CARRIAGEWORKS ANNOUNCES 2012 ARTISTIC PROGRAM

MEDIA RELEASE
FRIDAY 2 DEC 2011

Sydney, Australia: Carriageworks Director Lisa Havilah last night unveiled the first comprehensive annual artistic program for the Redfern-based contemporary arts institution since her appointment in February 2011.

Launched alongside a new visual identity, the 2012 Carriageworks program explores contemporary art and ideas through a dynamic mix of local and international artists spanning theatre, music, performance and an increased visual arts component.

“The 2012 program marks a significant new chapter for Carriageworks. For the first time, we will be producing more than two thirds of the artistic content both through collaboration with other arts institutions - including the Sydney Festival and the Biennale of Sydney - and of our own accord,” said Ms Havilah.

Presented at Carriageworks’ home in the historic Eveleigh Railway Yards in Sydney’s Redfern, the program will introduce audiences to artists working at the forefront of contemporary culture.

“We believe the program will cement Carriageworks’ position as one of Sydney’s leading arts institutions and as the city’s urban hub for contemporary art and ideas,” said Ms Havilah.

The 2012 program reflects a strong emphasis on creating new contemporary works created in partnership with artists and communities. This ranges from engaging with Carriageworks’ local Redfern community – one of Australia’s key centres for contemporary Aboriginal culture – to working with renowned international artists and artistic companies from Belgium, India and China.

The 2012 season launches with Black Capital – referencing Carriageworks’ Redfern home being the black capital of Australia - produced and presented by Carriageworks in partnership with the Sydney Festival. Running from 8 until 29 January, Black Capital is a major celebration of urban Aboriginal arts comprised of a series of performances, seminars and exhibitions reflecting the diversity of contemporary Aboriginal practice and Carriageworks’ Redfern base.

A highlight of the Black Capital program is Travelling Colony, a major site-specific multi-media work by contemporary Aboriginal artist Brook Andrew. Inspired by the circus, pop culture, and his Wiradjuri heritage, Andrew has created a cavalcade of seven hand-painted caravans whose interiors tell the stories of Redfern personalities and will be exhibited at Carriageworks.

Black Capital also includes the Wesley Enoch directed I am Eora performance of 50 Aboriginal musicians and creative artists blending storytelling and dance, and the 181 Regent St exhibition celebrating 40 years of black theatre-making by the National Black Theatre.

Closing off the summer program is an exhibition spanning 30 years of work by Bundjalung artist Bronwyn Bancroft. Passion Power Politics surveys Bancroft’s critically acclaimed painting, literature, fashion and textile designs, exploring themes of personal and cultural identity, and contemporary Aboriginal life that underpin her practice.

Carriageworks will mark Sydney Chinese New Year with the eclectic energy of Beijing’s underground music scene. Featuring three of Beijing’s most explosive cult bands, AV Okubo, Xiao He and PK14, the one-night only dance performance takes place on 3 February. Presented in association with Creative Asia, the event incorporates large-scale projections from Matthew Nierderhauser whose work documents the contemporary Chinese punk scene in Beijing.

Opening 13 March, resident Carriageworks company version 1.0 presents The Table of Knowledge, turning its forensic theatrical vision onto the February 2008 Wollongong City Council scandal that uncovered sexual obsessions, envelopes of cash and a secret cabal of powerful men. The resulting production was a sell-out at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre in 2011 and is certain to engage Sydney audiences in 2012 with its compelling interrogation of power, corruption and good governance.

A contemporary dance highlight of the 2012 calendar is The Fondue Set and Miguel Gutierrez Project. Presented on 20 April, this explosive work continues on from their 2010 collaboration and brings together the New York based Gutierrez with the much-loved Sydney-based The Fondue Set. Presenting three new solo dance works, this collaboration will be a must-see on for contemporary dance enthusiasts.

For the first time, Carriageworks will partner with the Biennale of Sydney when it presents three major works as part of the official exhibition program for the 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations. Two exciting performances - En Atendant and Cesena - by renowned Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s dance ensemble Rosas, will have their Australian premiere at Carriageworks in September.

En Atendant takes a new step in the exploration of combined music and dance, drawing inspiration from ars subtilior. This complex and intellectual form of polyphonic music developed out of the ruins of the plague in the fourteenth century, a time when the pillars of mediaeval society were fragmenting. De Keersmaeker explores questions of our mortality and physicality that are now becoming ever more crucial, taking us to a place where twilight merges almost imperceptibly into night.

Cesena is choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in collaboration with musical director Björn Schmelzer and his ensemble graindelavoix. This new production might be called the counterpart to Rosas’ predecessor, En Atendant. In that piece twilight merged almost imperceptibly into night, whereas this work heralds the start of the new day. Performers share the stage, exploring the limits of their ability – where dancers sing and singers dance in dialogue with the 14th century scores of the ars subtilior. Rosas has again collaborated with Ann Veronica Janssens for the set design, creating a sculpture of passing time, reflecting the constant transformation of what is around us but only becomes visible in the course of time.

The second work to be presented at Carriageworks as part of the 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations is a major installation from the renowned Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens. Presetned from 27 June until 16 September, Janssens creates ‘propositions’ or ‘interventions’ in her installations that are based on the relation of time and space.

Through the use of light, artificial fog, projections and sound, Janssens’ work touches on experiencing the ungraspable. Her immersive environments and urban interventions invite viewers to cross the threshold into a new sensory space – on the border of dizziness and dazzlement.

Opening 22 August, a mixed ensemble of artiists from version 1.0 and the Australian Theatre for Young People present The Tender Age: an eye-opening, gut-wrenching, and utterly compelling theatre. Based around the infamous Sydney radio incident that saw a 14-year-old girl reveal she had been raped during a live-to-air lie detector test, the play examines changes in the way young people engage with sex and sexuality. The Tender Age examines contradictions in the way society educates young people about sexuality, and the ways young people themselves negotiate relationships framed by social technologies.

As part of the Australian and India Year of Friendship, Carriageworks is undertaking a cultural exchange of two contemporary visual artists. Australian artist Justene Williams will undertake a residency during 2012 in India, whilst Mumbai-based artist Nikhil Chopra will become artist-in-residence at Carriageworks. Chopra’s practice involves devising fictional characters that draw on India’s colonial history and the artist’s personal background in order to create large-scale drawing-based installations. Chopra will work during public opening hours in September to create his installation in the foyer of Carriageworks.

Hip Hop takes centre stage at Carriageworks in October, when Platform Hip Hop returns. Bringing together the best breakers, MCs, DJs, and graffiti artists it is a two-day celebration of competition, culture and community. This colourful contemporary music festival includes new events, panel discussions and workshops as well as dance battles. It culminates in one massive night of Australian Hip Hop music curated by Nick Power (aka B*Boy Rely).

Another October highlight, Performance Space’s season Sexes presents a selection of visual and performing arts exploring sexual and gendered identities. Artists examine queerness and straightness, misogyny in sporting culture, expressions of masculinity in the domestic sphere, diaristic sexual encounters, the oppression of women, and sexual difference in Indigenous cultures. The program will be punctuated with screenings, talks, one-off events, lectures and exchanges in ideas. It includes works by high profile and at times controversial artists Eric Bridgeman, Philip Brophy, Bindi Cole, Marley Dawson, The Kingpins, Paul Knight, Pilar Mata Dupont and Tarryn Gill, and Christian Thompson.

2012 concludes as it began, with an emphasis on connecting with the locale of Carriageworks and leading Australian Aboriginal artists. Redfern Station is an exhilarating blur of passion and movement, as headline act The Medics demonstrate why they have been named one of Australia’s most genuinely exciting new bands. Microwave Jenny – Aboriginal duo Tessa Nuku and Brendon Boney – present a genre-defying style which positions pop music front and centre. Emerging Sydney based Gadigal Music artists, funk/soul singer Marcus Corowa and singer songwriter Jess Beck complete this impressive line up. The one-night only event takes place on 10 November.

The full Carriageworks program and ticketing information can be viewed online at the new website, www.carriageworks.com.au.