marina abramovic
In June/July 2015 Marina Abramovic brought her very unique self to Sydney for 12 days in her Kaldor Public Art Project No 30, Marina Abramovic: In Residence. As there were no cameras permitted, this photograph of Marina is from a document that accompanied the event. In fact, phones, watches and bags were locked away upon entry and participants were gloriously e-disconnected for the duration of their stay. Personally I found this somewhat confronting at first, then gratefully surrendered. Knowing that Marina tours the world and there’s a chance some elements will be comparable wherever you happen to be, I’m actually not going to give you any more details. Whatever you do, if you have the opportunity to go to one of her ….. worlds, don’t research it beforehand. Just go. Allow yourself to be surprised. I will say, though, that the Mutual Gaze part of the experience was the one that has stayed with me most vividly. Truly inspiring.
Biennale of Sydney
2014 brought us the 19th Biennale of Sydney, “You Imagine What You Desire”, with a press release that explained it was a celebration of “the artistic imagination as a spirited exploration of the world, seeking splendour and rapture in works that remain true to a greater, even sublime, visuality”.
The way we here at Aqualash see it is that across multiple venues and events we were presented with a wealth of opportunities to GET INSPIRED.
Get inspired to create, to laugh, to appreciate, to critically question. Really, inspiration paves many roads. And ceilings – as evident here in the Art Gallery of NSW. The 19th Biennale of Sydney continued through to 9 June 2014. You Imagine What You Desire – a timely reminder to desire only the best imaginings.
And now it’s 2016 already and a new Biennale to inspire! We’ll post that very soon.
Sun Ra Arkestra
Sun Ra Arkestra, State Theatre, Sydney 2014… with great seats!
This was a show so unique and legendary – we were experiencing the magic of a living history of Jazz.
The music was simultaneously precise, loose, rehearsed and intuitive. Solos were spectacular. The arrangements took us from the early Ragtime styles to space Jazz improvisations and the super-colourful visual experience was just as rich.
The passion and joy that came from the stage was exhilarating. A genuine, contagious celebration that illuminated perfectly why live music is such an important experience in our lives.
Here is a pic of the very groovy POP cafe. The artwork itself was colour, colour, colour and some very diverse interpretations of life. The Art Gallery of NSW did well with this one. A favourite.