Image: Eszter Salamon, Replay, Dancehouse, 2018. Katrin Schoof

Carriageworks today announced the public program for the 2018 Keir Choreographic Award (KCA), Australia’s first major choreographic award, in partnership with The Keir Foundation, Dancehouse and Australia Council for the Arts. From 27 February – 20 March 2018, the diverse public program expands on the Keir Choreographic Awards Sydney season and includes performances, workshops and discussions engaging the 2018 KCA jurors.

Highlights of the program include the Australian premiere of an evening of solo works from acclaimed choreographer and performer Meg Stuart at Carriageworks and two workshops in Western Sydney in association with Campbelltown Arts Centre; Black Dance facilitated by Ishmael Houston-Jones, US choreographer and improviser; and Little Orange Workshop with celebrated Australian choreographer Lucy Guerin for emerging Western Sydney artists with disabilities.

Hungarian choreographer, dancer and performer, Eszter Salamon will speak at the National Gallery of Australia; present a seminar in conjunction with the University of New South Wales and lead a choreographic lab at Critical Path, Sydney.

Image – Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries

This January, as part of Sydney Festival Artspace presents a series of actions by artists to launch the 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS series, a year-long online exhibition that will respond to the urgent political circumstances of our times. The exhibition will see the creation of 52 new artworks in 52 unique locations throughout Asia that will be shared globally via Instagram and online @52artists52actions and www.52artists52actions.com

Australian artist, Richard Bell launched the exhibition, from 8 – 15 January, scrutinizing the Australian government’s stance on nuclear weapons. From 15 – 22 January, Turkish artist Hera Büyüktaşçıyan posts images of architectural elements from various geographies and timelines to narrate shared memories of invisibility and loss, and internationally renowned South Korean collective Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, known for their use of animated texts set to their own music, will deliver their action ‘Discovering God’ from 22 – 29 January 2018.

52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS is curated and instigated by Artspace in Sydney, working with an extensive network of artists, collaborators and agitators from across Asia. Every week for one year Artspace will invite a different artist to respond to a current political or social issue in the form of an action to build awareness around important concerns locally and globally.

Carriageworks today announced the line-up for the Night Market, showcasing locally-sourced seasonal produce and Australian ingredients prepared by some of Australia’s best chefs. Curated by acclaimed Australian chef and Carriageworks Ambassador, Kylie Kwong, the Night Market on Friday 9 February will feature more than 60 food, beverage and produce stalls promoting uniquely Australian ingredients alongside free cooking demonstrations from leading chefs and Indigenous food specialists. Visitors will be entertained by local DJs; a live performance by internationally renowned Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin performing her piece for piano, ‘Road to Harvest’, written for the Fair Trade movement; and will witness the unveiling of a newly commissioned artwork by women artists from Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, created in response to the theme of the Night Market.

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery presents the exhibition, Isaac Julien: ‘Film-Noir Angels’ Looking for Langston, as part of the official program of Sydney’s 40th Mardi Gras Festival.

Presented from 23 January until 3 March 2018, the exhibition features Julien’s award-winning film Looking for Langston (1989), which will be presented as part of the solo exhibition of his newly conceived, large-scale photographs as well as originals silver gelatin photographic works.

Looking for Langston (1989), shot in sumptuous monochrome, is a lyrical exploration of the private world of Langston Hughes (1902 – 1967) and his fellow black artists and writers who formed the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s.

Image: Katharina Grosse, The Horse Trotted Another Couple of Metres, Then it Stopped, 2017, commissioned by Carriageworks Courtesy the artist and Gagosian © Katharina Grosse and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017, image: Zan Wimberley

Carriageworks today unveiled a major new commission by renowned German artist Katharina Grosse of a site-specific installation representing the third in the Schwartz Carriageworks series of major international projects. The world premiere of the work titled The Horse Trotted Another Couple of Metres, Then it Stopped is presented free to the public at Carriageworks from 6 January as part of Sydney Festival 2018 and continues until 8 April 2018. Grosse’s exciting new work envelopes Carriageworks, responding to the unique industrial architecture and grand scale of the heritage building.

Working directly on site at Carriageworks, Grosse enveloped the Public Space in more than 8250 square metres of suspended fabric—draped, knotted and hung across and through the architectural elements of the building—using a palette of raw colour to create a vast painting over the layers of folds. Visitors will be able to enter this total environment and experience the transformation of Carriageworks historic structure.