Image: Steven Siewert

The Sydney Fringe Festival has revealed its full 2017 program, opening ticket sales for more than 300 productions presented from 1 – 30 September at 42 partner venues across inner Sydney. Spanning theatre, physical theatre and circus, music, comedy, visual art, film, cabaret, musical theatre, dance and the spoken-word, Fringe will for the first time in 2017 be based out of a new expansive Festival Hub at Sydney Park in Alexandria.

The HPG Festival Hub will see a 7000m2 warehouse transformed into multiple performance and exhibition spaces that will be home to immersive light, art and theatre experiences, music and theatre performances, a 200-seat vegan feast, a masquerade ball and numerous installations.

Other highlights include the FRINGE IGNITE Launch Party curated by one of Australia’s most dynamic vocalists NGAIIRE with a series of live music gigs and performances from 3pm until 8pm at Kensington St Chippendale, the Heaps Gay Masqueerade, world premiere theatre experiences and exhibitions, Global Rhythms music festival in Bicentennial Park, and a performance by Lah-Lah’s Big Live Band and the Sydney Youth Orchestra in the Sydney Town Hall to close the festival.

Artistic Director of the 21st Biennale of Sydney Mami Kataoka announced today the title of the 2018 Biennale of Sydney is SUPERPOSITION: Art of Equilibrium and Engagement. Speaking at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, Ms Kataoka also shared the names of additional artists from Asia region selected to present their works in the multi-venue event. She elaborated on key themes in the forthcoming edition of Australasia’s longest running and most respected contemporary art event.

Artistic Director, Mami Kataoka noted that: ‘the 21st edition of the Biennale of Sydney will draw on the concept of superposition in quantum mechanics as a metaphor to link the notions of equilibrium and engagement and provide us with insights into the world today. We are surrounded by conflicting ideas across all levels of humanity: different cultures; readings of nature and the universe; political ideologies and systems of government; interpretations of human history, including the history of art and definitions of contemporary art.’

The artists announced today who will participate in the 21st Biennale of Sydney are:

·            Julian Abraham ‘Togar’ (Born 1987 in Indonesia, lives and works in Medan, Indonesia)

·            Chen Shaoxiong (Born 1962 in China, died in 2016 in Beijing, China)

·            Geng Xue (Born 1983 in China, lives and works in Beijing, China)

·            Tanya Goel (Born 1985 in India, lives and works in New Delhi, India)

·            Hsu Chia-Wei (Born 1983 in Taiwan, lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan)

·            Ami Inoue (Born 1991 in Japan, lives and works in Kyoto)

·            Sosa Joseph (Born 1971 in India, lives and works in Kochi, India)

·            Prabhavathi Meppayil (Born 1965 in India, lives and works in Bangalore, India)

·            Tomie Ohtake (Born 1913 in Japan, died in 2015 in São Paulo, Brazil)

·            Tawatchai Puntusawasdi (Born 1971 in Thailand, lives and works in Chiang Mai, Thailand)

·            Sa Sa Art Projects (founded in 2010 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

·            Svay Sareth (Born 1972 in Cambodia, lives and works in Siam Reap, Cambodia)

·            Akira Takayama (Born 1969 in Japan, lives and works in Saitama, Japan)

·            Maria Taniguchi (Born 1981 in Philippines, lives and works in Manila, Philippines)

·            Su-Mei Tse (Born 1973 in Luxemburg, lives and works in Luxemburg)

·            Samson Young (Born 1979 in Hong Kong, lives and works in Hong Kong)

Celebrating 75 years of Modernist art and living at its Emu Plains site, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest presents a suite of exhibitions and associated programs titled Emu Island – Modernism in Place that will be open to the public from 26 August until 26 November 2017.

Once the home and studio of artists Margo and Gerald Lewers, the Gallery site was – and is today – a place of lively debate, artistic creation and exhibition at the foot of the Blue Mountains on the banks of the Nepean River. Coming up against the Nepean River, early settlers thought the land on the mountainside was an island inhabited by Emus hence ‘Emu Island’. The place was considered to be land’s end, but as the home of artists Margo and Gerald Lewers it became the place for new beginnings.

Curated by Dr Shirley Daborn together with consulting curator Dr Cassi Plate, Emu Island – Modernism in Place highlights the cultural significance of the Gallery’s history and site to Modernism in Australia.

Deutsche Bank and Sydney Contemporary today announced a unique site-specific art experience for all visitors to Australasia’s premier contemporary art fair, being held 7 to 10 September 2017 at Carriageworks, Redfern.

As Principal Partner of the Fair for the first time, Deutsche Bank has commissioned Australian award-winning artist Robyn Stacey to create Double Take, a walk-in ‘camera obscura’ at the Carriageworks site. Double Take will be positioned at the entrance to Sydney Contemporary for the duration of the fair and is open for everyone to experience.

The Keir Foundation, Carriageworks and Dancehouse today opened the call for entries and announced the high-profile international jury for the 2018 Keir Choreographic Award. The biennial competition, dedicated to the commission, presentation, promotion and dissemination of new Australian choreography, will accept entries until 11 August 2017 for the third edition of the Keir Choreographic Award, to be presented in March 2018.

Supported by the Australia Council for the Arts and launched in 2014 as Australia’s first major choreographic award, the Keir Choreographic Award looks to identify and illuminate experimental choreographic practices occurring in the Australian context today. The 2018 jury that are tasked with the responsibility to decide which artists will be offered one of the eight new commissions are: Head of Dance, Performing Arts of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Hong Kong, ANNA CY CHAN; local dance icon LUCY GUERIN; ISHMAEL HOUSTON-JONES, US choreographer, author, performer, and curator; Hungarian choreographer, dancer and performer ESZTER SALAMON; Artistic Director of international arts festival Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, CHRISTOPHE SLAGMUYLDER;  and acclaimed Brussels-based American choreographer and dancer MEG STUART.

The Keir Choreographic Award Public Program, brings together panellists, guests and workshop leaders, and runs concurrently with the performance season, providing a vital context for related and relevant discourse, reflection and debate.

2017 TARNANTHI: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Artistic Director, Nici Cumpston has today announced program highlights for the city-wide Festival, which returns to Adelaide this October.

Encompassing a major exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia, an art fair presented at Tandanya, National Aboriginal Cultural Institute and a city-wide festival, TARNANTHI showcases contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art from across the country, providing a platform for artists to share important stories and shed new light on their practise.

In 2017 TARNANTHI will showcase over 1,000 artists at exhibitions at the Art Gallery of South Australia and more than 20 partner venues, and the TARNANTHI Art Fair will feature over 40 art centres and individual artists from across the country.

Sydney Fringe Festival – New South Wales’ largest independent arts festival – today announced its 2017 Festival Ambassadors and the next wave of program highlights set to enliven inner Sydney from 1- 30 September 2017. For the first time in 2017, Fringe will be presenting a new Festival Hub, a 7000m2 warehouse at Sydney Park in Alexandria, transformed into multiple performance and exhibition spaces. During Sydney Fringe Festival, the hub will be home to immersive light, art and theatre experiences, music and theatre performances, a 200-seat vegan feast, a masquerade ball and numerous installations.

The 2017 Festival Ambassadors, who are tasked with championing the independent arts and this year’s Fringe program, are Tim Freedman of The Whitlams, renowned Australian artist Ben Quilty, writer, personality and social commentator Benjamin Law, performance artist Betty Grumble and performer/poet/activist Candy Royalle. Ambassadors will be part of the program at the new HPG Festival Hub with headline performances by Ambassador Tim Freedman of The Whitlams on 21 and 22 September, Betty Grumble Sex Clown and Candy Royalle.