Bell Shakespeare’s production of Twelfth Night arrives in Canberra and Sydney this October, presented at Canberra Theatre Centre from 13 – 21 October and Sydney Opera House from 26 October – 19 November.

Directed by Heather Fairbairn, who has worked internationally with companies including the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and the Royal Court Theatre in London, this production of Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s most musical play, features original music from Aria Award winner Sarah Blasko. Six new songs are sung live onstage by the cast, and the plot is carried along by Blasko’s melancholic score.

Fairbairn places the characters in a garden setting that transforms throughout the play, linking the characters’ own mortality to life cycles in nature and asking them, along with the audience, to find light in the darkness.

Powerhouse has unveiled 1001 Remarkable Objects, a major new exhibition led by Leo Schofield AM.

‘Our vision for 1001 Remarkable Objects was a seemingly simple one: to create an exhibition celebrating the sheer scale, breadth and relevance of the Powerhouse Collection. But how to choose? We rejected the nomenclature of ‘treasures’ or ‘masterpieces’ and instead determined all choices must be in some way ‘remarkable’ – whether by virtue of rarity, visual appeal, social history or an ability to invoke wonder. The result is a cornucopia of eras, styles, form, function, size and colour, to stoke memories that so many have of this iconic institution and signal the beginning of a new phase in its marvellous existence’, said Curatorium Chair Leo Schofield AM.

Leo Schofield AM has worked in collaboration with advisors Ronan Sulich, Mark Sutcliffe and Powerhouse curator Eva Czernis-Ryl to select 1001 objects from the more than half a million objects within the collection. This selection includes objects that have never been exhibited before alongside much loved collection icons.

Yavuz Gallery will present a major debut exhibition Desert Songs by Western Aranda artist Vincent Namatjira OAM  from 5-28 October 2023 at their  Surry Hills space in Sydney. The exhibition will coincide with a forthcoming monograph published by Thames and Hudson and major survey, Australia in colour, presented at the Art Gallery of South Australia in 2023 and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, in 2024.

Featuring thirteen new paintings, the exhibition tackles the rich themes and concepts of leadership, power and legacy. A show for these times, Desert Songs provides a platform for Namatjira to explore his own deeply personal histories through portraits of well-known figures that have shaped his life through art, music, and politics. Through these bold and unapologetically political paintings, Namatjira explores what it means to be Indigenous in Australia, or the world.

Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, presented by Woollahra Council, has today announced the finalists for the 22nd edition of the esteemed annual prize. The finalist works will be presented in an exhibition at Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, unveiled on 27 September, with the winning sculpture announced at the opening.

Established in 2001, the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize is Australia’s pre-eminent award for small sculpture and is the first national acquisitive prize for an original sculpture of up to 80cm in any dimension.

Now or Never is set to transform the city with large-scale outdoor sculptural installations and projections, an immersive 360° pop-up dome cinema and a slew of boundary-breaking performances that explore the realm where technology and art converge. Presented across Melbourne over three weeks from 17 August until 2 September, the festival brings together more than 300 local and internationally-renowned artists, composers, change makers and innovators – with a vibrant program featuring 18 Australian premieres and 20 festival exclusive commissions.

Sydney Contemporary, in partnership with MA Financial Group, today announced the highly anticipated programs for Talk Contemporary and Create Contemporary, presented at Carriageworks, Australia’s largest multi-arts centre, from 7 – 10 September 2023.

With one month to go until the launch of Sydney Contemporary, the fair has unveiled Talk Contemporary’s engaging program of live conversations on art, design and architecture with a number of leading Australian creatives.