Concrete Playground

When the Biennale of Sydney announced they would be transporting Tokyo’s SuperDeluxe to Artspace in Wooloomooloo, we weren’t sure exactly what they meant — but when we finally saw the program, we squealed like Japanese schoolgirls.

There’s UJINO’s noise sculpture, Toydeath’s toy torture, the tangled sounds of Hair Stylistics and the street fight dance of contact GONZO. There’s some of Japan’s best new sound and performance acts alongside locals like Wade Marynowsky, Rosie Dennis, Alex White and Gail Priest. There’s even butoh, for chrissakes! It’s all very exciting, and free, people — but you must get booking.

The original Superdeluxe basement bar around the corner from Mori Gallery (founded by the Biennale director David Elliott) in Tokyo was set up by a bunch of architects and designers as a space for them hold gigs, exhibitions, performances, forums, screenings, etc — and to brew their own beer. It blew up big time, with stuff now on virtually every night of the year, and one of the most popular events has been the Pecha Kucha talks series, which has spread its “20 slides for 20 seconds each” model around the world and will also be a part of the program here.

The other super thing that will be bringing people together at Artspace for the Biennale is a fine film program on Sunday afternoons from 3 to 5pm. The gallery and cafe are open from 11am to 5pm, and the nighttime performances, events and bar kick off at 7.30pm and go until midnight. Let’s move to Woolloomooloo.

Image: Ujino, The Ballad of Backyard, 2008, Wood Furniture, Household Electrical Appliance and Mixed Media, photo by Koo.