Midsumma Festival- Fuck Fabulous

A delayed Midsumma Festival is currently happening around Melbourne, and tonight Ash and I went to the Arts Centre Melbourne Fairfax Studio to see the queer cabaret variety show Fuck Fabulous. Hosted by Yana Alana, this "protest party" featured a range of people in the ensemble, including circus performers (Jess Love, Seth Sladen, Dale Woodbridge-Brown), performance and drag artists (Nicci Wilks, Gabi Barton, Koko Ma$$), and dancers and musicians (Glitter & Snatch, Bec Matthews). 

 

Each artist performed solo and in different group configurations alongside a live band and had multiple chances to shine throughout the evening. There were so many great moments in this show with different acts and skits that were feminist, punk, humorous, acrobatic, honest and full of rage on topics such as politics, women's rights, body inclusivity, identity, climate change and sexual assault. Both Ash and I absolutely loved it and thought it was once of the best things we've seen in a long time. Post show we left the theatre feeling empowered and ready to take on the world.

MICF- Zoe Coombs Marr, Tom Ballard and Nath Valvo

The challenge for the acts at this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival seemed to be how to address the coronavirus pandemic in their comedy shows (if at all). Over the past couple weeks Belinda and I have been to see a few of the Melbourne-based comedians at the festival. On 31 March we were at the Melbourne Town Hall for two shows. We started the evening in the Powder Room for Zoe Coombs Marr and her show Agony! Misery! She began by reminding the audience what comedy is and how to laugh through the use of some Wiki How illustrations, and then reflected on her past and key moments from her childhood. Told using slide show pictures and dramatic readings from her diary, we learned a few things about young Zoe, including how through a series of unfortunate events she managed to land the flute solo at band camp when she was 13 years old. It was a silly and fun show which had a fantastic musical ending.

Next we headed upstairs to the Supper Room see Tom Ballard in We Are All In This. Needless to say, if you are a conservative, this is not the show for you. Using PowerPoint slides and some film clips, Tom went through a bit of a 2020 Year in Review covering such cheery topics as the coronavirus pandemic, Liberal Party voters, structural racism and inequality, and climate change. Throughout the show he explored the history of these topics, how we got to where we are now, and expressed the rage we are all feeling living in the world at present with a blistering delivery of biting political humor. No one was spared from Tom's wrath and the audience was laughing and cheering him on all the way through. The show was my highlight of MICF and I definitely recommend seeing it if you get the chance.

Our last show of MICF was tonight at Max Watt's where we saw Nath Valvo in Chatty Cathy. This was the first time I have seen Nath live, and he was full of energy as he wandered around the stage and told stories about his life and how things have changed now that he's in his late thirties. He had observations on how his friends have changed from their partying youth now that they've become parents, his dislike of Airbnbs, fans of true crime stories, and a funny recurring bit where he told mini horror stories he wrote in lockdown under dramatic lighting at the front of the stage. It was a fun and entertaining show.

NGV Triennial 2020

The NGV Triennial 2020 is currently on across all levels of the NGV International in Melbourne. The exhibition features over 100 artists and designers from all over the world showcasing works in contemporary art, design and architecture based around the four themes of illumination, reflection, conservation and speculation. 

 

I have been to the NGV twice over the past couple months in order to see the entire exhibition - once on the evening of 11 February for Triennial Extra with Mary and Belinda (the day before we went into a short five-day lockdown) and then again today to see the remaining pieces on Levels 2 and 3. There are so many amazing works, but these were my favorites in the exhibition:

Refik Anadol's Quantum Memories is a giant LED screen with real-time digital animation that is impossible to miss as you walk in on the ground floor. It was mesmerising to stand there and watch the changes to the 3D animations.

 

 

Porky Hefer's Plastocene - Marine Mutants from a Disposable World is a very playful room with these giant handmade creatures on the ground and hanging from the ceiling.

 

 

Outside in the garden are these fantastic large-scale stained glass window portraits by the French paste-up street artist JR for his project Homily to Country about the ecological decline of the Darling River system.

In its own room on the ground floor are the tiny hand-carved wood sculptures of different people by Tomoaki Suzuki. Each figure is scaled down to one third of the model's size.

Up on Level 1 is the architectural installation Botanical Pavilion by Kengo Kuma and Geoff Nees. The wooden pieces interlock and are held together by tension and gravity. It was cool to walk around and through the pavilion to admire this intricate work.

On Level 2 is Carnovsky's immersive wallpaper installation Extinctions, which has different insect and animal species printed on it in red, green or blue ink based on their extinction threat level. When different colored lights are projected on the wallpaper you see different parts of the print. It was quite a clever piece.

The NGV Triennial runs until 18 April 2021.