Handel’s daring Opera Athalia presents its world premiere for the first time in Australia this June. First performed in 1733, Handel’s Baroque Opera is based on the story of the Biblical Queen Athalia, who was determined to stamp out the Jewish line of Kings descended from David.
Read moreWhere do we go from here? James Raggatt on Youth and Destination
Collectively derided as dreaded millennials, the youth of today have probably had greater than their fair share of epithets thrown at them.
Read moreBYO Culture Guide April 23 – 29
Art in life and art after death. What are the role of the objects that we leave behind and how do works of art live on after the artist has died? Questions such as these animate what’s happening this week in the galleries across Sydney.
Read moreWhat’s in a postcode? The place of arts and policy in Western Sydney
On the Western Line to Parramatta express trains rumble past what used to be the central core of Australia’s rail manufacturing industry. Now an arts venue, conference space and market site, Carriageworks on March 23 played host to 500 arts professionals who debated the future of the arts in NSW.
Read moreArtist in Context: Yulia Pustoshkina
On an unseasonably hot April afternoon I sat with Yulia Pustoshkina on her balcony in Berowra Heights. You could see and smell the smoke rising from controlled burns being conducted in Berowra Vallery National Park.
Read moreBYO Culture Guide April 16 – 22
While we (rightly) grumble and moan about Sydney, sometimes in this city, the stars align. This week’s culture guide highlights three exhibitions all on one night and range from the work of local emerging artists to one of Australia’s most successful artists, now based in New York. It takes a special kind of city to bring works like this together.
Read moreBelvoir St Theatre Presents Sami in Paradise: A Play of Confrontation Layered in Wit
This month, Belvoir St Theatre is presenting the world premiere of Sami in Paradise: a play that reminds us of our common humanity through the hilarious misfortunes confronted by a refugee called Sami.
Read moreBYO Culture Guide April 9 - 15
Reality. What is it and how do we see it? In this week’s selection of exhibitions and shows artists grapple with notions of the real and its representation.
Read moreGOOD DESIGN AWARDS PROVE WE NEED INNOVATION NOW MORE THAN EVER
In a world confronted by a seemingly infinite array of issues, we need innovation more than ever. That’s what makes the record 530 designs entered in this year’s 60th anniversary of the Good Design Awards, so exciting.
Read moreRedlands Konica Minolta Art Prize Exhibition Serves Up a Cultural Antidote of Bold Individualism
Bold individualism is the focal point of this year’s Redlands Konica Minolta Art prize at Sydney’s National Art School, providing every reason to visit before the 12th of May to check out the incredible art that speaks to exhibition curator Nike Savvas’ Extreme Prejudice title.
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This week’s survey of openings and exhibitions across Sydney engages with artists and shows that range across disciplines. In the interaction between these methods and practices we can ask questions about the role of the artist, the value of work and the place of the audience.
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This week we’re thinking painting; its life and its death. From established artists exploding definitions of painting, younger artists continuing to experiment with the form and artists from the APY Lands opening new ways for Sydney audiences to experience their work, this most traditional form of artistic expression continues to surprise and delight.
Read moreThe Personal and the Political: Bringing The story of Palestinian Poet Taha Muhammed Ali to the Stage
“Everything started with Taha, with Taha's poetry.” This began my conversation with Amer Hlehel, writer and performer of Taha, on the eve of its opening at the Adelaide Festival.
Read moreArtist in Context: Garry Trinh
Garry Trinh in his studio at Parramatta Artists Studios, 2017. Photo Alex Wisser
Looking at the photographs of Garry Trinh precipitates an almost out of body experience. Everything is familiar; the way the afternoon sun hits a high brick wall, the patterns of the pavement slowly revealed by peeling paint or the green-brown of thirsty buffalo grass.
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To wrap up what might have been the busiest month on the Sydney art calendar, we’ve brought together a performance, an art fair, an opening and a guided tour. With a broad perspective on what art and culture can look like, this week promises to be a kicker for seeing what’s next for art in Sydney.
Read moreSydney Biennale: Parallels in Practice
This Friday sees the official public launch of the Sydney Biennale. Now in its 45th year the 21st Biennale of Sydney returns to a number of exhibition spaces across Sydney.
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If you’ve been keeping tabs on Backyard Opera’s Art and Culture section you’ll know that March is Art Month and so for this week’s Culture Guide we’re spotlighting some of the kick-ass events that are happening around our city.
Read moreA Birds Eye View: Anthea Williams on Flight Paths
Men and birds falling out the sky, the hallowed halls of English academia and the dense slums of Nairobi, Kenya. These might all sound totally disconnected but in Flight Paths, a new play written by Julian Larnach, all these things come together.
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This week we celebrate International Women’s Day and so for this week’s culture guide we’re highlighting and celebrating the work of women and female-identifying artists.
Read moreSydney Design Festival: More than Just a Pretty Shape
Post-it notes as protest: Photographer Mark Leong captures a Chinese government protest in Hong Kong 2011
Within the massive turbine hall of the Sydney Powerhouse, something is taking off. Last November, two historic aircraft were taken down from within the Powerhouse to make way for a new installation
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