musicFrida Hyvonen
News that Frida Hyvonen is touring Australia in March shouldn't have arrived via email. A bone-white silk banner bearing the details flown through my window, held aloft by the heavy... Read More »
artmusicDarren Sylvester Album Launch
The last time I chatted to Darren Sylvester about his work, he said that the American sibling pop duo The Carpenters embodied the main sort of parable he aimed towards.... Read More »
Ongoing Events
musicperformingThe Fabulous Frances Faye in Australia
Throughout the Sydney Festival period, Belvoir Downstairs will play host to a mixed bag of comical stories and performances. Just like the man in the lolly shop, this program has... Read More »
performingLady Grey
Lady Grey is a clever play. It has a vitality and, indeed, poetry to its language that is often missing from contemporary plays. On a stage bare but for a... Read More »
artfreeperformingDORKBOT-SYD: 110001000100101001
This techno-call to arms comes from self-professed dorks “doing strange things with electricity”. There's something appealing about Dorkbot's epigram, especially when we consider the predictable behaviour electricity is made to... Read More »
artfreeDaniel Johnston: Dead Lovers Twisted Heart
Whether you came to Daniel Johnston via a precious dubbed cassette passed on as a young teen, or seeing Kurt Cobain consistently wear a "Hi, How Are You?" T or... Read More »
performingIt's a Jungle Out There
Martin del Amo's performances are like secret gifts, curious pieces placed out of the way that thrill with their mix of play and thoughtfulness. Originally from Germany, del Amo's choreography... Read More »
performingMonster of the Deep 3D
Part girl, part monster of the deep, Claudia O'Doherty is a three-dimensional being from Aquaplex, a futuristic underwater city that exploded. As the sole survivor, she has come to share... Read More »
artfree40 Years Kaldor Public Art Projects 1969-2009
Having never quite managed to be in the right place to see a Kaldor Public Art Project in the flesh, I'm pretty excited about the Art Gallery of New South... Read More »
freemusicSimon Carter @ Oxford Art Factory
Somewhere in his genealogy, Simon Carter must share a substantial puddle of DNA with both Mark Oliver Everett and Jarvis Cocker. It may be as inane as their choice of... Read More »
artfreemusicCybele Malinowski and Daniel Boud's Covers
Fans of Sydney street press will no doubt recognise the photography of Cybele Malinowski and Daniel Boud. For five years the couple have been shooting musical greats including INXS, Ben... Read More »
artthinkDRAUGHT
Let’s be honest. The predicaments and problems artists have to face compared to other professions are less important and largely uninteresting for the majority of people. And yet, if we... Read More »
performingOptimism by Tom Wright, after Voltaire
Beneath the thin veil of silliness in Voltaire’s Candide, little escaped his vicious attack: religion, art, politics, theologians, governments, armies and philosophers – especially Leibniz and his theories of the... Read More »
filmfreeThe Road
Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winning novella is a personal, epic poem about a father and son clinging to their humanity in a post-apocalyptic world. Suitably, a lyrical director John Hillcoat... Read More »
filmOpenAir Cinema
Rob Bryant, General Manager of the OpenAir Cinema can sum up the experience in three words, 'Sydney in summertime'.This isn't just an outdoor cinema, Mr. Bryant explains, "It's an experience... Read More »
musicperformingThe Man in Black: The Johnny Cash Story, with Tex Perkins and The Tennessee Four
If any Australian musician was going to play Johnny Cash, it would have to be Tex Perkins. It just makes sense. It's the vibe or something. And so he is... Read More »
artfilmRupert Bunny Film Series
While his name may sound more like a cartoon character thought up to teach you about the birds and the bees, Rupert Bunny was an incredible Australian artist celebrated for... Read More »
artRupert Bunny: artist in Paris
Though he both arrived and exited his life in Victoria, it was Paris in which this much beloved Australian artist flourished. Between 1885 and 1933, Bunny lived in France, for... Read More »
artfreePhil James and Shunga Woodcuts
There is something uneasy about the union of modern porn and traditional Japanese art. This irksome feeling is an entry point into Phil James’s work. In this exhibition, James... Read More »
artfreeGaffa Gallery's New Space
Gaffa has built a solid name for itself on the Sydney gallery trail over the last few years. Perched atop the one and only Ding Dong Dang Karaoke Bar, this... Read More »
filmInvictus
Clint Eastwood is getting sentimental in his old age. The laudable director and gritty actor, who only last year seethed, “Get off my lawn,” is now all about the group-hug,... Read More »
performingSpring Awakening
I am yet to grasp the unending desire for converting plays/films/books/discographies into musicals. Though there are a few pieces of musical theatre that really excite me, I've sadly found that... Read More »
filmFantastic Mr. Fox
A sly father figure with a good-humoured but nevertheless illegal penchant for the ways of the underground; a maternal force who reluctantly accepts her partner's shortcomings in light of his... Read More »
artDale Frank: Ice Age
Despite their lack of figuration, Dale Frank’s varnish paintings tell a story. The story of his process — layers of transparent varnish and pigment clashing and separating, creating whole new... Read More »
artfreeEmerging artists group show at Stills Gallery
A number of Sydney art spaces have been inserting an exhibition of works by emerging artists into their programming of late. It's good. Got to keep the blood fresh. Stills Gallery... Read More »
performingThe Fabulous Punch and Judy Show
Some days life is pretty shit. You've lost your job, your partner smells like another person's genitalia and your children/pets would rather eat your leg than show you some love.... Read More »
filmAddison Rd Moonlight Cinema
Some things are set in stone. Like barbecues on Australia Day, or like Sydney's lust for cinema en plein air; summer sets in and we're just gasping to find a... Read More »
artEdge of Elsewhere
This is really very exciting. It isn't often that a platform for collaborative thinking and making is given enough time to find its roots and address something specific. Too often... Read More »
filmUp In The Air
George Clooney has been making a habit of anthropomorphising himself this summer. First he played a fox in Wes Anderson's spell-binding Fantastic Mr Fox and now, in Up In The... Read More »
filmMoonlight Cinema
The new program for The Moonlight Cinema kicks off with Sam Taylor Wood’s John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy. This beautifully constructed film steps behind the legend to reveal a young... Read More »
artfreeMartin Sharp Sydney artist
Plundering the depths of Martin Sharp's personal collection, rumoured to be labyrinthian in its documentation, the Museum of Sydney has unveiled an exhibition comprised of some of Sharp's most iconic... Read More »
filmfreeA Prophet
Jacques Audiard serves up another searing character study of crime with his taut portrait of A Prophet. Following up the beautifully realised The Beat My Heart Skipped, Audiard journeys into... Read More »
filmPrecious
Precious was never going to be a light-hearted trip to the cinema. Harrowing to the point of being labeled “poverty porn,” it is the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey... Read More »
filmDaybreakers (+ Popcorn Taxi premiere Q&A screening)
At first glance, one of Australia’s most anticipated films of 2010 hardly looks like a local. With Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe taking the leads, Australian twin brothers Peter and... Read More »
filmEdge of Darkness
Mad Mel is back. After seven years off screen, he’s stepped in front of the camera and into very familiar shoes, once again playing a police detective driven to the... Read More »
artfreeBear Witness
Bear Witness is the artistic output of Ehren Thomas, a multimedia artist, DJ and filmmaker from Ottawa Canada. He remixes appropriated images and sound to create video assemblages that speak... Read More »
filmStarlight Cinema
Taking up residence at the North Sydney Oval, the 2010 Starlight Cinema kicks off with a preview screening of the hilarious British political satire In the Loop. Then for the next two... Read More »
artfreeExhibitions on Cockatoo Island
I can still hear the rousing tune that plays to William Kentridge's video installation, "I am not me, the horse is not mine." Such is the infectious effect of this... Read More »
artState. Respond. Exploring sustainable design.
Object Gallery is reinvigorating the sustainable design/eco-friendly/carbon neutral debate just when it was starting to sound like a whole lot of codswallop - I mean what a life-cycle; from being... Read More »
artOlafur Eliasson
In a world where the new is often demanded but rarely considered or discussed for any length of time, the Berlin-based Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson is a memorable exception. A... Read More »
artfreeMirror Mirror Then & Now
Comprising two shows across three spaces, Mirror Mirror Then & Now looks at mirror as material in art from both historical-international and contemporary-Australian perspectives. Curated by Ann Stephen, the exhibitions... Read More »
artfreeplayMythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids
I was about just verging into adolescence when my parents took me to Loch Ness. It was painful attempting to keep up that despondent, outsider teen thing when all I... Read More »
artfreeThe Tao of Now
Kerr and Judith Neilson of The White Rabbit Gallery describe their extensive and dramatic collection of contemporary Chinese art as a ‘personal anthology’. Indeed The Tao of Now, an exhibition... Read More »
artplayThe 80s are back
Bleached perms. Feathered earrings and feathered hair. Acid-wash. Ra-ra skirts. Rayban Wayfarers. Swatch watch envy. Eyeliner for all. Crop tops over leotards. Bangles, tons of bangles. They may be 80s... Read More »
Playground Blog
Bondi Short Film Festival: Call for Entries
Film buffs and budding Tarantinos, ho! The 10th annual Bondi Short Film Festival is calling for entries as it musters up one helluva celebration to mark a decade of eclectic... Read More »
Twitter Updates
How was the first night @sydneyfringe?
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FREE TIX // We have some double passes to giveaway to a special preview of The Ballad of Backbone Joe @SydneyTheatreCo: http://bit.ly/2hyWpl
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RT @alicetynan: Previewing Australia's Silent Film Fest over @PLAYGROUNDnews http://bit.ly/bcjIe4 Kicks off tomorrow!
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FREE TIX!!! We have some double passes to giveaway to a special preview of The Ballad of Backbone Joe @SydneyTheatreCo: http://bit.ly/2hyWpl
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Fancy a weekend jaunt to our most recent addition to the UNESCO World Heritage list? http://bit.ly/dihyiM
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Need a soundtrack for Spring? Here are 10 bands we think you should know: http://bit.ly/ccniD1
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