Following on from the (ironic) success of last year’s festival, Sound of Failure 2008 brings together over forty local and international sound artists in numerous venues to surprise, shock and entertain. Many of these artists have attempted to transcend the small rectangular screens and the latest Microsoft releases, opting instead to look at unintended consequences of technology – when it misbehaves or just gives up the ghost.
Internationally renowned torturers of electronic toys, Toydeath, will unleash their circuit bent mayhem on the Factory Theatre along with 15 other acts that include everything from the humorous (Starella, for instance, juxtaposes ‘instruments’ such as ‘old wine bottles’ with digital technology and lyrics written on the backs of beer coasters) to the literal (Tom Hall, a renowned sound artist from Brisbane, uses the degenerate sounds formed from the destruction of flimsy CD media combined with the glitch/skip/malfunction from ageing and damaged CD players). Throw in the burlesque cabaret of Dianne’s Dollhouse, the endurance karaoke of Samuel Bruce and the uninhibited, primordial yowls of Lecter Macabre & Triangle, and you have an unmissable show with something for everyone!
Book now for August 30 at http://factorytheatre.com.au
Exhibition wise, Chrissie Cotter gallery in Camperdown will host a diverse range of audio, and audio-visual installations from over a dozen artists. US based sound experimenter, Subscape Annex, has used the potentially explosive technique of combining electricity and water in a work that involves sound from dripping water across the contact of an instrument cable jack. The result ‘The Water Method’ is a sublime ambient work that is hypnotically compelling. Norie Neumark and Maria Miranda dissect and interrogate the iconic Aussie cop drama, ‘Homicide’ (said to be the most important and most popular television drama series ever produced in the country) in ‘Homicide Rumours’. Like old episodes of Doctor Who, these Homicide mashups conjure sensations of familiarity and sentimentality, as well as disappointment and even embarrassment. Our memories live in the original – past – moment; our hazy dream is shattered by the harsh reality of the now.
You can also find sound art hiding between the junk in Reverse Garbage, and Wade Marynowski’s solo exhibition, ‘Rococo Vortex’, in the aptly titled Don’t Look Gallery, as well as a spellbinding performance, ‘Question/Answer… Interruption’ at the snazzy new UTS performance space.
Please see http://SoundOfFailure.com for a complete list of venues and details.
Main performance night:
Factory Theatre, Enmore
105 Victoria Rd, Enmore, Sydney, NSW
August 30, 7pm
$20 (+booking fee)
Book NOW at: http://factorytheatre.com.au
Main exhibition opening:
Chrissie Cotter Gallery
Pidcock St, Camperdown, Sydney
August 19, 6pm (FREE)
10th International Juried Digital Print Competition/Exhibition at the New York Hall of Science. What are the artists, scientists, and technologists of the twenty-first century thinking about our current environmental challenges? Can their artwork imagine new, positive approaches to sustaining life on planet Earth? Can it inspire us to confront the consequences of our current ways of living?
Entry Deadline: 10 August
Organized by Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI)
4 October 2008 – 25 January 2009
http://www.asci.org/artikel981.html
August 2008 SMSA Conversations Series – Science and Creativity
Where:
SMSA, 280 Pitt St Sydney
Entry is free, no bookings are required.
Wednesday 6th August 2008, 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Shaping Future Scientists
Compared with sport and finance, innovations in science receive very little media attention in Australia, barely a blip on our cultural radar. How does this affect the choices parents and students make about science as a serious career option? How do teachers excite the interest of students in science and contribute to the creation of a healthy culture of science in Australia?
Speakers: Professor Tony Baker, Faculty of Chemistry and Forensic Science, UTS & Jim Scott, Vice President, Science Teachers Association of NSW and Project Officer, NSW Government Essential Science Skills Assessment Initiative.
Wednesday 13th August 2008, 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Designing Future Sydney
A recent Sydney Morning Herald article stated “Plans to squeeze almost 100,000 new homes into the heart of Sydney and the inner west over the next 30 years will put further pressure on the city’s already crumbling transport infrastructure, critics of the State Government’s latest planning announcement say”. What ideas and innovations are emerging in urban design to ensure a “green, global and connected” Sydney?
Speakers: Dr Jack Barton, City Futures Research Centre, Faculty of the Built Environment, UNSW & Alan Cadogan, Sustainable Sydney 2030, City of Sydney Council.
Wednesday 20th August 2008, 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Meet a New Inventor
The ABC’s New Inventors program is “a fascinating search for Australia’s most amazing inventions and trend-setting designs”. Michael Stavrou has appeared twice on the program, taking out both the first prize and the People’s Choice award for his Smart Console invention. Join us for a look at the ABC New Inventors experience and insights into what drives this innovative inventor and author.
Speaker: Michael Stavrou, Inventor & author of Mixing with Your Mind.
Wednesday 27th August 2008, 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Geek Girls & Women
Women have always played an important role in Australian science. What barriers do women seeking professional advancement in the sciences face? How do structural and social factors and cultural stereotypes affect the career progress and choices of women scientists?
Speaker: Dr Claire Hooker, Senior Lecturer, Medical Humanities, Sydney University and author of Irresistible Forces: Australian Women in Science.
Copies of Irresistible Forces will be available for sale and signing at this event.
For more information contact Colleen Woods
outreach@sydneymsa.com.au
Anita Bacic’s work engages with the human need to network, interact and communicate with other individuals. Through this Bacic examines how we learn to see, look and interpret the world around us. Much of her previous work involved a vigorous examination of the various technologies that have facilitated communication over the centuries. In Outside In /Inside Out she frees her work from complex technology in order to display an image without any editorial control. Each viewer draws upon his or her own experiences in order to interpret what is happening; making this encounter similar yet different to others. The work allows a sense of self and a space for contemplation on the universality of the world outside as we share experiences despite our differences.
Anita Bacic will host a special afternoon event where she will be available to take you into the camera obscura – Outside In/Inside Out. Refreshments will be provided and the artist will be on hand to talk to the public about her work.
Please Note: Optimum viewing is during daylight hours
Dates: 01 August – 21 September
Special Event: Saturday 02 August, 3pm
Artist in attendance, refreshments provided
Guildford Lane Gallery
20-24 Guildford Lane, Melbourne
www.guildfordlanegallery.org
+61 422 442 363
Contact Anita:
anita@onesixty.net
www.onesixty.net
Poster Boy’s fabulous life is a fabrication of gossip mags.
The real story — he is intellectually impaired Wimmie, who becomes a supermodel for designer jeans through the camera lens of his lover, Zac.
Wimmie’s life is far more extraordinary than the crazy fiction of the Poster Boy — all the more remarkable for being real. Wimmie soars above his limitations, freeing others along his way from the shackles of convention.
Poster Boy’s confronting themes — entitlement to parenthood, the boundaries of disability and its impacts on family and sexual abuse inflicted by an older woman on a younger man — challenge our preconceptions.
Poster Boy is by Sydney-based author Allan Cope whose writing deals with society’s contradictions, leading us to murky corners and unexamined edges of ourselves.
Sydney launch:
When:Thursday August 14th, 2008
Time: 6pm
Where: Gleebooks — Glebe, Sydney
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