A world of art. Here. Now.

Winter is one of my favourite times of the year on the Sydney cultural scene. Although summer has the fabulous flashy Sydney Festival, there's still a lot going on in the city in the colder months. A couple of weeks ago I caught the free ferry out to Cockatoo Island -- the largest island on the harbour -- where they host the Biennale every two years. You may remember when I visited in 2008.



The island used to be an old shipbuilding hub, among other things, and many remnants of that industrial era still remain. Although the whole place was peppered with incredible art, sculpture, video art and more, sometimes I was more fascinated by the buildings and leftover machinery than the art itself!





My two favourite pieces were actually video art, so I have no photographs. One was an incredibly moving piece by Isaac Julien about the Chinese cockle-pickers who died at Morecambe Bay -- it was projected onto seven screens suspended from the ceiling and was quite incredible, and very moving.

Lots of the rest of the art was fun.

Exploding cars!

Green colanders suspended from the ceiling

A sign about the Cockatoos

This year I was much more able to enjoy it, having not been rendered by the festival immediately prior! More about that in a later post.

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Manly

Quite outrageously it's taken me four years to get myself over to Manly, which is just a short ferry ride from Circular Quay. Even mum and Keith managed to get their when they visited a few years ago! But finally I visited last weekend, as my German friend Ariane lives there and she's just got a gorgeous new apartment.

The beach at Manly

Manly is on the northern side of the harbour mouth, where the harbour meets the ocean. It has harbour-facing beaches and ocean-facing beaches and is popular with surfers. It's got a very village-y feel to it, and as we walked along the coast we bumped into several people Ariane knew.

Morning coffee

After breakfast in a gorgeous cafe run by the Italian mafia (!) we set off on Saturday morning for a bracing walk along the coast towards Dee Why, pas Curl Curl and Freshwater. Very silly names, but beautiful and almost deserted beaches. Winter doesn't bring many tourists to Manly so it was pleasantly quiet.

Winter fisherman

Ariane

After lunch in Dee Why we bought some provisions and headed back to Ariane's flat, where we cooked up a gorgeous beef casserole and quaffed copious amounts of red wine, putting the world to rights along with her Colombian friend Claudia. One of my favourite things about Australia is its multicultural nature -- we're from all over the world and yet we all feel at home in Australia. The very nature of Australia is this melting pot of different cultures and backgrounds.

Following a resounding win by the German football team and a bit of sleep I headed home to Bondi on Sunday. Commuting by ferry to the city must be one of the best things about living in Manly. Definitely a place I'll be visiting again.

Catching the ferry home

Approaching the city

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Welcome to fabulous Brisvegas, Queensland

A couple of weeks ago I flew up to Brisbane for a conference for work. This was an annual conference run by the Australia Council for the Arts, bringing together my peers from almost all the arts organisations in the country, including theatres, symphony orchestras, productions companies, festivals, galleries and the rest. It was fantastic to spend three days away from the office meeting people who are all engaged with finding audiences for the arts in Australia. I won't go into the content here as it probably won't mean much to you folks far from Aus, but while I was in Brisbane I also tried to see a bit of the city.

The Brisbane skyline

Brisbane is about an hour's flight north of Sydney, in slightly warmer climes, and is quite a modern city built on a river. I spent most of my time there on the South Bank, which was the arts district, but was creepily similar to London's South Bank, with its concrete brutalist square architecture and a wheel that seemed a copy of the London Eye.

South Bank: London or Brisbane?

The Brisbane Eye

Brisbane's GOMA is a star attraction, the Gallery of Modern Art. I really enjoyed a Ron Mueck exhibition there. If you don't know him, he creates incredible lifelike human sculptures from silicone and real hair, only their dimensions are either tiny or absolutely huge. I found his work unnerving while strangely intriguing.

Two very little old ladies

A giant newborn

I also caught an exhibition from London's V&A museum (which I do miss terribly!) of Hats through the ages. It was beautifully curated and quite astonishing -- hats from the 1200s were placed next to Dior creations from last season -- and the through lines were wonderful. A surprise hit of my trip.

Hats galore!

It's taken me four years to make it up to Brisbane, and although it was a flying visit for work, I made sure I popped in on the rellies. Yes, my mum's cousin Sean lives in Brisbane, and I stayed with him and his 12-year-old daughter Caitlin, and their very cute Guide dog that they're training.

Trainee guide dog for the blind

It was a very brief trip but I really enjoyed myself. The conference was energising, and I got to see enough of the city to make me want to plan a return visit.

Sean and Caitlin saying goodbye at the station

I'm now back in Sydney riding out the winter and longing for the Spring. My new heater's making it more bearable, but it's so cold! The other day it got as low as 6 degrees and I just couldn't get warm. What a softie I've become!

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