Heading back to the ol’ daily grind can be pretty damn awful after a bright and shiny weekend of picnicking, bar hopping and patting dogs that aren’t yours, but luckily Sydney’s a ‘keep the ball rolling’ kind of city and has plenty of events, exhibitions, theatre, film festivals and live music for you to inject a little awesomeness into your week. Sure, use Monday for Netflix binges. Then get out there and sink your teeth into Sydney’s best happenings this week.
BLUESFEST 2017, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm
Hey Dad! Steve! Over here! Two of your favourites are playing Bluesfest this year! Let’s go! Bluesfest Byron Bay’s 2017 lineup came from somewhere back in our long ago, with two big mum and dad-friendly superstars being the latest additions to the lineup: The Doobie Brothers and Santana.
One of Australia’s best festivals, the five-day Easter long weekend event has played to its core audience with their latest lineup additions. First up, the legend himself, groundbreaking, Grammy-nabbing, Afro-Latin-blues-rock fusion king, nay, sultan Santana is coming to melt faces and throw down elongated solos like the melodic monarch he is. Expect ‘Black Magic Woman’. Then, takin’ it to the streets of Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, California’s harmonising head honchos The Doobie Brothers will make their triumphant return to Bluesfest. The Doobies have some serious fans at Bluesfest — do not try and push in front of them.
VEGAN COLLECTIVE NIGHT MARKET, Portugal Madeira Club
When the weather starts to cool, our stomachs start to grumble for hearty snacks and meals: think burgers and fries, sausage rolls, pasta, brownies and doughnuts. Let’s call autumn and winter the seasons of indulgence, and let’s call Vegan Collective‘s next market the ideal celebration of tasty treats for this time of year.
It’s all there in the name at the Autumn Indulgence Night Market, so head along from 7pm on April 12 and prepare to eat delicious vegan food made by local providers. Treat Dreams, The Vegan Teahouse, My Little Panda Kitchen, Rhubarb Bakes, Green Wise Monkeys, Herbisaurus, and GogoVego will be among the stallholders, so we’d recommend arriving hungry.
HIROMI TANGO: HEALING CHROMOSOMES, Sullivan+Strumpf
Fans of the explosively colourful world of Japanese-born, Tweed Heads-based contemporary artist Hiromi Tango, or those with a generally elevated appreciation for colour, should check out Healing Chromosomes at Sullivan+Strumpf this month.
Tango’s work scans sculpture, photography, wide-scale installation and performance, drawing inspiration from her environment and the wider scientific community. Her practice is increasingly focused on exploring neuroscientific concepts, posing questions in “a quest to effect healing and well-being through arts”.
Healing Chromosomes invites us to ponder whether our chromosomes need healing from the impact of modern society, or if they already hold the key to our healing. The exhibition continues Tango’s fascination with the emotional impact of colour and questions its relationship with the brain. Why do certain colours provoke certain emotional responses? Does memory affect our emotional associations with a colour? Are there cultural factors at play? These questions aside, Tango’s work is also just really, really aesthetically epic. If you aren’t familiar with her work, this could be a beautiful introduction.
SHIGERU BAN, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation
Award-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban is bringing a project to Australia for the first time. On March 25, he’ll be taking over the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation with installations showcasing his dedication to humanitarian work.
In the courtyard, you’ll find two signature relief shelters. One was developed in the wake of the Great Hanshin earthquake, which hit Kobe in 1995. The other was a response the earthquake that rocked Eucador’s coast in 2016.
Step inside to immerse yourself in scaled models of Cardboard Cathedral (2013) and Japan Pavilion, surrounded by a handpicked selection of works and elements of works, capturing the evolution of Ban’s output between 2000 and 2014.
Ban has spent most of the past 20 years helping out in disaster zones, working out how to turn affordable, local materials into housing. In 2014, he won the Pritzker Prize (pretty much the Nobel Prize for architects).
CARMEN — HANDA OPERA ON SYDNEY HARBOUR, Fleet Steps
Opera Australia is going back to where it all began for their annual outdoor opera extravaganza. What was first seen as a bold, expensive experiment in 2013, Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour has now become an international tourist icon, drawing crowds from all over the world to experience the grandeur of opera in the grandest of locations.
Georges Bizet’s famous opera Carmen is the perfect fit for such a lavish spectacle — love, treachery, civil war and two of the best-known of all opera arias, portrayed with a realism and intensity that remains affecting and bracing nearly 150 years after it was written.
On-stage a world-class cast of singers, dancers and physical performers (plus a nine-metre-high Hollywood-style sign spelling CARMEN) will bring to life the torrid world of Franco-era Spain, accompanied by a full chorus and orchestra (and, at times, fireworks). The offstage offerings only add to the spectacle, with five dining areas, including a tapas bar, a paella bar, a Spanish cantina and The Platinum Club, where you can book in for a sit-down three-course meal. They’ll host some 3000 audience members, who will come from far and wide to see a highlight of Sydney’s cultural calendar in its sixth year each night.
MOV’IN BED CINEMA 2017, Parramatta Park
Ever been at an outdoor cinema, and wished you could just jump into bed? Well, of course you have — bed is the one thing we can rely on to always be there for us, and we all wish it could follow us around for intermittent lie-downs. That’s presumably why the geniuses at Mov’In Bed Cinema decided to incorporate beds into their outdoor setup when they launched the event back in April. Well, that, and they’re probably aware of the struggles of keeping your head propped up on a packet of chips while lying on a picnic rug trying to drink wine. And, after a wildly successful, sold-out debut season, they’re bringing back the beds.
Mov’In Bed Cinema (previously known as PicNic Cinema) will take over The Crescent at Parramatta Park for an extended season of 45 days in March and April 2017. Instead of just the usual picnic rug and bean bag sitcho, the cinema will bring in a whopping 150 queen size beds to relax on. And because it’s happening at the end of summer when the nights are cooling down a little, you’ll even get a blankie in case it gets chilly.
Next year’s film program is quite varied and international, with everything from Star Wars: Rogue One to Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke to Oscar-nominated Turkish film, Mustang. The food lineup was similarly diverse last season, with Cuban, African, Brazilian and Lebanese dishes on rotation, but the edibles have not yet been confirmed for 2017. Tickets are on sale now for $34.90 per person, which gets you a spot in bed and a pillow and blanket. Better snap them up quickly though — last season sold out in about two weeks.
Article from concreteplayground.com written by Lauren Vadnjal, Lucy McNabb, Andy Fraser, Imogen Baker, Jasmine Crittenden, & Sarah Ward