Sunday Arts Magazine

Sunday Arts Magazine talks about Melbourne Now. The second edition of the ground-breaking exhibition Melbourne Now at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia highlights the extraordinary work of more than 200 Victorian-based artists, designers, studios and firms whosepractices are shaping the cultural landscape of Melbourne and Victoria.

The free exhibition features more than 200 ambitious and thought-provoking projects on display, including more than

70 world-premiere works commissioned especially by the NGV for this major presentation. Bold in scope and scale,

Melbourne Now highlights the vibrant creativity of local emerging, mid-career and senior practitioners and collectives –

including many who are presenting at the NGV for the very first time.

The exhibition traverses all levels of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, including contemporary interventions

across the Australian Art and First Nations permanent collection displays, and highlights a diverse range of

contemporary disciplines across fashion, jewellery, painting, sculpture, architecture, ceramics, video, virtual reality,

performance, photography, printmaking, product design and publishing.  Areas covered include:

Myles Russell-Cook, Senior Curator, Australian and First Nations Art, NGV.

James Lemon, contemporary and ceramic artist. James Lemon’s tactile and colourful ceramic works embody a sense of humour and are an expression of social and philosophical issues, from pop culture and religion to conservation and the world of insects. Lemon primarily works with clay but often employs other objects – bricks, precious stones and discarded ephemera – to bring his dynamic, sculptural works to life. With his interest in social media, Lemon embraces the digital space as an extension of his material practice.

For Melbourne Now, Lemon takes over a gallery space on the third floor of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia with an immersive, participatory work combining ceramics, painting, textiles and digital media. In a nod to philosopher Thomas Nagel’s 1974 paper ‘What is it Like to be a Bat?’, Swarming asks the onlooker: What is it like to be a bee? Inside an ultraviolet hive of activity, adults and children alike are invited to interact with soft pupae forms, learning through play about the importance of bee life in our ecosystems – and to human survival. Part playground and part photo booth, this NGV takeover is a first for Lemon in both its scale and inter-disciplinarity.

Lemon was born in New Zealand but moved to Melbourne in 2012. He has developed exclusive collections for the NGV and Heide Museum of Modern Art; has exhibited at Melbourne Design Week; and has featured in publications including Wallpaper, Architectural Digest, Vogue Living, Vault, The Design Files, Yellowtrace, Real Living, The Journal of Australian Ceramics and Broadsheet. Lemon also teaches workshops and masterclasses at his studio and showroom in Northcote.

Lemon also has a collaborative work with Dale Hardiman in No House Style.

Joel Bray presenting a new commission as part of the Performance Program, Joel Bray’s performance-making practice is grounded in his Wiradjuri heritage, and in his research into Wiradjuri Country and ritual on the one hand, and sex, sexuality and Queerness on the other. At Melbourne Now Joel will perform Storage unit in which Joel and his co-conspirator rummage through the remnants of his dance works from the past six years. Props, sets and costumes jumble together with archival footage and sound, emptied from Joel’s storage unit and spilling out into the gallery space. Marked by Bray’s trademark humour and sex positivity, visitors find themselves among the chaos, lending helping hands and collectively making sense of it all.

For Melbourne Now Georgia has created a whole Gallery installation titled DataBaes. As part of the installation Georgia has created Gee,

Stephen talks to Eve , Neil and David.

Opening on 17 March at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Top Arts 2023 returns for its 29th year, showcasing the talent of Victoria’s emerging creatives who have excelled in VCE art subjects. Top Arts 2023 celebrates the creativity, vision and commitment of 38 emerging artists and designers from across the state who have used art to bring their passions and concerns into sharp focus. The exhibition showcases works that are provocative and introspective, spanning themes of cultural and gender identity, vulnerability, society and nature.

Highlights from the exhibition include Minh Dang’s striking portrait Sorrow 2022 which depicts the artist’s friend and reflects on the challenges of a young queer man growing up in rural Victoria.

Dagoman, Wardaman and Gurindji woman Jasmine Glass has produced three woven baskets using traditional weaving techniques, reflecting the young artist’s connection to Country, her cultural heritage, and the long lineage of Aboriginal women who maintained the practice before her.

Mildura’s Eden Muster’s playful costume designs are reminiscent of childhood nostalgia and dress-up, intending to return audiences to a time of youth and impulsiveness set far from the pressures of adult life.

Hugo Martin’s Father and Poppy Series 2022 delves into family relationships, shared history and the sense of connection throughout time, painting hopeful and enjoyable scenes of the artist’s family across three generations.

For Jack Snow-Viener, the Sulphur photographic series overlays images, asking viewers to contemplate their own notions of what is conventionally beautiful.

Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV said, ‘The annual Top Arts exhibition demonstrates the astounding talent of Victoria’s young artists and designers as they contemplate the world around them following a challenging period of disruption. The level of technical and conceptual complexity present in this year’s exhibition is a testament to the resilience of young artists and we are proud to continue to foster their work, perspectives, and experiences at the NGV.’

Officeworks General Manager Marketing & Insights, Jessica Richmond, said: ‘As NGV’s new Major Partner of Top Arts 2023, we are proud to be supporting the Victorian students who will be exhibiting this year and showcasing arts education more broadly. It will be inspiring to see how these young artists harness their creativity through various mediums. We see a real synergy in our alignment to Top Arts.’

Australia’s original world-famous and

ground-breaking Circus Oz is back in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival after

30 years with a fresh and all-new show at The Forum for two weeks only.

Experience a collision of comedy, clowning, acrobatics, skipping, bows and arrows, beauty,

cranking live music, muscles, flying trapeze, juggling, slapstick, crazy antics and daredevilry by

the hand of an eclectic ensemble spanning six decades. It will leave you breathless, laughing,

and wanting to backflip home!

The all-new show, designed for a multi-generational audience, brings together an

extraordinary group of multi-skilled artists committed to making every single performance

surprising, beautiful, and dangerous.

The Metro Tunnel will forever change how people move around

Melbourne—for work, study, to connect with friends and family,

and to access sporting and cultural activities.

When it opens in 2025, the Metro Tunnel will create a new

end-to-end rail line linking Sunbury in the west to Cranbourne

and Pakenham in the south-east. From 2029 it will also link

to Melbourne Airport Rail, allowing Victorians to enjoy a rail

service to and from Melbourne Airport for the first time.

The Metro Tunnel is taking years to build, but ultimately the

design and construction period will be a very short part of the

project’s lifespan. This period provides an exciting opportunity

to capture the process of building this massive city-shaping

project through the lens of our talented artists.

In Making the Metro Tunnel artists explore large scale infrastructure

and machinery rendered delicately in thread, intricately in

cardboard and whimsically in ceramic form. The works in this

exhibition serve not only to show feats of engineering, but also

feats of artistry—bringing large scale environments to life on

a small scale.

Making the Metro Tunnel also features artworks commissioned

as part of the Metro Tunnel Creative Program’s partnership with

the Royal Botanic Gardens. The Creative Program has embraced

the project’s construction hoardings and developed them into

large outdoor art galleries with a revolving and engaging program

of work. By doing so, it has created new surfaces for artists

to showcase their work, maintaining the vibrancy and creativity

for which Melbourne is known.

We would like to thank all the artists who have taken part in this

exhibition and contributed to the Metro Tunnel Creative Program.

Your work and talent help make Melbourne the colourful city we

know and love.

 

Making the Metro Tunnel aims to explore and celebrate the

construction milestones of the Metro Tunnel Project, which has

been under construction in Melbourne for several years. The artists

in this exhibition have taken inspiration from archaeological digs,

heavy machinery and the aesthetics of worksites and workers’

equipment to produce their own portrayals of the project.

These works are on a small, intricate scale; contrasting with the

vast scale of the rail infrastructure project itself. This exhibition

offers a depiction of making the Metro Tunnel, through making art.

The Metro Tunnel Project is a large-scale rail infrastructure

project that will change the way people move around the state

of Victoria. It will deliver two new twin rail tunnels under

Melbourne, as well as five world-class underground train stations,

to accommodate the city’s growing population.

The project will create capacity for an extra half a million

passengers across the rail network in peak periods and connect

regional passengers to key education, cultural and employment

opportunities in Melbourne.

Four giant tunnel boring machines (TBMs) finished digging

the Metro Tunnel in May 2021. The 1,000 tonne TBMs spent

more than 18 months digging up to 40 metres below Melbourne.

They removed more than 600,000 cubic metres of rock and

soil—enough to fill the MCG 1.2 times.

But the Metro Tunnel is more than just a tunnelling project.

An enormous amount of testing needs to take place to make sure

that the new tunnels and stations can operate safely and reliably.

The project is now undertaking the massive task of finishing the

stations, laying the track and preparing the tunnels for opening

in 2025.

Introducing Jimmy Hornet, a new quarterly magazine shining a light on the bravely creative with

the goal of inspiring readers to be the same. This is a publication that shares the stories of

established artists, musicians, authors, and personalities and seeks to discover the next generation

of talent along the way.

When Jimmy Hornet the much-loved music venue was shut down during lockdowns, owner

Anthea Palmer turned to the online world. The Hornet Press was launched in 2021 as a monthly

digital magazine and a way of staying in touch with its musical community and customers.

Immerse yourself in a stunning, multi-sensory experience this March as the critically acclaimed Candlelight Concerts comes to Prahran Square for two free live and intimate concerts.

Be captivated as our award-winning urban parkland is bathed in the soft glow of candlelight under the stars, and treated to exceptional live performances, showcasing inspiring repertoires from jazz greats and renowned movie soundtrack composers.

A festival that you do in the city that does it best—art, culture, food and music under moonlight: RISING today unveils its expansive 2023 program of 185 events featuring more than 400 artists including 35 commissions and 12 world premieres, set to ignite the heart of Melbourne from 7—18 June.

Over 12 nights of powerful theatre, exhilarating dance, music that traverses the globe, large scale installation, public performance, free and low cost experiences, and outdoor works of mass participation, RISING will invite audiences to join a 10,000 strong kazoo orchestra, to slice up the ice, and to reflect, reckon, rave and revel in Melbourne’s night-time buzz.

Spilling out across the city’s streets, carparks, churches, theaters, train stations, town squares, and on the banks of the Birrarung, RISING returns this winter to take the city as its stage, bringing the best premiere art and performance from around the world and across Australia.

“RISING is a mass celebration of Melbourne’s unique culture in the heart of the city.” said RISING co-artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek. “The 2023 program is a rallying call to get involved, experience the new and be a part of a festival that couldn’t happen anywhere else.”

Echoing the excitement, Minister for Creative Industries and Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos said “Creativity, culture, music, food, fun – RISING brings together everything we love about Melbourne for 12 action-packed days and nights to deliver an amazing event and boost our city businesses.”

THE CITY AS A STAGE

A festival that embraces Melbourne’s distinctness  — from its  hidden spaces to its landmarks reimagined, RISING in 2023 will be a chance for Victorians and visitors alike to discover the city anew.

The long abandoned upper level of the city’s iconic Flinders Street Station, now one of the nation’s most unique arts spaces, will become home to Shadow Spirit, a new dimension of First Nations art, and the largest commissioned exhibition of contemporary First Peoples art in Victoria’s history. Curated by leading Yorta Yorta writer and curator Kimberley Moulton and presented with Metro Trains Melbourne, this landmark exhibition of national significance will see thirty of the most exciting First Peoples artists and collectives from across Australia invite visitors to traverse time and Ancestral spirit worlds, reflect on the shadows of Australia’s history and be immersed in deep systems of knowledge.

The fifteen major works, including fourteen new commissions, will bring together artists from right across Australia including Brian Robertson (Maluyligal/ Wuthathi), Dylan Mooney (Yuwi, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander), Hayley Millar Baker (Gunditjmara ), John Prince Siddon  (Walmajarri ), Judy Watson(Waanyi), Julie Gough (Trawlwoolway), Karla Dickens (Wiradjuri), Paola Balla (Wemba Wemba / Gunditjmara)​, Rene Wanuny  Kulitja (Pitjantjatjara)   Tiger Yaltangki (Yankunytjatjara) with Jeremy Whiskey (Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara), Vicki Couzens (Keerray Wooroong / Gunditjmara), Warwick Thornton (Kaytej), Aunty Zeta Thomson  (Wurundjeri/Yorta Yorta), Maningrida Arts & Culture artists Anniebell Marrngamarrnga, Dorothy Bunibuni, Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Ken Ngindjalakku Djungkidj (Kuninjku) and The Mulka Project with the late Mrs Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda (Yolŋu).

Opening on the first day of RISING and extending for an eight week season until July 30, Shadow Spirit sits at RISING’s spiritual and physical centre. A festival of place and time, the 2023 program will reflect this significant moment in our history, bringing First People’s work, stories and culture to the fore with 31  powerful and diverse First Peoples-led projects, spanning theatre, dance, visual art, music, food, music and more.

Theatre Works St Kilda and Rogue Projects will present the world premiere production of Pear-Shaped as part of the prestigious By Theatre Works program, this April.

A captivatingly surreal blend of wordplay, magic realism, and puppetry, Pear-Shaped is a deliciously dark new dramedy about growing up, growing down, and everything in between.

In it, 23-year-old theatre designer, Frankie, is struggling with their graduating design project. Not only is their director a Virgo, they’ve also been allocated an eerily personal childhood story – ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Frankie hopes that a box of old costumes will inspire some ideas, but when their sister Kayla drops it off, they’re instead sent spiraling down a rabbit hole of memories they’d rather forget.

An entirely new story from Miranda Middleton and Ziggy Resnick, Pear-Shaped interweaves theatricalised excerpts of Lewis Carroll’s classic story to chart the relationship between two sisters, and the eating disorder that comes between them. Told with humour, heart, and nuance, the production explores one Jewish family’s experience of what happens when food – a symbol of culture, tradition, connection, and love – becomes the enemy.

The idea for Pear-Shaped was born out of a 2020 lockdown walk between Ziggy and Miranda, as they dreamt about their next creative collaboration. Ziggy had previously starred as Amélie in Miranda’s original adaptation of the screenplay for her graduating production at NIDA.

“What emerged was a shared interest in theatre magic, puppetry, the delicate and sometimes difficult relationships between sisters, and the disordered eating patterns that afflict more people in our communities than we think.” said Miranda, “As writers, Pear-Shaped has sent us down some weird, wonderful and mind-bending rabbit holes. We’re incredibly humbled and honoured to be bringing this personal and original story to life with an amazing group of creative minds”.

Selected for the By Theatre Works season, Pear-Shaped will be the first of four mainstage productions from the program to be presented in 2023.

The play will be the second production at the theatre produced in partnership with the multi-award-winning Rogue Projects. “It’s a thrill to be returning to St Kilda with one of our most ambitious and timely productions ever,” said producer Robbi James, “throughout covid we’ve seen an explosion in disordered eating, and some of our team have experienced it in their own lives, so we’re setting out to tell a somewhat ugly story in a theatrically beautiful way.”

A warped and wonderful play about a very un-wonderful (and frighteningly common) turn of events, Pear-Shaped opens for a strictly limited season on April 5th.