Inspiring you to pull up your sleeves and get involved, the next Arts House season is bold, risky and vibrant – a thought-provoking program of works designed to enthral, entertain and challenge.
Councillor Rohan Leppert describe Melbourne as one of the world’s greatest creative cities where Arts House plays a vital role in nurturing the creative community: “It’s our city’s home of independent arts and supports artists to develop new works and test ideas,” he said.
“The works presented as part of this new season cement Arts House’s reputation as one of Australia’s most exciting contemporary arts venues – it is sure to challenge and inspire. If the purpose of art is to provoke critical discussion, then this season will do just that.”
Arts House is entering a time of renovation, flux and new solutions under the guiding hand of Acting Artistic Director Josh Wright. For the third edition of the Festival of Live Art, presented in March in partnership with Theatre Works and Footscray Community Arts Centre, the festival will bring together some of the boldest artists at their experimental best.
From the epic to the microscopic, the Festival of Live Art is all about curiosity and making it happen together -it will spring people out of their daily chaos and into everything that is participatory and interactive.
Wright explains that creating art takes a lot of elbow grease and that the Festival of Live Art is all about getting your hands dirty: “The festival is what you make of it and we need everyone to influence these experiences and expectations. There will be onesies to sew, topics to be debated, trinkets to reassemble, landscapes to be painted and twerkshops,” he said.
For Next Wave in May, Arts House will welcome a bunch of brilliant artists exploring identity, gender and colonisation, including the Edinburgh Fringe hit, salt. by Selina Thompson (UK); a new work by Sydney duo, Black Birds called Exhale; a compelling new video installation presented by Roberta Rich: M/other Land.
Following a sold out season of Imagined Touch in 2016, Jodee Mundy returns to Arts House in April with her latest work Personal – an autobiography as KODA (Kid of Deaf Adults) that will reveal ideas of perception and perspectives.
In June, Arts House will see two unique installations about privacy, secrets and spectatorship: LONE by THE RABBLE and St Martins; and a new version of the Festival of Live Art 2016 audience favourite, The Naked Self by Michele Lee and Tanya Dickson. The season will culminate in June with Carrion – a macabre, posthuman spectre from a truly unique performer, Justin Shoulder.
Arts House will continue to take a holistic approach to support the ecology of artistic creation by supporting selected independent artists to explore, experiment, investigate and create their great ideas through initiatives including CultureLAB and the Artist-in-Residence programs.
Tickets to Arts House’s 2018 Season 1 are now on sale. For more information, and full program, visit: www.artshouse.com.au for details.