Artists
Spirit Country  Spirit Country is a visual tour de force that celebrates the diverse and distinctive art of Australia's Aboriginal peoples. The exhibition is one of the most significant collections in the world of contemporary Aboriginal art, and comes to Japan after a successful tour of the United States.
Spirit Country, touring Japan as part of Ancient Future, Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003 and the Echigo Tsumari Triennial 2003, will captivate audiences with its seductive colors and patterns. The artworks are profoundly spiritual and provide an insight to the deep relationship to the land that Aboriginal peoples have developed over the past 40,000 years.
Contemporary Installations at Echigo Tsumari
 Opening AncientFuture-Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003 are five prominent Australian contemporary artists - Robyn Backen, Lauren Berkowitz, Anne Graham, Nigel Helyer and Janet Laurence - who have been invited by the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2003 to collaborate with the local community to create site specific works.
The outdoor art festival, first held in 2000, was created by local municipalities in partnership with Niigata Prefecture, to revitalize the region and forge greater understanding between the cities and the countryside. Over 150 artists from about 20 countries will participate this year.
Child's Play: Jenny Watson  Child's Play, an exhibition by one of Australia's major artist's, Jenny Watson, will show Japan-inspired works at the prestigious Yokohama Museum of Art as part of Ancient Future – Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003.
An artist of international standing, Watson's successful career spans over 30 years. She was the Australian representative in the 1993 Venice Biennale and has been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes. Her works are exhibited and held in collections within Australia, USA, Europe and Japan.
Slack Taxi "The Bouncers"  Slack Taxi is fun, over-the-top, Australian street theatre at its best. Audiences from Singapore to Germany have delighted in Slack Taxi's outdoor antics ranging from giant puppets and origami creatures to fat ballet dancers.
Slack Taxi describe themselves as resembling a bunch of steroid-fed escapees from a giant's technicolour circus. In Japan for the first time as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003 and the Biwako Hall Summer Festival in Shiga, Slack Taxi, are sure to delight Japanese audiences with their creativity, humour, and skill.
Kristine Nilsen Oma Dance  Kristine Nilsen Oma is an Australian dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher who has worked, performed, and studied around the world. She will perform her award winning solo work Trapped & Triggered in Japan as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003 and the Asian Contemporary Dance Festival from 15-16 August in Osaka.
Trapped & Triggered is a mix of dance and theatre and emphasises the use of text in a contemporary dance performance. It consists of movement, text, light and some pre-recorded sound. Trapped & Triggered is an emotive performance that evolves around a personal experience of love.
Kate Denborough Dance Project  Kate Denborough, one of Australia's most accomplished contemporary dancers and choreographers, graduated with a Bachelor of Dance in 1994 from the Victorian College of the Arts and has since embarked on a highly successful international career.
Artistic Director and co-founder of Kage physical theatre, Denborough's company was winner of the Jury Prize in the 12th Saitama International Dance Contest. She is currently a recipient of a 2003 Asialink grant and will be Choreographer in Residence at the Dance Box, Osaka for 3 months. In Japan she will teach theatre and dance and develop and present a new work during her residence in collaboration with Japanese choreographer.
Light Black: Three Contemporary Australian Craftspersons  Light Black, an exhibition exploring the links between art and science, features three accomplished mid-career Australian craft practioners - Robin Best, Catherine Truman, and Sue Lorraine - as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival 2003.
All three artists have national and international profiles and are critically acclaimed for their refined technical execution. Although highly individual, the artists are connected by the extensive research that forms the basis of their ideas and the work they create. Seen together, their work provides insight into their exploration of the extensive link between art and science.
"Dinosaur Designs" & "Encounters", Tokyo Designers Block 2003  The Australian Centre for Craft and Design, Object, will present a Dinosaur Designs exhibition at the Spiral Building in October 2003, as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival 2003 and the International Tokyo Designers Block.
The Dinosaur Designs team, Louise Olsen, Stephen Ormandy, and Lianne Rossler, are some of Australia's most exciting and talented designers. From the bohemian market stalls of Paddington (Sydney), the three designers over 20 years have built up a highly visible and successful design based business, operating its own stores in Australia and New York.
Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO)  Australia's premier chamber orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), will perform three concerts in Japan from 11 - 13 October as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival 2003.
Founded in 1975, the ACO has built an international reputation for its artistic excellence, stylistic versatility and contemporary style. Unlike traditional chamber orchestras, the ACO performs standing rather sitting, injecting a sense of energy and movement into the performance. Its vitality and youth embodies contemporary Australia.
Strange Fruit  Strange Fruit was described in France as being "like living statues soaring between heaven and earth... their heads in the sky, hearts close to the sun...brilliantly eclectic images that pay homage to Michelangelo, Mary Poppins, Folon, and Magritte." In Germany they were hailed as captivating audiences with "fascinating images, breathtaking dynamics, athletic movement, evocative gestures and illuminating faces - as if they strived to capture and tame the wind itself".
In October, as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival 2003, Strange Fruit will charm audiences at Tokyo's new Roppongi Hills with their wistful, funny, and breathtaking performances atop 4-metre high flexible poles.
Little Asia Dance Exchange Network  She might seem like just an ordinary woman with a passion for cars....but in Rara Avis cutting edge dancer Kay Armstrong hi-jacks that icon of Australian machismo - the motor vehicle - and takes it and us on a very personal road trip.
Through movement, imagery and spoken text Armstrong explores the issues of identity and belonging. She weaves through this new solo work a thread of a dream and the notion of what is real and what is imagined. Smattered with pathos and a keen sense of the absurd, Rara Avis is a rare bird indeed.
PopEyed  PopEyed promise to entertain from start to finish with their acrobatic act that will fascinate audiences. PopEyed return to Japan as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival 2003 to repeat their award winning appearance at the Shizuoka World Cup.
PopEyed, who walked away from Shizuoka last year with the Daidogei World Busking and Street Performers Cup,
specialise in comic hand balancing and acrobatics.
Australian Film Festival  Australian actors and filmmakers are taking the world by storm winning international awards and acclaim. As part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003, the Australian Film Commission and the Australia International Cultural Council will present a weekend of world class Australian films at the Tokyo Museum of Photography 1-3 November.
The festival will showcase a selection of Australian film ranging from Indigenous drama in Beneath Clouds and One Night the Moon to the modern psychological thriller Lantana. Other notable films include Walking on Water and Palme d'or best short film winner at Cannes 2003, Crackerbag.
Australian Jazz Experience  One of Tokyo's hottest Jazz clubs, Swing Ginza, will bring you an unforgettable Australian music experience with the distinctive sounds of Australia's top jazz musicians as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival 2003.
Australia's thriving jazz scene is drawn from the layers of our youthful multicultural population and reflects our diverse heritage. Our finest jazz musicians have been influenced variously by the traditional and modern, from the didgeridoo to funk.
Up The Ladder  Up the Ladder, a play evoking the blood and sweat, the smell of the sawdust, and the momentary fame of young Aboriginal men in the boxing tents of post-war Australia, will be performed in Tokyo for the first time as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003. The play will be staged by the Rakutendan Theatre Company from November 11-16 at the Repertoire Theatre Kaze.
Rakutendan Theatre Company has made a name for itself performing, in Japanese, cutting edge and controversial indigenous theatre from around the world. Previous Australian plays they have staged include Stolen, Seven Stages of Grieving, and Silent Partner.
Tasmania's four seasons: Utopia  Toshinobu Takeuchi, Japan's leading landscape photographer, will exhibit over 100 works of Tasmania at the Australian Embassy in November as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003.
Since 1972 Takeuchi's photographic works, have featured in exhibitions in Japan and internationally. His works are published in numerous photo journals and major Japanese magazines.
Over the past seven years Takeuchi has visited Tasmania on numerous occasions to create his exhibition Utopia - Tasmania's Four Seasons. He selected Tasmania because of its pristine landscape and physical beauty.
PATRICIA PICCININI: We Are Family  Fresh from her success as Australian representative at this year's Venice Biennale, Patricia Piccinini, will bring her "We Are Family" exhibition direct from Venice to the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003.
With a bold body of work behind her, Piccinini is considered one of Australia's most exciting artists with a growing international reputation. She has exhibited widely overseas and in Australia including solo exhibitions at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in Melbourne. She has also participated in the Berlin and Gwang'ju Biennales, the Biennales of Sydney and Liverpool, and the opening exhibition for the Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art.
Tokyo Performing Arts Market 2003  Australia's premier arts funding body, the Australia Council, will showcase the very best of Australia's performing arts at this year's Tokyo Performing Arts Market (TPAM).
Launched in 1995, TPAM provides a unique opportunity to promote Australia's performing arts in Japan, one of the world's largest markets, and around the globe.
Australian artists, companies, performers, agents, and cultural organisations will be able to promote their work, network and gain invaluable insight into the international performing arts scene.
Don't Look Down part II  In December the works of three high profile contemporary Australian artists – Angus McDonald and Jason Benjamin in "Don't Look Down" and David Bromley in a solo exhibition of recent works - will show in trendy Daikanyama at the Hillside Forum and Obsession Gallery as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003.
The three internationally acclaimed artists have already received an enthusiastic reception from Japan when they staged a show together at Tokyo's Bunkamura Gallery in 2002.
The works were seen by 4000 people over five days.
Media Inquiries: Australian Embassy Public Diplomacy Section
Miko Kurosawa Tel: 03-5232-4176 or Keiko Shinohara Tel: 03-5232-4106 |
