The Melbourne International Arts Festival kicks off this week, with more incredible art, music, theatre, dance and performance than you could shake a very big stick at. So, if you're feeling a bit weighed down by this burden of choice, allow us to do some of the heavy lifting for you. The Music has picked the brains of the some of our most important local arts figures to find out what events they’re most pumped to catch.
"Future D. Fidel’s Prize Fighter is my absolute must-see, and I feel blessed about its Melbourne debut. As the country grapples with its ongoing, grotesque treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, this theatricalised experience of a global crisis feels like an urgent reminder of Australia’s role in that international arena. We are not apart from this. Plus, Busty Beatz did the Sound Design Remix, so my body is ready."
From 9 Oct at Northcote Town Hall
"Imagine a collision so cataclysmic that the resulting shock waves cause the very fabric of space and time to ripple, like a still pond disturbed by a stone. Now imagine the aftershocks of that collision, millions of light years later, having travelled so far, for so long, that they’re virtually invisible. These are gravitational waves, and until recently we couldn’t detect them. Their discovery has changed the way we see the universe – and inspired artists at the festival this year, whose words and sounds and images will help us imagine the cosmic and the infinitesimal."
From 6 Oct at Melbourne Planetarium
"As someone who relishes, wades, bathes, and moisturises in the irreverent, Dickie Beau ticks every box. Taking queer and camp sensibilities and applying them to recordings of earnest and reverential portrayals of the Bard’s Hamlet seems to me the only way one should tackle or explore Shakespeare in a contemporary age. Why watch another ghostly and normative version of Hamlet’s self-indulgent “To be or not to be” when you can see it re-envisioned as a piece of contemporary performance art through a queer lens? If I had to choose between a psychological and seriously emotional rendering of Hamlet or this explosive, fun, and critical dissection, I know where I would choose to spend my dollars and my time."
From 17 Oct at Arts Centre Melbourne
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"I am especially excited about this sublime devised work by the incredible performance collective Rawcus, with the Invenio singers. I love works which explore the deepest elements of human emotion and spirit. Songs for a Weary Throat promises to traverse the mysteries of grief, loss, survival, resilience, longing and hope. It is also a well-deserved remount for a show that enjoyed acclaim and awards in its first outing."
From 10 Oct at Arts Centre Melbourne
"I’m curious and excited to see and hear this new collaboration between choreographer Gideon Obarzanek, sublime recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey and dancers and musicians from Australia and China. It seems to be an extension of themes that Gideon has been cleverly interrogating across many years - implication of the audience, symmetry and causal triggers. The Dancenorth dancers are phenomenal and I’m fascinated to see what they do alongside Beijing Dance Theatre."
From 12 Oct at Malthouse Theatre
"I’m most looking forward to seeing John Stezaker’s collage works, I get lost in them. They split my brain right down the middle as I start to dream about the deeper meaning of his juxtapositions and why he places things where he does. I’m thinking conceptually and technically and then all of a sudden, I’m right back in front of this amazing photography and ready to move onto the next image. Next minute, I want to head back to my studio and create collages. Inspiring and influential at the same time."
From 21 Sep at the Centre For Contemporary Photography
For full details of this year's program, visit the Melbourne International Arts Festival website.
