Beijing's punk music scene bursts into Sydney

The one-night only Sound Kapital event brings the energy of Beijing's underground music scene to Sydney's Carriageworks as part of the City of Sydney's 2012 Chinese New Year Festivities.

Featuring live performances by three of Beijing's most explosive underground cult bands, AV Okubo, Xiao He and PK14, Sound Kapital offers a taste of the 'innovative orgy gripping Beijing's music underground'.

Works by photographer Matthew Niederhauser will be projected onto the walls and ceiling at the event, sourced from his acclaimed book Sound Kapital that documents the emerging contemporary Chinese punk scene.

Angela de la Cruz

Angela de la Cruz, Compressed (red), 2011

Turner Prize nominee Angela de la Cruz will present her first solo exhibition in Australia since 2005 at Anna Schwartz Gallery in Melbourne from 2 February until 3 March 2012.

De la Cruz's work defies categorisation, corrupting the distinction between painting and sculpture, with works that are at once objects and images. The Spanish born artist moved to London in 1987 where she currently resides.  The exhibition includes deconstructed canvases, found furniture and aluminium forms whose proportions allude to the human figure.

Sydney Festival celebrates Australia's black capital

Brook Andrew's 'Travelling Colony' - part of the Sydney Festival's Black Capital

The Sydney Festival 2012 is in full swing at Carriageworks where Black Capital is running from 8 until 29 January. Referencing Carriagework's home in Redfern, Black Capital is a major celebration of urban Aboriginal arts comprised of a series of performances, seminars and exhibitions reflecting the diversity of contemporary Aboriginal practice and Carriageworks’ Redfern base.

A highlight of the program is Travelling Colony, a major site-specific multi-media work by contemporary Aboriginal artist Brook Andrew. Inspired by the circus, pop culture, and his Wiradjuri heritage, Andrew has created a cavalcade of seven hand-painted caravans currently parked in the foyer of Carriageworks and whose interiors tell the stories of Redfern personalities.