Can you overcome “classic album fatigue”? The performers who played Big Star’s Third in Sydney last week gave it a good shot.
Jamie Williams/Sydney Festival
“Alex Chilton’s dead!” exclaimed a friend of mine when I told him I was going to a concert devoted to a Big Star album at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre. It’s easy to see the line of reasoning: tickets are being…
Cult director Godfrey Reggio’s latest film, Visitors, screened in Sydney last week – with a live performance of the Philip Glass score.
Prudence Upton/Sydney Festival
Godfrey Reggio’s film Visitors, which screened last week with a live Philip Glass score at the Sydney Opera House, represents the continuation of an aesthetic project that began with the landmark Koyaanisqatsi…
Black Diggers tells the stories of young Indigenous soldiers who fought in the first world war. How did their stories get forgotten?
Jamie Williams/Sydney Festival
In August 2012, I was invited by the Sydney Festival to work with Wesley Enoch, Artistic Director of Queensland Theatre Company, to assist in developing Black Diggers, currently playing as part of the…
Sometimes too much is just too much. Martin Scorsese’s latest film is swamped by its excesses.
Paramount Pictures
The Wolf of Wall Street is Martin Scorsese’s Scarface – and that isn’t meant as a compliment. I watched Brian De Palma’s 1983 film again recently. I had been looking forward to it: the Blu-ray edition…
The Zhang Family Band will perform at the Sydney Festival this week.
Zhang Fuqiang/Sydney Festival
We’ve all heard — or heard of — Mongolian throat singing and Peking Opera. But a new Chinese musical tradition is beginning to reverberate around the world – and will be showcased this week at the Sydney…
Cadavre Exquis takes its cues from the game loved by the Surrealists – also known as the kids’ game “consequences”.
Mette van der Sijs/Sydney Festival
The rules of Cadavre Exquis are basic. Four directors, each responsible for 15 minutes of material. Each brings one actor. This is the basis of Cadavre Exquis, a performance staged at Sydney’s Carriageworks…
Sasha Waltz’s production of Dido and Aeneas is a breathtaking visual spectacle.
Jamie Williams/Sydney Festival
One thing is for sure – the first performances of Henry Purcell’s baroque masterpiece Dido and Aeneas, currently playing at the Sydney Festival, would have been seen in a far less spectacular, and challenging…
Chi Udaka isn’t a “fusion” show, it’s a performance in which intercultural exchange flourishes.
Filigree Films
There is speculation that the taiko drum was first used by soldiers in battle. At its best, Chi Udaka, currently playing at the Seymour Centre as part of the Sydney Festival, recalls the ritualised diffusing…
Pan Pan Theatre Company’s production of All That Fall immerses the audience in Samuel Beckett’s play.
Ros Kavanagh/Sydney Festival
In the program notes to Pan Pan Theatre’s outstanding production of All That Fall at the Sydney Festival, critic Nicholas Johnson underlines Samuel Beckett’s well known opposition to having All That Fall…
Halina Rejin is performing Jean Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine at Carriageworks as part of the Sydney Festival.
Sydney Festival/Prudence Upton
An unnamed woman alone in an apartment conducts an increasingly panicked conversation on the telephone with the man she loves, but who has abandoned her for another. Her assumed fortitude gradually crumbles…
This exhibition is not just about art, it is about us: the land, the sea, our ancestors. Those words were spoken by Waka Munungurr, ceremonial leader and senior custodian, Djapu clan, at a preview viewing…
Street and graffiti artists such as Ash Keating are recognised in Melbourne Now – in and out of the galleries.
NGV
The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne recently opened what may be its most ambitious exhibition: Melbourne Now, on display until March 23 2014. It features hundreds of works selected by 30…
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne