Design
#TheGoods, Sydney Architecture festival
Sydney’s newly opened project, The Goods Line is a 500m passage connecting Central Station’s Devonshire Street tunnel to the Powerhouse museum and will host a full day of activities as part of the Sydney Architecture festival. Saturday’s festival program runs under the banner #TheGoods, and focuses on how to design the city for the future, a fitting first public event for an innovative, award-winning green space.
There will be yoga and tai chi on the grass, drawing and photography classes, and a chance to eat lunch from food trucks on the line’s signature yellow tables, where conversations on architectural spaces will take place. In the afternoon a team of experts will lead a symposium on how Australian architecture is keeping up within the global economy, at the nearby Frank Gehry-designed Dr Chau Chak Wing Building.
- #TheGoods takes place at The Goods Line, Sydney on 3 October
Music
Montaigne
Indie pop singer Montaigne, also known as Jessica Cerro, begins her national tour in Perth, following the release of her single Clip my Wings. Cerro was a Triple J Unearthed finalist in 2012, and took a break before releasing her EP in 2014. Her moniker was inspired by the 16th century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, pioneer of the modern essay. From him, she learned that “it’s important to have a healthy sense of doubt” and be open to new ideas.
The 20-year-old belts out dramatic melodies with a mighty voice that belies her relative youth. Cerro says she is growing more confident with time. “I am less afraid to stand up for myself and my beliefs, and I am expressing that through this song.”
- Montaigne begins her national tour at Jimmy’s Den, Perth on 3 October
Comedy
Arj Barker, Get in My Head
These days Californian-born comedian Arj Barker, known better by some as Dave from the pawn shop in Flight of the Conchords, calls Melbourne home. But this month he’s heading to Darwin, where he’ll ask the audience to “get inside his head”.
Since walking out of the Edinburgh Fringe festival with best newcomer award in 1997, he’s done the tour rounds, appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Glass House, and Thank God You’re Here. By spending more time in Australia than his country of birth, he’s able to present some pointed insights on what Aussies are like – jokes that he says homegrown comics wouldn’t be able to get away with.
- Arj Barker performs his stand up show at Brisbane Powerhouse from September 29 to 18 October
Theatre
Songs for the Fallen
Sheridan Harbridge stars in Songs for the Fallen, her own telling of the life of Marie Duplessis, the young French courtesan who inspired Verdi’s opera, La Traviata. Harbridge’s version is far from an Italian libretto, instead it’s part MTV film clip, part comedy musical and a little bit of baroque cabaret thrown in.
On 15 January, 1897, the party girl and queen of Paris’s demi-monde, got out of bed, ordered a bottle of champagne and sat alone in her apartment to celebrate her 23rd birthday. Only 18 days later she died of tuberculosis. Turning up at her funeral was a huge array of French aristocracy, many of whom had rented her out on a nightly basis. In this stage show, Harbridge pays homage to the girl who inspired La Traviata, The Lady of the Camellias and Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge.
- Songs for the Fallen is showing at the Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne from 29 September to 3 October
Art
Aly de Groot, The Jellyfish Wars
Overfishing is both motivation for and inspiration behind Darwin-based artist Aly de Groot’s The Jellyfish Wars. Warmer ocean conditions mean jellyfish are able to thrive better than ever before, with overfishing wiping out competitors.
De Groot, who has traditionally worked with fibre, basketry, and in academic research, has appropriated Japanese WWII helmets for this installation. The helmets are covered in ghost nets (another marine menace) and fishing line. They are transformed into sculptures, which echo mementos of war and the form of the jellyfish. Her work is accompanied by the documentary Ghost Story: The Art of Aly de Groot.
- Aly de Groot’s installation is showing at the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art, Darwin from 18 September to 17 October
