in the loop may 22: quick picks

version 1.0, Major Minor Party

major minor party

There are not many subjects theatre company version 1.0 is afraid to tackle. Currently the team is investigating the political intrigues behind the formation of the Australian Sex Party, founded in 2009. We can well imagine that the show will involve some rollicking fun alongside a sensible dose of transcript veracity around the Sex Party’s attempts to expose hypocrisy, fight censorship and generally lobby for a more tolerant nation. Fittingly the show is premiering in Canberra as part of the Centenary celebrations. Let’s hope more delicate Canberrans have recovered from the shock of Patricia Piccinini’s gloriously grotesque Skywhale hot air balloon and are ready for some more cultural provocation.
Version 1.0, Major Minor Party, Canberra Theatre Centre, May 29-June 1; http://www.canberratheatrecentre.com.au/season2013/majorMinor.html

moduluxxx

Pia van Gelder performing in Moduluxxx 2012 photo Alex White

Making music with computers is so old hat. The electronic music-making tools du jour are modular synthesisers. You get a box, fill it with your choice of noise-emitters and effects and patch them together in different combinations to make unpredictable, barely tameable and definitely unrepeatable noise magic. If you want to know more about it you can attend workshops, performances and even a petting zoo—getting your sweaty hands on some knobs and switches—as part of the two-day Moduluxxx festival. Guest artists include festival directors Pia van Gelder and Alex White, along with Russell Haswell (UK), Wired Lab’s David Burrastan and Nokes & Cook.
Moduluxxx, Sydney various venues, May 24-25; http://moduluxxx.com

laura altman & monica brooks duo

Laura Altman, Monica Brooks

On the other end of the noisemaking spectrum are the super-quiet experiments of Laura Altman on clarinet and Monica Brooks on accordion. Describing a live performance by the duo as part of the exhibition In a Silent Way at Hobart’s CAST gallery, Andrew Harper wrote “the time the two players described with sound hung together with a brittle elegance. People who seem to know their instruments well enough not to demonstrate their skill make fascinating players” (RT112). Their concert is the first in the New Music Networks’ annual Mini Series profiling emerging and independent artists.
New Music Network Mini Series: Laura Altman & Monica Brooks; Old Darlington School, Sydney University, May 25; http://www.newmusicnetwork.com.au/series.html

spanish film festival

Catherine Deneuve in Luis Bunuel's Tristana (1970)

The 16th Spanish Film festival will be spreading some Latin-loving, warmth and charm across Australia in June. It opens with A Gun in Each Hand (Una pistola en cada mano, 2012) by Cesc Gay, a comedy about the changing role of men and masculinity and concludes with a rare big screen showing of Luis Buñuel’s Tristana (1970), starring Catherine Deneuve in a dark tale of patriarchal passion and possession. In between will be 20 Spanish and Spanish-speaking Latin American films, many Australian premieres. Natalia Beristáin (Mexico), director of She Doesn’t Want to Sleep Alone (No quiero dormir sola), which premiered at the 2012 Venice Film Festival, will be touring the country as a special guest.
16th Spanish Film Festival, presented by Estrella Damm, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney, Byron Bay, June 12-26 http://www.spanishfilmfestival.com/

melbourne international animation festival

Marieka Walsh (AUS), The Hunter, Melbourne Animation Festival

This year’s MIAF runs for 11 days offering a huge amount of animated action. There are eight screening programs of international competition entries alone. Then there are showcases from Canada, Lithuania, Portland (home of edgy and indie—Bill Plympton, Matt Groening, Gus Van Sant etc) and of course Australian showcases as well. There’ll also be the first ever MIAF conference, Render (June 21-22), with keynote speaker Koji Yamamura who will be presenting retrospectives of his animations for adults and children. To help you make your program choices see the preview in RealTime 115.
Melbourne International Animation Festival, ACMI Cinemas, June 20-30; http://www.miaf.net/2013/home.html

elvis richardson, slide show land

Dorothy (Self Portrait), 1964-2013, 35mm slide, Slide Show Land series, Elvis Richardson

Elvis Richardson has been buying up big on e-Bay—she has over 10,000 35mm slides dating from 1940-1980. In her exhibition, Slide Show Land at Nellie Castan Gallery, she reconfigures these memory fragments as projections and photographic prints, set in an environment of sculptural objects constructed from domestic furniture. Richardson is investigating “sentimental feelings of reminiscence, as well as the pervasive familiarity of the image economy found today on facebook and flickr” (press release).
Elvis Richardson, Slide Show Land, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, June 6-29; http://www.nelliecastangallery.com/artist/10.127.281/elvis-richardson-slide-show-land.html

tony albert, projecting our future, agnsw

Tony Albert, Projecting our future 2002-13 (detail in progress), installation made of reworked objects, sculptures and paintings; original photographs, paintings and drawings and three unique artworks by Daniel Boyd, Dale Harding and TextaQueen private collection, New Zealand © the artist

Tony Albert also reconfigures images from the past. The final part of a trilogy, Projecting our Future at the AGNSW Project Space, combines kitsch, souvenir-type representations of Aboriginality with contemporary illustrations and paintings. The complex multilayered assemblage interrogates “cultural difference in relation to pride, optimism and solidarity” (website). And while at AGNSW you can check out Brenda L Croft’s striking portrait series in the Yirbana Gallery (until Sept 8).
Tony Albert, Projecting our future, AGNSW Contemporary Project; until June 7; http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/tony-albert/

loading the silence: australian sound art in the post-digital age, linda kouvaras

While still small in number, the books about Australian experimental music and sound are beginning to claim some space on library shelves. The latest addition is by academic Linda Kouvaras, the result of an ARC Research grant. It investigates “experimentalism from its inception in the early twentieth century…[and] how sound is embedded within local, national, gendered and historical environments” with a particular focus on Australian practice (press release). The book will be launched by Warren Burt, June 5, at the Grainger Museum, The University of Melbourne.
Published Ashgate by http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409441564

still in the loop

anne landa award for video and new media arts 2013, agnsw
Anne Landa Award for Video and New Media Arts 2013, May 16-Jul 28, Art Gallery of New South Wales
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/space-between-us/
more…

everyday rebellions, gertrude contemporary
Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, May 11- June 8
http://www.gertrude.org.au/exhibitions/gallery-11/current-13/
more…

joachim koester, frances stark, ian potter museum of art
Ian Potter Museum of Art, until June 2; http://www.art-museum.unimelb.edu.au/exhibitions/exhib-date/2013-03-20/exhib/joachim-koester-tarantism
more…

direct democracy, muma
Monash University Museum of Art, until July 6
http://www.monash.edu.au/muma/exhibitions/upcoming/direct-democracy.html
more…

bloom—space, aeaf
Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, until June 1
http://aeaf.org.au/exhibitions/21_bloomspace.html
more…

peter dailey, apparition: the syndicate ii
Fremantle Arts Centre until June 2; http://fac.org.au/events/288/peter-dailey-apparition-the-syndicate-ii?mid=12
more…

networked art forms & tactical magick faerie circuits, cast
Hobart, May 31-June 30;" http://tacticalmagick.net/
more…

conduit arts space initiative
May Music & Performance Program, Conduit Arts Initiative, Fitzroy
Full program http://conduitarts.wix.com/conduitarts#!program-music/ch3c
more…

diffuse, uts
May 23 & June 6, Bon Marche Studio, UTS
http://diffuse2013.wordpress.com/
more…

opal vapour, jade dewi tyas tunggal, mobile states
Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Cairns, McKay, Brisbane, Canberra, Blacktown
May-June, see website for details http://performinglines.org.au/productions/opal-vapour/; http://opalvapour.com.au/
more…

gemeinboeck & saunders, velonaki, ingram, artspace
ISEA satellite exhibition, May 2-June 16 http://www.artspace.org.au/gallery_upcoming.php
more…

composition to movement festival, creative practice lab, unsw
May 24-26, part of Vivid Sydney
http://sam.arts.unsw.edu.au/c2m
more…

eve and eve, rebecca agnew, 24hr art
until June1
http://www.24hrart.org.au/
more…

hatched: national graduate show 2013, pica
until June 9
http://www.pica.org.au/
more…

shadowlife, bendigo art gallery
until July 28 http://www.bendigoartgallery.com.au/Exhibitions/Current_Exhibitions/Shadowlife
more…

RealTime issue #114 April-May 2013 pg. web

© RealTime ; for permission to reproduce apply to [email protected]

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