The Melbourne Review - April Issue by The Melbourne Review

THE MELBOURNE

REVIEW ISSUE 30 APRIL 2014

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

CIRCUS OZ The circus has moved to an impressive purpose-built new home in Collingwood

DAMON YOUNG

RISING FROM THE ASHES

Wendy Cavenett profiles the philosopher, writer and founding member of Melbourne's The School of Life

After a fire in January, the much-loved Stokehouse Restaurant is rebuilding

BMW Melbourne

Southbank Kings Way

Overseas model shown.

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4 The Melbourne Review April 2014

WELCOME

TheMelbourneReview

ISSUE 30

MelbReview

General Manager Media & Publishing Luke Stegemann luke@melbournereview.com.au Art Director Sabas Renteria sabas@melbournereview.com.au SENIOR STAFF WRITER David Knight davidknight@melbournereview.com.au

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Fat Duck’s Melbourne move

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Hugh Laurie

Next Wave

Imagined Reality

The UK actor and comedian on his late-career music change

The Next Wave Festival will occupy Melbourne for the next month

Around 50 of Anne Marie Graham’s works are part of the Imagined Reality exhibition

Disclaimer Opinions published in this paper are not necessarily those of the editor nor the publisher. All material subject to copyright.

INSIDE Profile 06 Health 08 Finance 10 Politics 11 Columnists 12

Audited average monthly circulation: 25,739 (1 April to 30 September 2013)

THE MELBOURNE

Nieuw Amsterdam

Interplay

Marianne Duluk reviews the New York-inspired eatery

The Sydney Dance Company’s new production showcases the talent of three choreographers

review

Books 18 Performing Arts 19 Visual Arts 24 Food.Wine.Coffee 30 FORM 35

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WELCOME CONTRIBUTORS

WIN! FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN, ENTER YOUR DETAILS AT MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

Hannah Bambra

Andrew Hunter

DM Bradley

Phil Kakulas

Like Father, Like Son

Wendy Cavenett

Stephen Koukoulas

John Dexter

Lou Pardi

Selected cinemas from Thursday, April 17 A comedy/drama that examines two families who discover that their six-year-old sons were switched at birth.

Helen Dinmore

Avni Sali

Alexander Downer

Christopher Sanders

Marianne Duluk

Margaret Simons

Suzanne Fraser

David Sornig

Circus Oz

Andrea Frost

Anna Snoekstra

Photographer: Trevor Mein Courtesy Arts Victoria, Lovell Chen Collection

Byron George

Shirley Stott Despoja

See page 36

Dave Graney

Spanish Film Festival Palace Cinemas April 30 – May 18 In its 17th year, the Festival continues to present audiences with an unsurpassed opportunity to see the very best and most recent Spanish and Spanish speaking Latin American Films.

Night on Bald Mountain The Coopers Malthouse, Merlyn Theatre Friday, May 9, 7.30 A nurse is travelling from the city up the mountain to the mansion that rests at its peak. She has been employed to take care of the batty, drunk aristocrat, Mrs Sword. Nothing could prepare her for what she will find. In the vein of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Nobel Prize-winning writer Patrick White abandons his characters within a haunting landscape that rises to life. (Season May 5 – 25).

This publication is printed on 100% Australian made Norstar, containing 20% recycled fibre. All wood fibre used in this paper originates from sustainably managed forest resources or waste resources.

Yabby Lake Cellar Door Open Daily Taste single vineyard wines. Enjoy a relaxed lunch on the deck. Stop by for single estate Market Lane Coffee by the open fire. Home of the first Pinot Noir to win the Jimmy Watson Trophy. Open 7 days, 10am – 5pm (except Good Friday) * 86 – 112 Tuerong Road, Tuerong * 03 5974 3729 * cellar door@yabbylake.com * www.yabbylake.com

6 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014

PROFILE

DAMON YOUNG

“It’s that sense that you have an opportunity, but of also remembering the stakes. Our existence is finite.”

Philosopher, writer, founding faculty member of The School of Life Melbourne

“But,” Young says, “I don’t know if you’d call it a happy marriage. Certainly there was a lot of conflict and at a certain stage… I saw it as my job to resolve that conflict, and of course, I couldn’t. You can’t fix someone else’s marriage. But I think some of that fed into doing philosophy – which is the idea that you can help people to argue without malice.”

BY WENDY CAVENETT

Damon Young’s garden, where the bees currently swarm and delicate white flowers bloom and decay, offers a retreat or a reminder of life’s precarious state – the cycle of life and death that he is acutely aware of. Born 10 weeks premature, Young’s parents didn’t know if he would live or die. For many weeks, he was kept alive by a series of tubes in his side (he still has the scars there), and it was only when he started “ripping them out”, that the doctors told his parents that he would survive.

Today, Young presents many such arguments to his readers, especially in terms of questioning the value and meaning of one’s life in an era dominated by technology and uncertainty. Indeed, his PhD (1999-2003, The Silent Chorus: Culture and Superficiality) explores the commodification of modern culture and offers a particular vision on how artists and intellectuals “might overcome this”. No doubt, Young continues to live part of this vision. As a philosopher and intellectual, a poet and writer of fiction, his prolific output – from essays for newspapers, literary magazines and academic journals, to books for general and academic audiences (he is the editor or author of seven of them, including the sublime Philosophy in the Garden, MUP, 2012) – is not only driven by his “urge to be understood”, but by the “pursuit of a freer mind”.

Fast-forward almost 39 years, and Young’s fascination with mortality and its relationship to living a meaningful life – or “the good life” as he often says throughout our conversation – underpins much of his writings. As one of Australia’s most prolific public philosophers, Young, who is an Honorary Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, published his first non-fiction book, Distraction: A Philosopher’s Guide to Being Free (MUP) in 2008. In it, readers were introduced to his achingly honest ruminations about the scarcity of attention in the contemporary world. It struck a chord with many individuals struggling to remain focused on what was worthwhile in their lives. Through technology, art, politics and relationships, Young investigates what each will “cultivate in us, and, in turn, what will develop our freedom [from distraction], and our capacity to be masters of our own lives”. The quintessential 21st century philosopher – often dressed in jeans and t-shirt (as he is today), and appealing to all ages, including children, as his new book, My Nana is a Ninja (UQP, 2014) attests – Young’s ability to relate complex philosophical concepts to our everyday lives, and his knack for experimenting with ideas, is immensely appealing in our fastmoving world. It’s also Young’s willingness to show us his vulnerabilities, to reveal his fears and doubts, his anger and, at times, wit, within the depths of philosophical argument. There, as he talks about humility and freedom, or the ‘meaning of pain’, or of Darwin’s penchant for solitude and what that can mean for us in our daily lives, it is Young walking us through

In 2013, he was awarded the Australasian Association of Philosophy’s Media Prize for his work in public philosophy, a vocation, he says, with a simple, but fundamental basis: he loves what he does. He is fascinated by ideas and wants to share his discoveries. Young, who completed a BA (Philosophy/ Literature) in 1997, and Honours (Philosophy) in 1998 (both at Swinburne) says the act of writing and his development as a philosopher is intricately related to his training in martial arts, particularly in terms of learning patience and humility. a different garden where the experience of being alive in the world today is reﬂected not in dollar signs or ﬁscal outcomes, but in the incredibly complex beauty and sadness of being human. Of philosophy he once wrote that it is a “powerful companion to contemporary life”, that at its best it is “the precise and rigorous study of our basic concepts and values – thought grown self-aware” and that this has a “bona fide role… in the improvement of life”. Indeed, Young’s general writings are driven by the need to introduce lay people to philosophical ideas. He says he invites people to start a process of philosophising, of being

“excited by an idea, and realising how helpful that is”. Born in Melbourne in 1975, Young, an only child, was raised by his musician/music teacher mother and psychologist/consultant father. Between them, Young was exposed to the artistic and the intellectual. Both read widely, he says, and there were lots of interesting conversations at the dinner table. It was a crucial part of his upbringing – those evenings sitting together and talking and arguing about ideas that were “never intimidating or rude”. It’s “just what you did,” he adds. “It was not only illuminating, but entertaining. It was a kind of pleasure.

In 1999, he met his partner, Ruth, in the PhD ofﬁce at Swinburne. Their courtship partly consisted of robust arguments about ideas they were engaged with: Young was researching the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and Ruth was working with the writings of Michel Foucault. Ruth, a sociologist, also writes, and she and Young still argue about ideas when they’re not working or parenting their two children. Young, who cites Aristotle and Friedrich Nietzsche as philosophers who have “inspired and illuminated questions” for him, and who, he admits, are philosophically opposed in many ways, says Martin Heidegger, Alfred North Whitehead and David Hume also continue to be major inﬂuences.

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PROFILE Young, who is a founding faculty member of The School of Life Melbourne – part of the Alain de Botton and Sophie Howarthfounded school of thought that is “devoted to developing intelligence through the help of culture” and now has schools in London (HQ), Melbourne and Amsterdam, will contribute to their creative and collaborative education model. How to Think About Exercise (Pan Macmillan, 2014), Young’s immensely readable and memorable contribution to the School’s second series of philosophical ‘self help’ books, explores what it means to “be a body”, questioning the role of dualism (Plato and Descartes always favoured the mind), and how “it can rob exercise of its lasting appeal”. It is a rigorous manifesto that is again, achingly honest and self referential, that has at its heart the assertion that “we are not defined by our mind or our body, but by their intimate congress”. At one stage, Young implores: “Glory in your muscles and lungs while you can”. He asks: Are you striving? Are you pushing the edges of your existence? Are you taking responsibility for living through your body while you can? “It’s that sense that you have an opportunity,” he says, “but of also remembering the stakes. Our existence is finite.” In other words, life is inextricably linked to death.

Asked to talk philosophically about dying, Young firstly refers to his death, or the individual’s death, which he says is impossible to comprehend: “It’s like a ﬁsh imagining what it is to walk. Imagining our own death is not something we can experience.” And then there’s everyone else’s death – strangers, loved ones – which is always witnessed from “the outside”.

Young doesn’t believe we can make suffering practical, and say, ‘Oh, it’s okay because there’s a lesson there’. “But at the very least,” he concludes, “we can allow our own suffering, and the sort of horror of our loved one’s suffering, to inform our morality and to be reminded of just how fragile and vulnerable all people are.”

We can also be reminded that this “adventure of being”, to paraphrase Young, is an arresting opportunity for transformation.

» damon-young.blogspot.com.au

8 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014

HEALTH DARK CHOCOLATE – THE EASTER TREAT EVERY DAY BY PROFESSOR AVNI SALI

he difference between good health and optimal health can be as simple as the choices we make every day. For example, if your favourite treat is a piece of chocolate, choosing a quality dark chocolate will be more beneficial than a sugarladen confectionary chocolate treat. During the Easter period, when chocolate consumption is up to 50 percent more than any other time of the year, good chocolate choices can actually be good for you. Chocolate, or more specifically cocoa, can be considered a herbal medicine. Last year almost $160 million was spent by Australians on chocolate during the Easter holiday period – equivalent to around 5 million kilograms of chocolate in total, or around 230 grams (a family size block, equaling more than two standard blocks) for every man, woman and child. Industry trends reveal a steady increase in higher quality brands, fairtrade and high cocoa (dark) chocolate options. Cocoa, which is actually the healthpromoting component found in good quality chocolate, has been the subject of a vast amount of research over the past decade. Dr Karin Ried, Director of Research at the National Institute of Integrative Medicine, has explored the effects chocolate can have on blood pressure and concluded dark chocolate ‘can significantly, but modestly, reduce blood pressure for people

with high blood pressure’. High cocoa chocolate contains antioxidant, anti-inflammatory chemicals called polyphenols, which also help keep blood vessels dilated, improving blood ﬂow. This in turn reduces blood pressure. In addition to antioxidants and antiinflammatories, cocoa contains several chemicals that help support optimal health and wellbeing. Its medicinal value is largely based on these active chemical components and their role within our bodies. Very recent research has found that the presence of healthy digestive microbes can convert the larger polyphenols that are not easily absorbed by the intestine, to smaller substances that can be absorbed. Hence the importance of normal digestive microbes, which result from foods such as yoghurt with no added sugar. These smaller substances retain their antioxidant and anti-inﬂammatory actions. Want to feel great and balance out your moods? Cocoa can be of assistance. If you are familiar with a ‘runners’ high’, then you will understand first-hand the role of phenylethylamine (PEA) in the body. Cocoa contains this phytochemical, which promotes a feeling of euphoria. Nature’s own antidepressant to the rescue! At times when clear thinking is paramount,

such as during an exam, brain power is effectively boosted by the theobromine and caffeine found naturally occurring in cocoa. These chemicals can help reduce fatigue and sharpen the mind, so it may not be such a bad idea to take a square of chocolate in advance of stressful situations. The valeric acid in cocoa is also an excellent relaxant and effective in alleviating stress. And for mood disorders, magnesium in addition to PEA can be useful in balancing dopamine and serotonin levels. Cocoa, which contains magnesium, is a feel-good

chemical that inﬂuences the mood hormones and makes the term ‘Happy Easter’ take on new significance. There is no doubt that chocolate is generally accepted as being linked to happiness and is a highly gifted item that is used to acknowledge a range of emotions, achievements or causes for celebration. But chocolate’s value clearly goes much deeper than a simple cheer up and has physical and biochemical advantages in our body. The cocoa in dark chocolate can actually support our metabolism. Chromium, which is essential for normal glucose metabolism, is

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S E R V I N G A F T E R N O O N T E A E V E R Y D AY S I N C E 1 8 8 3

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HEALTH

life span of cells. In laboratory research, cells lived up to 80 percent longer when cocoa was present. While this research is in its infancy, cocoa may hold the key to a longer life, and to general cellular health. Other ﬂavonoids present in cocoa have been found in laboratory tests to inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Cocoa in dark chocolate has been found to be the best cough suppressant.

another chemical found in cocoa that is great for good health. It is not encouraged to overconsume non-dark chocolate because it can be high in sugar, which increases the risk for obesity and diabetes. Anthocyanins and flavones (flavonoids) a type of polyphenol, may not sound very appetising but if you need to lower insulin resistance, or if you suffer chronic inflammation, then including more flavonoids in your diet can be useful. Chocolate is a very tasty helper. Dark chocolate lovers can also take heart

in the fact that cocoa is good for heart health. Researchers have found a link between consumption of dark chocolate and a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease and strokes. The polyphenols, which dilate blood vessels, help with blood pressure and have a dual beneﬁt as they also help to inhibit the production of cholesterol, another key tool in promoting heart health. Stay young this Easter – thanks to a boost of resveratrol, another naturally occurring chemical in cocoa that may assist in slowing down the ageing process by increasing the

Antioxidants and ﬂavonoids, key dietary inclusions for optimal health, are found in a wide variety of foods, especially fresh fruit and vegetables. Chocolate has the extra bonus of also being high in several key minerals including iron, magnesium and zinc and is highly palatable. The good news is dark chocolate consumption is highly recommended for most people and is best consumed every day of the year (approx. 20gm), not only at Easter! So, eat chocolate in moderation this Easter without feeling guilty – just don’t forget chocolate should ideally be above 70 percent cocoa (the higher the cocoa content the better, although above 90 percent tends to be unpalatable for most people) – and look beyond the typical block formats for other useful

ways to include cocoa in your daily diet – a hot chocolate before bedtime, a tablespoon of cocoa in a tomato-based sauce (inspired by Mexican cooking) or grated into a smoothie. High cocoa chocolate is also best consumed with a handful of nuts, the latter having been shown to increase life expectancy by around 30 percent. If you are a parent planning for the Easter Bunny, now is a great time to educate younger children’s palates and introduce dark chocolate as a satisfying and healthy treat. There are now plenty of traditional egg- and bunny-shaped chocolate treats that are high in cocoa, and typically contain less sugar. Remember: less is more, especially if it’s top quality!

» Professor Avni Sali is Founding Director of the National Institute of Integrative Medicine (NIIM). He oversees the facilitation of the practice of Integrative Medicine at the NIIM Clinic in Hawthorn, as well as the promotion of education and research. niim.com.au

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10 The Melbourne Review April 2014

finance the aid debate BY Alexander Downer

or years it’s been the fashion in the West not just to provide foreign aid but to increase it year by year. That’s hardly surprising. No one likes poverty and the more the rich world can do to alleviate poverty the better. That’s just common sense. The assumption of the aid lobby and most governments is that the more that is spent on aid the faster the incidence of poverty will decline. In recent years, plenty of academic studies have started to question this assumption. A couple of years ago, two American economists, Daren Acemoglu and James Robinson, published a defining book called Why Nations Fail. It analyses a pretty fundamental question for anyone interested in the aid program and the alleviation of poverty; why is it that some countries are rich, some are poor but are getting richer and some are just stuck in the rut of poverty.

Australia’s Export Boom Australia is in the midst of a quite startling export boom. What is exciting and positive for Australia’s longer run growth prospects is that the transition of the economy towards exports has much further to run.

BY Stephen Koukoulas

What has received much less attention, but should be taking over the discussion of where the growth is coming from, is the export sector. The most recent data shows that the value of exports growing at an annual pace of a very robust 18 percent. This has seen the balance on international trade move to a sizable surplus of a little over $1 billion for the last few months. The volume of exports has increased at an impressive 6.5 percent in the past year and has registered seven straight quarterly increases. What is even more impressive about the export efficiency of the Australian economy and the resources sector in particular, is that the export transition has occurred despite some signs of less robust economic growth in China.

he surge in exports and the prospects for yet further growth is largely the result of the once in 100 years mining investment frenzy over the past decade. Capacity in the mining sector has risen massively as the mining companies built the infrastructure needed to extract and transport the raw materials to the export markets, mainly in China and elsewhere in Asia.

Encouragingly, China is easing its domestic policy settings at the moment as it works to support its economy from the second half of 2014. When China succeeds in locking in GDP growth around 7 to 7.5 per cent, Australian exporters will continue to be major beneficiaries and Australia’s trade performance will continue to improve.

Much has been written and discussed about the fall away in mining investment. That is perhaps one of the most obvious aspects of the change in the structure of the economy over the next few years and nothing can or should be done to arrest that inevitable fall.

In addition to the massive boost to output from mining, the lower Australian dollar has also aided the export sector. For the last six months or so, the dollar has hovered around 90 US cents, well down from the level around 105 US cents a year ago. This depreciation has

helped to give Australian mining companies a competitive boost and has helped support other exporters and those firms competing with imported goods and services.

troubling few years, education exports are also lifting. There are also some encouraging signs that agricultural exports are also expanding to round out a more favourable picture.

The fact that exports are registering such stellar growth and the trade balance is comfortably in surplus suggests that the Australian dollar, around current levels of 90 US cents, is not over-valued.

In all, it appears that one of the critical elements needed for the economy to transition from the mining investment boom to other sources for growth is occurring. The surge in exports over the past year or two is set to continue and this will see the export sector being a significant contributor to bottom line GDP growth. With any further momentum in dwelling construction and household consumption expenditure, as has been the case since the middle of 2013, the overall rate of economic growth is on track to reach and even exceed its long run trend for the next couple of years.

Indeed, one very important benchmark in judging whether a currency is over or under valued is to look at the trade and export performance. If a currency was over valued, for example, as the Reserve Bank of Australia and others have suggested in recent times was the case for the Australian dollar, it would manifest itself in a poor trade performance. In simple terms, exports would be faltering under the pressure of a market misalignment. The fact that Australia’s export and trade performance has been improving at a rapid pace when the dollar was around 90 US cents suggests the RBA and others need not worry about an over valued currency. Indeed, so strong is the trade turnaround that some may suggest the Australian dollar is undervalued at recent levels particularly what is happening to commodity prices and domestic growth. It is not just mining that is registering an improved export position. Inbound tourism is growing rapidly and after a particularly

Australia does not have a reputation as a particularly efficient export economy. Years of wide trade deficits and quite alarming current account deficits have at times created a perception of risk and instability. This is changing and indeed it is quite possible that over the next few years will record surpluses on its current account and Australia will be seen as an export powerhouse.

»»Stephen Koukoulas is Managing Director of Market Economics marketeconomics.com.au

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politics The authors are not opposed to foreign aid. Don’t think that. They do, though, give a guide to what we in the rich world can do to help the developing world – and what we shouldn’t do. They focus on the correlation between strong institutions and prosperity. I share their views. It’s the institutions which define the capacity of a modern economy to work efficiently. The greatest failing of most poor countries is the distribution of economic power. In most successful economies, economic power is widely disbursed. Monopolies are prohibited so producers have to compete with each other for the favours of consumers. The consumer, not the producer, is king. But producers – we might call them investors – have their property largely protected by law. If an investor puts his money into a shopping mall he can be confident an oligarch who is a close friend of the president won’t be able to get his hands on it. Unless he buys it for fair market value and the owner is happy to sell. This does relate to the political system. Most developed economies are sophisticated democracies where the consumers who make up the bulk of the voters ultimately decide the fate of

governments and therefore, indirectly, the structure of the economy. The producers try to get close to the government and persuade it to cut a few convenient deals for them or even grant taxpayer funded subsidies. But ultimately, it’s the consumers who rule the roost. This is in stark contrast to many, if not all, poor countries. In those countries, there is a distinct lack of market competition both internally and often from imports. This is good for the lucky few who own licences. They can charge high prices without fear of competitors undercutting them. These days, this is called gouging. It used to be called monopoly rents. The result is clear. The consumers pay more than they have to for goods and services while the monopolists become grotesquely rich.

the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, the rest of the country struggles in grinding poverty. Now all this is a simplification of what really happens but it’s a very good starting point. Which brings us back to foreign aid. If the institutional structure of a country is more or less right then aid can be a real force multiplier. It can help strengthen the institutions, assist with the cost of training teachers, fight diseases like malaria and HIV which are not only cruel and cause human misery but reduce the productive capacity of the country.

That’s a characteristic of poor societies. There is a tiny business elite protected by the government which itself is protected from consumers by a democratic deficit. That democratic deficit may be rigged elections or in extremis there may be no elections at all (although that is unusual these days).

But if the institutional structure of a country is wrong, then aid might even make the situation worse. The aid is paid at a cost to taxpayers in the rich country. And the ultimate beneficiaries can be the elites and kleptocrats who run the poor country. In some cases the aid might be well intentioned – it might be used to build a hospital for example. But money is fungible. The local government can save the cost of building a hospital and instead spend its money on, well, more nefarious projects.

The elites are super rich – they have houses in London and Paris, apartments in New York and yachts in

So the aid debate should extend well beyond quantums of money. The developed world has a vested interest in eliminating

global poverty and decent people want to see it happen. But we need a more informed and thoughtful discussion about how to do it – not just a screaming match about money.

Australian Exclusive

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Exhibition organised by Bendigo Art Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts, London

Higher education partner

Sir John Everett Millais, Bt., P.R.A. A Souvenir of Velazquez (detail), 1868, oil on canvas. © Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photographer: John Hammond.

12 The Melbourne Review April 2014

COLUMNISTS Six Square Metres BY Margaret Simons

Summer is cruel. The worms in the compost heap cooked to death on the days of forty-degree heat last January. I had to buy a pack of new ones from Bunnings once things cooled down.

The ascent out of winter features in every pagan festival. It is what Easter should be all about, if we only celebrated it according to the logic of the seasons, rather than the rigid strictures of the Christian calendar.

Keeping the garden alive becomes a chore. With half of my plants in pots in my tiny backyard, the soil dries out too quickly no matter how often I water. Big plants like the passionfruit vine cannot pump water fast enough to the outlying leaves on the hottest days. They brown and crisp even when I succeed in keeping the soil moist.

here are two seasons of growth for gardeners. Everyone knows about spring. Spring is a cliché.

Third Age Don’t panic, it’s just another stage of life BY Shirley Stott Despoja

hen my internet goes down, stay away from me. I become a maniac. It creates a special kind of anxiety of which I knew nothing before the days of my beloved laptops. I remember each laptop as people remember their dead pets. And my early ones, not to mention the telephone services that sustained them, were as dependable as a politician’s promise. I’d never have managed if my computer blokes, Darryl and Rob, had not lived close and were always there for the stuttering, distressed victim of early internet mania. Some friends gave up on the internet because of these early experiences. Others became stronger for it, learning quickly that the only constant is perpetual change. I just got better laptops and worse internet anxiety. That is the difference between young and old internet users. The young take the internet for granted. The old see it as a miracle and fear its loss. Under stress of internet loss recently, I made a silly mistake about the workings of my car air conditioning switch. I have made similar mistakes in the past, even in my youth, and after a bit of a blush, shrugged them off. This time, despite kind words from the mechanic, I feared that I was not on top of my game anymore. For this I have to thank the media for all their Armageddon stories about how just around the corner is an “avalanche” of demented old things. Past age 65, we become like rabbits in a spotlight, ever fearful that the D word will be aimed at us. We may lose confidence, though there is nothing wrong with us. We may see nothing but a downward spiral to becoming half-joke, half-pest to our families. Because of ageing population panic, you can expect sly looks around you if you lose a pencil. The rate of dementia is not increasing, but panic stories about it are. It has increased in those with controlling temperaments, such as politicians and their advisers, a tendency to remove things from the lives of the old: their houses, their driving licenses, their ability to maintain their simple

lives within the constraints of fixed incomes. The latest discussion of toll roads is just one which has left out of account what such might mean to pensioners. Only the abolition of compulsory age-based testing for drivers has given me some hope of a turnaround in thinking. Cue for some constructive stories, without the old stereotypes, about the interesting things that, say, Domiciliary Care does in the community to help old people sustain their lives at home, about more imaginative housing and health solutions, about improved attitudes to what is just another stage of life. Self-doubt engendered by dementia hysteria can be crippling. It can ruin our precious years. What do we do? Not sure, but now my internet is fixed I might find the answer. ****** My daughter and I got a cab from our Canberra hotel last month for a short trip to a building across the park. This was out of consideration for me because too much standing in an art class two days before had buggered my knees a bit. As we paid for the cab, the driver who, for all we saw of him, might not have had legs at all, stirred himself to give us the benefit of his advice. We shoulda walked. My daughter invited the cabbie to observe that I was not exactly in spring chicken mode that morning, half expecting an apology for his cheek. Not at all. He simply said with scorn that it was not far. Not far? I was not far from giving him a clip over his ear. The unending health and fitness messages of our times seem to have encouraged Canberra cab drivers to express an opinion about who should walk and who should be driven. He seemed heedless that, with his sedentary occupation and fair-fat-and-forty spread, his knees might be far more whacked than mine if he reaches my age. Fortunately things improved. At the function we attended, the Ambassador for I-will-not-reveal spotted my name tag and kindly congratulated me. When I explained that the new Ambassador was not I, but my daughter, she didn’t miss a beat, saying that if the new ambassador was my daughter, she must be very young. That, I would say, is the essence of diplomacy. The day brightened. @mollyfisher4

of long-term climate change, and the threat of bushfires mean that summer has become an anxious time. I feel as though we barely survive. Summer feels as winter must have done for our pagan ancestors: it is not the high point of the year, nor a time of fruitfulness. It has become a season of endurance.

There is a direct historical line between our hot cross buns and eggs and the festival of the goddess Eostre, as she was known to the pagan Anglo Saxons. Eostre was the divinity of the rising sun, of the coming of the light, and of the recovery from winter. She was an earlier tale of seasonal resurrection, easily harnessed to the Christian story. Easter eggs have nothing to do with Christ, and everything to do with the fertility rites and celebrations of the pagans. Once upon a time, Christian priests tried to stop people baking buns and decorating eggs. As every supermarket aisle attests at this time of year, they failed. Easter always feels right to me, even in Australia with our upside down traditions and seasons. This is because it falls in the second, neglected and less heralded season of growth. I am talking about the autumn flush. It is well known to gardeners. This is the season in which the natural world puts on a last burst of growth and effort before the soil chills. Autumn is my favourite season. I know it is virtually un-Australian to admit it, but I no longer enjoy summer. The season is robbed of joy by the fear of what we are doing to the planet. The intensity of the heat, the fear of what it means in terms

So autumn feels like spring – a season of hope. I plant daffodil bulbs, knowing they will bring the first colour after winter. Garlic goes in to the ground, and onions. I do all these things knowing that through the cold days ahead, things will grow slowly, and surely and in unspectacular, stoic fashion. And spring will come. At Easter time things stand on their tippy toes and put on a spurt of growth. The lavender flowers once again. Broccoli, planted weeks ago, throws out leaves and begins the long progress towards growing flower heads, which in spring we will chop before maturity, and eat. Autumn is also a time of harvest and setting by. Pumpkins are ready to be taken in. The ground is cleared. Manure is dug in. All these things are done in the faith and knowledge that the planet will move again, the seasons will shift, and the ancient round continue. In autumn I can believe in the future. Eostre. In Australia the season is not about resurrection. Not really. But it is about faith.

@MargaretSimons

The Melbourne Review April 2014 13

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columnists

Irregular Writings by Dave Graney

’d seen Lisa Gerrard play as a solo performer in the corner of a grimy front bar in Richmond in 1981. The Rising Sun Hotel in Swan Street. It was an inner city bar, but off the precious beat of the safe houses where the inner city crowd could congregate. The normal pub rock scene was played out in well-blooded barns out in the further suburbs. The inner city was where shit was made up and flung at the walls. The maps of bohemia were being drawn and redrawn and I was from the St Kilda scene. Richmond and maybe Collingwood were as far north of the river as we ventured. I was waiting to play next, with my band The Moodists. We were self conscious, inward-looking, defensive, suspicious hicks. Boozers in a scene of dope fiends. Lisa was standing there, playing an accordion and singing through a drenching atmosphere of delays and reverbs. The mixer, Ron Rude, stood at the small desk and gazed at her adoringly. She was a spectral beauty. Post punk music had to be happy where it could find itself. Beggars couldn’t be choosers. Most of the clientele looked like the last man hanged in Victoria, Ronald Ryan. Haunted, chisel-jawed blue collar types, clenching their ponies and staring at

Lisa as well. She wasn’t like other singers from earth. We Moodists wouldn’t have engaged with Lisa at all. That scene was too guarded and competitive. Later in the year I saw Lisa play the first Dead Can Dance gigs in Melbourne. They were an immediately fully formed band; the other leader of the band, Brendan Perry, had metamorphosed quickly from his previous band, the Marching Girls. Dead Can Dance were totally convincing from the outset. Thrilling, glamorous and powerful. They took off like a rocket for the UK as soon as they could. They then went on to pretty much define THE sound of their label 4AD, along with label mates the Cocteau Twins and others such as This Mortal Coil. We’d hear of Brendan and Lisa taking bicycle tours of graveyards. We chuckled into our beers and continued whatever it was we did with our time. Nothing as exotic as that anyway. Then there was a long period where all kinds of lives occurred and fell away. Dead Can Dance stopped and Lisa went into film music. Her work

has included Insiders, Gladiator, Ali, Balibo, Black Hawk Down and many others. She has won Golden Globes, ARIA and APRA awards as well as many film critic awards. I was at an APRA screenwriters awards night in Melbourne in 2012 and ran into Lisa. I was talking with a few pals when our circle suddenly blew open. Lisa had walked across the room with trailing entourage and eyes directly seeking me out. She is very commanding and regal. She was dressed in a long flowing gown and coat and her hair was up high. The effect was very impressive. A superheroine! She was talking to me and people were listening. I’d seen her speak at the same awards night a couple of years earlier, in Sydney. She was presented with an award and, dressed like a Goddess from an episode of Star Trek, spoke extremely slowly and strongly, to all the musicians in the room about the pain, shame and general indignity that she knew they experienced – because she knew all those feelings too! The crowd hung on her every word and erupted in a standing ovation at the end. A never-ending line of admirers knelt to pay their respects to her for the rest of the night. She said how much she liked my music. I am not the best in this sort of situation and laughed nervously, like a dumb hick. Needless to say, I was very flattered. I said I was planning on doing some recording and had started with some acoustic

guitar tracks. She invited me to come to her studio to do my vocals, saying she had some great old mics and preamps. The idea sounded great. A month further down the track I drove to Lisa’s country studio. A studio in a barn beside a beautiful old country farmhouse. The interior rooms of the house were dark and large. Lisa expected me to turn up with one track and I had thirteen on my hard drive. If you thought Lisa would be a delicate, other-worldly flower trapped in the grinding cogs of machined wheels spinning with their fulcrums located in Hollywood and London, you’d be very mistaken. A very down-to-earth person, taking care of the business of the farm with the horses, cows, garden and many pets as well as her own family, she walked into the studio, a little shocked by the amount of material I had brought, and set down to work. I worked on the rest of the tracks at my studio, adding some more guitars and some vibes and keys. It’s a solo album, very singer songwriter in style. I can’t thank Lisa Gerrard enough for walking across the ballroom floor at that film awards night and giving me some air and some attention and direction. She reached out from the world of music to a fellow traveller just for the sake of it. The album is called FEARFUL WIGGINGS and it’s out in May.

@davegraney

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14 The Melbourne Review April 2014

Politics

Modern Times Europe points to a fractured future BY Andrew Hunter

urope’s philosophic, aesthetic and political traditions once dominated our worldview. Many Australians today look to Asia due to geography and economic opportunity, and to the United States and the United Kingdom as a result of its cultural proximity. But Europe continues to shine a light on human potential – both good and bad – and remains relevant to our future. Insular attitudes in Europe are threatening the legitimacy of the European Union, which has contributed to the relative peace and stability that has followed a century of violence. Nationalists have returned to mainstream politics in many European countries, including France, Italy, Greece, and throughout Scandinavia. European nationalists are strongly opposed to the free movement of people guaranteed to citizens of member states. Earlier this year, Switzerland also voted to limit immigration. The cap was proposed by the far-right Swiss People’s Party and was passed at a national referendum by a thin majority. Switzerland has effectively reneged on the Schengen Agreement that assures freedom of movement for EU citizens. This modern era is well suited to simple messages that appeal to insecurity and there is a growing fear that both national identity and economic opportunity is increasingly compromised by high levels of immigration. Armed with a narrative that proposes a solution to common fears, the extremeright is mobilising many Europeans who are insecure about their future. A nation’s identity is dynamic – since the beginning of organised society, not one culture has evolved in absolute isolation. This modern era has, however, seen an accelerated loss of linguistic, cultural as well as market diversity. If we all speak the same language, listen to the same music, watch the same films and consume the same products, has race and religion become the only valid expressions of national or cultural identity? The renewed appeal of nationalism is, to some extent, a reaction to the suffocating effect globalisation has had on many local, ethnic and national traditions – but a national or cultural identity reflects shared values and cultural expressions, rather than a narrow focus on race, religion or ethnicity. Italian essayist Raffaele Simone has

pointedly argued that the rise of the extreme-right has coincided with the intellectual death of the European Left, which refuses to even discuss the issue of mass immigration. In Australia, Labor appears similarly reluctant to present a serious policy alternative on any aspect of immigration policy. Does the European condition hold any relevance for Australia? The Right in Australia cannot oppose immigration because population growth has become crucial to our future prosperity. Immigration has increased five-fold over the past two decades and is currently one of the principal reasons for economic growth. The Coalition instead targets a narrow group of immigrants – ‘boat people’. Asylum seekers generally are too few to contribute substantially to the economic growth upon which the Coalition derives its political legitimacy, and are therefore considered easy game. They have developed a simple, effective message through which it can mobilise those Australians who remain deeply fearful of the unknown ‘other’ –

desperate individuals, most of whom are legitimately fleeing persecution. Conservatives benefit politically from the present discourse, where asylum seekers are demonised but other forms of immigration are considered a necessary economic commodity. This politically effective strategy has been achieved without drawing attention to its inherent moral contradiction, rendering mildly xenophobic sentiments an acceptable position in mainstream Australia. As is increasingly the case in Europe, we focus on the security of our borders rather than what is happening within. This situation must be urgently remedied. Australians of my generation would vividly recall the shame that we felt at the rise of Pauline Hanson, yet she is now an acceptable public figure in Australia. During the same period, Marine Le Pen has moved from the fringes towards the centre of French politics. Arguments which once prompted outrage are now deemed legitimate. The Left in Australia, as in Europe, has failed to develop a potent response to

popular fears that does not compromise its inclusive, humanistic values. Without a prevailing counter-force, we have lost the moral compass which once guided the nation’s decency. We are now told by the Attorney-General George Brandis that Australians have the “right to be bigots”. Australia will continue to rely on immigration for our economic prosperity and we will continue to benefit from the wondrous diversity that immigration bestows. We cannot rely on immigration to grow our economy but simultaneously stoke fears of the unknown ‘other’ and laud our right to bigotry. If we continue to adopt an increasingly insular approach that dehumanises the feared ‘other’ the internal explosion that awaits Europe could well be also felt on our shores.

»»Andrew Hunter is National Chair of Australian Fabians

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014 15

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EDUCATION

The world always needs teachers and educators with knowledge, passion, ideas and commitment.

onash University’s Faculty of Education is committed to the transformative power of teaching, nurturing the next generation of leaders and developing new ways to teach. The Dean, Professor John Loughran, said the faculty had an international reputation for excellence in teaching and research. “This reputation has seen Monash ranked 6th in the world in the subject of education for the QS World University rankings in 2013 and 2014,” Professor Loughran said.

“We offer diverse and innovative curriculum that responds to local and international community needs. Graduates from Monash are recognised for their knowledge, intellectual engagement, skill, innovation and flexibility.” In 2015, Monash University will offer three different paths to become a qualified teacher: an undergraduate single degree in Education (Honours), a double degree with Education (Honours), and a degree in another discipline followed by a Master of Teaching. The courses allow students to explore education theory and practice, developing

the ability to introduce every learner to new ideas, new possibilities and new skills. The Bachelor of Education (Honours), a four-year course designed to prepare graduates to become leaders in education, allows students to focus their studies in the early childhood, primary or secondary education sectors – or a combination – and choose from a wide range of secondary teaching subjects. The honours component of the degree has been embedded into the course so that – in an Australian first – students will graduate with an honours qualification whatever their chosen educational setting and whether it is a single or a double degree course. “The Bachelor of Education (Honours) has been designed to ensure that our graduates are ready to take a leading role in their chosen educational setting and teaching field,” Professor Loughran said. “By including leadership in the course from the beginning, our students have the right tools to become leaders in teaching practice, public debate, policy development and community action around the world.

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“Because of this, Monash educated teachers are in high demand, meaning we have consistently high graduate employment rates.” For more information about Monash University’s education courses visit the Monash website.

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16 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014

EDUCATION

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re you looking to further your teaching qualiﬁcation, undertake an education research project or follow your dream to become a teacher?

Deakin University has an international reputation for its world-class teaching and education programs. At Deakin, we pride ourselves on delivering practical and industry-relevant courses, so our graduates are equipped with the right skills to succeed in the jobs of the future. Deakin’s education program, which was ranked 23rd in the 2014 QS World University Rankings, gives you the skills and hands-on experience you need to excel in your career and be the best educator you can be. Deakin’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Jane den Hollander, says the University is delighted the QS Rankings have cemented its place as a global leader in tertiary education. “We are thrilled our teacher education program, for example, has continued to strive and remains among the best in the world, ranking 23rd. That means Deakin is a wonderful place for aspiring teachers to gain an in-demand qualification or for postgraduate students to further their studies,” says Professor den Hollander. “However, we understand that becoming world-class is not limited to a university’s place in the rankings, it’s about much more

than that. It’s about offering the education, support, facilities and partnerships that nurture the teachers, job-ready students and researchers whose individual and collective efforts change lives.” The annual QS World University Rankings by Subject is a comprehensive guide to the world’s top universities in a range of popular subject areas. Deakin offers a broad range of education courses at postgraduate level, including graduate certificates, diplomas, master’s degrees and research degrees. Study areas include: Early childhood education Special educational needs Primary education Secondary education Educational leadership and administration Higher education Professional education and training Teaching Languages Other than English (TLOTE) Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

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STUDENT PROFILE CAROLINA CABEZAS BENALCAZAR MASTER OF TEACHING MELBOURNE BURWOOD CAMPUS EMPLOYED: KINDERGARTEN TEACHER It was a voluntary project in a different country, during a different profession, that became the catalyst for Carolina Cabezas Benalcazar’s decision to switch her career from marketing to education. Originally from Ecuador, Carolina’s undergraduate studies specialised in marketing and management and after graduating, she returned to Ecuador to work in advertising and managing local and international brands. In 2011, Carolina moved to Melbourne to undertake a Master of Teaching (Early Childhood and Research) at Deakin. Graduating last year, she is now a kindergarten teacher in Melbourne. “I chose Deakin for postgraduate study and research because the Master of Teaching Early Childhood program had an important focus on experiential learning. I

liked the idea of guiding my own learning by investigating the early childhood education field hands-on, and having a research supervisor with who I could work with and learn from one-on-one.” Carolina says her research thesis investigated how early childhood teachers understand and support the needs of young English language learners. “The research involved identifying the impact of language and second language acquisition in early childhood development and learning and, how the level of understanding teachers have on these issues affects the education programs they provide for multilingual children, and/or children who are in learning English as an additional language.” She says there have been many benefits in undertaking a research degree at Deakin. “Firstly, I have had the pleasure of working with first-class academics who have given me all the guidance, time and support I have needed to plan, implement and follow through with my research project. Secondly, Deakin provides all the necessary resources

I needed to successfully engage in research, especially its online library which allowed me to have unlimited access to all sorts of academic research journals and books.” Carolina says the course also provided her with valuable hands-on education experience. “I completed 80 days of professional placements in different areas of early childhood education and care (childcare, long-day care and kindergarten) and all these experiences gave me different insights into how the early childhood education sector is organised and run in Australia. “All the courses and research I did for the master’s degree have been useful and relevant to my career as a teacher. I currently work at a centre where children represent 16 different nationalities and eight different language and it’s through my studies that I have gained all the necessary theoretical knowledge and skills that allow me to provide meaningful learning experiences and pedagogies for the children in my classroom,” she says.

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18 The Melbourne Review April 2014

Books

The Sleepers Almanac No. 9 Louise Swinn and Zoe Dattner (eds) / Sleepers Publishing BY by David Sornig

Sleepers Almanac, the (almost) annual anthology of original Australian writing, has always had the touch of the carnival about it. Here in its ninth edition, editors Louise Swinn and Zoe Dattner have again erected a tent into which they have invited a fairly motley bunch of storytellers without issuing instructions for specific dress code, aside it seems from the injunction that they’ll only put on stage a tale well told, and told on its own terms. There’s formal play here in Darby Hudson’s whimsy, a table of ‘100 Points of ID to Prove I Don’t Exist’ – ‘Letting all my bills get eaten by snails (23 points)’; and Rhett Davis’s ‘Interior Exterior’ which recounts the screenplay for a Kaufmanesque film about Yvette and Manny who grow up suspecting they are playing out their lives on shoddy filmsets in a film about themselves. The thread of self-invention is also of

interest to Tim Richards, whose ‘The Destiny of All Who Oppose Destiny’ follows peripatetic James through a story of self-invention, self-doubt, love, and a mirror-self who is unable to say which one is the original. It’s stories like Richards’, those that open doors from narrow worlds into the abysmal universe, that are most successful. The current champion of this type of writing in Australia (even though there is no such title) is Ryan O’Neill who here plays movingly, and with measured, gentle irony on the line between invention and actuality in ‘The Stories I Read as My Mother Died’. Pierz Newton-John occupies similar territory, as he scoops up equal measures of memoir and popphiloso-physics in the brief but busy ‘Something for Nothing’. So too Chloe Wilson’s stanzas that arrive tenderly on an intimate version of Trotsky’s last words. In ‘The Block’, Anicca MaleedyMain touches the raw spot of suburban dreams, where shameful secrets are told under lemon trees, in the dark, and drunk, with the kind of insider/outsider self-disgust that never really gets old. As with any anthology, the Almanac is the kind of publication that merits some dipping in to and out of, not only to offset its couple of shallow moments, but also so it doesn’t get too noisy. It is a carnival after all and with it comes a clamour: there are lots of clearly very talented local writers who have saved up their some of their most attention-grabbing work for it. It’s wonderful to sense that this kind of confidence among the ‘emerging’ category of Australian writers of the kind that Sleepers, as publishers, have now spent over a decade nurturing, that they cut it with some real verve, particularly as they are lined up with some more established names. It’s a mark too of the respect that local writers afford the publication, particularly as they are a sizable part of the community of readers to whom the book is addressed.

The Free Willy Vlautin / Faber

On Such A Full Sea Hachette Australia / Chang-Rae Lee

BY Jillian Schedneck

Three portraits of American life are offered in Willy Vlautin’s latest novel. The story opens with Leroy, a wounded Iraq war veteran, who suddenly reaches a moment of clarity and lucidity. Fearing his mind will return to its usual haze, he decides to commit suicide in his group home, but botches the job. He is found by Freddie, the group home nightshift worker, and taken to the hospital, where he is cared for by Pauline, a shift nurse. Through alternating chapters, we are brought into each of these characters’ lives and unenviable circumstances. Vlautin has written a valuable and absorbing story of three intersecting lives. They are part of the 99 percent who sacrifice, play by the rules, and for the most part follow what life has set out for them. The book is much more portrait than suspenseful action, the ending alluding more to continuation than finality, and that’s a strength of this story. Vlautin never preaches about the inequities and impossible conditions these characters find themselves in, but only shows us in crystalline prose how they have come to this point, and how they go on.

BY Helen Dinmore

Chang-Rae Lee’s fifth novel depicts a formally stratified future America in which the elite – known as Charters – live in gated communities surrounded by lawless open counties. Elsewhere, worker collectives tend high-tech agricultural ‘facilities’ built in re-colonised cities. Modest comforts and privileges, along with fear of the counties and awe of the closed Charter world, keep the residents of B-Mor – a fish-producing facility, formerly Baltimore – docile and grateful for what they have. The B-Mor community tells, in the first person plural, the story of Fan, one of their own who chooses to flee the facility. Her story takes on the status of a legend, or even a kind of folk tale, a disruption to their dream of security. Fan is both nominally free and deeply vulnerable in the counties and the Charter villages; as some characters trade their safety, others their liberty and still others their humanity, this strange and provocative work explores how any quest to make our lives less precarious turns us into commodities, and considers the complex meaning of freedom in light of our desire for connection and the very real safety of the clan.

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014 19

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

Interplay BY ANNA SNOEKSTRA

ydney Dance Company’s new production explores contemporary dance from three distinct perspectives. For Interplay, acclaimed choreographers Rafael Bonachela, Jacopo Godani and Gideon Obarzanek (who hail from entirely different parts of the world) draw together their three distinct points of view of contemporary dance with 2 in D Minor, Raw Models and L’Chaim! Artistic Director of the company, Rafael Bonachela, explains his reasons for choosing the different choreographers for Interplay: “My programming choices always involve choreographers that I admire, that I respect and that I feel excited about. In this case, I wanted it to have variety and impact. I wanted very strong and different ﬂavours throughout the evening.” The Sydney Dance Company originally commissioned Jacopo Godani’s work Raw Models in 2011. The former dancer, who collaborated with William Forsythe for Ballet Frankfurt, returned to Australia this year to oversee the restaging of Raw Models. “It is

a work of high impact, really sleek and fast paced and intriguing and dark,” Bonachela tells me. “It’s a really wonderful hard-core, high impact work.” L’Chaim!, which means ‘to life’ in Hebrew, is the ﬁnal piece of the night. Choreographer Gideon Obarzanek spent his childhood in Israel before coming to Australia and founding Melbourne’s Chunky Move. “L’Chaim! is a work that deals with narrative, text, humour and speech,” Bonachela explains. “I wanted something that had theatre in it; something that was more like dance theatre. Gideon decided to use everyone, the full ensemble. He has done it amazingly well.” Bonachela begins the program with 2 in D Minor, a reimagining of Bach’s Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor. He tells me how he fell in love with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. “Two years ago we made a work in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, which included some of Bach’s music. I thought, ‘I should be exploring this further’. I listened to all of Bach’s partitas and became slightly obsessed. I just had to choreograph it. It was simply and purely a connection to the music. I already loved strings; it is not the ﬁrst time that I choreographed to strings. I already had a connection with that sound. It came more from falling in love with the piece of music. “When I was listening to the music of Bach for months on end I was trying to imagine what this piece would become as a dance piece. So

SDC Interplay 2 in D Minor. Production photo by Wendell Teodoro 2

PERFORMING ARTS

here we have a beautiful piece of music, a very famous piece of music. What is this? What is this going to become to me as a dance? What world am I going to enter? So I kept thinking about a counterpoint, something that was going to contrast and to give some space and some breath to this rich music.” Bonachela commissioned Australian composer Nick Wales to create an electronic score to weave around the baroque music of Bach. “They are like small interludes that

happen between each of the ﬁve partitas,” Bonachela explains.

» Sydney Dance Company Interplay Southbank Theatre, The Sumner April 30 – May 10 sydneydancecompany.com

MOMENTS MUSICAUX Friday 2 May, 11am

CPE Bach Sonata in D minor, Wq. 69

Schubert Moments Musicaux No. 3 in F minor, Op. 94

Schubert Moments Musicaux No. 2 in A-ﬂat major, Op. 94 Haydn Variations in F minor, Hob. XVII-6

Schubert Impromptu in G-ﬂat major, Op. 90, No. 3 Debussy Petite Suite

Venue South Melbourne Town Hall, 210 Bank Street Tickets All $27

Bookings anam.com.au or (03) 9645 7911 Performance to be followed by light refreshments and an opportunity to meet the artists.

FANTASIA – a concert in two parts In a two-day celebration of the piano, ANAM’s Resident Faculty and Head of Piano Timothy Young, has devised a program that embodies ANAM’s notion of the ‘collaborative pianist’. ANAM musicians

perform side-by-side with Young, New Zealand pianist Michael Houston and the Guildhall School’s David Dolan, who brings his unique expertise in eighteenth century classical improvisation and interpretation during his fifth residency with ANAM.

Saturday 3 May, 5:30pm

Mozart Andante and Variations in G major, K. 501 Schubert Fantasia in F minor, D.490 Bartók 3 Burlesques, Op. 8c

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414 Break: 6:45pm - 8pm Mozart Fantasia in D minor, K. 397

Bach Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt BWV 637 (arr. Kurtag) Bach Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (Actus tragicus) BWV 106 (arr. Kurtag)

Mozart Sonata for Piano, Four Hands in D major, K. 448 Bartók Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm from Mikrokosmos Mozart Piano Concerto No. 13 in C major, K. 415 Timothy Young piano David Dolan piano

Michael Houston piano ANAM Pianists

ANAM Musicians Venue South Melbourne Town Hall, 210 Bank Street Tickets Full $55 Sen $40 Conc $30

Bookings anam.com.au or (03) 9645 7911 David Dolan’s 2014 residency is generously supported by Philip and Raie Goodwach.

20 The Melbourne Review April 2014

performing arts

Next Wave Festival For 28 days, the Next Wave Festival will take over Melbourne in some unexpected ways by Anna Snoekstra

From April 16 to May 11, the biennial Next Wave Festival will occupy Melbourne. Stretching from St Kilda to Newport to Northcote, you may experience Next Wave in many guises, and you may not even know it. There will be photographs on billboards, carefully designed smells in bathrooms and food stands. “‘[There’s] a Korean snack stand that can house about fifteen people in the audience,” explains Next Wave Director, Emily Sexton, “You’ll be snacking on dukbokki, while one of the artist’s sings different songs and tells you little stories. So it’s art, food, performance and drinks all coming together.”

The program boasts a plethora of innovative ventures with 40 world premieres and 239 artists showcasing work. Bringing together these diverse works is the theme for 2014: New Grand Narrative. “We are looking at what role artists play as part of society and in imagining a greater tomorrow. How artists can be rebels and dreamers and visionaries,” Sexton explains. “That means we are looking at all sorts of different places that the poetic and the beautiful and the dreamy arise, often in unexpected spots. So that might be how the poetic can arise in an abattoir and in Melbourne’s really unknown and almost hidden communities, like meat workers.

the autumn harvest lunch Guests of Weylandts were invited to take a seat, kick back and indulge in an afternoon of exquisite food and Maison wine last Thursday, 20th March in-store at The Kitchen in Weylandts’ Melbourne showroom. The intimate and relaxed lunch was centred on great food and great company, and it was a preview of The Kitchen’s beautifully curated and sumptuous autumn menu designed by Head Chef, Caleb Laws.

Photos Matthew wren

» TO SEE MORE SOCIAL IMAGES VISIT MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

The Melbourne Review April 2014 21

melbournereview.com.au

words & music “A lot of our projects are rubbing up against the personal and the political and also thinking about how that then relates to technology and the different shifts that are part of contemporary life; how information is organised and what role the media plays in shaping our imaginations.” As well as its extensive program, Next Wave sets itself apart from other festivals with the support it offers its artists. The Kickstart development program feeds the content of the festival. The participants receive financial assistance as well as being guided over a two-year development process. “We had 22 artists selected for Kickstart for this year,” Sexton explains. “We want them to be as risky as possible, to follow those research paths as much as they can in that development period. A dedicated artistic team is involved in their work the whole way along. Next Wave was quite pioneering in coming up with that model; it’s probably about ten years old now.” Commencing with a series of talks and parties from April 16 to 28, the main program will then run from April 29 to May 11. The keynote initiative is BLAK WAVE, which includes eight new art projects as well as a talk series, exploring what is ‘Next’ artistically for Australia’s Indigenous people. There is also an international section, presenting contemporary artists from all corners of the earth. The festival will be staged in theatres, galleries, laneways and private homes as well as some unexpected places all around Melbourne.

There’s one thing I know For he loves me so Jesus’ blood never failed me yet Slowly, a string quartet is added, followed by more orchestral instruments until a full ensemble is present. The contrast between the old man’s fragile humanity and the power of the swelling music is stark. It threatens his fragile existence and tests his faith but undeterred he keeps on singing, his belief in salvation intact.

Gavin Bryars Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet

by Phil Kakulas

hen Gavin Bryars first looped a field recording of a destitute, old man singing about the blood of Christ, he wondered if he might be on to something special. The strong emotional responses from those who heard it certainly suggested as much. Inspired to go further, the English composer added a lush orchestral accompaniment to the old man’s hypnotic repetitions. The result is a work of singular beauty that explores the nature of faith and the indomitable human spirit.

“We have people cleaning the State Library fully decked out in lab coats with tiny little toothbrushes,” laughs Sexton. “They’ll be making their way around the state library steps; slowly excavating these layers of history and grime.”

Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet was the first release on Brian Eno’s Obscure label in 1975. Its 25-minute length determined by the vinyl format. Tom Waits declared it to be his all-time favourite recording, later collaborating with Bryars on the definitive 75-minute CD version of 1993.

»»nextwave.org.au

“I was working with a friend on a film about people living rough,” Bryars has said. “In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song… and one, who in fact

did not drink, sang a religious song, Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet.” Moved by the old man’s faltering but enthusiastic delivery, Bryars looped a 13-bar fragment of the song and wrote a simple chordal accompaniment on piano. “It repeated in a slightly unpredictable, but inevitable way” which the composer found “curiously effective”. It was while he was copying the audio loop at the Leicester Polytechnic that Bryars came to realise the real power of his source material. Having left it playing while he took a short break, Bryars returned to find the mood in the communal space had changed. “People were moving about much more slowly than usual,” he said “and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.” The event left Bryars in no doubt as to the emotional power of the recording and the need for him to approach the project cautiously. He determined that the orchestral accompaniment must be “simple, to gradually evolve, yet at the same time respect the tramp’s humanity and simple faith”. Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet begins with the voice loop alone. The old man sounds downtrodden but not defeated. His voice may be frail and his timing erratic, but his faith is strong and his singing strangely joyous. Jesus’ blood never failed me yet Never failed me yet Jesus’ blood never failed me yet

The old man’s vulnerability, emphasised by his role as the sole carrier of the melody, is eased by the arrival of Tom Waits at around the 60-minute mark. For the first time the old man is not alone. Soon a choir joins them and then another. We are, all of us, singing now, our voices raised as one as we momentarily ascend, on a cloud of reverb, from the gutter to the stars. After nearly 150 repetitions of the verse, the flicker of mortal life is extinguished and the old man is gone. Tom Waits has described how the music “settled like a dust on the evening” the first time he heard the original release. Attracted by a naivety rarely captured in a formal studio he played it incessantly before eventually losing the recording. It was his request to Bryars for a replacement copy that led to their collaboration on the extended version in the 90s. Sadly, the old man passed away before Gavin Bryars could play him the finished piece. Yet in the work, the old man’s noble spirit lives on, a testament to the comfort of faith and our capacity to suffer hardship without losing hope. “There is considerable irony in the relationship between what the tramp is singing and his circumstances at the time,” Bryars has said. “For me there is great poignancy in his voice and although I do not share the simple optimism of his faith I am still touched by the human-ness of his voice and with this piece I try to give it new life.”

»»Phil Kakulas is a songwriter and teacher who plays double bass in The Blackeyed Susans

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22 The Melbourne Review April 2014

performing arts and friend – everything I hoped for when I listened to his records and then more still. I owe him the whole shop. Can you explain the process of choosing the songs to record and the styles to cover for each album? It’s almost the best part of the whole process. Joe and I spend months swapping lists of songs, perhaps a hundred or more, and gradually we whittle them down. Then we just let the band try them on for size. The tricky thing is, like buying clothes for a model, almost everything looks good on them. For the immediate future, is music your primary creative focus? I don’t know about creative focus. But it’s certainly my greatest pleasure, and has been for a long time. I know very well how lucky I am to have this chance to play with people of this calibre and I’m determined to savour every note. Before agreeing to record Let Them Talk, was the idea of recording an album always in the back of your mind? And do you regret not embarking on a recording/touring career earlier? Hugh Laurie

A Bit of Blues and Laurie Hugh Laurie will return to Australia for the first time in more than 30 years, joined by the Copper Bottom Band to deliver a set of blues, tango, southern and South American music. The talented actor, comedian and musician explains his late-career music turn, which has seen the former star of House record two acclaimed albums Let Them Talk and Didn’t It Rain. by David Knight

rialto tv

our upcoming Australian tour will be your first visit to Australia since 1981. Do you have any fond memories from that comedy tour of 33 years ago? Plenty of fond memories – which doesn’t mean they’re accurate ones. But in my head, we ate like princes, drank like kings, dressed like idiots and laughed all the time. With the mad arrogance of youth, we also assumed that this was what life would be like forever. For the Australian shows, will you concentrate on material from the two albums, or do you like to incorporate covers, which you might never record, as well as songs that might make future albums?

7.5pt Univers 57 Condensed

I always want to play shows, pieces of theatre, rather than just recitals – so we have all sorts of

odd things creeping into the show now, some of which we might record one day. Our sound checks are almost the best part of the day, when we get to simply mess about. But it’s not just to amuse ourselves – I really want people to love these songs as much as I do. In fact, I’d settle for half as much, because that’s still a lot. I also want people to laugh and dance and cry and forget their troubles. A good show, basically. Have you got plans for new recordings in mind? And will Joe Henry be involved with future recordings? No immediate plans. I realise now that I was pretty quick with a second album – the conventional wisdom is you leave two or three years between releases, but I just couldn’t wait. I’m going to try and be cooler this time, cultivate some mystique. And I would be mad to venture out without Joe Henry’s steady hand on the tiller. He has been an incredible partner

It’s something I’d always dreamed of, although not in a scheming, this-might-happen way. I dreamed of it the way a child dreams of being invisible. I don’t regret not starting earlier because, well, I try not to regret things too much. I’m just so lucky to be doing it now. You’ve collaborated with some wonderful artists. Does one stand out for you more than any other as a truly special experience? Every one of them was a thrill. Every one. But I suppose Dr John was the biggest moment because he’s a piano player, the greatest there is, and he’s been my hero since the first day I heard him. After he left, I got into my car and actually cried, it was so overwhelming. Aside from next year’s Tomorrowland, are there some upcoming film projects that you can share with us? I’m not even allowed to talk about Tomorrowland, under pain of excommunication. Except to say it was fantastically enjoyable to do and George Clooney is a mensch. There are some other things floating around, but I don’t want to jinx them by shooting my mouth off.

»»Hugh Laurie and the Copper Bottom Band Palais Theatre Saturday, April 19 hughlaurieblues.com

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014 23

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

PERFORMING ARTS/CINEMA

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON BY D.M. BRADLEY

Beautifully played by the whole cast (including the charming child actors), this quiet, carefully-written drama resists the temptation for heavy speeches and gruesome sentiment while also demonstrating that no one here is a villain or deserves to be left sorry and alone (something that runs through all of Koreeda’s ﬁlms, which is probably the reason why they haven’t yet been remade in cheesy old America).

Living is Easy With Eyes Closed

he best-known films of writer/director Hirokazu Koreeda (the meditative I Wish and the traumatic Nobody Knows) are all about families, children and how harsh reality is softened by love, no matter what, and his latest is no different, even if, in synopsis, it might sound somewhat soapier.

Spanish Films Forever BY CHRISTOPHER SANDERS

ith the multiple Goya Awardwinning film Living is Easy With Eyes Closed opening the 2014 festival and X-Men: First Class star Alex Gonzalez as its guest, this year’s Spanish Film Festival is set to deliver the cream of the Spanish-speaking and Latin American film crop. The 17th annual film festival will close with Witching and Bitching, but it is the six- Goya Award winning Living is Easy With Eyes Closed that is the major draw card. Named after The Beatles classic Strawberry Fields Forever (which John Lennon penned in Spain), the David Trueba (Soldiers of Salamina) written and directed film won best film, director and actor at the Goyas and tells the tale of a school teacher (Javier Cámara), who uses Beatles lyrics to teach his students English and decides to meet his hero John Lennon when the Beatle visits Spain to shoot a film there.

and also screens at six other cities across the country from April 29 to May 21. Gonzalez, who is in two of the ﬁlms showing at the festival, Scorpion in Love and Combustion, is one of Spain’s rising stars and he will attend Q+A screenings for Scorpion in Love, which he stars alongside Javier Bardem.

» Rated (M)

Workaholic architect Ryoto Nonomiya (Masaharu Fukuyama) rarely sees his wife Midori (Machiko Ono) and little son Keita (Keita Ninomiya) but loves them both dearly. When Keita has a blood test prior to starting school and this reveals that the child isn’t theirs, the pair are shocked, and lawsuits and payouts are discussed while Ryoto and Midori meet and try to get to know storekeeper Yudai (Lily Franky) and his wife Yukari (Yoko Maki), a cheerful, working class pair whose eldest son, Ryusei (Shogen Hwang), is, of course, Ryoto and Midori’s lad. The funloving Yudai attempts to show Ryoto how much he loves the kids, while the women discover common ground and the children all happily take to each other immediately, but things threaten to get sour when the boys are ‘swapped’ over weekends, the court cases begin, snobby Ryoto finds it hard to keep his temper and he then unwisely hits upon an idea that might tear everyone apart: why not have both the boys, Keita and Ryusei, live with him? Or, in actual fact, live with Midori, as he’s never home due to his endless race to be a ‘go-getter’.

Other ﬁlms of note include Spain’s biggest local box office hit of 2013 Three Many Weddings, Ariel Winograd’s (My First Wedding) To Fool a Thief, the 11-Goya Awardnominated Family United and the debut ﬁlm from Spanish-born director Diego QuemadaDíez, The Golden Cage, a powerful drama about two Guatemalan teens who attempt the 1200-mile border crossing to the USA.

» Spanish Film Festival Palace Cinema Como, Kino Cinemas and Living is Easy With Eyes Closed is one Palace Westgarth of 30 ﬁlms screening at the festival, which April 30 – May 18 runs in Melbourne from April1 30 to May4:17 18, PMspanishfilmfestival.com Melbourne review ad_Layout 3/04/14 Page 1

PRESENTS

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Álex González

LIVING IS EASY WITH EYES CLOSED

WITCHING & BITCHING

SCORPION IN LOVE

Winner of 6 Goya Awards including Best Film and Best Director

Winner of 7 Goya Awards including Best Supporting Actress and Best Art Direction

Palace Cinema Como – Wednesday 30 April 6.30pm - Lonia Cava bubbles on arrival 7.00pm - Screening followed by after party

Kino Cinemas – Sunday 18 May 5.45pm - Sangria and tapas on arrival 6.30pm - Film Screening

(X-Men: First Class, Scorpion In Love, Combustion)

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Please join us in welcoming Álex to the 2014 Spanish Film Festival at PALACE CINEMA COMO Friday 2 May at 6.30pm Scorpion in Love followed by Q&A with Álex González

Palace Cinema Como – Sunday 18 May 6.15pm - Sangria and tapas on arrival 7.00pm - Film Screening Palace Westgarth – Sunday 18 May 6.00pm - Sangria and tapas on arrival 6.45pm - Film Screening

MELBOURNE APRIL 30 - MAY 18 TICKETS ON SALE NOW WWW.SPANISHFILMFESTIVAL.COM

24 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014

VISUAL ARTS BY SUZANNE FRASER

he portrait photography of Melbourne-born artist Polly Borland is notorious, in the finest sense of the word, for celebrating oddity and rejecting the constraints of what is ‘normal’. This is the artist who thought it would be best to photograph Nick Cave in a sequined party frock and blue wig; the artist who captured on film the ostensibly deviant behaviour of a group of adults and ennobled it by displaying their activities on elegant gallery walls; the artist who positioned the Queen in front of a kitschy glitter background and asked her, in so many words, to smile. Yet in a new exhibition of her work, Wonky, at Melbourne’s Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Borland consigns the human form to the periphery and instead relies on a set of abstract motifs to foreground the peculiarities of humans and the conventions they create. For several years, Borland has used stockings (or pantyhose) in her works as a means of de-featuring the faces of her

models, a method that emerged, according to the artist, “almost by accident.” She likens this process to the devices of a painter – “the stocking creates a blank canvas where I can place my own eyes, my own mouth on someone’s face.” In her previous series – Bunny (2008), Smudge (2010) and Pupa (2012) – the artist replaced the features of, for example, cultural icon Nick Cave and the famously beautiful model-actress Liberty Ross with a smeared lipstick mouth and splodge eyes. In the new exhibition at CCP, Borland continues to use stockings in her photography, this time to create abstract sculptural forms, rather than human dolls. For the most part, these illustrative configurations of stuffed stocking-socks are less initially alarming than her fantastical, anthropomorphised human studies. They appear spongy, textural, homemade, and, owing to both the repeated neutral tones and the rounded shapes, unmistakably fleshy. She began creating these soft sculptures for

Geoff DYER

While the continued use of stockings in the new exhibition brings to mind issues of femininity and beauty consumerism, the principal inspiration for Wonky is Museum Victoria’s Psychiatric Services Collection, which comprises around 1600 items taken from closed mental health institutions, ranging from dolls made by patients to electroconvulsive therapy apparatus. This collection is described by Dr Nurin Veis of Museum Victoria as “confronting, representing the physical and psychological world of mental illness”. Borland uses her soft building blocks to reimagine the Museum’s collection in her photography. Here we see, in one work, a golliwog, with all of its distasteful associations, and, in another image, the jaunty blue and green pattern of a patient’s nightie. In the exhibition, her finished works are displayed alongside a selection of documentary pictures she took of the items in the collection. In Wonky VI (2013), Borland imagines from scratch a patient’s room, composed of, quite simply, a square outline made of black bundles (four walls), inside of which is one white bundle (nurse) and one smaller pink bundle (patient). What might seem, at first, to be an aesthetic exercise is, upon learning of the imagery enclosed, transformed into a melancholy and macabre study of power and control, society and individuality, normality and abnormality. Such dichotomies extend across Borland’s career thus far. The current exhibition at CCP is staged alongside a companion exhibition at

Polly Borland Wonky (detail)

WONKY

the earlier series Pupa, at which point she had relocated to LA and found herself a few models short of a shoot. “Stockings became symbols of human forms,” says Borland. For Wonky, however, the soft forms have evolved beyond their initial purpose as human standins, serving instead as formulaic building blocks in a series of abstract representations, not wholly unlike the simplified forms used by the Cubists. Tan, black, red and blue bundles are arranged to portray items or scenes within her polished photographs (all captured using film).

Melbourne’s Murray White Room, the gallery that represents Polly Borland in Australia. It also coincides with the launch of You (2013), a swanky little book of the artist’s recent work published by Perimeter Editions. On display in both of the exhibitions is a figural work from her earlier series, Pupa. The distorted female form portrayed in these two photographs looks out over the abstract images in the new series. Yet, owing to the shared colours in the exhibitions, it appears that the figure has simultaneously been pulled apart to create the new works. Here we find an indication of the unifying properties of Borland’s multiple series. As the artist herself notes, “all of my work is interconnected”.

» Polly Borland Wonky Centre for Contemporary Photography Until May 25 ccp.org.au

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THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014 25

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

VISUAL ARTS

New Paintings from Tasmania BY SUZANNE FRASER

One of Dyer’s most widely recognised paintings of recent years is his portrait The collector, David Walsh (2011), which was selected as a Finalist in the 2011 Archibald Prize. This provoking, behemoth of a painting presents a candid and yet romantic image of his subject, Tasmania’s already legendary professional gambler turned art collector, the man who founded MONA (The Museum of Old and New Art) the year Dyer’s portrait was entered in the Archibald Prize. In Dyer’s painting, Walsh stands resplendent in a stark white tee-shirt and black anorak, flanked on either side by a pair of bloody carcases (referencing an installation in his collection). The verticality of the scene is emphasised in both the smeared blood on the walls below the pieces of meat and in the tall, ﬁrm stance and long hair of the ﬁgure of Walsh. The quietness

Geoff Dyer, Study Lake Repulse (detail), 2014

urrently on show at James Makin Gallery is an exhibition of landscape works by Hobart-based artist Geoff Dyer, entitled New paintings from Tasmania. These portrayals of the Tasmanian landscape are replete with the sorts of instinctive meditations on nature and the power of sublime experience ﬁrst pioneered in the works of nineteenth-century artists Caspar David Friedrich, J.M.W. Turner and James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Akin to his creative forebears, Dyer avoids topographical realism in his work, instead depicting a tonal melody in paint inspired by the natural environment of his home island.

of this scene contrasts with the underlying violence represented in the meat and blood and stands as a contemporary juxtaposition to Francisco Goya’s romantic painting held in the Museo del Prado, Saturn Devouring His Son (1819-23). In Dyer’s painting of Walsh, now in the collection at MONA, the otherwise consumable carcass on display is made pristine and untouchable through its associations as ‘art’. Such multifaceted figural work lends Dyer’s landscape paintings an additional layer of ambiguity, when the artist’s career is considered as a whole. The subtle, but vivid specks of red and orange within the

muted tones of blue, purple and brown in the landscapes – for example, in Midlands Study II and Henty Dunes I – are indicative of disguised activity, the nature of which the viewer is left to contemplate. The horizontal, stratified representations of sky, sea and earth are presented by the artist as one entity – nature. Dyer has been represented by James Makin Gallery in Melbourne for about three years. For Gallery Director James Makin, Dyer’s art, “uses landscape as a starting point, moving towards abstraction with a strong sense of style and colour”. In this respect, Makin likens Dyer’s landscapes to the abstract and stratiﬁed style of German artist Gerhard Richter, of whose work

he is also a fan. Nevertheless, all art historical inspiration aside, the sense of locality and authorial familiarity in the current exhibition New Paintings from Tasmania is clearly a key aspect of Dyer’s work. One, which will no doubt, continue to resonate strongly with a Melbourne audience.

» Geoff Dyer New Paintings from Tasmania James Makin Gallery Until May 4 jamesmakingallery.com

26 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014

Pressing Move BY JOHN DEXTER

ort Jackson Press has shifted its headquarters once more, and is hosting a new exhibition of work inspired by Marie Antoinette to celebrate. The publishing house and gallery that showcases a diverse range of work in painting, sculpture and, of course, printmaking, is now based down the road from its old premises on Smith Street, Collingwood. The move represents a shift for the gallery publisher. Since its inception in 1975, Port Jackson Press has been recognised nationally and internationally as a unique and leading Australian print gallery. As it has grown, the business has consistently produced and published limited edition prints and books from leading Australian artists. Port Jackson Press are happy with the move and say that they “are still thriving with a wide range of highly collectable printmakers”. “This relocation will represent a new direction for PJP, embracing the new while respecting tradition and history, and we invite you to share this time with us.” In line with this old-meets-new theme, the gallery is hosting an exhibition of linocut

prints based on the life and style of Marie Antoinette. The exhibition from artist and PhD researcher into surreal representations of the female body, Marion Manifold, seeks to challenge historical preconceptions of Antoinette’s life, but maintain her penchant for luxury. “She was a loving mother, a kind and thoughtful person and a generous patron of the arts – attributes which history often seems to overlook,” says Manifold. Previous incarnations of Port Jackson Press have seen the group at different locations in Melbourne’s inner North-Eastern boroughs, moving from Smith to Brunswick Street, and now back to Smith. While the gallery and exhibition are now open, the ofﬁcial launch will be held on April 12 at the new premises.

» Port Jackson Press 84 Smith St Collingwood Marie Antoinette: Through the Notebook Continues until April 30 Official Gallery Launch April 12, 2-4pm

The Imagined Reality of Anne Marie Graham BY SUZANNE FRASER

pening in April at Without Pier Gallery in Cheltenham is a survey of recent paintings by the established Melbourne-based artist, Anne Marie Graham. The 50 or so works included in the new exhibition, Imagined Reality, cover several of the artist’s favoured locations of study, including the outback, northern Queensland, and her home region of Victoria. All of these settings are reimagined by Graham using a characteristically dauntless application of colour – firmly instilled during her time studying at the George Bell School in Melbourne – which serves to rebuff factual reserve and, in turn, celebrate the interplay between formal reality and imaginative perception. The title of the exhibition is well suited to the new display of her work at Without Pier Gallery. Born in Vienna and trained in Melbourne at the VCA and under the renowned painterteacher George Bell, Graham developed her now mature and distinctive practice by drawing upon a plethora of stylistic examples and first-hand tuition encountered at the height of modern art innovation, both in Europe and in Australia. Bell, according to Graham, was “a fabulous teacher, he allowed you to develop your own style, but he taught clear composition and style… without which there would be chaos.” In paintings such as Flower Stall Caulfield Park (2011) and the triptych Children’s Games (2006), Graham demonstrates this meticulous training in constructing composition, particularly evidenced in the placement and interaction of figures in the scenes. What the viewer sees before them appears believable and effortless, yet, at the same time, the unflinching colour and unblended outline of form within the structured composition appears instantly hallucinatory.

One of the most inﬂuential of Graham’s early art experiences happened in Vienna, before moving to Australia with her family when she was 13, where she was able to delve into the complex, fantastical canvases of the 16th-century Flemish painter, Pieter Bruegel, held at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Graham articulates her early fascination with the artist: “Bruegel was a humane artist. He had wit and fantasy and he painted beautifully. What more could you want?” Moreover, in Graham’s depictions of ﬂora and vegetation there are compelling echoes back to the illusory grandeur of Surrealism, still a formidable creative force during the artist’s early years in Vienna. Similar to the style of Max Ernst in La Joie de vivre (1939), Graham elevates the prosaic simplicity of a pot plant, a hanging basket or a tree to bizarre and imposing proportions. Now 89 years old, Anne Marie Graham continues to travel and imagine afresh the landscape and everyday occurrences she encounters. In her work, the viewer is able to encounter a modern artist’s perspective on contemporary life and witness the innovations of the 20th century performing in the present.

» Anne Marie Graham Imagined Reality Without Pier Gallery April 27 – May 11 withoutpier.com.au

Warratahs 2011 Oil on Linen 60 x 60cm

Danielle Creenaune, Huella (detail), 2011

VISUAL ARTS

28 The Melbourne Review April 2014

GALLERY LISTINGS 1

5 4

DANDENONG RANGES OPEN STUDIOS

An Invitation to Observe an Artists Life May 3 – 4 (10am – 5pm)

ART GALLERY OF BALLARAT

For Auld Lang Syne: Images of Scottish Australia from First Fleet to Federation Until July 27 40 Lydiard Street North, Ballarat artgalleryofballarat.com.au

CAMBRIDGE STUDIO GALLERY

Kathleen Ralston: Geometric Forms Diane Keating: Desert Marks April 23 – May 10 52 Cambridge St, Collingwood cambridgestudiogallery.com.au

EDMUND PEARCE GALLERY

Stephen Dupont The White Series No.1 Heather Dinas The Space Between Hoda Afshar Under Western Eyes Until May 03 Level 2 Nicholas Building 37 Swanston Street (cnr Flinders Lane) edmundpearce.com.au

Group Exhibition: Balance April 22 – May 18 Jarmbi Gallery, Burrinja Cnr Glenfern Road and Matson Drive, Upwey openstudios.org.au

Elisabeth Lacey, Caroline Thiew, Joanna Weir, Min Zhang New Directions Exhibition Until May 3 635 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn East hawthornstudiogallery.com.au

8 5

MONASH GALLERY OF ART

The Rennie Ellis Show Until June 8 860 Ferntree Gully Rd, Wheelers Hill mga.org.au

GEELONG GALLERY

Ex libris – the book in contemporary art Until May 25 Little Malop Street, Geelong geelonggallery.org.au

HAWTHORN STUDIO GALLERY

HEIDE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

Emily Floyd Far Rainbow Until July 13 7 Templestowe Road, Bulleen heide.com.au

TarraWarra Museum of Art

Solitaire Until April 27 311 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road, Healesville twma.com.au

EMILY FLOYD: FAR RAINBOW AT HEIDE

The Melbourne Review April 2014 29

melbournereview.com.au

gallery listings 8

IAN POTTER 10 MUSEUM OF ART Stephen Bush Steenhuffel Until July 6 The University of Melbourne, Swanston Street, Parkville art-museum@unimelb.edu.au

JAMES MAKIN GALLERY

Geoff Dyer Until May 4 67 Cambridge St, Collingwood jamesmakingallery.com

PORT JACKSON 14 PRESS AUSTRALIA Marion Manifold Marie Antoinette through the notebook Until April 30 Artist talk and Gallery Launch; Saturday, April 12 (2 – 4pm) 84 Smith St, Collingwood portjacksonpress.com.au

McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery

Genius & Ambition Until June 9 42 View St, Bendigo 5434 6100 royalacademybendigo.com

Juan Ford Lord of the Canopy Sensory Overload Karen Casey, George Khut, Ross Manning and Kit Webster, Martin Hill Watershed  Until April 27 360 - 390 McClelland Drive, Langwarrin mcclellandgallery.com

FLINDERS LANE GALLERY

Waldemar Kolbusz New Paintings Zac Koukoravas Visualized Until April 19 137 Flinders Lane, Melbourne flg.com.au

BENDIGO ART GALLERY

Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery

Jimmy Pike’s Artlines, Signature Style and Behind the Lines Until May 11 Civic Reserve, Dunns Road, Mornington mprg.mornpen.vic.gov.au

TOWN HALL GALLERY

The Act of Seeing April 29 – June 8 360 Burwood Road Hawthorn 9278 4626 townhallgallery.com.au

WITHOUT PIER GALLERY

Mansfield Easter Art Show April 18 – 21 Over 150 Art Works for Sale Masonic Hall, Highett Street Mansfield Anne Marie Graham Imagined Reality April 27 – May 11 320 Bay Rd, Cheltenham withoutpier.com.au

Anne Marie Graham Imagined Reality 27April-11 May

Paintings & Newly

Released Giclée Prints

To be opened by Professor Tim Entwisle Director & Chief Executive Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne 320 Bay Road Cheltenham

T: 9583 7577 Mon to Sat 10am-5pm Sun 12-5pm Jungle with Cassowary 2008 Oil on Linen 106 x 150cm

www.withoutpier.com.au

30 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014

FOOD.WINE.COFFEE

The Fat Penguin A new head chef and dapper renovations have Kew East locals on their happy feet. BY MARIANNE DULUK

photo Alisa Connan

Heston’s Melbourne Move BY LOU PARDI

t was 10am at Crown Melbourne Resort and a media call was set up in the lobby – complete with a riser for the many attending photographers and videographers. When word gets out that celebrity three-Michelin-star chef Heston Blumenthal is in town and making an announcement at Crown Resort, you can guess what it is, but there’s still an attraction to see it live. Blumenthal takes the stage (shorter and handsomer, in case you’re wondering), clocks the crowd and evidentially ﬁnds it larger than expected, “Flipping hell, there’s quite a lot of you,” he says as an endearing aside. “I guess you’re expecting me to announce the opening of a new restaurant – I’ll come onto

that in a minute, but in fact, what I’m going to announce now is the closing of a restaurant,” says Blumenthal, “I’m going to shut the Fat Duck and bring it here to Melbourne.”

some of the bits of the restaurant – maybe the sign maybe some leather from the chairs and incorporate it into the dining space of the new Fat Duck,” insists Blumenthal.

After a beat of silence there’s applause and even a few whoops. “It will be the furthest migration a duck of any kind, let alone a big fat duck, has ever made,” says Blumenthal.

Although it may not be a pop-up of The Fat Duck, it is a temporary incarnation under that moniker and with the UK team. “The plan is at the end of the year when we close for our annual Christmas shut down the staff will go off on their Christmas break and then in January we’re all going to ﬂy here and the plan is to open The Fat Duck here in February and then we’ll run for six months and then at the end of that, we close the Duck and we return to the UK. When The Fat Duck leaves, in the same space that it occupies [in Melbourne] we’ll leave behind a permanent restaurant and that’s Dinner by Heston Blumenthal.”

The reality is The Fat Duck is moving to Melbourne whilst the Bray site in the UK, built in 1640, is renovated. “I want to make a really important point here – it’s not a popup restaurant, this is not a guest chef coming over and doing a few weeks or a period of time in somebody else’s restaurant, we are going to pick up the Fat Duck, the whole team, and ﬂy them over. We’re even going to pick up

sn’t it marvellous what a makeover can do? This suburban gem recently scored a new head chef, Kyle Noll (ex Yering Station), a revamped kitchen and delightful courtyard setting. Noll’s brought an inviting and inventive twist to brunch classics, particularly where meat is concerned. “I’m really into butchery, so working with meats is a great passion of mine,” says Noll. His love of meat shines is highlighted at lunch – think hearty bacon and beef Wagyu sliders. They’re given the royal treatment with rockin’ trufﬂe aioli, European gherkins and cheese – all smartly presented on a shiny brioche bun ($21). More smart plating appears in the roast chicken salad ($19.50). With punchy bite from pickled radish and shaved fennel, juicy torn ﬁgs and

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THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014 31

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FOOD.WINE.COFFEE soft quinoa, it receives two big thumbs up. If meat ain’t your thing, house-made crumpets with saffron poached pears ($13.50) are your go; or choose the sustaining corn and zucchini fritters, with cannellini beans and fried egg ($17.50).

style of ceviche: thin strips of black kingfish ($15) are enhanced by a smoky dashi dressing, boosted with crunchy discs of toasted quinoa and zingy finger limes. Equally vibrant is an appetiser of plump barbequed scallops. Here the interplay of contrasting flavours is punchy; with fresh cucumber, a brilliant sweet mango gazpacho offset by creamy pillows of avocado mousse and salty fried shallots. This dish downright sings.

There’s no shortage of brunching space; with families sharing plates at long communal tables and comfy window seats. However, do head down to the new courtyard (it’s pooch friendly too) where pots of herbs add green splashes to the café’s signature cobalt blue ﬁt-out.

New England and Manhattan have long argued over whose clam chowder rules. So, Stanton has deﬁed all and deconstructed the beast (to avoid any squabbles). His is a dish of robust ﬂavours. Clams sit proudly atop a rich clam veloute with thick strips of bacon and cherry tomatoes adding juicy bursts ($20). It’s a novel take on the traditional Manhattan; however it somehow makes perfect sense.

Need coffee? Locals need only request their ‘usual’, since friendly owners, Frank and Jenny Facciolo, make it their business to remember faces and favourites. Needless to say the coffee is excellent – full bodied and strong from Map Coffee, with blends from Honduras and Ethiopia. With functions, takeaway and catering, The Fat Penguin is sure to keep all feet sizes happily tapping to its easy breezy soundtrack in the east.

» The Fat Penguin 713 High St, Kew East Mon–Fri: 7am-4pm, Sat–Sun: 8am-3pm 9859 3252 fatpenguincafe.com.au

Nieuw Amsterdam New York flavours. New York design. Thank goodness the hip pocket doesn’t get a New York walloping.

BY MARIANNE DULUK

here are pork trotters with ham hock, clam chowder and cocktails laced with rye whiskey. However, most refreshing is that this New York-inspired bar/eatery may be the best bang for your buck kickin’ around our city’s laneways. What’s in the name? Nieuw Amsterdam is a throwback to owner Michael Roszbach’s (ex Cookie) Dutch heritage – as New York was

originally named Nieuw Amsterdam when first settled by the Dutch. Michael fell in love with the split level 1880s building on Hardware Street. “The American concept formed from the building itself,” says Roszbach. “With large feature windows, dark wood panellings and exposed red brick, it screamed New York to us.” Nick Stanton (ex Woods of Windsor) is the man behind the menu. His food philosophy is to “build on the American classics and reconstruct them with cultural influences. Think Asia, Europe and South America.” Stanton sources locally and demonstrates an understanding of what makes these dishes tick beyond mere trendiness. His style is soulful yet inventive – dishes with substance and a dash of flair. Come lunchtime, Southern Style Pork Bahn Mi with apple sauce ($16) and beef briskets ($22) are city worker pleasers. The heat kicks up, however, when the Melbourne sun sets, with a buzzy crowd sharing plates and swapping stories. There’s an interesting

Less wild but equally well-executed is the spiced lamb leg ($22.50). No tricks here, simply honest protein, with natural smokiness from the charcoal grill. Blush pomegranates and cauliflower two ways – chunky fried florets and a silky cauliflower puree – are wonderful accessories. A burnished jerk chicken ($20) will have you jerking for a stiff cocktail, thanks to its serious whack of spice. Speaking of, the cocktails are a crafty selection, such as the killer NY Sour ($19) topped off with Absinthe. If the green fairy doesn’t shine your light, dabble in one of the 50-odd beers, or the European-driven wine list will inspire. With a plate of pumpkin doughnuts ($12) made boozy with Kentucky bourbon cream in hand, venture down to the moody basement bar. It’s all great value, so tip the good-natured staff New York style, with still enough change to spare for that taxi fare home.

» Nieuw Amsterdam Bar & Eatery 12pm-late daily 106-112 Hardware Street, Melbourne 9602 2111 nieuwamsterdam.com.au

seRvIng Japanese style tapas and sHaRe plates wItH a gReat Range of saKe and Japanese cRaft BeeRs.

Kumo IzaKaya Japanese RestauRant & saKe BaR 152 Lygon Street Brunswick East (not Carlton!) 3057

Phone: (03) 9388 1505 Fax: (03) 9388 1506 info@kumoizakaya.com.au

openIng HouRs Monday - Thursday 6.00PM - 11.00PM Last Order 10:30Pm

Friday - Saturday 5:00PM - 11:30PM Last Order 11:00Pm

www.kumoizakaya.com.au

kumoizakaya

Sunday 5:00PM - 10.30PM Last Order 10:00Pm

kumo izakaya

32 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014

FOOD.WINE.COFFEE

I Love That Restaurant As the Stokehouse Restaurant fire burned on January 17 this year, social media lit up with images of the iconic building in flames, and hundreds of people gathered, watching in disbelief. BY LOU PARDI

he outpouring of emotion was more akin to the loss of a friend than a building. While the absence of the two-story café and restaurant on the shore of St Kilda beach left a hole in the familiar foreshore skyline, it was the experiences people were talking about – that they were just at Stokehouse yesterday, their parents were married there, their first date with their husband or wife was there – and they couldn’t believe it was gone. Restaurant Manager Joel Penno, who has worked at Stokehouse for 14 years, has seen many of those events: “Be it a first birthday, an anniversary, an engagement, a wedding, a first date. It’s had a really special place in many people’s hearts for a long time,” he says. “And those that have been in Melbourne for years and years, they’ve had many of those occasions here. So it was really important – and sad to lose.”

Although the Van Haandel Group has run Stokehouse for more than 20 years, the building has been in use as a hospitality venue for decades. “People come through and they say, ‘Oh, my mum and dad were married here in the 60s’,” says Penno. “It operated under a range of different operators, and in different styles. It used to be a sort of Devonshire tea and coffee set up, with the percolator in the corner. There was an old German guy that came out after WWII and took it over in the late fifties or early sixties.” It’s not just the customers who are attached to Stokehouse – it’s the kind of place where staff stay for many years. “I’ve been here for fourteen years. My maître d’ has been here for nearly eighteen years. There’s been a lot of casual staff that have been here for up to ten years. It’s certainly one of those places that lends itself to longevity,” says Penno. Erez Gordon, who was a restaurant manager (Jacques Reymond, The Botanical) and

consultant before moving from Melbourne to Sydney to open Surry Hills venue Bishop Sessa, has observed customers’ attachment to restaurants for many years. Beyond profit and business, he believes what restaurants do is create an experience for their guests. “And that experience weaves its way into their lives forever,” he says. “People have seminal moments in restaurants every single day. In fact they organise to have those moments in restaurants – birthdays, anniversaries, hosting overseas visitors. The consequence of that experience is that that restaurant actually possesses a pretty prominent place in those people’s lives.” Gordon says the consequence of a restaurant closing is that people feel bereft. The outpouring of emotion after the Stokehouse fire certainly reflects bereavement. “It was quite amazing really, I thought,” says Penno. “The response initially was the text messages and the phone calls – and then the outpouring on social media. And then whilst you were down at the site you’d see people and friends come down and express their disbelief and grief and sadness for the loss.” The Stokehouse will be rebuilt, but in the meantime a pop-up stands in its place. While the space, which holds about 300 people, doesn’t compare in presence or capacity to the old Stokehouse café and restaurant, it’s comforting to have the site replenished while approvals for the rebuild are secured. “We’re really optimistic to have the build complete by the end of the year, if not early 2015,” says Penno.

» Stokehouse Pop-Up 30 Jacka Boulevarde, St Kilda 9525 5555 Lunch and dinner: Monday–Sunday stokehousemelbourne.com.au

The Melbourne Review April 2014 33

melbournereview.com.au

wine

Explorers and Dreamers by Andrea Frost

The world of wine exists thanks to the many viticultural adventurers, explorers, surveyors, innovators and dreamers, men and women courageous enough to grow where others feared to plant. Here’s a few wines made by, or in honour of, some great journeys and explorations of wine, people and place.

Journey Wines Shiraz Heathcote RRP $40 journeywines.com.au Damian North’s journey is a bit like that of the Andalusian shepherd – Santiago – in Paulo Coelho’s allegorical novel, The Alchemist. A series of recurring dreams convince Santiago to go in search of his wealth. He travels to many lands and learns many lessons only to discover that his treasure was in his backyard all along. The rub, of course, is that Santiago could not have known that, had he stayed at home. Replace treasure with wine and this is pretty much what Damian North did. North first made wine in the Yarra Valley before following his passions to other countries. After years away, North returned to the Yarra Valley to make wines under his own label. This is an elegant medium-bodied wine, offering a complex yet charming nose with lovely spices, a hint of pepper and dark and brooding berry fruits. The palate is fine and balanced and just like The Alchemist, this wine has a very memorable ending.

Mawson’s Far Eastern Party Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 Limestone Coast RRP $16 yalumba.com Antarctic geographer Sir Douglas Mawson has been highly commemorated. There are $100 notes, collectable coins and special issue stamps. There’s the knighthood and the Royal Geographical Society’s Antarctic medal. Understandably, Mawson’s achievements in the Antarctic are praiseworthy. Between 1911 and 1914, the Hill Smith family – founders of Yalumba – sponsored Mawson’s Antarctic expeditions. In celebration of this relationship and Mawson’s landing at Commonwealth Bay, the family named their Wrattonbully vineyard after him and released a range of wines in his honour. The ‘Far Eastern Party’ is an approachable and vibrant Cabernet Sauvignon and good value to boot. Vibrant aromas of berries and spice – blackberry, cassis, raspberries and tobacco – precede a plush and luscious palate of more of the same with gentle tannins to end.

Campbells Bobbie Burns Shiraz Rutherglen RRP $22 campbellswines.com.au “Dig, gentlemen dig, but not deeper than six inches for there is more gold in the first six inches then there is lower down.” So said Rutherglen’s first vigneron Lyndsay Brown to John Campbell. Campbell left St Andrews in Scotland to strike it rich in Australia’s gold rush. Fortunately, after dabbling in the gold rush, Campbell heeded Brown’s advice and planted vines on his Rutherglen property that he named after Scottish poet Robert ‘Bobbie’ Burns. A nod to home. This is the 43rd vintage of the Bobbie Burns Shiraz and it is quite something. Aromas of bright fruit, plums, mocha, spice and a lovely earthiness, Rutherglen in the sun. The palate is utterly enjoyable – more fruit, plums and spice with enlivening acid and well integrated oak. The poet would be happy.

Rymill The Surveryor Coonawarra RRP $80 rymill.com.au “Here was all this strange grandeur around us, and we were the first to see it since the world began” so said Penola-bred John Riddoch Rymill, reflecting on his discovery of the Antarctic Peninsula. Using a large team of sled dogs, a three mast sailing ship, a fox moth, and 16 of the hardiest men, Rymill surveyed the shape of Antarctica on his successful British Graham Land Expedition. This wine, commissioned by his grandson John Ritchie Rymill, is a tribute to Rymill’s exceptional effort. The Surveyor 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon is made from the best barriques of wine from the outstanding 2010 vintage. It is all that is fine and grand about Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. Like the giant Rymill, this wine is intense, structured and powerful, offering a complex blend of blackberry, cassis, spice and mint all woven together in a seamless and harmonious wine. A fitting tribute and worthy toast to the people from the golden age of exploration.

34 The Melbourne Review April 2014

DECONSTRUCTION

Ms collins by joanna reymond

n the space of a month, Melbourne has become a global beacon for food and fun. Not only was the city chosen to host the reincarnation of Heston Blumenthal’s award-winning restaurant, The Fat Duck, but Australia’s new super club, Ms Collins, created waves at her hotly anticipated launch party, on March 27. Fashion designers, musicians, sports stars, media and Melbourne’s elite attended her lavish debut. The latest venture for established hospitality group Roar Projects, which also owns Alumbra in the Docklands, Ms Collins is an intersection of music, food, fashion and art. She offers a blend of style and substance that is already attracting acts, parties and people from Australia and abroad, and was the talk of the town following her launch, where guests were treated to a colourful spectacle involving surprise entertainment,

advertising feature

cocktails, champagne and a food offering designed by celebrity chefs.

cocktails and evolving into a theatrical late night atmosphere.

In a first for Australia, Ms Collins delivers a food concept that showcases the identity cuisines of four of Melbourne’s most celebrated chefs, Jacques Reymond, Daniel Wilson (Huxtable), Paul Wilson and Riccardo Momesso (Valentino Restaurant).

“Ms Collins’ door policy is all about having the right attitude.”

Each has provided five of the 20 dishes on the Ms Collins menu, in their signature style, and has also designed seven canapés each for functions and events. Guests can enjoy dishes from a range of cuisines including French, contemporary Australian, South American and Italian. According to hospitality entrepreneur Simon Digby, who is a director of Roar Projects alongside Hatem Saleh, Tony Perna and Sami Saleh, Ms Collins is proud to act as an ambassador for Melbourne’s best chefs and restaurants. “Ms Collins is more than a late night venue,” Digby said. “Taking inspiration from iconic venues such as Studio 54 in the 1970s, Ms Collins is a journey beginning with sharing food and

Designed by Blackmilk Interiors and inspired by French socialite ‘Ms Collins’, the elaborate venue evokes glamour and sexiness with the use of bold, opulent colours and a luminous material palette featuring high tech fabrics that are capable of changing colour with light. The heritage-listed building, which once housed Silk Road nightclub, has trussed lighting across the ceiling, custom-made honeycombed tables and dramatic bespoke art by street artist, Juan Mcarb. Digby said that the venue acted as a blank canvas for Mcarb. “The building is heritage listed so we had to be respectful, but it’s quite amazing to see what Juan has been able to achieve here,” Digby said. “The idea is to have art that challenges our guests – with an element of shock value – and when you see what Juan has done with some of the neon lighting in the bathrooms, you’ll see what we mean.”

As well as thought provoking signage and daring use of colour, the venue features a suspended DJ stage that hovers above the central island bar. Ms Collins’ new interiors, extensive art collection, cuisine, drinks by award-winning bartender David Debattista, and global music are accompanied by numerous private rooms, including a Dom Perignon-themed suite. “Ms Collins caters to all whims and fancies of the night players,” Digby said. She will entertain the young and the young at heart from 4pm until late, Tuesday to Saturday. Ms Collins Fridays will feature leading local and international house music acts, including a sixhour set by John Course on Good Friday and house legend Kenny Dope hitting the decks for Defected in the House on the Queen’s Birthday weekend. Tickets will be available at the door on the night.

»»Ms Collins 425 Collins St, Melbourne mscollins.com.au

THE MELB OUR NE R EVIEW MARCH 2014

FORM D E S I G N • P L A N N I N G • I N N OVAT I O N

CIRCUS OZ

The circus has set down perminent roots with an impressive purpose-built facility in Collingwood.

Photographer: Trevor Mein. Courtesy Arts Victoria, Lovell Chen Collection

36 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014

FORM Circus Oz Moves House BY DANIELLA CASAMENTO

fter 36 years, Circus Oz has set down permanent roots in a purpose-built facility on the site of the former Collingwood Technical School. Throughout the early days of January, a lifetime collection of props, costumes and lighting rigs began to fill shelves in purpose-designed and refurbished rooms while vintage posters papered previously empty walls in communal spaces. The satisfaction of all who have been involved in the project is palpable but as they look to the future, they also honour the past. Inside the main entry on Perry Street, a red arch decorates a doorway to the Nanjing Bicycle Pagoda. The memorial room is named in honour of the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe brought to Australia from China by Carrillo Gantner in 1982 and who helped to train Australian acrobats. The semi-basement room is used as bicycle parking and offers the first hint of the company’s history. Black and white photographs of Chinese acrobats hang on semi-rendered brick walls alongside quotes written in Chinese calligraphy and translated into English. ‘Miss 1 day training the acrobat knows. Miss 2 days training the coach knows. Miss 3 days training the audience knows.’ In 2011, the architectural team lead by Kai Chen, Director of heritage architects Lovell Chen, undertook a substantial site analysis for Arts Victoria, who owns the site. The red brick and render façades along the Perry Street frontage remain and much of the existing buildings were refurbished and adapted during the $15 million redevelopment. Sections of the building at the centre of the site were demolished to allow for two large rehearsal rooms and new offices designed by Felipe Reynolds, set designer and interior designer for Circus Oz. Anne-Marie Treweeke, Associate Director of Lovell Chen, says they worked closely with Circus Oz over a period of 10 years to understand their client’s needs. This resulted in the aim to relocate to premises which would allow the company to create the shows and replicate performance conditions outside the circus tent.

Annie Davey, who joined Circus Oz as a performer more than 25 years ago, is now the building coordinator and says the main rehearsal room has an unobstructed height of 15m. “It’s literally and figurative the heart of the circus,” she says of the many windows which allow views into the room

from all aspects of the building. “We have the capacity to put two rows of seats around the perimeter, the full band, full rigging and everything, so suddenly we’ve got the capacity to rehearse the show as is before we move into the tent which we’ve never had before,” she explains. “This is phenomenal for us.”

the doors which governed the height of the floor above. “It’s all to do with having the right cues,” Davey says “because sometimes the band might need to improvise.”

The smaller rehearsal room has an unobstructed height of almost 12m and is also used for trapeze training. It boasts multiple rigging points, new crash mats and a panel in the floor which lifts up to reveal a tumbling pit full of foam. “The room will be used for ongoing classes where previously, classes had to work around rehearsals,” Davey says.

An enclosed ‘street’ extends the full length of the building and replaces a laneway between Block C and Block D of the former school. Behind the refurbished brick walls and windows of Block C is an archive room, large workshop and prop storage adjacent to the loading bay. The opposite wall features marine ply boxes with coloured Perspex panels and a black painted steel open stairwell that leads to the Green Room and kitchen, which overlooks the street. Here, staff and performers delight in a wall of newspaper clippings and other memorabilia.

A band room is accessible to both rehearsal spaces by two stacking doors. Sightlines to performing aerialists governed the height of

Environmentally sustainable design criteria resulted in the installation of movement-sensitive lighting, narrow slot

windows which sit above the sawtooth ceiling in the street and a passive cooling system with vents that open up at night to allow warm air to escape. The programmable timer can be overridden if needed and heating is through radiant panels. Considered design also sees the main toilet block shared with Circus Oz staff, performers and the public who will eventually come to see shows in the Melba Spiegeltent when it is relocated from Docklands to the adjacent onsite carpark. “Circus Oz is a very communal company and this suited their philosophy,” Treweeke says of the building that already feels like home.

» Circus Oz 50 Perry Street Collingwood circusoz.com

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW APRIL 2014 37

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

FORM

Somebody Drew That BY BYRON GEORGE

can’t remember who said it or quoted it, but I was once told that the one thing that really makes Australians unique is our accent. Not just that – we often sound like the global equivalent of your redneck cousin from out bush, but it is how and when we manipulate the way we speak that makes us unique. The argument went that people from other countries often changed their accent when speaking with people who were of a perceived higher class – the plum went into the mouth and words suddenly had syllables like some aspirational form of mimicry. Apparently Australians do the opposite. “G’days” and “mates” creep in when we speak to the mechanic. That inevitable J curve at the end of our sentences gets higher and syllables mash together when we’re in a country pub. I took this as an insult at the time (I think it was said by someone British or in a very British context), but now I realise that it probably reveals more about the egalitarian nature of our country than anything else. Hearing that nasal twang still irks me when overseas, particularly when you turn around to the inevitable thong/ ugg boot, shorts and singlet combination that seems to be our national uniform when abroad. But why should I care? What is the problem with people letting their hair down on holidays? I guess it probably says more about my personal insecurities than anything else, but particularly when overseas, I sometimes feel a certain liability comes with being from Australia. It’s like people expect us to be a little uncouth and unsophisticated. Just a little bit bogan. In Italy it’s probably imagined, but in Britain a bit of

prejudice to the Antipodes bubbles just under the surface. You see response to this from Australians working overseas, there’s a desire to do things better than the locals, and it probably explains to a degree why professionally, Australians are generally respected in other countries. One thing this attitude does is give us freedom. When the burden of expectation on your behaviour is removed, it does free up your mind for other things and the exploration of ideas. But the old cultural cringe is still very much a part of us. How many times do you\ read ‘New York style’ when referring to new venues or apartments? Why do we feel the need to build things that put us on the map? Why are European appliances better than those from Australia? These clichés are all still very much a part of how we consume design in this country – through the pages of real estate supplements. The key is that it’s not the people actually producing the design saying this, it’s those trusted to sell it to the market. Perhaps the worst phrase is ‘world class’, which instantly tells the reader that what is being sold comes from a place that isn’t. This kind of mistaken belief that better things are from elsewhere is sad when viewed in a cultural context, but dangerous when applied to an urban one. The city of Sydney is probably our biggest manifestation of this attitude. The city seems to go through a 30- or 40-year cycle of rebuild, where the old is discarded and new shiny buildings are built in its place. The new buildings are not necessarily better than the old ones, but they often have big international names attached to them. Recently, architects such as Richard Rogers, Sir Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel and Renzo Piano have completed buildings in the CBD. These are all good buildings, but not in a league above those done by local architects. More recently, Sydney is celebrating an imminent arrival of a Frank Gehry, which has been lauded

as putting Sydney on the map. At the same time they are tearing down great swathes of architecturally award-winning conference and exhibition facilities in western Darling Harbour, designed by locals Phillip Cox and John Andrews. The Andrews building won a Sulman Prize when built more than 30 years ago and is a signature piece of work by arguably our most successful international export architect. The Cox building was a strong architectural statement of its age and is still relevant. These buildings are important and signiﬁcant contributions to architecture in this country, but are fundamentally victims of a cultural cringe.

pavilion in the gardens. These buildings show a snap shot of thinking at the time they were built, and provide an interesting history into art and architecture and how they were practised across the world. What if Russia wanted to replace its current monumental building with something reflecting its current political propaganda? What if Canada replaced its kooky little wooden pavilion with a Gehry, Italy with a Fuksas? What if Bjarke Ingels was commissioned to bowl over the beautiful Scandinavian pavilion and master plan the entire site to increase visitor numbers? The spirit of the Venice Biennale would be lost. Unfortunately, in the drive to appear modern, we are losing our soul.

On the other side of the world, what appears to be the opposite is occurring. The replacement of the 36-year-old Cox designed Australian pavilion at the Giardini in Venice with a sleek, Denton Corker Marshall black box is showing off some of our best architectural talent. Unfortunately, the new building will sit at odds with every other

» Byron George and partner Ryan Russell are directors of Russell & George, a design and architecture practice with offices in Melbourne and Rome russellandgeorge.com

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38 The Melbourne Review April 2014

FORM

Gold for Troppo At the recent Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards ceremony in Hobart, Troppo co-founders Phil Harris and Adrian Welke deservedly walked away with the evening’s highest accolade.

by Leanne Amodeo

as anyone actually surprised at Phil Harris and Adrian Welke’s win in the recent Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards? As two of the industry’s most well loved and respected figures it was only a matter of time before the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) bestowed its highest honour upon the Troppo co-founders. Winning the Gold Medal places both of them at the top of an impressive list of past winners, including Harry Seidler, Glenn Murcutt and Peter Corrigan. Having established Troppo in Darwin 34 years ago, Adelaide-based Harris and Perth-based Welke have watched it grow and diversify to include studios in Adelaide, Townsville, Perth and Byron Bay. The

practice has won numerous awards at state, national and international levels and cultivated a portfolio of over 2500 projects that range from tiny remote buildings to large-scale urban design. Amongst its many distinctions is the 1994 Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture for the Bowali Visitors Centre in Kakadu and the 2010 UNESCO-supported Global Sustainable Architecture Award. What has long set both Harris and Welke apart is their desire to produce socially responsible architecture that responds to climate and local setting. Troppo is widely regarded as a world leader in environmentally sustainable design with architecture that promotes the importance of building for place and people. As AIA National President and this year’s Jury Chair Paul Berkemeier notes, “Through their work Harris and Welke have evolved an architecture that deals with the heat, the rain and the subtleties of climate, while understanding and reviving the lessons of the Top End’s history and legacy of building.” It’s quite possibly what imbues the Troppo portfolio with that unmistakably appealing sense of ‘heart’ and most definitely what gives it that characteristically signature Troppo style. Economy in construction and a smart energy-efficient approach is synonymous with the practice’s name as is a wonderfully informal spirit, which Harris and Welke both embody in abundance. According to Berkemeier, “They have pioneered a unique approach to Australian architecture – irreverent but sophisticated, inventive with a tinge of larrikin spirit.”

This casual, laidback attitude translates into conceptually accessible, fun architecture that is adaptable to any change in climate or lifestyle. It’s also an approach that makes Harris and Welke a pleasure to work with, which was a fact not lost on this year’s jury. Between the two of them they have mentored, educated and supported many students and graduates, who in turn have gone on to have successful careers themselves. As agents of change they have been enthusiastic and influential, even championing a number of regulatory issues that contradict recent Building Code amendments. It may very well just be Harris and Welke’s time and the jury was savvy enough to acknowledge this. But what is undisputable is that there are no two more deserving recipients of the Institute’s most prestigious award. If the Gold Medal is presented in recognition of distinguished services then

Phil Harris and Adrian Welke.

Harris and Welke’s outstanding contribution to the architecture profession has been duly recognised. In true Troppo spirit this is going to be toasted for some time to come.

troppo.com.au