Arts House is starting the year with a program of brave, risky and vivacious works to entertain and challenge Melbourne. The state capital is known as one of the world’s greatest creative cities and the Arts House is a vital part of the creative community.
“It’s our city’s home of independent arts and supports artists to develop new works and test ideas,” says City of Melbourne Councillor Rohan Leppert. “The works presented as part of this new season cement Arts House’s reputation as one of Australia’s most exciting contemporary arts venues. If the purpose of art is to provoke critical discussion, then this season will do just that.”
Despite undergoing a revamp under the guiding hands of Acting Artistic Director Josh Wright, the Arts House is keeping traditions. Working again with Theatre Works and Footscray Community Arts Centre, Arts House presents the third edition of Festival of Live Art.
Festival of Live Art accumulates Melbourne’s boldest artists and their experimental performances. The festival centres around the themes of curiosity and community – from the big picture to the smallest of things – allowing patrons a break from their chaotic daily lives and the opportunity to experience something new. It runs from Tuesday March 13 until Sunday March 25.
“The festival is what you make out of it,” says Wright. The festival’s preparation takes a lot of effort from a lot of people. “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.”
After a sold-out season of Imagined Touch in 2017, Jodee Mundy returns to Arts House this April with Personal. Her new work is an autobiography exploring the perspective of a kid of deaf adults (KODA).
For Next Wave in May, Arts House welcomes artists exploring notions of identity, gender and colonisation, such as Edinburgh Fringe success salt. by UK’s Selina Thompson, a new work from Sydney’s Black Birds called Exhale, and video installation Mother Land presented by Roberta Rich.
June brings installations of privacy and spectatorship; LONE by THE RAMBLE and St Martins and The Naked Self by Michele Lee and Tanya Dickson. The season ends with Carrion a macabre spectre from Justin Shoulder.