Performance Contemporary and Art Night
Sydney Contemporary
Sydney Contemporary, in partnership with MA Financial Group, announces its highly anticipated Performance Contemporary program. The seventh edition of Sydney Contemporary returns to Carriageworks with its largest edition to date featuring 95+ emerging and established galleries from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, from 7 – 10 September 2023.
In 2023, Art Night will return on Thursday 7 September in an all-encompassing evening of art, live performance, music and food experiences. One of the most anticipated events in the cultural calendar, Art Night will feature three live performances as part of the Performance Contemporary program alongside a music set by renowned DJ duo Stereogamous. On Friday 8 September, a performance work will be supported with a music program by DJ Sveta, both taking place during the twilight hours of the fair. 
Performance Contemporary, co-curated by Samantha Watson-Wood and Katie Winten from Friends with Strangers, presents a diverse and dynamic program of experimental and ephemeral performance works by some of Sydney’s most exciting contemporary artists; Amala Groom, Riana Head-Toussaint, Morgan Hogg and Fetu Taku. The four contemporary artists use the body as a medium to engage audiences in ambitious live performances that explore key social, cultural and political ideas.
Co-curators Samantha Watson-Wood and Katie Winten said “This year’s Performance Contemporary explores the relationship between the body and place. Through play, projection, song and dance, these artists use the incredible architecture of Carriageworks as a starting point to guide both the audience and the performer through time and space.”
2023 PERFORMANCE ARTISTS AND PERFORMANCES INCLUDE:
Wiradyuri conceptual art and cultural practitioner Amala Groom’s practice is a form of passionate activism, presenting acute and incisive commentary on contemporary socio-political issues. Through her performance work, the artist subverts and unsettles Western iconographies in order to enunciate Aboriginal stories, experiences and histories. As part of Thursday’s Art Night program, Groom will present her renowned work RED TAPE, a durational performance where the artist will wrap herself in 44 metres of red tape representing 44 years of negotiating bureaucracy, after which she jumps through hoops looping through the audience.
Interdisciplinary artist Riana Head-Toussaint’s work is deeply informed by her embodied experience as a wheelchair-user, as well as her training as a legal practitioner, and Afro-Caribbean heritage. Sitting at the intersection of creative expression, activism, cultural exchange and disability justice, Head-Toussaint interrogates entrenched systems, structures and ways of thinking, as well as advocating for social change. For Performance Contemporary, her video work Animate Loading will be projected, alongside a live performance that incorporates bodycam, drone work, and surveillance-style cinematography, on Thursday night.
Cook Island-Australian emerging artist Morgan Hogg uses installation and performance as a visual representation of her exploration of cultural displacement and identity, through the lens of her Kūki Airani heritage. Using oral exchanges between her mother and family, Hogg continues the story of her ancestry, maintaining traditional practices within her work. Morgan Hogg uses performative gestures to demonstrate the warmth of community, ancestors and spirit wherever she performs. At Sydney Contemporary, the artist will perform on Friday night, creating an expressive, costumed dance which takes the viewer on a journey through time and space, embracing the culture and places we come from and bringing them together in a shared space.
Multidisciplinary artist and fierce trans woman Fetu Taku uses her extensive hip hop and vogue training to create work that pushes boundaries of the body and the space it inhabits. Through bespoke sound design and choreography Fetu’s hypnotic works take viewers on explorations of culture, time and place. Fetu Taku choreographs movement in reference to space and time, working with sound and architecture using the body as a place of reverence for deep mental and physical training. In a newly commissioned work taking place during Art Night, Fetu will fuse elements of her practice together into a piece that explores community, and equitable spaces for diverse bodies.
Performance Contemporary at Sydney Contemporary will be supported by musical programs by Sydney-based music acts Stereogamous and DJ Sveta who will perform on Thursday and Friday nights.
Stereogamous are Paul Mac and Jonny Seymour. With a mission to collaborate in all mediums and sharing platforms, the duo has worked with a range of musicians, artists and institutions over the past twenty-five years providing soundtracks to dance, film, fashion, theatre, song and experimental art. The music directors for Sydney Fashion Week and Melbourne Fashion Festival, they also collaborate with cultural bodies and institutions including as The Powerhouse Museum, MONA, Performance Space, Sydney Mardi Gras, Carriageworks and National Gallery of Victoria. For Sydney Contemporary, they will create a bespoke program of music as part of the Thursday night Art Night celebrations.
DJ Sveta has worked across club nights and underground parties for more than two decades. The Sydney-based DJ and Producer has worked across all corners of the music scene, from underground clubs to supporting boundary-pushing music acts including Peaches, Tommy Lee (Motley Crewe), Amanda Palmer, The Julie Ruin and Emmy Award winning pianist and composer Lance Horne. This multi-faceted talent has carved out an additional niche by framing some of the country’s largest fashion and art events with her signature style, including shows for Chanel, VOGUE and Collette Dinnigan as well as her re-occurring role as Music Director for top Australian haute couture designer Alex Perry. The renowned DJ will create a special musical showcase on Friday evening at Sydney Contemporary.
Sydney Contemporary Opening Hours
Thursday 7 September: 11am – 5pm
Thursday 7 September Art Night: 5.30pm – 9pm
Friday 8 September: 11am – 8pm
Saturday 9 September: 11am – 6pm
Sunday 10 September: 11am – 5pm
Tickets to Sydney Contemporary are available to purchase online: https://sydneycontemporary.com.au/
