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Tokyo’s experimental performance space SuperDeluxe premieres in Australia
For the first time in Australia, Tokyo’s thriving experimental performance space SuperDeluxe will open its doors in Sydney for the 17th Biennale of Sydney.
Presented at Artspace in Woolloomooloo, SuperDeluxe@Artspace combines art gallery, performance venue, bar and club and will be a hub for experimental music, culture and ideas for the duration of the Biennale of Sydney from 12 May until 1 August 2010.
For its Sydney reincarnation, SuperDeluxe@Artspace celebrates Japanese and Australian culture with a dynamic program of bands, DJs, sound artists, dancers, films and the popular PechaKucha Nights. This exciting 12-week program has been co-curated by SuperDeluxe Tokyo, KDa, Namaiki, Joni Waka, Artspace and the Biennale of Sydney.
An eclectic mix of local and international performers including some of Japan’s leading acts will be presented every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening during the Biennale.
Established in Tokyo in 2002, SuperDeluxe was envisaged as a meeting place for independent artists to exhibit and perform cross-platform works, incorporating virtually any form of expression spanning sound, video, dance and theatre.
PechaKucha, the onomatopoeic Japanese word for ‘chit chat’, was devised by Tokyo-based architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham for SuperDeluxe Tokyo in 2003. PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, passions, quirky collections and just about anything else. The popular PechaKucha Nights have now spread to over 280 cities worldwide and will be hosted every Thursday at SuperDeluxe@Artspace. This is your chance to contribute your creativity and perspectives using a snappy presentation format of 20 slides 20 seconds.
Friday and Saturday nights at SuperDeluxe@Artspace will feature an extraordinary selection of Japanese, international and local bands, DJs, sound and performance artists, and unexpected happenings to create an infectious festival atmosphere.
The electric line-up includes award-winning Dai Yamamoto who will treat audiences to the fast percussion of the traditional Japanese shamisen in an exciting and unforgettable duo with Kazunao Nagata, a Tokyo-based synth player, DJ and producer. Yudayajazz mashes real-time video, audio and live music, crafting an intense multimedia experience that is both fun and provocative. Akio Suzuki, a sound art pioneer, uses found objects and exquisitely handcrafted instruments from an ancient stone flute to a tin can, while Ujino Muneteru will play pieces constructed from household items such as a blender, drill and hairdryer
In addition to solo performers, a number of Japanese bands will take the stage including surf/garage rock outfit Jackie and The Cedrics, and the heavily distorted post-punk all-girl trio nisennenmondai.
Contact GONZO will perform dance styles ranging from Fight Club inspired fist fights to sophisticated dance. Taketeru Kudo will perform Butoh, a dance incorporating hyper-controlled body movements with grotesque yet beautiful imagery, accompanied by Tetsu Saitoh, a double bass player with a mesmerising and technically brilliant style unhampered by convention.
A diverse line-up of international and local performers, including Biennale artists, will perform alongside these acts from Japan. Canadian performance artist Skeena Reece takes on the persona of Raven the Trickster, a representation of flawed humanity, to present ideas and images circulating around the recent apologies to the indigenous people of Australia and Canada.
Eileen Simpson and Ben White’s Open Music Archive is a collaborative initiative to source, digitise and distribute out-of-copyright sound recordings – mainly 1920s and 1930s blues, jazz, folk and music hall. They will premiere their Parallel Anthology project inspired by musicologist and artist Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music.
Toydeath will make live music with sounds created solely from tortured electronic toys, accompanied by hilarious costumed antics. Guest programmers such as Gail Priest, Scott Donovan and Lawrence English will also present evenings of experimental and electronic music.
Also showing at SuperDeluxe@Artspace is the weekly Biennale Film Program, Magickal Songs, Mythical Histories and Fictitious Truths, curated by Jack Sargeant with David Elliott, Artistic Director. These films, from Australia and around the world, reflect on spirituality and indigeneity, and on the power of art and its place in traditional culutre and contemporary politics.
In addition to the Biennale Film Program, SuperDeluxe@Artspace will host short film screenings presented by international arts and technology channel Portable.tv. Presented after selected Thursday PechaKucha Nights, Cinema of Curiosities brings together animations, experimental works, music videos, and narratives from all over the world and explores the question ‘in the combination of technology, influence and imagination – are there new ways of looking at images?’.
Selected nights will also include sets from FBi Radio DJs. FBi Radio is an independent, community-based radio station, and Media Partner of SuperDeluxe@Artspace.
KEY INFO
SuperDeluxe@Artspace gallery and café
Tuesday to Sunday, 11 am – 5 pm
SuperDeluxe@Artspace performances, events and bar
Thursday to Saturday nights, 7.30 pm – 12 am
Biennale Film Program
Sunday afternoons, 3 pm – 5 pm
Admission
Admission to SuperDeluxe@Artspace is FREE, however, bookings are highly recommended for all evening events to avoid disappointment. Limited entry will be available on the door each night from 8 pm, subject to capacity.
SuperDeluxe@Artspace is a licensed 18 y.o + venue after 7.30 pm. Please bring proof of identification for entry. The Biennale of Sydney promotes the responsible service of alcohol.
VENUE
Artspace
43–51 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo
For more information and bookings visit: www.superdeluxe-artspace.com
SUPERDELUXE@ARTSPACE IS SUPPORTED BY
Partners
Asahi | Chandon | Valiant Hire | Vittoria Coffee
Online Partner
Two Thousand
Media Partner
FBi Radio
Event Partner
Belinda Franks Catering
With assistance from Fostex, Major Music and Portable.TV
