore this global moment of alertness to social and racial injustice,’ said Brand.
‘Family features nine extraordinary works that seek to create understanding through the power of art and open conversation about the deeper meaning of the term ‘family’, as it pertains to humanity.’
Garrett Bradley America 2019 (video still) multi-channel video installation; 35mm film transferred to HD video, black and white, 5.1 sound, fabric © Garrett Bradley Image courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery
Garrett Bradley America 2019 (video still) multi-channel video installation; 35mm film transferred to HD video, black and white, 5.1 sound, fabric © Garrett Bradley Image courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery
Pérez Art Museum Miami director, Franklin Sirmans said: ‘This exhibition is both personal and institutional in nature. I was delighted to accept the invitation to curate it for Sydney and Australia in the hope that there is indeed a shared humanity, and that the space of the museum is the place to come together to explore that idea. I truly believe the artwork is the only thing that allows us to get to a sense of shared humanity; the mission critical of museums.’
Family features a range of works that explore history, including John Akomfrah’s large-scale video installation Tropikos 2016, a fictional narrative of the first British encounters with peoples of Africa in the 16th century; Garrett Bradley’s America 2019, which imagines black figures from the early decades of the 20th century whose lives have been lost to history by re-imagining missing scenes from silent-era films; Kahlil Joseph’s BLKNWS® 2018-ongoing, which combines current and historical footage about black culture to investigate the way in which black lives are perceived and represented in media and art; Isaac Julien’s Western Union: small boats (The leopard) 2007, which relates to the waves of migration that reshaped the globe in the first decades of the 21st century; and Steve McQueen’s End credits 2012–ongoing, which pays homage to the African American singer, actor, and Civil Rights activist Paul Robeson (1898–1976).
Music is central to many of the works, such as Stan Douglas’ epic six-hour film Luanda-Kinshasa 2013, which depicts a fictitious band of professional musicians at the famed CBS 30th Street Studio in 1970s New York City, alluding to the emergence of a globally minded black consciousness and the unifying power of music. Theaster Gates explores his keen interest in Eastern Buddhism as well as his lifelong personal relationship with traditional gospel music in Breathing 2010, while Arthur Jafa’s celebrated video Love is the Message, the Message is Death 2016 features the soaring, gospel-inspired 2016 song ‘Ultralight Beam’ by Kanye West and captures the powerful emotions that underlie the African American experience, past and present. In Carrie Mae Weems’ work May Days Long Forgotten 2002, young African American girls dance around a maypole, subtly suggesting the struggle for social and economic justice while exalting youth, innocence, and renewal.
The exhibition is accompanied by a range of public programs with diverse creative practitioners that draw attention to local perspectives, including workshops, talks and music.
Visitors can reflect on the exhibition in The Family Lounge, where they can listen to a series of curated playlists by local musicians Amby Downs, BARKAA, Divide and Dissolve and Emily Wurramara. Responding to the current times, these artists invite conversation through their personal experiences, and position music in relation to the artworks in this exhibition. Also, in The Family Lounge, Aboriginal and Māori poet activist Latoya Rule presents a video reflection of their lived experience of black deaths in custody and their ongoing activism.
Early next year, 2 Sydney Stylists founders Niwa Mburuja and Wanyika Mshila in partnership with STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors) and Story Factory, will facilitate discursive online and live programs that explore the themes of the exhibition.
Family: Visions of a Shared Humanity will be on display at the Art Gallery of NSW from 6 November 2021 until 13 February 2022. Exhibitions may be adjusted or cancelled subject to changes to public health advice and guidelines.
The health and safety of visitors is the top priority of the Art Gallery, which is closely following NSW Public Health Orders. Visitors are required to comply with Public Health Orders and are encouraged to plan their visit by reviewing the COVID-safe guidelines on our website.

Opera Australia has added another outdoor spectacular to its program, today announcing the inaugural New Year’s Eve Opera Gala on Cockatoo Island.
The Cockatoo Island event is in addition to OA’s annual NYE opera performance in the Joan Sutherland Theatre in the Sydney Opera House.
The new outdoor event is giving visitors and Sydneysiders even more reason to come out and kick-up their heels after months of lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions.
“We’ve all been starved of live entertainment so we’re inviting everyone to come and celebrate New Year’s Eve with us, to say farewell to 2021 and its lockdowns, and embrace the beginning of a fresh and invigorating new year,” said OA’s Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini.
Guests are spoilt for choice with two of the best vantage points in the city to see Sydney’s internationally famous NYE fireworks display on offer, along with world-class performances, five-star hospitality and glamorous parties.

NYE Opera Gala on Cockatoo Island will present some of the country’s finest performers for a two-hour concert of opera classics under the stars, hosted by the irreverent Jonathan Biggins. Tahu Matheson will conduct a full orchestra and an all-star cast of singers including Stacey Alleaume, Natalie Aroyan, Chanyang Choi, Diego Torre and Luke Gabbedy.
Tickets include pre-booked f

erry transfers and a ticket to the performance with the option of adding a 3-course pre-performance dinner, interval drinks and the post-show midnight party to their booking. Alternatively more casual food and beverage options will also be available.
NYE Opera Gala on Cockatoo Island is presented in collaboration with the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust.
For those looking for a more trad

itional experience, Opera Australia’s annual NYE festivities at the Sydney Opera House will include a

lavish production of Puccini’s La Bohème in the Joan Sutherland Theatre. Italian maestro Lorenzo Passerini conducts the Opera Australia Orchestra and a cast of exceptional singers as they perform the much-loved bohemian tale of four friends navigating their way through their shared experiences of ecstasy, jealousy and loss.

With interval timed to coincide with the 9pm fireworks and the opera finishing in time for the midnight show, there is no better front row seat than the Sydney Opera House’s northern foyer to watch the world-famous fireworks as they light up the night sky and the iconic Harbour Bridge.
Guests can make their NYE extra memorable by adding a pre-performance dinner and midnight party to their opera ticket. The pre-

performance dinner features champagne on arrival and a gourmet three-course meal matched with premium wines. The midnight party kicks off after the performance, offering live music, canapès an

d beverages that will see partygoers well into 2022.

No other city celebrates New Year’s Eve like Sydney and there’s nowhere else to be this year than on Sydney Harbour with Opera Australia.

From SOH website 14 October 21

PUBLISHED ON 29 SEPTEMBER 2021 from MTC Website

She will be taking on a new adventure at Unless Pictures, a Brisbane-based production company best known for their local short films, including No Ordinary Black Shorts, Retrograde and upcoming RIDE shorts featuring diverse Queensland creatives, set to premiere at Brisbane International Film Festival in 2021.

During her time at La Boite Theatre, Simić has produced more than 30 mainstage productions for La Boite across the country, commissioned 25 new Australian works, and led five HWY Festivals; the company’s annual series of showings, workshops and conversations, which invites audiences to play an active role in the process of developing new work for Australian stages.

Alongside her producing accolades, Simić was appointed as one of three Directors In Residence within La Boite’s Artist Company. She made her directorial debut at La Boite in 2018 with Lysa and the Freeborn Dames and successfully opened La Boite’s 2021 season with Naked & Screaming; a new Australian drama that made its world premiere in the Roundhouse Theatre. More recently, she produced and directed La Boite’s contemporary reimagining of Shakespeare’s political thriller CAESAR, which made history as the company’s first ever mainstage show to enlist five playwrights to respond to one classic text.

Sanja’s legacy on La Boite will be a longstanding one, her passionate commitment of representation and access is to be admired. Her skills as a director, collaborator and producer have led to powerful programs and a pipeline of work that La Boite is excited to deliver.

8 Oct 2021

Source: La Boite media web page

Sydney – Tuesday 26 October, 2021.

The Sydney Opera House today revealed a summer holiday line-up of treasured Australian classics: Alison Lester’s Magic Beach and Ted Prior’s beloved Grug; the world premiere of feisty feline fantasia Scaredy Cat; and the return of onsite tours for children and their families.

Families can make this summer count with Magic Beach (4 – 21 January), produced by kids theatre experts CDP (The Gruffalo and Treehouse series). Offering a quintessential Aussie summer experience for kids aged 3+, this wholesome adaptation by multi-award winning playwrigh

t Finegan Kruckemeyer is a feel-good celebration of the power of the imagination, bringing the book to life with text, song, light, shadow and movement.

Kids aged 5+ will love Scaredy Cat (6 – 22 January), a lionhearted tale about being brave together. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the Helpmann Award-winning Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s latest offering follows a courageous little cat facing big responsibilities, tasked with hunting down three cunning rodents and doing her family proud – all while terrified of mice.

Kicking off the holiday season in December is Grug (8 – 21 December), a stunningly crafted production based on the much-loved book character. This internationally-acclaimed Australian stage adaptation by Windmill Theatre Company (Bluey’s Big Play) sees the loveable Grug creatively solving everyday problems, demonstrating the benefits of sharing and environmental care.

Sydney Opera House Head of Children, Families and Creative Learning, Tamara Harrison says: “After an immense lockdown, we can’t wait to welcome families back and fill the foyers again with the familiar cheers of children. From the enduring imaginative charm of Magic Beach, to Scaredy Cat learning to solve things her own way, to the beautifully simple lessons of Grug, let’s enjoy these heartwarming shows from Australia’s leading storytellers together again this summer.”

Budding thespians and curious adventure-seekers will be able to enjoy a sneak peek of what happens behind the scenes on the Junior Adventure Tour (4 – 30 January), with interactive games and dress-ups. For a full day out, the Junior Day Pack bundles the tour with a discounted ticket to Magic Beach or Scaredy Cat, followed by lunch at Opera Kitchen. The option to take meal planning out of the equation is also available when pre-ordering a Kid’s Lunch Pack with ticket purchase, which comes with a specially-themed cupcake. Families can also redeem their Creative Kids voucher on the Junior Day Pack.

The health, safety and wellbeing of everyone at the Opera House is our top priority. In line with the NSW Public Health Order, a number of COVID safe measures are in place for the safety and wellbeing of everyone on site. Opera House ticketholders are encouraged to check the plan your visit page prior to their performance for the most up-to-date information in place at the time of their attendance.
Source: Sydney Opera House Media Web Page

25 November – 11 December

Carriageworks

“The programs ends on a buzzing high; the world is on fire, but we still make art, and maybe that makes the art even more urgent, even more beautiful.” – Time Out (New Breed, 2019)

Sydney Dance Company, in partnership with Carriageworks and New Breed Principal Partner The Balnaves Foundation, is proud to announce a return to the stage with the eighth edition of New Breed, continuing a collective commitment to emerging choreographers.

New Breed will mark Sydney Dance Company’s first live, on-stage performance since Sydney’s 2021 lockdown commenced in June. Four talented choreographers will create new works featuring a rich diversity of choreographic ideas to be performed by Sydney Dance Company’s dancers in an extended season of 15 performances.

New Breed is well established as Australia’s most exciting showcase of raw talent and fresh ideas from some of the country’s most gifted emerging choreographers. The New Breed 2021 choreographers are: Jasmin Sheppard (Sydney), Jacopo Grabar (Sydney), Lilian Steiner (Melbourne) and Rhiannon Newton (Sydney).

Sydney Dance Company’s Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela said, “This year’s New Breed is very special for Sydney Dance Company, as after a long six months of disruption, we are returning to live performance. New Breed is such an important program supporting the development of new work and emerging artists, and I’m thrilled that after such a difficult year for the arts in Australia, we will be able to share the work of four talented artists, who represent the next generation of Australian choreographers, with audiences this year.”

Carriageworks CEO Blair French said, “For the eighth year, Carriageworks is proud to collaborate with Sydney Dance Company and The Balnaves Foundation to support the development of new choreography by Australia’s best emerging talent. New Breed reflects Carriageworks’ commitment to present artist-led programs that are innovative, ambitious, and risk-taking contemporary work. To be able to present such impressive and boundary-pushing live work to on-site audiences after such a challenging year is especially thrilling.” Victoria Balnaves of The Balnaves Foundation said, “The Balnaves Foundation is excited to be supporting Sydney Dance Company’s New Breed in its eighth year with an extended season of 15 performances. After what has been a difficult year for all we cannot wait to get back to the live performance space and see what these young, dynamic choreographers will bring to the stage. The Balnaves Foundation remains committed to fostering the future of the

Arts in Australia, and we believe New Breed is the perfect platform to showcase our next generation of choreographic talent.”

“The annual Sydney Dance Company showcase of freshly minted choreography is always intriguing for its revelation of ideas that a new generation of choreographers wants to explore – physical and intellectual.” - Sydney Morning Herald

CHOREOGRAPHER BIOGRAPHIES

Jasmin Sheppard

Jasmin is a contemporary dancer, choreographer and director, a Tagalaka Aboriginal woman with Irish, Chinese and Hungarian ancestry. Jasmin spent 12 years with Bangarra Dance Theatre performing numerous lead roles such as ‘Patyegarang’, in which critics described her performance as “powerfully engaging, fluent dexterity” (Sydney Morning Herald).

She choreographed a major work for the company, MACQ, on the 1816 Appin Massacres under Governor Macquarie which toured Australian capital cities, regional Australia and Germany.

In 2012 Jasmin was nominated for an Australian Dance award for ‘Best Female Contemporary Dancer’. Her work MACQ was nominated for a Helpmann Award for best dance work as a part of OUR Land People Stories in 2017, and in 2018 received a Helpmann for best regional touring program.

Other works include: No Remittance for Legs on the Wall and Choice Cut for Yirramboi festival, which was presented at Toronto’s ‘Fall For Dance North’ Festival, 2019.

Jasmin premiered her first full-length work The Complication of Lyrebirds in 2020 at Campbelltown Arts Centre. The work Premiered at Sydney Festival, 2021.

Jacopo Grabar

Italian born Jacopo trained at Ateneo della Danza in Siena. In 2012 he joined Balletto di Siena as an apprentice, graduated to full time dancer in season 2013/14. Jacopo received his American Ballet Theatre NTC diploma in 2013, before joining Baltic Dance Theatre (Gdańsk, Poland) the following year where he worked with choreographers including Jiri Kylian, Patrick Delcroix and the director, Izadora Weiss.

In 2015 he joined ImPerfect Dancers Company (Pisa, Italy), directed by Walter Matteini and Ina Broeckx and in August 2016 he joined Ballet des Stadttheater Bremerhaven, under the direction of Sergei Vanaev, where he worked with Itzik Galili and Ed Wubbe. Jacopo joined Sydney Dance Company in August 2018. This is his first choreographic engagement with Sydney Dance Company.

Lilian Steiner

Lilian Steiner is a Narrm/Melbourne-based choreographer, dancer and performer. Her practice champions the deep intelligence of the body in movement and its unique ability to reveal and comment on the complexities of contemporary humanity. Her interests extend into visual arts and experimental sound practices where the body is the base for questioning and expression.

Lilian’s work has been presented both within Australia and internationally. Local presentations include Dance Massive, the Keir Choreographic Award, Next Wave Festival, Melbourne Fringe, Melbourne Now (National Gallery of Victoria) & Lucy Guerin Inc.’s Pieces for Small Spaces.

International presentations include B.Motion Festival (Bassano del Grappa), Deltebre Dansa (Spain), Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Seine-Saint-Denis (Paris), Fête de la Musique (Geneva), Les Plateaux de la Briqueterie (Paris), Constellations Festival (Toulon) & Hong Kong International Choreography Festival. Her first full-length work Noise Quartet Meditation (2014) received a Green Room Award for ‘Concept and Realisation’.

Lilian is a long-term performer-collaborator with Melbourne-based company Lucy Guerin Inc. and has worked on numerous projects with choreographers Phillip Adams, Shelley Lasica and Melanie Lane amongst others, as well as with visual artists working with performance and sculpture/film (Sally Smart, Bridie Lunney, Brook Andrew, Matthew Bird, Ash Keating, Mikala Dwyer & Arini Byng) and experimental sound performance

(Anna Homler, Richie Cyngler & JLin). Lilian received the Green Room Award for Best Female Dancer in both 2017 and 2018, as well as the Helpmann Award in 2017.

Rhiannon Newton

Rhiannon is an Australian dancer and choreographer who grew up on Dunghutti Land on the Mid-North Coast of NSW.

Her creative work draws attention to ways of understanding interdependence between bodies and the world. Currently working from Gadigal Land (Sydney), Rhiannon makes contributions to community and culture through creation, performance, collaboration, teaching, research and curation.

Her recent projects include Explicit Contents (Sydney Festival, Campbelltown Arts Centre, 2021); A Strange Place (Dance Nucleus, Singapore; Performance Space, Sydney, 2021); Long Sentences (Performance Space, Sydney, 2020; Sydney; Baltic Circle Festival, Helsinki, 2019 ); We Make Each Other Up (Dancehouse, Melbourne, 2018; Dance Massive, Melbourne, 2019) and Doing Dancing (Powerhouse, Brisbane 2018; Firstdraft, Sydney, 2017).

Rhiannon has developed her practice through residencies, commissions and research platforms throughout Australia, Europe and North America, including The Unconformity (Tasmania, 2021); Australia Council HIAP International Residency (Helsinki, 2019); Trois C-L (Luxembourg, 2019), Dancehouse Housemate (Melbourne, 2018); Critical Path’s Responsive Residency (Sydney, 2016, 2018, 2020) and Movement Research (New York, 2013).

Rhiannon also works as a collaborator and performer with artists such as Mette Edvardsen (BE), Martin del Amo, Lee Serle, Rebecca Jensen, Amrita Hepi, Rosalind Crisp, Paea Leach, Angela Goh and Brooke Stamp.

Source SDC Media Website

19 October  2021

Wednesday 20 October 2021
This joint statement by theatres in Sydney acknowledges the significant and specific impacts that COVID-19 pandemic has had on the performing arts industry around the world, and specifically in Sydney during extended periods of lockdown. This impact extends to our artists, audiences, employees, partners, donors, funders and other stakeholders.
We are committed to re-opening and operating to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all our stakeholders.
We are committed to the development and implementation of COVID-Safe policies that meet or exceed the conditions set out in Public Health Orders (PHOs) as released from time to time by the NSW Government Health Department.
We believe as a collective of theatres operating in Sydney that consistency across theatre venues provides certainty and security to our artists, audiences, employees, partners, donors, funders and other stakeholders that is beneficial for the sector as a whole as well as individual theatre companies and producers, both large and small.
With this in mind, we will require all visitors to our venues to be fully vaccinated while on-site through to 31 December 2021. Please note that individuals under the age of 16 are excluded from this requirement.
We will further require that masks are mandatory while in theatre auditoriums and indoor spaces (except when you are eating and drinking). This is regardless of further movements in the PHO (including a possible relaxation of double dose requirements for those attending public gatherings).
Individuals aged between 12 and 15 are required to wear a fitted mask at all times in our theatres and indoor spaces. Masks are strongly recommended for individuals aged under 12.
These settings will be reviewed and relevant changes made to our 2022 policies as required.
We are looking forward to welcoming artists and audiences back to our venues and to being able to once again produce and present exceptional and memorable live theatre on our stages.

Names of signatories to the joint statement:
Bell Shakespeare, Belvoir Theatre, Darlinghurst Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, Griffin Theatre,
Hayes Theatre Co, Sydney Theatre Company, Seymour Centre

Source: STC Website

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