Sunday Arts Magazine

Featuring the iconic music of Benny Andersson & BjörnUlvaeus (ABBA), lyrics by Tim Rice & Björn Ulvaeus and book by Tim Rice, the worldwide stage hitCHESS THE MUSICAL will debut at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre in two exclusive performances on Saturday 24 April 2021.

 

From StoreyBoard Entertainment, the producer who brought us the critically-acclaimed Barnum and directed by Tyran Parke, CHESS THE MUSICAL is inspired by extraordinary real-life events and first premiered to glowing reviews in London’s West End in 1986 starring the beloved Elaine Paige. The West End season ran for three years, resulting in a BBC listener poll ranking CHESS THE MUSICALseventh in a list of ‘Number One Essential Musicals’ of all time.

 

Featuring hits including I Know Him So Well – recognised in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest selling UK chart single ever by a female duo – and the upbeat pop favourite One Night in Bangkok, music from CHESS THE MUSICAL is known the world over, with the original concept album described by Rolling Stone as having a “dazzling score (which) covers nearly all the pop bases”. Time Magazine declared the score as “rock symphonic synthesis ripe with sophistication and hummable tunes”.

 

CHESS THE MUSICAL tells the story of a complex love triangle combined with dramatic political intrigue, set against the background of the Cold War in the early 1980s, where Soviet and American forces attempt to manipulate an international chess championship for political gains.

The Melbourne performances of this much-loved musical, which recently premiered in Moscow, will feature the London West End orchestrations with a full orchestra. The stellar Melbourne cast for this semi-staged concert style event will be announced in February 2021.

 

CHESS THE MUSICAL is produced by Adrian Storey from StoreyBoard Entertainment (Barnum, Follies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and directed by renowned director Tyran Parke (Barnum, Follies, Sunday in the Park with George) and with Musical Direction by David Piper (Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, The Boyfriend, The Boy From Oz), Set & Costume Design by Dann Barber (Barnum, 33 Variations), Sound Design by award-winning designer Michael Waters and choreography by Freya List.

A quarter of a century after being established, Australia’s most innovative and acclaimed contemporary

dance company celebrates its storied history with a new multimedia digital archive as it looks to a bold

new era under leadership team, Antony Hamilton, Kristy Ayre and Freya Waterson.

Since its inception in 1995, Chunky Move has helped shape Australia’s cultural landscape, intoxicating and

enthralling local and international audiences with its genre-defying works. Now, as the company turns 25,

Chunky Move is poised to reassert its status as Australia’s leading dance company.

In the company’s early days, the goals of founding artistic director and renowned choreographer Gideon

Obarzanek were relatively modest, and predominantly focused on facilitating government funding

applications for independent artists. By 1997, Chunky Move had made its mark as force to be reckoned

with, winning tenure as Victoria’s flagship contemporary dance company after just two years in business.

In the years since, Chunky Move has become firmly embedded in Melbourne’s cultural zeitgeist, exerting a

profound influence by bringing contemporary dance into the mainstream. The company’s trademark

irreverence towards choreographic convention has surprised, challenged and delighted countless

audiences around the world, with boundary-breaking and audacious shows traversing new media,

installation and stage formats. As one of Australia’s most internationally successful performing arts export,

Chunky Move has toured and performed in 123 cities and reached over half a million audience members –

more than any other arts company of its kind.

“I am so proud that what began twenty-five years ago as an invaluable resource for my generation of

young artists, continues to flourish today for Australian dancers and adventurous audiences” said founder,

Gideon Obarzanek.

“Chunky Move was an audacious proposal to Jeff Kennett’s bold callout for a new dance company. It dared

to challenge the status quo of what a dance company can create, how it does it and where it happens.

Authentically Melbourne, we found our audience all over the world and split our time between working

hard in the studio and on the road. There are very few accomplished dance artists working in Australia

today who cannot trace some of their experience to the influence of Chunky Move.”

Obarzanek’s passion for supporting independent artists was writ large in 2007 with the

introduction of Next Move – a commissioning program dedicated to supporting the next

generation of Australian creative talent – that has seen the company commission, produce and

present 11 world premieres since its inception, including Stephanie Lake’s award-winning AORTA

and Atlanta Eke Miss Universal.

Only three artistic directors have helmed the company over the course of 25 years and 65 shows.

In its early days under Obarzanek, Chunky Move helped define the “Melbourne style” of contemporary

dance, in large part due to Obarzanek’s reinvention of the ensemble model, which shone the spotlight on

individuals and cultivated collaborations while spawning runaway successes such as Glow and Mortal

Engine.

In 2011, internationally renowned Dutch choreographer Anouk van Dijk stepped into the role, with her

European perspective and self-devised ‘Countertechnique’ movement system producing unforgettable

spectacles An Act of Now and Complexity of Belonging.

In 2019, two long-established Chunky Move alumni, Antony Hamilton and Kristy Ayre, along with producer

Freya Waterson, took the reins, marking their arrival with Token Armies, a bold, elaborate work that

declared the team’s intentions to push boundaries with multidisciplinary work driven through creative

collaboration.

Today,

Inventi Ensemble release two new albums recorded 

over three days between Melbourne lockdowns 

Inventi Ensemble II – Women of the Earth

Australian composers Dr Melody Eötvös and Caerwen Martin

 

Inventi Ensemble III – Peer Gynt

With narration from Ed Ayres

Release date 20 November 2020

“Inventi Ensemble are masters of classical repertoire, re-inventors of past works,

and performers of the new.” Soundescapes

On 20 November 2020, Inventi Ensemble simultaneously release their second and third albums, which feature premiere works from acclaimed Australian composers Dr Melody Eötvös and Caerwen Martin as well an ambitious re-telling of Grieg’s famous Peer Gynt, narrated by Ed Ayres.

“In an unprecedented task, we aimed to record two albums in three days, during a period between lockdowns, where we responsibly gathered Melbourne’s finest musicians to bring music to life. It was joyful, it was challenging and it was inspiring. We hope you hear all of these things in these albums. It is filled with our passion for music and creativity.

Working with the team at Monash University, we were able to record in their beautiful Alexander Theatre. This gave us room to socially distance ourselves while recording, as well as enjoy the experience of recording in a performance space rather than a studio”, said Melissa Doecke, who coordinated the ambitious undertaking with fellow Artistic Director Ben Opie.

The achievement allowed Inventi Ensemble to continue to create music and offer employment to their colleagues during a very challenging time for the industry.

Commissioning new Australian works is at the core of the Inventi Ensemble ethos. Inventi II: Women of the Earth features four commissions from 2017-2019, with two works each from extraordinary Australian female composers, Dr Melody Eötvös and Caerwen Martin.

Each commission has a specific story, from the inspiration of stunning stained glass windows in the St John’s Anglican Church in Flinders, Victoria (Women of the Earth) to creating works specifically for touring aged care facilities (Street of the Four Winds). The works showcase the virtuosity of both composer and ensemble.

Renowned for their impressive arrangements of large-scale orchestral works for chamber ensemble, Inventi III: Peer Gynt breathes new life into the fascinating adventure of Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt.

The rich and expansive score for quintet was arranged by Inventi’s Glynn Davies, offering an innovative twist to classic tunes including Morning Mood and In the Hall of the Mountain King.  The inimitable Ed Ayres narrates the epic and absurd tale of adventure with humour, tenderness and tragedy.

Enza talks to David about her art, her new studio in St.Kilda and what is next.

Nine months since the curtains came down and

after hundreds of hours of planning and work,

Melbourne’s iconic Theatre Works proudly

presents an innovative and COVIDSafe new

theatrical experience.

Glasshouse

Tuesday 1st December, 7:30pm (AEST)

Watch online at

www.facebook.com/TheatreWorksStKilda

www.twglasshouse.org

Theatre Works heads into 2021 after a complete transformation of their theatre space, allowing the organisation

to restart operations with a dynamic and innovative approach to COVIDSafe live performance far into the foresee-

able future.

An intimate in-the-round setting for chamber performance of all genres and forms, Glasshouse is comprised of

12 custom made booths that put the comfort and safety of audience and performers at the forefront, without

compromising the experience at the theatre.

A new era for the organisation, instead of becoming disenchanted with the current situation they have embraced

the possibilities with exclusive Perspex booths that patrons are able to book for themselves and their guests –

complete with pre-order menu including gourmet grazing platters, ice creams, drinks and other assorted treats.

Each event at the venue also cares for the wellbeing of patrons, artists and staff alike with staggered seating

times, contactless ticketing systems, infrared temperature checks, and hospital grade cleaning before and after

each show.

Currently nearing completion, Theatre Works has developed a mobile device app to compliment the new experi-

ence at the venue which will provide direct communication with the audience from ticket sale, to theatre entry

and seatings, drink/food or merchandise purchasing and order reconciliation. The app will also serve as a check in

device in adherence to COVIDNormal guidelines, collecting guest details for COVIDSafe tracking purposes. The

app will be available on the night of the launch.

“The greatest impact COVID has had on our organisation is to our artists and audience.”, explains Theatre Works

General Manager Dianne Toulson. “Without being able to safely open doors we have been unable to support

artists and present works to the wider community, and our response to that is Glasshouse. The new design ena-

bles us to reopen and provide a vital space for audience and artists alike.

2020 is Theatre Works’ 40th Anniversary and we started the year dealing with brutal funding cuts and wondering

how we were going to survive. Then COVID hit and we realised, like all artists and arts companies – especially the

independent ones – that we had to get creative and seize the opportunity to evolve. We’ve been supporting artists

and creatives for 40 years and have dealt with many obstacles in unique ways. This is just another. We’ve em-

braced the change and now we’re looking forward to another 40 years bringing the arts to Australians.”

Ready to launch in the first week of January with a new Fringe Replanted program, Glasshouse is also an ac-

knowledgment that the future is an uncertain one and the possibility of moving in and out of different levels of

restrictions a genuine concern. Because of this, the 2021 program has been planned with flexibility in mind. Slid-

ing capacity allows seating of 20 – 48 people with the configuration, which still accounts for four square metres

per person in the venue including cast, crew and front of house.

All media enquiries to Eleanor Howlett

E: [email protected]

P: 0419 664 108

Launching 2021 with a bang, Glasshouse invites audiences back to Theatre Works from the 5th of January with the

Fringe Replanted season. Running until the 31st of January, Fringe Replanted is a full program of nine new, experi-

Rohan is back again with david talking about the Arts in particular the big event from the NGV…….

NGV TO PRESENT WORLD’S LARGEST EXHIBITION OF TIWI ART IN

2020

23 November 2020 – 8 March 2021 | The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia | Free

15 July 2020: “TIWI is important because it tells a story

from parlingarri (long time) and today. Tiwi culture is

unique. The dance, songs and art of the Tiwi people

connect us all in what it means to be Tiwi. Melbourne is a

long way from the Tiwi Islands, but I like to be able to

share our stories with others.” – Pedro Wonaeamirri

(Artist)

The National Gallery of Victoria has revealed that TIWI,

the largest presentation of Tiwi art ever staged, will be

exhibited from November 2020 to March 2021 at The Ian

Potter Centre: NGV Australia.

The Tiwi, the original inhabitants of Melville and Bathurst

Islands, are known for their extraordinary art and cultural

practices, distinct from those of mainland Aboriginal

people. Located 80 km north of Darwin, the Tiwi Islands

are unique, in part due to their geographical position, but also language, customary ceremonies, material culture, and

kinship system, all of which have a profound influence on Tiwi art.

“Retaining strong creative traditions, the Tiwi Islands remain a vital place for exclusive artistic practices that are deeply

rooted in traditional storytelling and feature the hallmarks of good design known as jilamara,” said Tony Ellwood AM,

Director, National Gallery of Victoria.

“The NGV is delighted to have the opportunity to exhibit so many works from the NGV Collection alongside those from

public and private lenders, including historical and contemporary works by artists from the Tiwi Islands’ most significant

cultural institutions: Jilamara Arts & Crafts Association, Munupi Arts & Crafts Association, Tiwi Design and

Ngaruwanajirri,” said Ellwood AM.

TIWI, showcasing works from 1911 to the present day, will consist of almost 300 works by over 70 artists. The exhibition

features 153 works rigorously selected from the NGV Collection and 130 loans of rare historical objects and

contemporary paintings from Australian lenders. TIWI marks the first time the majority of the NGV’s comprehensive Tiwi

collection is displayed, and coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Tiwi Design art centre which began as a partnership

between Bede Tungutalum and Giovanni Tipungwuti.

TIWI avoids a linear chronology, instead divided into spaces that reveal different aspects of Tiwi art and culture. The two

principal cultural events for the Tiwi are the pukumani (mourning) and kulama (coming of age) ceremonies. Each Tiwi

person is encouraged to participate in customary visual and performative art as part of these ceremonies – including the

creation of tutini (poles), jilamara (body painting), kawakawayi (song) and yoyi (dance). Tiwi creativity is expressed

through random combinations of turtiyanginari (colour), patterns of marlipinyini (lines), kurluwukari (circles) and pwanga

(dots).

A major highlight of TIWI will be a display featuring the NGV’s extensive collection of pukumani tutini (poles), which will be

installed to suggest a forest setting. Occupying a space devoted to the theme of bereavement, these monumental

ironwood sculptures – painted with Tiwi ochres – are customarily created for pukumani (mourning) ceremonies. The

selection features tutini created between 1912 and 2019 and will include the works of master carvers Declan Apuatimi,

Mani Luki, Tommy Mungatopi, Paddy Freddy Puruntatameri, Pedro Wonaeamirri, Leon Puruntatameri, Pius Tipungwuti

and Mario Walarmerpui.

TIWI will also feature ochre paintings on bark, canvas and paper – now recognised as important forms of Tiwi

contemporary art – created by senior artists including Jean Baptiste Apuatimi,

n a jubilant celebration of a new COVID normal Victoria, the inaugural PHOTO 2021 International Festival of Photography will reanimate the streets and galleries of Melbourne and regional Victoria on 18 February – 7 March 2021.

 

PHOTO 2021 will be one of the first opportunities for art-and-culture-loving Victorians and interstate visitors to come out and experience a festival in the spectacular and imaginative style for which the state—and the city of Melbourne—are renowned.

 

A completely brand-new festival, PHOTO 2021 is set to reveal a revolutionary vision of post-COVID possibility for the world of photography, art and culture, in Victoria and around the world. Forging a new path for bringing arts, culture, business and academic sectors together—across Australia and overseas—the festival is already creating a global dialogue about the innovative ways in which artists and audiences can present and engage with photography.

 

First intended to launch in April of this year, the festival was postponed due to the pandemic. But the delay has only served to make PHOTO 2021’s February 2021 launch a more exciting, more important and more groundbreaking event for a state that has worked hard to keep its citizens safe.

 

As Australia’s largest and most significant photography festival, PHOTO 2021 has commissioned photographers from across the globe to create new, thought-provoking works that explore the critical relationship between photography and ‘The Truth’. With 40 free outdoor works and 39 free exhibitions— accompanied by events and an extensive online offering—audiences can expect to bask in powerful imagery displayed at outdoor spaces and venues across the city, and beyond.

 

Over 120 artists will showcase work at over 65 cultural institutions, museums and galleries and outdoor spaces. This will include new commissions and works from artists including Zanele Muholi (South Africa), Sam Contis (USA), Hoda Afshar (Iran/Australia), Brook Andrew (Wiradjuri/Celtic, Australia), Patrick Waterhouse (UK), Daniel Shea (USA), Yvonne Todd (NZ), Hayley Millar-Baker(Gunditjmara, Australia), Atong Atem (South Sudan/Australia) and many more. The city is set to shine with photography, displayed on billboards and large bespoke structures at iconic locations such as, Federation Square, State Library Victoria, the Parliament of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne Garden, the Immigration Museum and Argyle Square on Lygon Street, among others.

 

For the first time ever, the entire expanse of Metro Tunnel hoardings will be dedicated to one festival, as part of the PHOTO 2021 X Metro Tunnel Creative Program, displaying over 500 metres of art comprising of new work from Felicity Hammond (UK), Kenta Cobayashi (Japan), Ann Shelton (New Zealand), James Tylor(Australia), and more, with most works being specifically commissioned to premiere at the Festival.

TarraWarra Museum of Art will reopen on Saturday 28 November 2020 with

Looking Glass: Judy Watson and Yhonnie Scarce.

Victoria Lynn, Director, TarraWarra Museum of Art, said, “We are absolutely delighted to be reopening our doors on 28 November with an exhibition of works themed on the monumental elements of earth, water, fire and air by Aboriginal artists Judy Watson and Yhonnie Scarce.

“The pairing of Watson and Scarce brings together two of Australia’s most lyrical and poignant artists whose works present an interpretation of country where the creation and experience of art is mnemonic for the lived, remembered and inherited history of Aboriginal people.

“Our reopening comes with a few new measures including timed ticketing, capacity limits and increased cleaning regimes, and we will continue to offer online experiences for those who choose not to visit us in person just yet. The Museum and the wide expanses of the Yarra Valley are the perfect place to recharge and connect with nature and art, and we can’t wait to welcome everyone back,” Ms Lynn said.

The exhibition will include Scarce’s spectacular new installation, Cloud Chamber, 2020, featuring one thousand glass yams cascading from above. The work is an evocation of the nuclear test of the ‘Breakaway’ bomb in Maralinga, which sent radioactive clouds across the land of Aboriginal people living in the area.

Watson’s works feature ochres, charcoal and indigo pigments pooled upon washed canvas, revealing Aboriginal histories and following lines of emotional and physical topography that centre on particular places and moments in time.

Exhibition curator, Hetti Perkins, says the artists are concerned essentially with Australia’s ‘secret war’—a battle fought on many fronts from colonial massacres and Stolen Generations through to the British atomic bomb tests at Maralinga.

“The seductive beauty of Watson’s and Scarce’s works belies their powerful message about the sustained campaign of the destruction of country, culture and community in Aboriginal Australia—their work is a kind of ‘tender trap’. With the devastating evidence of climate change in Australia, manifest in apocalyptic wildfires and storms, this exhibition delivers an urgent message,” Ms Perkins said.

Looking Glass: Judy Watson and Yhonnie Scarce is only possible in Australia thanks to the generous support of major exhibition partner, The Balnaves Foundation, whose ongoing partnership has enabled TarraWarra Museum of Art to present ambitious summer exhibitions over the past five years.

Hamish Balnaves, General Manager and Trustee of The Balnaves Foundation, said, ‘This year marks the sixth year that The Balnaves Foundation has supported TarraWarra Museum of Art to deliver major exhibitions by Australian artists. The Foundation is proud to partner in these major endeavours, providing vital opportunities for important Australian artists to be showcased, whilst providing a broad range of audiences access to outstanding arts experiences.’

During 2021 to 2023, Looking Glass will tour across Australian museums and galleries supported by NETS Victoria:

Matthew talks to David about the upcoming production.