Arts

Emerging Writers Festival 21st – 30th May

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You’ll never find AC/DC fanatics, chest rug wielding discofreaks, burlesque dancers and budding writers within a 10 foot radius of each other. Each seperately, or the combination of all may pique your interest, depending on how eclectic your tastes are. If you fall happen to fall into the former category, then my dear friend the Emerging Writers Festival is for you. It kicks off from the 21st-30th May in Melbourne and will host a flurry of diverse events.

If you want to get a sneak peek of all the wacky events to come during EWF, then head down to The Atrium at Fed Square tomorrow (15th of May) where Maxine Clark, Angela Meyer &Phillip Thiel will be talking about writing in an online world.

Here are some highlights of the festival you should consider checking out.

THE FIRST WORD
Date: Friday 21st May, from 7.30pm
BMW Edge, Federation Square

The official opening of the 7th Emerging Writers’ Festival, The First Word is A night of performance, comedy, spoken word, burlesque, music and poetry.

Featuring — Myke Bartlett, Josh Earl, Amy Espeseth, Toni Jordan, Alison Mann, Michaela McGuire, Kate Mclennan, Craig Schuftan, Michael Williams and more.

YOU CAN’T STOP THE MUSING: DISCO

Date: Tuesday 25 May, 6pm
Horse Bazaar, 397 Lt Londsdale St

If you’re around town on the 25th of May – Triple J’s Craig Schuftan will be giving the world’s first ‘Disco lecture’. Presenting both sides of the ‘disco sucks’ argument, you’ll be hearing about The Frankfurt School, Theodore Adorno and white leather jumpsuits all in the one sham bang.

WORDSTOCK: ACDC

Date: Thursday 27 May, from 7.30pm
BMW Edge, Federation Square

Hosted by RRR presenter/music writer/comedian Clem Bastow, ACDC will be given a different sort of spotlight with new songs, poems, standup and performance pieces prepared in response to the backlist of the legendary rockers.

Featuring — Emilie Zoey Baker, Kate Boston-Smith, Susan Carland, The V Dentatas, Luke Devine, Ash Flanders, Karen Pickering, Ben Pobjie and Sean M. Whelan.



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SIXTEEN Exhibition @ Somedays Gallery

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FEATURING:

Jackson Eaton
Pedro Ramos
Luke Byrne
Ward Roberts
Oliver Bryce Yates
Sam Ash
Sam Stephenson
Brett Chan
Leon Batchelor
Gene Eaton
Tony Mckey
Ross Jenkinson
Sam Chiplin
Joe Coleman
Ryan Kenny
Jacinda Fermanis

Opening on the 9th of June at the Somedays Gallery in Sydney, SIXTEEN showcases a selection of independent works from sixteen of the freshest Australian photographers.

Instead of the generic method of using examples of the artist’s work to promote the exhibition, promo fliers for Sixteen feature the faces of the exhibitors themselves.

I’ve had a look at a few websites of some of the exhibiting photographers, and this show is looking very promising.

Make sure you check it out if you’re in Sydney!


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The Left Coast Festival

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The unique Left Coast festival is launching tomorrow night at Sedition barbershop in Darlinghurst Sydney. It’s a 50 day festival celebrating cross disclipinary arts in the city, created by artist Robyn Wilson who runs the Views Of Courage website. Everyone interested in attending the launch party is encouraged to wear Red.

Views of Courage & Sedition present

LEFT COAST FESTIVAL
LAUNCH OFFICIAL. RED IS.
+
ROSE VICKERS
‘FLOHAWK’
OPENING RECEPTION
+
The NOISE play live

Wednesday 12 May
6 – 8pm

Sedition | Barber shop, record store & gallery
275 Victoria Street
Darlinghurst
Sydney Australia

The official spiel:

One of the most significantly unique and culturally vital spaces in Sydney will host the latest in a series of cultural happenings spanning the last 10 years.

Finding itself in a realm reminiscent of the Dada and Fluxus movements of the 1920s and 60s, Sedition sits outside of the bounds of system and market defined allowances for agile cultural exploration and creative practice.

Countless, internationally renowned experimental music acts have played at this barber shop buzz-hub, including Mani Neumeier [Acid Mothers Guru Guru], Chris Abrahams [The Necks], Lars Graugaard [composer, Denmark], Jon Rose [composer, Australia], Louis Burdett [drummer, Australia] and Jim Denley [composer, Australia]. The Difficult Music Festival in January 2010, held during the Sydney Festival, featured 138 experimental and classical musicians and sound artists, both local and international.

And the next evolution is born.
Left Coast Festival gains life.

The program will see a cataclysm of visual works, installation, new media and video works, hybrid experimental music/dance performances, classical improvising musicians, public discussion of tendentious sub-cultural and mainstream issues. A live pain vs pleasure synthesis conveyed through a tattoo/sound art performance.

These, amongst many other experiences, will be offered, with spots on the schedule kept free to allow spontaneous performances and presentations my creative Sydney figures as well as those visiting for the Sydney Biennale.
__

Check out the program

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Glenn’s Guide to Brisbane Nightlife

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While battling the massive time-suck that is Facebook, I stumbled across the group ‘Glenn’s Guide To Brisbane Nightlife’. I’m sure it was created as some sort of pisstake or in-joke, but it’s an outlet for a guy called Glenn Stewart  to vent his opinions and frustrations regarding Brisbane pubs, clubs and live music venues. Here are some highlights:

RICS

I’ve heard a lot of complaints that Rics is going to be shit now that RG’s has taken over. I’d like to talk on behalf of Brisbane’s finest indie kids. Fuck you RGs for keeping the place clean. Fuck you for hiring friendlier staff! Fuck you for conveniently putting an ATM inside your club so you don’t have to walk across the road! Fuck you for continuing the tradition of putting on free live music almost every day. And I heard you were getting beer on tap? That’s just such a fucking nightmare!

It’s also a very easy place to pick up chicks. Somehow indie girls think that if they listen to Nick Cave, it will cancel out them being a slut. Sorry ladies, doesn’t work.

Also, any guy or girl who wears an accessory to improve their self esteem or to look cool is a fucking idiot. Example – a necklace with a huge cassette tape on it. Or stupid, thick glasses when their vision is perfectly fine. You’re no less self absorbed than a 16 year old girl wanting comments on their newest myspace picture. Fuck you.

Rics gets 5/10. I have had a few good nights there.

THE FOX

The Fox is a stupid name for a pub/club (whatever the fuck it is). Their $2 bits of meat are a fucking joke, served with a side of salad they made in a bucket. I don’t understand why people think it’s good value paying $2 for scraps.

It seems the average age of the crowd are 15 – 19 year old girls, 19 – 21 year old engineering students, and fresh new business men who buy their suits from Lowes. I know that sounds like a few rape charges waiting to happen, but from what I can tell it’s pretty safe. There’s cheap beers, and plenty of fat chicks to share around if that’s your thing. For the ladies – there’s plenty of fresh tribal tatts, guys with new toyota’s and dudes who actually enjoy dancing (still don’t get it?!).

If you like walking up 5 stories to really bad music, and a weird mixture of annoying people than this place is probably for you. The cheap beer is definitely a bonus.

Another thing I’ll never understand is the attitude of some bar staff. You know the “I don’t smile, I don’t like anyone who orders a drink, I take my job very seriously, I am the best bar person ever” type of person? Well you’ll meet plenty at The Fox.

Again it’s a place where the toilets smell like vomit all the time…

3.5/10

I had a few giggles. Check out the group here. Sorry to exclude those of you without a Facebook account, but I’m sure the satisfaction of not being data-mined is enough consolation for you.

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‘Trailer Trash’ – Jackson Jackson, Sampology and caravans

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Brisbanites, are you tired of the same old club nights and night clubs? I know I am.

Luckily for us whingers, two guys with a penchant for making Brisbane more fun and interesting are putting on Trailer Trash – an event with the unbeatable combination of live music, art, caravans and a secret location.

A group of Brisbane artists will transform three dilapidated caravans into three AWESOME caravans with the power of art to a live soundtrack provided by Jackson Jackson and Sampology.

It’s happening this Saturday April 24th – tickets through Oztix. Don’t leave it until the last minute though – there are only 500 available and only ticket holders will be informed of the whereabouts of the secret location.

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Embodiment Project

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Queer life in America? What does that have to do with Australian culture?

Well, Embodiment is a project by our friend Amelia Tovey from Shoot The Player, whose videos we’ve featured on whothehell.net before. Embodiment will be both an interactive website and a series of 25 short films that Amelia shot last year that interrogate and ruminate on contemporary queer life. She’s also started a Kickstarter project, where she’s hoping to raise $10, 000 in 90 days to fund the completion of the project (the editing and the website). You can access that site and donate here.

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‘200 Million & Counting’ – photo-media exhibition by Lizzie Hollins

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The Colour Factory is a print lab in Fitzroy Melbourne, that has recently opened an exhibition space on site featuring monthly shows with a preference for photographic work.

Lizzie Hollins’ work was produced in Europe, possibly whilst holidaying or backpacking. Hollins is interested in the tourist impact on culture and economy. I think the nature of humans traveling around the globe and gathering around certain destinations is quite an inspiration. It is interesting to step outside your environment whilst traveling and by shooting from an ariel vantage point, Hollins has achieved this whilst documenting something beautiful in the process.

The series of large scale images hang spaciously in contrast to a single monochrome projected video. The video studies the movement of pedestrian travellers or natives in an unknown city. Exposed for the shadows, the video image is predominatiely washed out white with silhouetted shapes of legs and then a moment of detail rises up from the sun bleached pavement.

The printed images immediately remind me of Andreas Gursky ariel work, who has studied plenty of mass gatherings but these pictures are quite different in that there are minimal people in the pictures. The gatherings are either humans in transit, walking around a location or stationary shapes, sitting gently in a park reading books and lounging. It’s interesting to note how humans seem to cluster whilst walking somewhere and then sit evenly spaced in a wide open park.

Up close, the printed images slightly disappoint, as the detail does not hold up for close scrutiny. This is due to the quality of capture but at normal viewing distance, they are fascinating. The patterns and texture lead your imagination on tangents, not unlike pondering abstract shapes in the clouds. I’m not sure that I would find all that Hollins hoped to express without an artist statement, I am sure this is an exhibition worth checking out. Coffee stains in the grass, tourist bodies forming a question mark shape and then noticing the shadow of a bridge that Hollins may well have been standing on to take the picture.

The Colour Factory Gallery – 409 Gore Street, Fitzroy. Opening hours are Monday – Friday, 8.30am – 5.30pm, Saturday 1.00 – 4.00pm.
The Exhibition runs from March 30-April 30, 2010 and you can contact the gallery on 03 9419 8756 to check easter opening hours.

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