Archive for June, 2009

While the Sydney Design 09 festival (1–16 August) is still more than a month away,here are five important dates to consider for your diary. »

Our lives are measured in moments of ceremony, from baptism to funeral. In an increasingly secular world, these milestones take place outside the context of religion, yet our need for the ritual – and the shared sense of meaning it creates – remains. Tamara Dean’s series Ritualism envisages these ceremonial moments in recognisably Australian landscapes,... »

'Rising Tide' is an outstanding exhibition of video art opening today at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art, featuring film and video installations by 12 contemporary Australian video artists. »

Here are a couple of impressive pieces of work by a young Sydney-based industrial designer, Hugh Thomas. This is his Whippet Chair, an intriguing, fluid take on a small chair. Its ergonomic tractor-seat is comfortable but not overly so, making it good for use in places that need fast patron turnover like cafes. »

Ken Unsworth, Toyland Fever The Ken Unsworth extravaganza in the Turbine Shed on Cockatoo Island has extended its stay and will now be on show until Sunday 2 August. Conceived as a tribute to his late wife, Elisabeth, who died in December 2008, the exhibition is one of the largest self-funded projects ever mounted by an... »

Issue 7 of Das Superpaper has just hit the streets featuring a great interview by Jasmine O’Loughlin-Glover with Dion Lee, the designer whose debut during Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in April – at 9am in a Kings Cross underground car park – was one of the event’s buzziest high points. The article is illustrated with Bowen... »

30×40 is a group exhibition currently running at United Galleries Sydney in Darlinghurst. The title refers to the size of all the works in centimetres. With 53 works commissioned from 31 artists, there’s a good mix of styles and media. Two young artists, showing two works each, caught our eye. Erin Flannery Monday Morning Latte Line... »

men’s hats Repeat after me: No More Baseball Caps – unless you’re actually playing baseball, in which case, knock yourself out. Hats in winter are practical and a good look. A footy beanie might keep your head warm, but footy beanies are strictly for before, during and after the footy. The rest of the time, you’ll want... »

Sydney’s cavalcade of festivals just keeps on coming. Hot on the heels of the Sydney Writers’ Festival, the Sydney Film Festival, the inaugural Creative Sydney and Brian Eno’s Luminous festival comes Liquid Architecture, a four-day event devoted to sound. Now in its 10th year, Liquid Architecture brings together music, sound art, noise and other listening... »

Jackson Slattery, Our Plastic Everything is Broken Congratulations to Jackson Slattery, who picked up $40,000 today in this year’s Metro Art Award, Australia’s richest art prize for emerging young artists. He won with a small watercolour of Hajj pilgrims praying called Our Plastic Everything is Broken. Slattery, who is 25, is currently a studio artist at... »