In Redfern, Carriageworks has given over much of its expansive hangar-like space to contemporary art biennial show The National, as curated by Aarna Fitzgerald Hanley and Freja Carmichael.
A lot of the work from the 11 artists, which is showing until June 25, is as daring and downright wacky as you’d expect – in contrast to some beautiful pieces informed by ancient cultural practices.
In a hidden back corner, you’ll find Jason Phu’s mixed-media installation ‘Frog band plays in a frog pub to small frogs in the frog swamp at the beginning of time’. Emanating the energy of an abandoned post-apocalyptic low-budget theme park, Phu’s work implements found toys and rudimentary animatronics – conflating meme culture, cartoons and Chinese and Vietnamese proverbs. It will make you laugh, and also haunt your dreams.
Erika Scott’s towering ‘The Circadian Cul-de-sac’ is an otherworldly (yet uncomfortably familiar) scene assembled from discarded fish tanks, ant farms, tyres, Tampax instructions, empty photo frames, knick-knacks and other “domestic debris” – all bubbling and dissolving in an inflated pool. Elizabeth Day’s colourful, gargantuan-scale fabric installation will no doubt be the backdrop to hundreds of selfies. Measuring in at 26 metres wide and constructed from unravelled op-shop jumpers, ‘The Flow of Form: There's a Reason Beyond a Reason. Beyond That There's a Reason (1797 Parramatta Gaol)’ actually addresses the damage done through the establishment of places of incarceration in Australia.
If you are game to see a daring contemporary dance work, there are two more opportunties to see a performance of Jo Llyod's FM Air (11am on April 22 and June 24) – where three performers move in a continuous bind, oscillating in a big transparent fabric bag, like a "scent that appears and dissapears" (psychedelic fart vibes).
