Art
Art, art galleries and exhibitions in Melbourne
An immersive festival of ‘ecstatic’ music and performance is taking over Arts Centre Melbourne
Supersense, the festival of ‘ecstatic’ music and performance, returns to the Arts Centre in August to give the building a three-day pre-spring clean – or “turn the place on its head”, as curator, vocalist and performer Sophia Brous puts it. Forget formal seating and prosceniums – Supersense wants to take the audience into places within the Arts Centre that they’ve never been before; and places they have been in – but give them a totally different experience. The goal? An “ecstatic” state. Brous, who masterminded the inaugural event in 2015, describes the festival as a “confluence of ritual and communion” designed to take audiences to “spaces of heightened perspective.” “Where in the past people sought out spaces of revelation in the presence of divinity, increasingly we are seeking these things out in spaces of collective artistic expression. I wanted to create a festival that explores these interrelated states of ecstatic perspective – within a contained environment.” Anyone who missed the first festival is likely to be enticed by this year’s big names – Russian revolutionaries Pussy Riot; UK space-rockers Spiritualized; New York art-rockers Blonde Redhead – but ‘headliners’ are not really the point of the festival. Rather, it’s designed as a three-day immersive “journey”, from Friday night to Sunday night. The whole should be more than the sum of its parts. “The seed was a conversation, back in 2011 or 2012, with David Anderson [then head of music programming at the A
David LaChapelle is headlining Ballarat International Foto Biennale
Ballarat International Foto Biennale (August 19-September 17) – Australia’s largest international photography festival – has announced its headliner for 2017: iconoclastic American photographer and director David LaChapelle. In a coup for incoming festival director Fiona Sweet, the Biennale will present the first LaChapelle solo exhibition in Australia, featuring around 90 of his artworks at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. And yes, the artist will be present. LaChapelle is best known for his editorial and fashion work, shooting for Interview, Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair – and collecting a who’s-who list of American celebrities over the years, including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Andy Warhol, Britney, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Pamela Anderson… LaChapelle in fact started in fine art photography, studying at North Carolina School of the Arts and coming up through New York’s 1980s art scene alongside Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. 'Kings Dominion' from the Land Scape series, 2013. Photograph: David LaChapelle After suddenly moving to Hawaii in 2006, he took up fine art photography again – so you can expect recent personal projects to feature in the Ballarat exhibition, including his 2013 series Land Scape, where he shot colour saturated hyperreal photos of model oil refineries made from garbage. Find out more about the Ballarat International Foto Biennale, and buy tickets to the LaChapelle exhibition ($8-$18).
Art exhibitions to see in Melbourne
The best art in Melbourne
Art exhibitions this week in Melbourne
Van Gogh and the Seasons
The NGV's Winter Masterpieces exhibition is none other than famed Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh
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The Perth Hitlist: What to do and where to go on a three or five day stay
It’s the only capital city in Australia where you can watch the sun set over the ocean, but that’s not the only reason Perth is now one of the coolest places to visit. Once known only for its pristine beaches, Perth’s love of food and culture is capturing the attention of tastemakers. Blame it on Instagram or the perfect weather – no one can explain how WA’s capital city made its way onto the international radar – but the latest frenzy of new hotel openings, a statewide culinary scene that is booming and a string of new urban projects may provide some clues. Stay a little longer and you can explore ancient caves and award winning wineries just three hours ‘down south’.
Five hidden secrets of Victoria Harbour
Melburnians like to think we know everything about the city in which we live. We know where to find the cheapest coffee or the best dumplings in the city, but there are certain things that even a life-long Melburnian may not have an index of knowledge about. Case in point: Victoria Harbour. Victoria Harbour is a precinct of Docklands, located where Collins and Bourke streets meet beside the picturesque harbour. With its direct connection to the CBD via Collins Street, Vic Harbour is a mix of residential, office, retail and community spaces. It’s ready to be explored, so hop on the tram and make a day of it. Find out even more about Victoria Harbour on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Here's what happened at Little Creatures Live at GABS Beer Cider and Food Fest
What do jugglers, can-can dancers and drummers have in common? They all wowed crowds at GABS Beer, Cider and Food Fest in Melbourne last weekend (May 19-21), thanks to a certain West Australian brewery who are known for being more than a little bit quirky. Last week, Little Creatures took their travelling roadshow series to Collingwood pub the Gem. This time, they went from cosy pub to the big stage, setting up a huge pop-up beer and performance space at one of the largest beer festivals in the southern hemisphere. It was hard to miss the red and white-striped umbrellas, Kombi van, and elevated stage smack bang in the middle of the Royal Exhibition Building. Thirsty beer-lovers gravitated to the bar, where friendly Little Creatures brewers served up six of Creatures’ tasty beers, including a Festoon White IPA brewed specially for GABS, as well as the winter seasonal Fire Falcon Hoppy Red and their new single batch Dreadnought Foreign Extra Stout. (Praise be to whoever invented tasting paddles!). Suddenly, all eyes rose to the stage on top of the bar. A team of marching band-style drummers erupted into a thunderous performance, lighting a fire under beer-lovers in even the farthest corner of the room. Throughout the day and night, performers seemed to suddenly appear on the stage, each one completely different from the last. Minds were blown when a team of acrobats lifted each other in increasingly difficult positions, and when a bevvy of colourful can-can dancers whipp
Blanc de Blanc
After sizzling hot runs in Sydney, London and Adelaide, Blanc de Blanc is finally making its way to Melbourne for a season of Champagne-fuelled cabaret. The evening of adults-only circus, dance, acrobatics and other antics will be heating up the Spiegeltent at Map 57, a brand new arts precinct in St Kilda. This winter cast of quirky performers – comedians, models, show girls, singers, contortionists and aerial artists – will turn the night into a mad romp that begins in a sophisticated Parisian cabaret venue and slowly transforms into a crazed nightclub party. Expect bubbles, burlesque, balloons, sequins and tops off, for a hands down good time. "If Baz Luhrmann made a nightclub it'd be like this" – Time Out Sydney Find out more about Blanc de Blanc.