Art Month Sydney returns...

Boasting 300 artists, 200 events and 100 galleries, the 2012 Art Month Sydney program is now live on the new website. It includes late night gallery openings, art bars, art workshops, tours on foot and by bicycle, family activities and a range of discussions and talks by artists and art experts. Topics include 'My three year old could do that' and 'Uncollectable Art'.  Not to be missed and running from 1 - 25 March across greater Sydney.

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.

New era for Carriageworks

A new era for Sydney's Carriageworks was ushered in last night when DIrector Lisa Havilah launched the first comprehensive artistic program for the multi-disciplinary arts institution that includes partnerships with the Sydney Festival and the 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations.

The 2012 program and new visual identity for Carriageworks was unveiled at a seated dinner created by JOHNANDPETER for 70 of the country's leading media and arts figures. With highlights spanning contemporary theatre, dance, music and visual arts, the institution is certain to attract a lot of attention over the coming year. Find out more at the new Carriageworks website. 

Sicilian residency

Gabriella Mangano and Silvana Mangano, Monument for Air, 2011 Courtesy the artists and Anna Schwartz Gallery

New video works by Melbourne-based artist duo Gabriella Mangano and Silvana Mangano have been unveiled at Anna Schwartz Gallery. The duo first began creating the work during a three-month residency in Sicily, where they used their car as a travelling studio. "We consciously sourced abandoned historical sites as a premise to begin filming and were interested in how the body assimilates and reacts to heavy histories," said Gabriella and Silvana Mangano.

Shapes for Open Spaces is the fifth solo exhibition for the artists and continues until 22 December 2011.

Outpost Project launches on Cockatoo Island

The launch party for Outpost Project: Art from the Streets attracted more than 1000 revellers last night to Sydney's Cockatoo Island. Visitors explored the Turbine Hall and surrounding pavilions taking in key exhibitions and art projects including Paste Modernism, Next T, Foundations and Kid Zoom's highlight work featuring a full-scale reproduction of his childhood home.