Author: Walter Marsh
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OzAsia Festival review: Opera for the Dead 祭歌
In the foyer of The Odeon Theatre, the door swings open to the anticipating crowd. A rocking vibration pours into the space, inviting reactions of intrigue and wonder from the huddle of spectators. Upon entering the shadowy space, metal bowls hang from the ceiling with glittering mandarins and bells that ring melodiously throughout the theatre…
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Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy’s adventures in rocket science and sexual mysticism
Humans have long been fascinated by outer space. Its depiction in popular culture, ancient mythologies, stargazing through telescopes, and more recently, in the billionaire space race highlights our curiosity with the great unknown. The current exhibition, Psychopomp, by the New South Wales-based artistic duo and Samstag scholars (2006) Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy, examines the…
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OzAsia Festival review: Ryuichi Fujimura – HERE NOW Trilogy
Ryuichi Fujimura’s works have a strong storytelling focus. In each section of HERE NOW – performed as a trilogy for the first time as part of this year’s OzAsia lineup – the Sydney-based dancer and choreographer speaks directly to the audience. Together, the works form a compelling narrative arc encompassing reflections on the beginning and…
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What’s My Scene: Jason Sweeney asks what queerness sounds like
Where was your first gig, and how did it go? My first proper gig was actually in 1987 (I was 16) at Three D Radio (then 3MMM at the beloved old funeral parlour building on Magill Road) when they had their Gong Show! It was my first experimental band called The Nightmare Room. I believe…
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Music review: Brooklyn Rider at Chamberfest 25
In case one is not up to speed with things at Mount Barker Summit, UKARIA Cultural Centre has rebranded its annual flagship chamber music weekend event formerly known as UKARIA 24, renaming it Chamberfest. And it is fair to say that the flag has been hoisted higher than perhaps ever before by its curator, Brooklyn…
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What’s My Scene: Cecilia Ronson has a loud laugh and is ready to use it
Where was your first gig, and how did it go? My first stand up comedy gig was early 2018 when I was 17, at the famous Rhino Room. A family friend suggested that I compete in an upcoming competition, she pretty much said, “You’re a funny kid, you should give it ago”. The competition she…
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OzAsia Festival review: Searching Blue
T.H.E Dance Company’s site-adaptive work, Searching Blue, is a tactile exploration of the human condition. Daring, emotive and genre-bending, this contemporary dance piece beckons you to dissolve into the movement with a shared ferocity and vulnerability as the artists gesture for audiences to seek connection. Searching Blue is informed by the ‘extended mind thesis’ and…
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OzAsia Festival review: William Yang – Milestone
Occasioned by his 80th birthday in 2023, Milestone is William Yang’s most complete retrospective to date. First presented at this year’s Sydney Festival and, after Adelaide, immediately headed for a major arts festival in Seoul, this work is Yang’s most extensive, inclusive, and, perhaps, most personal. It is the William Omnibus – bigger in scope…
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Finding signs of life in decades of art school history
The SA School of Art Gallery’s journey from the 1960s to the present day weaves it way through Jenny Aland’s recently published history South Australian School of Art: 170 Years shaping South Australian Arts and Culture, Wakefield Press). The ground floor gallery space at Stanley Street in the late 60s to 70s was a hub…