The Human Rights Arts & Film Festival Launches Full Program #HRAFF #Melbourne #geekgirl

FESTIVAL OPENS WITH PAUL SIMON DOCO UNDER THE AFRICAN SKIES
15 – 27 May 2012

The fifth Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (HRAFF) will open on Tuesday 15 May with the highly anticipated documentary Under African Skies by award winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger.

Twenty-five years have passed since Paul Simon broke a UN cultural ban and entered South Africa to make the album Graceland. The album would go on to be a global phenomenon, salvaging his career while also polarising audiences. To mark this anniversary, Simon returns to South Africa to reunite with the Graceland musicians, and clear the air with his greatest critic, Artists Against Apartheid founder Dali Tambo. Under African Skies pays homage to this time.

Eleven days later, Jon Shenk’s The Island President will close the Festival. This is the story of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced. Having brought democracy to the Maldives after thirty years of despotic rule, Nasheed is now faced with an even greater challenge. As one of the most low-lying countries in the world, a rise of three feet in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the Maldives enough to make them uninhabitable. The Island President captures Nasheed’s first year of office, culminating in his trip to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009. At the screening there will be a live video Q&A with the former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed.

With 15 Australian premieres, other highlights of the 19 film program include: award-winning documentary At Night They Dance which sheds light on the chaotic world of Egyptian belly dancers working in downtown Cairo;  based on the award-winning comic novel (Paco Roca, 2007), Wrinkles is an animated feature film about Emilio, who, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, is sent by his son to live in an aged-care facility; Beer is Cheaper Than Therapy is a poignant documentary which examines the psychological distress suffered by numerous soldiers, offering a voice to those who are all too often lost in the discourse of war, the veterans themselves; and Australian feature film Fantome Island by Sean Gilligan which looks at Joe Eggmolesse, who at the age of seven was taken from his family, put on a train, and sent to a leprosarium on Fantome Island, located off the Queensland coast. Many years later, he returns to confront the memory of his childhood on the island, to pay tribute to those who lived and died there and to inscribe his own unique story into official Australian history.

FORUM - Extreme Reactions to Creative Expression
Sat 19 May, 5pm – ACMI, The Cube. Free Entry
Facilitator Richard Watts (3RRR) along with Ajak Kwai (singer/songwriter), Jeff Daniels (filmmaker) and Khadim Ali (artist) will discuss the cultural politics of extreme governmental responses towards creative expression.

FORUM – Off the Wall: Is Street Art an Appropriate Medium to Voice Human Rights Issues?
Wed 23 May, 5.30pm – Kaleide Theatre, RMIT. Free Entry
Public discourse surrounding street art is dominated by the continuing debate about cultural legitimacy and notions of ownership of public space. Yet, such discussions conceal one of the most important functions of street art, the creative freedom to be powerfully political and socially current. Partake in a lively discussion with facilitator Fiona Hillary along with Lachlan Macdowall (artist), Boo (stencil artist), Tom Civil (graffiti artist) and Kate Shaw.

FORUM - Flights of Fancy: the Ethics of Travel
Sat 26 May, 5pm – ACMI, The Cube. Free Entry
For many Australians, travel has become cheap and accessible. Yet, as the world keeps shrinking, and our mobility increasing, the decisions we make, be it as a high-flyer, a backpacker, or even a volunteer, have consequences on the world around us. Hear what facilitator Jeff Jarvis (International Research Unit Monash), and a panel including Jane Crouch (Intrepid), Andrew Abel (Surfing Assoc. of Papua New Guinea), Adam Pesce (filmmaker) and Dimity Fifer (Australian Volunteers International) have to say.

MUSIC – Rhythm & Rights
Sun 20 May, 1.30pm–7pm – Abbotsford Convent.
Move your feet, shake your body and feel the beat at HRAFF’s annual Rhythm & Rights event.  Tinpan Orange headline a full day of musical entertainment including: Sol Nation, The Hacketts, Alwan Bridgett, Cains Teame, Ersie Wadaiko, Rindo Musiki Manjaro, Leigh Woodburgess, Danny Al Sabbagh with Khaled Khalafalla as MC.  Taking over the Abbotsford Convent for one day only, the program consists of an exciting range of performers coming together over their shared commitment to the promotion of human rights culture through musical expression.

Art exhibition - Echoes of Others: Illuminating the gaps amid translation
Thu 17–27 May, 11am–5pm (Tue-Sat) 12pm–5pm (Sun) – No Vacancy, QV Building.
Human rights issues have become increasingly visible, broadcast through a variety of media, whose dissemination of information makes possible greater accessibility and detail. On the other, the inconsistencies of such technological access around the world continue to reinforce the widening gaps that exist between people and places. Whilst communication should be crisp and clear, it is, too often, broken, frozen and distorted, as the process of translation allows for interpretation, re-interpretation and, more often than not, misinterpretation. The work exhibited explores echoes both materially and conceptually, as voices are silenced, images fade and meaning is reconstructed.

Artists: Alexia Germain, Marliène Blain, Louis Philippelèvesque, Anita Belia, Baden Pailthorpe, Brad Haylock, Dinalie Dabarera, The Keiskamma Trust, Lex Randolph, Louise Hunter, Minela Krupic, Nasim Nasr, Sue Kneebone and Veronica Grow.

LISTING DETAILS
WHAT: The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival
WHEN: Tuesday 15 – Sunday 27 May 2012
WHERE: The Forum Theatre, ACMI and Abbotsford Convent
MORE INFO: www.hraff.org.au

Mysterious Melbourne Multimedia show… by fuguestate #arts #geekgirl

MELBOURNE:  FUGUE STATE EVENT

“We hope that in the near future you will be able to make your way to an unfamiliar location at a specific time. Indeed, it is unusual to ask this of you without a full explanation of the reason and context, however please understand that we are hoping you may be that reason. I can say little more other than to reassure you that you will be treated with the utmost dignity, kindness and respect and that this somewhat curious entreaty involves no financial transaction of any kind.” – fuguestate.info.  Bookings essential to attend this multimedia event.

16 – 29 April 2012

ACMI presents LIVE IN THE STUDIO for April: Queering the Small Screen #TV #queers #Melbourne #geekgirl

Modern Family

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image presents Live in the Studio April event: Queering the Small Screen

This April ACMI will take a look at the evolving face of queer representation on the small screen in its monthly Live in the Studio television appreciation night.

With gay and lesbian characters popping up on everything from Modern Family and Glee to Nurse Jackie, The Good Wife and even animated hit Archer, queer visibility on the small screen has steadily risen over the past decade.

Join SameSame‘s Travis de Jonk, Cherrie magazine’s Rachel Cook, cultural reviewer Tim Hunter, comedian Catherine Deveny, and author Alasdair Duncan, as they explore the most memorable series, characters and representations to come out of the television closet, and take a peek into what the future may hold for queers on the small screen.

One Thursday each month in ACMI’s television studio, Studio 1, a collection of pop-culture commentators, academics and industry experts and luminaries get together to present a night fits somewhere between analysis and entertainment, allowing audiences to revel in TV past and present. For more information on Live in the Studio, visit acmi.net.au

Dates              Thu 26 April 2012, 7pm
Location         Studio 1
Admission       Full $15 Concession $12 ACMI Members $11
TICKETS

PS. Don’t tell Pell #lol

Hello Bob’s Big Boy! Robot paintings by Antoine Toniolo #arts #robots #Melbourne #geekgirl

Antoine-Toniolo-Robot

What a lovely invitation from Antoine Toniolo…

“Having illustrated the childrens book (soon to be a play) “Professor Willoughby’s Last Robot“ I have dived back into the depths of robot mania to produce a show at the Ochre Gallery in Collingwood. The opening is April 19th 6pm. Come along and share my passion for robots.”

Invite to Hello Bob’s Big Boy

www.ochregallery.com
32-34 Wellington St, Collingwood Vic Australia 
open: wed – fri 10-6 sat + sun 11-5 

#Melbourne #Art: Stay Home Sakoku: The #Hikikomori Project Exhibition at West Space #geekgirl

STAY HOME SAKOKU EXHIBITION AT WEST SPACE

eugenia_lim_sakoku

Stay Home Sakoku: The Hikikomori Project is an introverted performance/installation exploring the Japanese phenomenon of hikikomori or ‘shut in’ syndrome. Over one week, Lim lived in a bedroom-style installation within West Space. Although physically ‘on view’ to gallery goers, communication between herself and the outside world occured via a web portal or ‘hiki-site’ through which people can chat with her via smartphones or home computers.

Background

Hikikomori confine themselves to their rooms for months and, in extreme cases, years on end. Without physical contact, hikikomori exist in isolation. Yet, many survive on a diet of pop culture and live a networked existence through an online community of forums, games and chatrooms. Increasingly, through our daily engagement with Web 2.0, we are all becoming networked beings. Stay Home is a project for anyone whose life intersects with technology and the Internet.

Project collaborators are Dan West, Yumi Umiumare and David Wolf. Stay Home Sakoku: The Hikikomori Project is part of the Today Your Love program. Eugenia Lim inhabited the room for one week, however the installation will be on display until 14 April. Eugenia and her collaborators are supported by the Australia Council and City of Melbourne.

http://www.stayhomesakoku.com/

Exhibition runs
Fri 30 Mar –Sat 14 April 2012

EUGENIA LIM (SAKOKU HAS LEFT THE BUILDING)
Live-in performance and online conversation
Thur 22 Mar – Thur 29 Mar 2012

Rayna Fahey’s politically dangerous exhibition – It’s Never Too Late To Mend #radical #craft #Melbourne #geekgirl

it's-never-too-late-to-mend

It’s Never Too Late To Mend – an exhibition of Rayna Fahey’s politically dangerous and exciting application of conscious craft love. A survey of Fahey’s commitment to the radical application of craft through the method of cross stitching.

Editor of radicalcrossstitch.com, co-founder of the infamous Craft Cartel and founder of the Melbourne Revolutionary Craft Circle, Fahey is best known for reclaiming ugly industrial settings and transforming them through conscious craft love.

Her work has featured in exhibitions across Australia, Aotearoa, Sweden and Lithuania. Fahey was also featured in the critically acclaimed documentary, Making It Handmade which screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival and on ABC2.

Making It Handmade will have a special screening at the Incinerator Gallery with its director Anna Brownfield in attendance.

Fahey said her work uses seemingly innocuous craft to communicate challenging concepts about society and our environment, in a thought provoking manner. ”In light of the recent resurgence in the popularity of craft, this exhibition is not only about asking questions about the reasons we craft, but is also a call out to the craft community to strive for excellence in design.

“I am truly honoured to be pressing these discussions in a building connected to such a strong design history of function and beauty.

“The exhibition challenges traditi onal views on the nature of craft and will allow audiences to get a fresh perspective on its use in the 21st century.

“Kitsch and irony have been used by artists for decades to convey their message, but I reject kitsch and instead pay upmost respect to the history and traditions of craft.“

It’s Never Too Late To Mend celebrates ‘domestic arts’ as more than just a passive pastime, showing that conscious craft is an active, intelligent and even politically dangerous craft,” said Miss Fahey.

Just as the Incinerator use to be used for burning rubbish and is now a gallery, Rayna Fahey is using traditional craft to make contemporary statements on the world around us.

It’s Never Too Late To Mend will have a twilight opening on Friday 13 April at 6pm. The exhibition will run until Sunday 13 May.

Making It Handmade will screen on Thursday 19 April at 7pm at the Incinerator Gallery.

Incinerator Gallery
180 Holmes Road
Moonee Ponds VIC 3039
incineratorgallery.com.au

Meg Petrie in Close to You #Melbourne #Comedy #Festival #geekgirl

Meg Petrie in Close to You

Close to You is a story of darkness, dysfunction, and disillusion set to the music of Karen Carpenter.

Close to You takes place in two houses: Meg’s suburban childhood home and her adult, cat-infested share house. The quirky characters in these houses include:

 * a nanna who feels sorry for Schapelle Corby

* a nightdress wearing father

* a perpetually vacuum cleaning mother,

* and an agoraphobic woman waiting for a UFO to beam her up.

A ukulele, drum kit, and home videos help bring Meg’s off-beat characters to life.

Karen Carpenter’s mother scrubbed keyholes. Meg’s mother vacuumed a bird cage non-stop with Karen Carpenter singing in the background. Karen died in a closet. Meg has a skeleton in her closet.

Meg isn’t shy to indulge in the odd gag, pun, word-play, singing, and slapstick. There is a chunk of heart in this show and a whole lot of dark ridiculousness.

Joining Meg is percussionist Dan Violato. Her presence adds depth and poignancy to the connection with Karen Carpenter who was herself a skilled drummer.

Meg Petrie in Close to You was mentored by Felicity Ward and performed to sold-out houses during 2011 Melbourne Fringe Festival. Meg has also performed in Papa Don’t Preach at 2010 Midsumma, and Hot Caz and The Runaway Muff at 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

____________

Close to You
Northcote Townhall, Studio 2
189 High St, Northcote
8:30pm – 9:30pm

April 12th-15th, 19th-21st

Tickets
Full: $15
Concession/Preview/Group: $10

YouTube: http://youtu.be/VW31NL7v4CI

Web: http://www.megpee.com/

Transitions Film Festival #Melbourne #SLF #sustainability #geekgirl

Transitions Film Festival
11th – 19th Feb, 2012

The Transitions Film Festival is a visionary film program dedicated to showcasing ground-breaking documentaries about our global culture in transition towards a sustainable future.

The festival takes place as part of the Sustainable Living Festival with the support of the United Nations Association of Australia (Victoria), the City of Melbourne, Red Energy, Hepburn Wind, Prosper Australia and Undergrowth.org.

The program features an inspirational line-up of world-changing documentaries including national and international premiers and culminates with a free state-wide synchronised screening of Yann Arthus-Betrand’s spectacular film ‘Home’. The major screening is taking place on the big screen at Federation Square at 7pm.

Screenings will include live introductions by international filmmakers and NGO’s as well as an interactive short film forum hosted by the United Nations Association of Australia.

PROGRAM

Steamscape #Melbourne #exhibiton #steampunk #geekgirl

steampunk bustle by clockwork butterfly

Clockwork Butterfly
www.clockworkbutterfly.net
Garments for the discerning Neo-Victorian

Exhibition Steamscape: A participant of the 2012 L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Cultural Program 3rd – 25th March.

Steampunk is a movement that is best described as “victorian Science Fiction”. A rebellion against the mass production found in today’s consumer goods, it concentrates on individually crafted items that reflect the classical aesthetics of the late 19th century, with a twist of dynamic industrial influences and an often whimsical sense of fun.

The exhibition will feature the exquisite, timeless clothing creations of Clockwork Butterfly partnered with Jos Van Hulsens’s fantastical scupltural creations.

Post Industrial Design, 638 Barkly Street, West Footscray 3012.

#Melbourne Media Lab #Sprint Call for Collaborators #unconstrained #hackers #geekgirl

MELBOURNE: MELBOURNE MEDIA LAB SPRINT CALL FOR COLLABORATORS
From 21 – 29 January Melbourne Media Lab [http://www.medialabmelbourne.com.au/sprints/]
will host the Unconstrained sprint (sprints are short periods of intensive project
development, based on a theme), an investigation into everyday  technologies and
the way in which they have become so complex, powerful  or taken for granted. Melbourne
Media Lab will be developing a number of parallel projects and brainstorming  various
topics to fruition. If you are interested in the social and  political dimensions
of technology or just like to have fun and/or enjoy  tinkering, crafting, performing,
hacking or sculpting, then come and be  part of the team. All disciplines are welcome.