Art
Art in Sydney on now
The best public art in Sydney
Public art – in any city – is a notoriously fraught business. No matter how hard you try to make everyone happy, every work will have its detractors. Some more than others, of course. Notable spats in Sydney’s public art history include the time residents threatened to dismantle Ken Unsworth’s ‘poo on sticks’ sculpture in Darlinghurst (it still stands); the time NSW Parliamentarian Helen Sham-Ho said Lin Li’s ‘Golden Water Mouth’ sculpture in Chinatown “looks like a penis”; and the time Oz editor Richard Neville ran a cover photo of himself and two others peeing into Tom Bass’s P&O Wall Fountain. That said, who could possibly argue for a city without public art? It’s (mostly) good for the eyes, good for the soul, and improves even the most uninviting locations. It’s also good for business, which has been part of the drive in Sydney over the last decade to revitalise laneways and commercial precincts with commissions from contemporary artists, architects and designers. In 2007, the City of Sydney appointed their first Public Art Advisory Panel – a mix of artists, curators and architects that currently includes Carriageworks director Lisa Havilah and installation artist Janet Laurence. Now you know who to thank/complain to. Since it’s Art Month in Sydney, we thought we’d share some of our favourite public art works in Sydney.
Masters of modern art from the Hermitage
There are more than 3 million items held in the Hermitage so picking works for a single exhibition is a bit of a tough ask.
Art exhibitions to see in Sydney
Your guide to contemporary, fine and Indigenous art in Sydney
The best places to see art in Sydney
Sydney is busting at the seams with great art – from major institutions like the Art Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art, to incredible privately-owned but publically accessible (and free!) galleries like White Rabbit and Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, and right down to a thriving scene of independent and artist-run initiatives. Below are some of our favourites.
Upcoming events and exhibitions
Sydney's biggest festival of Australian art is returning next year
Last year three of Sydney's biggest art institutions launched the first iteration of The National, a biennial (meaning it happens once every two years) festival of contemporary Australian art. Almost 300,000 people turned out across the Art Gallery of NSW, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Carriageworks to see works from our leading artists, many of which were made specifically for the exhibition. The artworks ran the gamut from paintings, photographs and drawings to large-scale sculptures, video works and installations. The National happens in the off-years of the Biennale of Sydney, filling that biennale-shaped hole in your heart. The galleries have planned to run the event three times – 2017, 2019 and 2021 – but if all of Sydney turns out to support it they might just extend. Now we've got more details about the second iteration, including the full line-up of 65 artists drawn from all across the country and all stages of their careers. While each has its own theme, all three institutions are presenting a diverse line-up of artists who are responding to the state of the world as it currently stands but drawing in historical and cultural perspectives. The curatorial team for 2019 draws together staff members from all the institutions: AGNSW curator of photographs, Isobel Parker Philip; Carriageworks senior curator of visual arts, Daniel Mudie Cunningham; and MCA curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections and exhibitions, Clothilde Bullen with MCA curato
Just Not Australian
Just one day before it was due to premiere in Melbourne in 2018, Sydney duo Soda_Jerk's latest film lost the support of the philanthropic trust that contributed $100,000 to its development. Soda_Jerk (aka Dan and Dominique Angelero) didn't lose the money they used to produce Terror Nullius, but the Ian Potter Cultural Trust no longer wanted to be associated with the promotion or publicity of a film that they deemed too controversial. So what exactly sent the trust running for cover? The film splices together classic pieces of Australian cinema into a political revenge fable that challenges Australian mythology. Expect to see Pauline Hanson alongside the characters of Mad Max while the voice of John Howard rings out across the desert. Characters from Muriel's Wedding meet Josh Thomas in Please Like Me, Russell Crowe in Romper Stomper, and even the Babadook. Terror Nullius is the centrepiece of this exhibition, which features work from 20 living Australian artists working with satire and alternative narratives, and questioning what it is to be Australian. There's also work from Vincent Namitjira, Tony Albert, Abdul Abdullah, Cigdem Aydemir, Karla Dickens, Joan Ross and more.
The Beehive
It was more than four decades ago that journalist and anti-development activist Juanita Nielsen disappeared from the streets of Sydney. Nobody knows exactly what happened to her, but it’s believed she met a violent end due to her opposition to the development of Victoria Street, where tenants were being evicted to make way for more apartment blocks. And the possible theories about her fate are wild; one is that she’s buried under the runway at Sydney Airport. So it only makes sense to approach this unusual story in an unusual fashion, which is exactly what Sydney artist Zanny Begg does in this documentary film having its local premiere for Sydney Festival. The Beehive stitches together documentary footage, recreations and other film shot by Begg (Pamela Rabe plays a narrator), but the fabric of this stitching together is determined by a randomised computer algorithm. Each screening lasts somewhere between 20 and 33 minutes, and there are 1,344 possible ways it could turn out.
Sydney Festival
There’s no event as inextricably linked to summer in this city as Sydney Festival. The annual three-week event, running throughout January, always features an eclectic line-up of theatre, dance, circus, music, visual arts and talks. It’s primarily an arts festival, but its remit extends far beyond – it incorporates a ferrython on January 26 – to get you out and about any way that it can. This festival is Wesley Enoch’s third, and he’s just extended his contract for another two years, meaning he’ll also helm the 2020 and 2021 festivals. For 2019, he’s got two particular things on his mind. The first is the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, which Enoch says we could look to as a model for how we can tackle some of the world’s biggest problems. “It was a collective cultural ambition around the world, even through competition,” he says. “This idea that 50 years ago, without war, there were great technological advances, and a great collective pursuit and understanding of the world. “It cost billions of dollars even then. For me, there’s a lovely connection with climate change, and this idea that actually we need more collective approaches to dealing with this rather than the individual, even though the politics of the day are very much about individualism.” There are several moon-focused installations in his festival, including a series of “moon drops” at Darling Harbour, which invite locals to jump or roll over giant water-filled droplets. The second of Enoch’s preoccup
News and interviews
Nick Cave's epic artworks use extreme beauty to tackle the world's ugliness
Nick Cave creates fiercely beautiful, emotive and highly theatrical immersive art. He is part installation artist, part choreographer, part costumer, part sculptor, part sound artist and unceasing educator. His latest piece at Carriageworks sees him employ almost all of these disciplines to address some of the most pressing issues of our time: race relations, gender politics and gun violence. The title, “UNTIL”, is a play on the phrase “innocent until proven guilty” or, in this case, “guilty until proven innocent.” Lisa Havilah, Carriageworks’ outgoing director, said, “I think the magic of Nick Cave is he draws you in with extreme beauty but within that world he really seduces you to think in a different way.” Hers is a perfect description of the power of Cave’s work. Photograph: Daniel Boud UNTIL was created to shift hearts and minds, and is Carriageworks’ largest commission yet – co-commissioned with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), where it premiered in 2016, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. “I want to raise consciousness” Cave told Time Out. “My choice of materials or medium, or how I do this, changes year to year, but my objective always remains to create connection between people and to raise consciousness on important issues… Art can and will change attitudes.” His vision is extraordinary, using glass, light, scale and optimism to bust open the barriers. The sheer magnitude of the installation (90 per cen
The Art Gallery of NSW has revealed final plans for its new $344 million gallery
It's been more than three years since Pritzker Prize-winning architects SANAA won the contract to design the Sydney Modern project – the Art Gallery of New South Wales' $344 million expansion, branching off from the original gallery building with a series of major new exhibition spaces – and now we finally have a better sense of what it'll be like to visit the gallery when it finally opens. Even more exciting – the project has finally got planning approval and there's a timeline locked in. Construction is due to begin early next year, and Sydney Modern will open in 2021 to coincide with the gallery's 150th anniversary. Image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA © Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2018 According to the Sydney Morning Herald, a number of changes have been made to the original design to get approval on a project that's been pretty controversial at times (even Paul Keating had a typically colourful spray about the plans). The façade of the expansion will be changed from its original cool whites and greys to a warmer natural stone colour that's closer to the original sandstone building, and the gallery has agreed to increase green space and ensure that 65 per cent of the site (formerly parklands in the Domain) will remain publicly accessible 24 hours a day. The project will almost double its available exhibition space, so the gallery is hoping it will increase annual visitor numbers from last year's 1.35 million
7 reasons to visit Adelaide Festival next March
Every major capital city in Australia has its own arts festival, but ask those who work in the industry and most will tell you the same thing: Adelaide Festival is the big one. It has a history of attracting the most significant artists in the world. It’s been running since 1960, but its scope is so big it only became an annual event in 2012. Basically, it’s where to go if you want to binge on cutting-edge, high-profile, large-scale international art. The last two years, under co-artistic directors Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy, have been particularly impressive, and they’ve just announced a third festival for 2019, with 23 shows exclusive to Adelaide and ten world premieres. Things kick off with Australian expat-turned-European opera heavyweight Barrie Kosky’s production of The Magic Flute on March 1, 2019. That production will totally sell out, but here are seven other reasons to book that ticket and try not to drown in art. 1. This music theatre production crosses through six African countries South African theatre company Isango Ensemble’s A Man of Good Hope has toured the world extensively but is making its Australian debut at Adelaide Festival. And it’s somewhat appropriate that this work (part opera, part musical) should’ve travelled so far given it’s a story of travel itself. It follows eight-year-old Asad Abdullahi, who, after witnessing the murder of his mother, sets off on an extraordinary journey from Somalia to find a new home. Photograph: Keith Pattison
One of Monet’s most famous paintings is heading to the NGA
The Monet painting that gave the impressionist movement its name is coming to the Southern Hemisphere for the first time in June 2019. Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise) is leaving the walls of the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris for a turn in a new gallery space at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, alongside almost 60 other impressionist masterpieces. The majority of these will be from the man himself, but there will also be works from JMW Turner, the English romantic painter whose style influenced Monet, as well as other artists who were influenced in turn by the French artist. The paintings in this exhibition have been gathered from the Marmottan, as well as the Tate in London and other galleries in Australia and New Zealand. The exhibition is curated by the Marmottan’s Marianne Mathieu, who was in charge of the research into the background of this famous painting, which depicts the port of Le Havre on the north coast of France. The story goes that when Monet was asked for the title of his depiction of the busy port, he named it an impression because it couldn’t be considered the kind of view that was in keeping with the realism art movement of the time. The NGA revealed its full 2019 program today, which also includes an exhibition which will put two artistic rivals – Matisse and Picasso – in the same room, and will track their relationship through their art. Sourced from private and public collections, it will be a unique group of works, man
Sculpture by the Sea 2018 in pictures
Sculpture by the Sea is back for its 22nd year, drawing hordes of snap-happy crowds to Bondi, ready to Instagram the bejesus out of the coastline. This year's iteration is made up of 107 sculptures from 21 countries. One of this year's major initiatives is a series of works from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, including the sculpture by Mu Buyan pictured above, taking pride of place on the headland off Marks Park. Here are some of our favourite sculptures which you can see until November 4 along the two kilometre walk from Bondi to Tamarama. Deborah Halpern, 'The Face'. Photograph: Daniel Boud Britt Mikkelsen, 'Lair'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. Itamar Freed, 'Whispering to Venus'. Photograph: Daniel Boud Wei Wang, 'Walking'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. Mu Boyan, 'Bank'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. Hugh McLachlan, 'Narcissus Shouting, Echo Shouting'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. Sandra Pitkin, 'Wave Within'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. April Pine, 'Shifting Horizons'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. Goldberg Aberline Studio (GAS), 'Microcosm'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. Lubomir Mikle, 'F.E.H.' Photograph: Daniel Boud. Kevin Draper 'Configuration'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. Jiang Jie, 'The Butterfly Dream'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. Cool Shit, 'Damien Hirst Looking for Sharks'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. Viktor Freso 'Niemand'. Photograph: Daniel Boud. Gillie and Marc Schattner, 'Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are'.
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Mov'in Bed Outdoor Bed Cinema
Crawl under the blankets with a glass of wine and settle in for another season of movies at the Entertainment Quarter in the Showring. The concept is irresistible – a large inflatable bed to snuggle into, food, drinks and a great movie – but this year they're introducing a few innovations. They include Bottomless Popcorn sessions – with unlimited refills from the Bar – and cheap Grass Tickets, where you can bring your blanket and a picnic and enjoy your favourite movie under the stars for as little as $9 per head. Then there's the option to Dine in Bed. Mov’in Bed is partnering with the Rockpool Dining Group – Fratelli Fresh and Bavarian Bier Café – to offer food delivered straight to your bed. You can even order your food in advance online. The Bar, meanwhile, will be serving beer, wine, bubbles, ice cream, candy and popcorn. The line-up of movies is a well curated as ever. Highlights include recent hits such as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald; Johnny English Strikes Again; Bohemian Rhapsody; Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and Mortal Engines. Also on the line-up are some of 2018’s best films such as Ocean’s 8, Black Panther, BlackKklansman and The Breaker Upperers. Retro greats screening at Mov'in Bed include La La Land, The Jungle Book, Ted, Pulp Fiction, The Lion King, Pretty Woman, Akira and Notting Hill. Keep an eye out too for brand new releases Aquaman, Ralph Breaks the Internet and Mary Poppins Returns, all of which
Four ways to perfectly pair your next night out with Blue Moon
A lot of fuss is made about pairing your food to your wine, but not everyone likes wine. Luckily, beer is often the perfect match to a meal, especially when you’re talking spicy food and delicious salty bar snacks. Blue Moon Belgian White is a refreshing, citrus-laced brew that is increasingly finding its way behind bars across Sydney’s drinking and dining scene. Next time you find yourself at one of these Sydney establishments pair your schooner of Blue Moon Belgian White with one of these meals to experience the beer (and your food) at its best.
Time Out presents Sokyo Sunday Sessions Launch Party
Sunday afternoon often has a bittersweet note, but rather than worrying about the looming nine-to-five, Sokyo Lounge is inviting you to an afternoon of relaxation and cocktails for their Sunday Sessions. To launch the Sunday Sessions, Time Out is co-hosting a stellar launch party with Sokyo on February 17. Kicking off at 4pm, the ticketed cocktail party will be the perfect way to end your weekend. Your $65 entry fee for the launch party will get you sipping on four full-sized cocktails including the signature Sokyo Negronis, Americanos, Nashi Pear Mules and Yuzu Margaritas. Plus, you'll get delicious canapés from the pop-up food stations put on just for this event. Think bites like the spicy tuna rolls, fresh oysters, Japanese egg and caviar sandwiches and yuzu tarts. Tickets are available now if you want to be first to try this experience. Post-launch, the stylish Pyrmont bar will be shaking, stirring, whipping and pouring their very fabulous cocktails for $10-$12 throughout the weekly Sokyo Sunday Sessions. You’ll also be able to order from an à la carte menu and the much loved bar menu from 5.30pm. All you have to do is pop in from 4-7pm every Sunday! Tickets to the Sokyo Sunday Sessions launch are available now. Bookings essential.
Lunar New Year at Market City
Just because New Year's Eve has come and gone, that doesn’t mean you need to stop celebrating. If you’ve ever been to Haymarket you may be familiar with Market City, a spot that boasts the outlets you know and love nestled between eclectic retailers selling all manner of interesting wares. It’s also known for its Lunar New Year celebration and in 2019 it’s here to uphold that reputation. From Friday, January 18 to Tuesday, February 19, Market City will be hosting a series of free events to help you ring in the Lunar New Year. They'll be giving away Chinese calligraphy messages for everyone who spends $20 (subject to availability) between January 18-February 4. The messages written by the Chinese calligrapher forms part of the preparation for the arrival of the Lunar New Year. Among the events on offer is the Year of the Pig Children Mural Workshop, in which children and members of the community can contribute to the 18-metre long artwork to welcome in the new year. You’ll also be able to see the Roaming Lion on February 5, a dance which is known as one of the most important traditions during the Lunar New Year. Make sure you catch performer Jin Wu Koon as he leaps onto high poles in an impressive lion dance, on February 9-10. Feast at the 1909 Dining Precinct on level three, in which seven Asian restaurants will be putting on exclusive Chinese banquet or speciality menus. At the Eight (pictured) you can dine on dishes like braised pig tongue with dried oyster and black m
