Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art

Olivia Watson
8th Oct 2019

This month Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art is taking over Carriageworks for a spectacular program of new and experimental works from Australia and the Asia Pacific. 

Every day from October 17 - 27 will see an array of thoughtful, quirky, spellbindingly creative projects performed and displayed throughout the Carriageworks venue, presented by Performance Space. This is an arts organisation who described itself at the program launch as a group that aims to celebrate "performance and ideas that are out of the mainstream" and to target "the new, the risky, the urgent and the underrepresented". Liveworks seems a fitting representation of these goals.

As Artistic Director Jeff Khan explained, the Liveworks project aims "to expand the profile of experimental art practice" and to welcome audiences to experience "truly new and challenging work".

With a program that includes nudity, 12 hour raves, cybernetic experimental dance, vulva screen printing and punk coding (and that's just a snippet!) we think they are onto something new and challenging for sure and we are pumped to explore this incredible 11 day art festival.

Some program highlights include:

Other Tempo, "a dynamic performance installation of modified drum kits and visual scores by artist Lauren Brincat. Under Brincat’s direction, a group of celebrated women drummers – from emerging experimental musician Alyx Dennison to legendary former Go Betweens drummer Lindy Morrison – collectively present a unique approach to the sonic, physical and sculptural properties of their instruments". Daily, free.

Daddy, the latest work from Joel Bray, one of the most electric new figures in Australian dance. "From the sugarcoated idyll of childhood reminiscence to the glazed excesses of queer adulthood, Joel’s story proves that a sweet tooth is a dangerous thing. An exploration of his insatiable cravings for father figures and the imperial all-consuming hunger for Aboriginal Australia, Daddy probes one of the paradoxes of our age: when so much is on offer, why are we left so hungry?" Oct 17-19.

Tricks of the Mouth by Liquid Architecture, a curated showcase of groundbreaking female Asia Pacific artists. "Immersing audiences in a series of interconnected performances, this unique program explores tricks of the mouth, chatter, translation, verbalism and linguistic re-coding, and features legendary Japanese musician Phew and Yogyakarta-based speculative coder, designer, and horror-aficionado Natasha Tontey." Oct 23-26.

The Unshame Machine by Betty Grumble: "it's a pussy printing party, a deep-squat disco of experimental bodily becoming, storytelling, sharing and sex. This collaborative performance and installation notes the histories of fellow printmakers, c*nt-loving science tunes, and says “F*%k the shame machine—power to the pussy”." Friday Oct 25.

There are events every day of the festival, including many where entry is free.

Check out the full program here, lock in your tickets and get yourself along to this unique and energetic celebration of art.

Image credit: Sean Breadsell - Betty Grumble, The Unshame Machine.