Art Month Sydney returns in 2016 with new artistic director and fresh programming ideas for 7th annual event celebrating Sydney’s creative eco system

Art Month Sydney returns in 2016, from 1 March – 20 March, with new Creative Director, Barry Keldoulis at the helm. This follows Barry’s recent success as Director of Sydney Contemporary art fair in 2013 and 2015 and the Melbourne Art Fair in 2014. The dynamic program, inspired by the creative producers of Sydney, will expand across the city and inhabit new spaces and unexpected locations. Comprised of Exhibitions, Talks, Tours, Experiences and the much-loved Precinct Nights, Art Month Sydney will highlight the galleries, institutions, ARIs, art schools, artists and curators that generate Sydney’s marketplace of ideas.

The Collectors’ Space, an annual exhibition that celebrates private art collections, partners with long term sponsors, AON, and, for the first time in 2016, BresicWhitney, to present an exhibition at an unoccupied inner city house. The space, announced only weeks before the exhibition opens, will exhibit works from the collections of Sally Dan- Cuthbert, Courtney Gibson, Danny Goldberg, and Jasper Knight. The domestic setting of the Collectors’ Space will provide a domestic context not normally associated with a public exhibition of contemporary art.

This year, Art Month introduces an additional curated exhibition called Green Eyed Monster Eating its Own Tail. This exhibition will showcase artists that make art  about art and the art world. Artists include Tracey Moffatt, Tom Polo, Heath Franco, Grant Stevens, Elvis Richardson, Gordon Bennett (John Citizen) and PJ Hickman.

Precinct Nights return in 2016, beginning with a Mardi Gras-inspired queer night in East Sydney on Thursday, 3 March. Queer performers will activate restaurants, bars and retail stores during the night, while Alaska Studios hosts a queer cabaret in their untouched basement space. In addition, a pop up bar will be held in Crown Lane at Creative Space 99.

This year, Art Month will be working in partnership with Parramatta’s Information Cultural Exchange on the new project titled 'Mother’s Spice', it is a multimedia performance presented by a cast of newly arrived migrant, asylum seeker and refugee mothers living in Western Sydney. They will use spice as a performance element and a trigger to perform their own stories as inspired by their personal memories, journeys, experiences of motherhood and life in Australia.

A number of Sydney galleries have also been confirmed to take part in the 2016 program, including Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery who will be doing a book launch and talk with Daniel Boyd.   In addition, Brenda May Gallery and artist Todd Fuller invite the public to contribute to his participatory animation 'The Unite Project,’ responding to the work through drawing, colouring, writing or collage. 107 Projects will present Audiocraft is a day for radio producers, podcasters and documentary storytellers to come together and talk, listen and learn about making great stories with sound.

Four Creative Ambassadors appointed for 2016 Spectrum Now Festival

The Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum Now Festival presented by ANZ from 1 until 16 March 2016, today announced ARIA award-winning musician and songwriter Megan Washington, renowned Australian artist and dual-Archibald Prize winner Del Kathryn Barton, one of Australia’s most popular and versatile entertainers David Campbell and television presenter and comedian Charlie Pickering as the four Creative Ambassadors for the 2016 Festival. Spectrum Now’s Creative Ambassadors for 2016, will assist to develop the 2016 program, overseeing the music, art, stage and talks content respectively. 

As the public faces of the festival, the Creative Ambassadors will draw on their considerable expertise in their fields to provide creative direction and garner participation and support from local and international arts communities and key opinion leaders. 

In 2015, the Spectrum Now Festival attracted 100,000 people across over 200 exhibitions, gigs and events, under the direction of actor Richard Roxburgh. The 2016 festival will celebrate Sydney’s vibrant culture and inspiring creative locals, with a dynamic program of unique and unexpected collaborations across art, music, stage and talks.

 

Returning in 2016, signature event, Spectrum Now @ The Domain an 11 day outdoor event located at the Domain, will be on from 3 – 13 March 2016. With ticketed music concerts curated by the Secret Sounds Group and a free outdoor art festival, The Domain will be brought to life with music, art, performance, dining and drinking. Across the road at the Art Gallery of NSW, the sell out conversation events at the inaugural Festival will also make a return, curated with input from Fairfax’s top journalists, editors and writers from entertainment. The first release line-up of events for Spectrum Now Festival 2016 will be announced at the end of November.

Collaborations between artist, perfumer, florist and bespoke Scottish scarf maker explored in all-encompassing body of new work by Alesandro Liubicic

Alesandro Ljubicic, known for his luxuriant use of oil paint and bold hues, will unveil a new body of paintings for a solo exhibition titled The Scent of Painting, to be presented at Michael Reid Sydney from 3 until 27 February 2016.

A colour-intensive, physically immersive response to the beauty of nature, The Scent of Painting will envelop the viewer in a creative collaboration that brings together the artist; the Sydney-based florist, Mr. Cook; the Brisbane-based perfumer, Damask Perfumery; and the bespoke scarf manufacturer Kmossed, from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Examining the intense beauty of nature, Ljubicic invites the audience on a multi-layered and vivid experience through this constructed ecosystem; each sense engaged by a heady mix of colour, texture and aroma.

The Scent of Painting reveals both of Ljubicic's best known art forms: his large and small scale Still Life floral paintings on stretched linen and his gestural colour studies on birch boards. Both instantly recognisable by the drag and scoop of vibrant slabs of pure oil paint; the resulting surfaces taking on a distinctly sculptural quality. The exhibition will show some 25 works on linen and 30 colour studies.

Ljubicic draws inspiration from a diverse selection of florists both nationally and internationally. For The Scent of Painting, he has collaborated closely with floral designer Sean Cook. To compliment the new body of work, Ljubicic, for the first time, has also created a unique magnolia infused scent and limited edition, hand-made scarves printed with his artwork, both available within the exhibition.

Blake Prize finalists announced

 Casula Powerhouse Art Centre (CPAC) and the Blake Society announced finalists for the 2016 Blake Prize, Australia’s longest standing and most prestigious art prize which encourages conversation about spirituality and religion through art. The Blake Prize exhibition will be presented for the first time at CPAC, from 13 February until 24 April 2016, featuring the work of 8o finalists from across Australia, Ireland, the USA, Switzerland, France, Germany and New Zealand. 

The winner of the 64^th Blake Prize – presented biennially – receives $35,000 and the Emerging Artist Award, an acquisitive prize, is awarded $6,000. In addition, CPAC will also offer the inaugural Blake Residency program a one-month residency at CPAC and a solo exhibition which will be unveiled at the 2018 Blake exhibition program.  This year there were 594 entries for the Prize with the 80 finalists selected by the curatorial team at CPAC.

National Art School Postgraduate Exhibition helps launch the careers of more than fifty emerging artists

The National Art School Postgraduate Exhibition 2015 celebrates and showcases the achievements of more than fifty graduating students from the Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) and Master of Fine Art. The exhibition will be on show from 30 October until 7 November at the NAS Gallery in Sydney’s Darlinghurst.

The 2015 postgraduate cohort have reaped the benefits of the recent $8.7 million redevelopment of the National Art School’s state-of-the-art Postgraduate Centre. Now it’s time to enjoy one of the most anticipated events in the visual arts calendar, the National Art School Postgraduate Exhibition, offering the opportunity to see what our leading fine art students are creating and the chance to acquire these works directly from the studio.

Michael Snelling, National Art School Director, said, “The Exhibition is a platform for emerging artists to showcase their work to thousands of visitors including curators, collectors and gallerists.”

The Exhibition will feature a diverse and stimulating collection of artwork produced by graduates of the rigorous Master of Fine Art and Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) degree programs. Students can major in ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking, photography or sculpture. 

Anna Schwartz Gallery presents new exhibition of work by Shaun Gladwell titled 'The Inspector of Tides'

The Inspector of Tides’ is appropriated from the second volume of work by the late Australian poet Michael Dransfield and provides the spiritual and conceptual framework for Shaun Gladwell’s exhibition. Rodney Hall has described Dransfield as an eclectic poet who was never interested in orthodox categories or even the larger interconnections within art and society. Instead, Dransfield was trying to open himself to ‘surprises’ through a wild and discursive range of interests and stylistic approaches. Gladwell finds an affinity with this rejection of a specific and singular signature, both in terms of medium and subject matter. If any methodology is employed in Gladwell’s recent works then it is an itinerant multi-media trans-national and trans-historical wandering: the present show was produced in London, Paris, Antwerp, Sydney and Perth. 

The work engages with material from the early 20th century with Hans Heysen, the 1930’s with the films of Cinesound and photographs of George Caddy, the 1970’s with Dransfield himself. The exhibition also features performances held within the last year by Gladwell and his collaborators. The work even makes projections into a distant future with the painting of a science fiction drone. The tide of the exhibition is historically and geographically expansive.

‘The Inspector of Tides’ is perhaps most literally depicted by Gladwell in a series of large scale photographs taken at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach. Since his childhood, Gladwell has returned to Bondi to receive inspiration. ‘Severed Heads‘ depicts a hand reaching out from the churning whitewash of a broken wave. The title describes both the mechanics of freshly cut flowers as ‘severed heads’ but also refers to the 1980’s Australian experimental band by the same name.

This exhibition is comprised of photographs, paintings, installation and video.

Fashion & Art explored in COLLECTION+: CHRISTIAN THOMPSON AT SCAF

Christian Thompson, one of Australia's most significant indigenous artists, will be the focus of a new exhibition presented Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) exploring the intersection of art and fashion through his cross-disciplinary work. Presented from October 23 until 12 December 2015, Collection+: Christian Thompson includes photography; sculpture, performance, film and video works that appropriate traditional Aboriginal iconography, often creating fashion-related imagery with original and compelling contemporary art results.  

Collection+: Christian Thompson is the fifth exhibition in the SCAF Collection+ series that incorporates key works from the Gene & Brian Sherman Collection alongside works loaned from major public and private collections worldwide. For this exhibition, works by Christian Thompson have also been borrowed from the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). A new sculptural work, All Revolutions are Led by the Young, 2013 will also be premiered as part of the exhibition.

The exhibition is curated by emerging Melbourne-based curator and lawyer Alana Kushnir, who has explored concepts of collection and ownership, questioning what it means to truly own or possess something. Kushnir has looked into concepts such as the extinction and rediscovery of indigenous languages and the appropriation of indigenous Australian material culture. Kushnir draws a connection between these questions and Thompson’s photographic series, We Bury Our Own, which has been selected from the 900 piece Gene & Brian Sherman Collection.

Naomi Milgrom Foundation launches second visionary MPavilion in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens

A major international architecture commission and design collaboration was unveiled today in Queen Victoria Gardens. MPavilion 2015 initiated by Naomi Milgrom Foundation is designed by AL_A, the studio of renowned British architect Amanda Levete. The second groundbreaking MPavilion employs materials and technology developed for the aerospace industry to create a graceful ‘forest canopy’ of five and three metre‐wide translucent petals supported on slender four metre‐high columns. Each petal is just a few millimetres thick and the resulting ultra-lightweight structure sits lightly in the landscape and gently responds to the climate. The petals are fitted with LED lights that are activated at sunset to give a light performance synchronised with music. 

MPavilion is presented free to the public over four months from 6 October 2015 until 7 February 2016 and populated by more than 200 free events, created in collaboration with more than 200 arts organisations, designers and architects from Melbourne and around the globe.

The MPavilion 2015 was officially opened by Martin Roth, Director of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and commemorated by a live performance by Yorta Yorta soprano Deborah Cheetham, overseen by MPavilion founder, Naomi Milgrom AO, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and commissioned architect Amanda Levete of award-winning British architecture studio AL_A. 

Kaldor Public Art Projects and Carriageworks present highly acclaimed French choreographer Xavier Le Roy

Kaldor Public Art Projects in collaboration with Carriageworks presents a groundbreaking new Project with world renowned choreographer Xavier Le Roy. Le Roy will develop a new exhibition Temporary Title, 2015, which will be informed by a series of open rehearsals and presented alongside three performances of Le Roy’s seminal solo work Self Unfinished.

Celebrated choreographer, performance artist and dancer Le Roy collaborates with Hong Kong based choreographer and dancer Scarlet Yu, and 18 Australian performers to develop and present this thought provoking exhibition Temporary Title, 2015, which premieres at Carriageworks on Friday 20 November 2015.

Le Roy has selected Australian performers from Melbourne and Sydney to collaborate closely in the development and presentation of this new work. A former molecular biologist, Le Roy brings a deep, critical, curiosity to his collaborative experimental process. Rather than instructing his performers to move using a specific technique, direction or tempo, he proposes ideas to be discussed and actualized in movement and form. In this new work, he invites the audience through a series of open rehearsals to participate in this unique process.

Le Roy’s 18 Melbourne and Sydney-based performers are drawn from a variety of ages, demographics, experience and performance backgrounds. They are: Natalie Abbott, Christine Babinskas, Geraldine Balcazar, Georgia Bettens, Eugene Choi, Matthew Day, Lauren Eiko, Peter Fraser, Ryuichi Fujimura, Alice Heyward, Becky Hilton, David Huggins, Marcus McKenzie, Kathryn Puie, Amaara Raheen, Darcey Wallace, Adam Warburton and Ivey Wawn.

First Australian edition of The Other art Fair attract over 8,000 in attendance

Sydney, Australia: The Other Art Fair launched for the first time in Sydney from 10 until 13 September, at Ambush Project Space, Central Park Chippendale. The launch event on Thursday 10 September saw 2,300 people attend, with an overall attendance of 8,400 for the four days. The audience welcomed the opportunity to meet and buy art direct from artists with 1,233 artworks sold, ranging from affordable prints from $49 to larger scale works of $12,000.

The selected artists, both emerging and undiscovered, showcased their work direct to the public at the Fair across four days, with mediums spanning installation, sculpture, mixed media, printmaking, painting, video works and photography. Participating artists were hand-picked by a selection committee of art experts including artist Mikala Dwyer, collector Dr Dick Quan, art advisor Virginia Wilson, curator Meg Robson and Paris Neilson.

The Other Art Fair 2015  succeeded in achieving its key objectives for artists; bringing them enhanced visibility within the art market, providing a platform for sales with collectors and the greater public and the opportunity to engage with gallery representatives and discuss the potential for future representation.  Sherna Teperson’s work was acquired as part of the Australian Government initiative Artbank and many artist initiated relationships with Australian galleries. 

Fair Director Emilya Colliver commented: “We are delighted with the outcome of the Fair. The introduction of this new interactive platform, that encourages collectors and the public alike to meet and engage with artists directly, generated a strong momentum and we look forward to the further of the Fair.” 

The Other Art Fair was established by Fair Director Ryan Stanier in London in November 2011 and has since presented eight successful editions in the United Kingdom, firmly establishing itself as London’s favourite alternative art event. The Fair’s unique premise of championing individual artists has earned it praise in the media as well as receiving considerable interest from some of London’s leading contemporary art galleries being regular visitors.  

Sydney Contemporary announces line-up for talks program and short film screenings

From L-R: Actress Rachel Griffiths, chef Adriano Zumbo, Romance Was Born design

Sydney Contemporary announced the full speaker line-up for Talk Contemporary, its series of free panel discussions presented from Wednesday 9 September to Sunday 13 September at Carriageworks.

The talks will explore topical and controversial themes in contemporary art with leading figures across a range of fields. Speakers include actress Rachel Griffiths; Art Gallery of NSW Director Dr Michael Brand; chef Adriano Zumbo; Romance Was Born designers Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett; and international gallerist Pearl Lam of Pearl Lam Galleries.

In addition to the Talk Contemporary series of discussions, Sydney Contemporary will present the debut and a screening of two short artistic films by artists Tracey Moffatt and Del Kathryn Barton. 

The Talk Contemporary program is free upon entry to the Fair, however bookings are essential given spaces are limited. 

Sydney Architecture Festival announces 2015 program, creative vision and four-day condensed format

The ninth annual Sydney Architecture Festival (#sydarchfest) returns in 2015 with new dates, a fresh vision and a condensed program presented from Friday 2 October until Monday 5 October, activating inner Sydney locations with a packed schedule of design and architecture inspired activities. In 2015, Archrival, a Sydney-based collective of young design creatives, in partnership with JOC Consulting, will take the reigns as the Festival Event Directors, marking the first time in the Festival’s history a directorship approach has been implemented.

“Architecture is a driver for city lifestyles to become more sustainable, connected and liveable. We wanted the Festival to capture this potential and broadcast it to a city undergoing massive change,” said Claire McCaughan, Co-Founder, Archrival.

The new format of a four-day Festival condenses the formerly 10-day long program into an action packed long weekend of talks, events, tours, competitions and activities. The program includes a mix of free to the public and ticketed events that will run from morning until late evening throughout the Festival at locations around inner Sydney.

Festival-goers are invited to participate in a diverse range of events including conversations about design and architecture; short films; food and music experiences; children’s activities and guided tours. This year’s Festival seeks to engage actively with social media, with each day of the Festival having a dedicated hashtag. The daily hashtags are: Day 1 #DesignSecrets; Day 2 #TheGoods; Day 3 #NewCity; and finishing with Day 4 #GoGlobal.

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery presents first Australian solo exhibition by Glaswegian artist Jim Lambie

Jim Lambie Metal Box (Tea Tree Orchid) 2015

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery presents Zero Concerto by Jim Lambie, in what is to be his first ever Australian solo exhibition. Presented free to the public from 13 August to 26 September, the installation invites audiences into a frenzy of multi-coloured potato sacks, bicycle wheels and a psychedelic palette of vinyl tape. Working with the existing architecture of the room, Lambie installed continuous lines of tape to the floor, adhering to his trademark style collectively titled 'Zobop'.

Raised in the 1970s, Lambie’s work is influenced by his passion for music and his installations often comment on fantasy, glamour and notably, popular culture. His work was most recently shown in Australia in 2014 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, as part of the 19^th Biennale of Sydney, You Imagine What You Desire.

Design renders for MPavilion 2015 revealed

The renders for the second MPavilion, designed by British architect Amanda Levete's studio AL_A, have been revealed. Described as "a forest canopy", the design will utilise the latest technology in nautical engineering to create seemingly fragile and translucent petals, supported by columns that will sway gently in the wind. AL_A is collaborating with Australian specialist mouldCAM and using cutting-edge technology to form petals that are five metres in diameter, but only a few millimetres thick. 

Founded in 2014, MPavilion is an architectural and design event commissioned by Naomi Milgrom Foundation in Melbourne, Australia. Every year for four years, an outstanding architect is selected to design a temporary pavilion for the Queen Victoria Gardens. Naomi Milgrom, Chair of Naomi Milgrom Foundation notes that MPavilion 2015 is marked by a meaningful Australian-British collaboration. 

MPavilion will be officially opened on 5 October 2015 by Martin Roth, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London. A meeting place for ideas, MPavilion 2015 will be accompanied by a free, four-month public program of talks, workshops and performances from October to February. 

Sydney Contemporary returns in 2015 with Sydney Art Week

Monica Rohan Deliberating 2015

Australasia’s largest international art fair, Sydney Contemporary, returns this September to take over the entire Carriageworks precinct in Redfern. Presented over four days from 10 to 13 September, the major biennial art event will feature over 75 respected galleries, over 30% of which are international. The strong gallery line up will be supplemented with a dynamic, four-day public program including contemporary video and innovative art installations.

Sydney Contemporary 2015 will also see the inaugural launch of Sydney Art Week, a new initiative of art-inspired activities for all ages held at Carriageworks and across Sydney. 

Campbelltown Arts Centre and Sydney College of the Arts to collaborate on new Imperial Slacks exhibition

Campbelltown Arts Centre (CAC) and Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) will be collaborating on a new exhibition that reunites an artist collective who formed the Imperial Slacks group at the turn of the century in Sydney. To be presented at both venues from 14 August until 18 October 2015, Cosmic Love Wonder Lust: The Imperial Slacks Project will exhibit artworks previously shown during the Imperial Slacks Project alongside newly commissioned works.

Established in 1997 within an urban cultural environment, Imperial Slacks operated over five years as a social and cultural experience which functioned as the home, studio and gallery space of sixteen artists. The artist-run space generated a new form of cultural production and inspired forthcoming contemporary art in Australia. Fifteen of these artists will be returning to exhibit in Cosmic Love Wonder Lust. The exhibition will also re-present a number of videos from the personal collections of all the artists, allowing audiences access to the history of Imperial Slacks. 

Goldberg's American contemporary art collection tours NSW

From 4 July to 30 August 2015, a major exhibition of recent works by leading contemporary artists from the United States will be unveiled at Manly Art Gallery and Museum. Beginning on American Independence Day, Stars + Stripes: American Art of the 21^st Century from the Goldberg Collection will showcase 52 works by 31 of the most exciting contemporary American artists. The free exhibition will include many works made in the last three years.

It is the first time in 47 years that a major exhibition of contemporary American art will be presented in Australia. From the private collection of Sydney-based Lisa and Danny Goldberg, Stars + Stripes will feature a vibrant selection of recent American art, from artists based predominantly in New York and Los Angeles. It will offer an insight into the next generation of important artists from the US, with works spanning between installation, drawing, photography and sculpture. 

Emily Floyd unveils new exhibition at Anna Schwartz Gallery Melbourne

Melbourne-based artist Emily Floyd works in sculpture, printmaking and public installation.  Field Libraries, running from 5 June to 11 June at Anna Schwartz Gallery Melbourne, extends from her sculptural library project Labour Garden, previously presented at the 56th Venice Biennale. Comprised of 12 free standing painted aluminium sculptures, Field Libraries 2015 includes stacks of Fair Use booklets dedicated to eccentric perspectives on the subject of work, such as Zombie Marxism and Feminist Autonomism.  

Each Field Library incorporates utilitarian paperweights. Index, 2015 is a major new series of 50 unique screen prints, representing a catalogue of Floyd’s ongoing library project and was made in collaboration with Negative Press. In her work, Floyd seeks to generate spaces for social engagement and interaction to spark discussion over contemporary social, cultural and political potentiality. 

Grace Jones returns to Sydney for three exclusive shows

Internationally renowned artist, fashion icon and musician Grace Jones will return to Sydney to perform three shows as part of Modulations at Carriageworks. As part of Vivid Sydney, this will be Jones’ only Australian appearances and her first visit to Sydney since her sold out tour in 2011.

Acknowledged widely for her influence in the music and fashion industries, Jones’ reputation for electrically charged performances makes this an unmissable event. Starting as a model, Jones’ musical style segues from disco to funk, from pop to punk, accompanied by stunning visuals.

Modulations returns with an expanded program this year, spanning across two weekends with exclusive music performances, contemporary ideas and innovative food experiences as part of Vivid Sydney. 

REMIX Sydney 2015 draws creative visionaries from across the globe

The world-renowned REMIX Summit returns to Sydney on 2 and 3 June 2015. Also held in London, Dubai and New York, more than 85 creative visionaries from leading cultural and technology organisations will visit Sydney to tackle the ideas that shape the future of the creative industries.

Presented as part of Vivid Sydney, the focus will be on a blurring of the physical and digital experience of museums and the construction of dynamic and creative cities. With senior figures from NASA, Spotify and MoMA previously contributing to the summit, REMIX Sydney 2015 will feature a panel discussion about the Creative Revolution: content creation and distribution, to be headed by Katrina Sedgwick, recently appointed Director of the Australian Centre for Moving Image. REMIX Sydney 2015 speakers also include representatives fromTwitter, the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.