Concrete Playground

Before talkies came on the scene in the 1920s imagine how much work watching a movie was? Granted silent films were only under 10 minutes long, but still, all that reading. What a revelation sound and dialogue must have been.

In the new exhibition Talking Pictures at Artspace, curator Melanie Oliver explores that very development and what it means for the narrative structure of film. Bringing together artists from Australia and across the pond in New Zealand, this exhibition comments on "contemporary issues through reconsidering the past".

Fits & Holderness, a New Zealand duo known for their immersive performance works and for investigating unsolved disappearances, together with Louise Menzies, also from New Zealand and recognised for a strong conceptual focus in her work, and Australian sculptors and installation artists Nicholas Mangan and Sean Rafferty present their stories "through simple gestures and the collation of materials, referencing particular aspects and conventions of film, such as crime reporting, French New Wave or the road movie genre".

Always one for presenting a whole exhibition experience, Artspace will hold a panel discussion and film screenings to accompany Talking Pictures. Free film screenings Saturdays 23 and 30 April and 7 and 21 May, and a critical reading discussion Saturday 14 May.

Image: Sean Rafferty