Debil Debil unveiled at Anna Schwartz Gallery

Record attendances at Art Month Sydney 2013

Art Month Sydney 2013 has welcomed record numbers into Sydney's art galleries and presented the most diverse and ambitious program in the festival's four year history. Over three weeks 300 events and exhibitions were presented, featuring 200 artists in over 100 art spaces across Sydney.

Attendance in 2013 saw a significant increase with over 40,000 Sydneysiders participating in the event directly and around half a million people connecting with the event online and via social media. In addition, more than 90 per cent of Art Month 2013 events were fully booked out.

Art Month CEO, Paul Becker said: "It's great to see Art Month Sydney realising its potential for cultural change in our city and wonderful to see audiences embracing contemporary art in increased numbers."

Art talks, films, Parlour nights & a pop-up bar...

Kaldor Public Art Projects has unveiled a comprehensive and thought-provoking public program of events to support its most ambitious project in history, the major international contemporary art exhibition 13 Rooms.  Free art talks, conversations and panel discussions involving some of the most respected figures in the arts community will be offered. Speakers include Artistic Director of the Sydney Theatre Company Andrew Upton; former Art Gallery of NSW Director Edmund Capon; Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela; Artistic Director of Sydney Festival Lieven Bertels; and Australian artist Julie Rrap.

Visitors will be able to explore 13 Rooms after dark with the return of Parlour nights featuring music by FBi DJs, a pop-up bar by Grasshopper and specially-commissioned artist performances.  For a full program of events and information on 13 Rooms please visit: www.kaldorartprojects.org.au/13rooms/

Carriageworks premieres 'Birds with Skymirrors' from acclaimed Samoan choreographer

Carriageworks will present the Australian premiere of Birds with Skymirrors on 1 May 2013, a contemporary dance work by internationally acclaimed group MAU that incorporates dance, ceremony, poetry and chant. This uplifting dance work comes from distinguished Samoan choreographer Lemi Ponifasio, globally regarded as one of the most innovative and controversial theatre artists today.

With a bold and ground-breaking stage vocabulary, Birds with Skymirrors is a dance reflection on the human relationship with the planet at a time of momentous climate change. Evocative lighting and video projections create an austere and mystical world, as the performers convey an urgent message – radical climate change is not an apocalypse about to happen; it is already here.

Barry Keldoulis joins Art Fairs Australia

Respected Australian art identity Barry Keldoulis has been appointed CEO and Group Fairs Director of Art Fairs Australia Pty Ltd, the presenting company behind the new Sydney Contemporary art fair, launching this September, and the Melbourne Art Fair.

The first focus for Keldloulis is to oversee Sydney Contemporary, the major new biennial contemporary art fair being presented for the first time at Eveleigh-based arts institution Carriageworks from 20th until 22nd September 2013, with a Vernissage to be hosted on the evening of Thursday 19th September. Sydney Contemporary and the Melbourne Art Fair will be presented on a biennial basis in alternate years, commencing with Sydney Contemporary this September and followed by the Melbourne Art Fair in 2014.

Slow Dances for Fast Times

This March, Carriageworks presents a new work by critically acclaimed choreographer Martin del Amo: Slow Dances for Fast Times. Featuring 12 individual dancer performances, each set to a distinct soundtrack ranging from pop favourites, dance anthems of the last 50 years to operatic arias. 

Del Amo has been described by the Sydney Morning Herald as someone who 'runs his own race as a performer, engaging the audience with the familiar yet provoking thoughts beyond our everyday experience." Tickets all $35 in keeping with the 'one price for all shows' policy inducted by Carriageworks for 2013.

Julie Rrap appointed curator of Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize

Julie Rrap (pictured here in her own art work)

Respected Australian artist Julie Rrap has been announced as the new curator of the Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize 2013. Rrap follows in the footsteps of former curators Imants Tillers and most recently Lindy Lee and will select a list of around 20 contemporary Australian artists to present work for the 2013 Prize which will be exhibited for the second consecutive year at the National Art School Gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney. 

The Prize has a unique model in that the invited artists are each required to select an emerging artist to present work alongside them in the exhibition. In this light, it seeks to encourage mentoring relationships between younger and more established generations of artists. The Prize will be announced on 2 May 2013 with an exhibition of all works presented, free of charge, at the NAS Gallery until 1 June 2013.