City Hub 6 October 2016

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city hub 6 OCTOBER 2016

Academics protest John Howard’s honorary degree

BY CHARLOTTE G RI EVE Fifty-five years after graduating, former Prime Minister John Howard put on a gown and revisited the University of Sydney’s Great Hall. This time, he was met with riot police and hordes of protestors.

Early last week, the University of Sydney announced it would award Mr Howard with an honorary doctorate. Such degrees are awarded to individuals who make an “outstanding contribution to the wider community or achieve exceptional academic or creative intelligence.”

Whilst universities tend to remain politically neutral, awarding a former politician is not unprecedented within the University of Sydney. Previous recipients of the honorary degree have been Robert Menzies and Gough Whitlam. Regardless of views surrounding their leadership, both former Prime Ministers made notable investments in higher education, with Menzies’ introduction of the Commonwealth Scholarship scheme in 1951 and Whitlam’s abolishment of university fees altogether in 1974.

In contrast, Howard’s first budget saw $5 billion and 20,000 government funded places cut from the higher education system as well as sharp increases in enrolment and H ECS fees.

“Usually those who receive this degree had made some substantial contribution to academia, literature, the sciences or the arts.

This has been hypocritical and deliberately controversial,” Emeritus Professor Frank Stilwell told City Hub .

“It’s a very bad look for the University’s future credibility,” he said.

Sydney University Protest, credit Liam Kesteven

Senior Lecturer at the University, Dr Nicholas Riemer, organised a rally during Friday’s ceremony and launched an online petition against the award that attracted over 1,400 signatures.

Dr Riemer believes awarding Mr Howard an honorary to be a “completely hollow and morally bankrupt” move on behalf of the University.

Despite the announcement being buried

in an internal email only days before the ceremony, combined with the fact that no classes were held last week, over 150 people turned up for the rally.

“Howard is a hated figure. A lot people recognise him to be a war criminal, lying to the public, stoking racism. I think that’s why so many people turned up,” said Chloe Rafferty, National Union of Students NSW Education Officer, who co-organised the rally.

Ms Rafferty told City Hub that the University of Sydney has an ongoing problem with Islamophobia that could be heightened as a result of this award.

“To confer a doctorate on him is an insult to anyone opposed to war, racism and social exclusion, and committed to multiculturalism, peace and social progress,” read the petition.

“Howard was a divisive politician with a terrible track record,” said Professor Stilwell.

Academics and students alike view Howard’s contentious policies surrounding the Iraq War, his refusal to apologise to Indigenous Australians and treatment of refugees as contradictory to the University’s values.

Despite these tensions, the former Prime Minister was awarded the degree “for his leadership on gun law reform, foreign relations and economic policy.”

Dr Reimer argues that a celebration of Howard’s achievements in domestic gun reform cannot be made in lieu of his “illegal and unjustified” involvement in the Iraq War. “Unless you want to say that Australian lives matter more than those in Iraq, then I think there’s absolutely no basis for celebrating gun reform as an outstanding achievement,” he said.

In addition, Chancellor Hutchinson and her husband are open supporters of the Liberal Party having disclosed a number of political donations in the past.

“Using it [the award] to honour politicians in the hope of currying favours with political donors doesn’t feel good,” said Professor Stilwell.

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BY KRI STE N TS IAM I S The Inner-West ferry line may be getting a much-needed upgrade, including the introduction of Glebe as a major stop in the Sydney Harbour Ferry Network.

New transport data has identified Birchgrove, Glebe Point and Johnstons Bay as some locations to be added in the ‘Sydney’s Ferry Future’ plan, thanks to an increase in population and use of public transport.

A Transport for N SW spokesperson said “Transport for N SW is investigating a range of options to get the most out of Sydney’s ferry network in the short and long term.”

“Birchgrove, Glebe Point and Johnstons Bay were identified as locations for new or upgraded stops under Sydney’s Ferry Future.

Opportunities for new wharves at Glebe Point and Johnstons Bay are currently being considered as part of broader planning for the Bays Precinct.”

Greens M P Jamie Parker and his office launched a Glebe Ferry Feasibility Review which supports Transport N SW and their potential plans to expand the ferry. This report was based on 2011 Cen-sus data, and found that upwards of 11,000 work-related trips per week would be made on the Glebe ferry stop, should one be put in.

After the launch of the report, Mr Parker said, “A ferry to Glebe is one step closer to becoming a reality. The

Sydney Ferry Line Expansion Image: Supplied

report demonstrates clearly just how well supported a new service would be.”

The push for a ferry line to be extended throughout more suburbs of the Inner-West is not a new one, and has been bolstered since the successful implementation of the light rail service.

The light rail has proved popular and exceeded the expected demand, more than two years after its first run.

Mr Parker said that it was not just the local community in support of a ferry line, but that the Maritime Union have also been in support of his push to expand the line.

“I will be consulting with the community on this issue, to shape the project from here and determine the needs of residents, community organisations, local groups, ferry

workers, and commuters. I’ve received strong support from the Maritime Union (M UA), the Glebe Chamber of Commerce president and, of course, the Glebe Society who have been champions of improved public transport for many years.

The Transport N SW spokesperson said that they are “committed to longerterm planning, which will consider options to expand the transport network in line with future demand and urban renewal opportunities.”

The Transport N SW spokesperson said of the timeline of the proposed plans that they are still a while away.

“A new plan for the delivery and management of transport over the coming decades will be re-leased for consultation in 2017.” city hub 6 OCTOBER 2016

3

Leagues club future hazy

BY KRISTEN TSIAMIS After 11 long years, the Land and Environment Court’s decision on Thursday 29th September to knock back an appeal of a development proposal on the derelict site of the Wests Tigers Leagues Club has been met with mixed reactions.

Commissioner Annelise Tuor presided over the case and rejected the proposal in a written judgement on the basis of the design of the development.

“I accept the council’s position. The design of the development is focused on facilitating access for both pedestrians and cars to the supermarket and is likely to function as a stand-alone centre that can operate independently of the existing centre. The main entries to the development are on Victoria Street and Waterloo Street where the western courtyard, through site link and Victoria Road entry provide direct and easy access to the supermarket that bypasses the Plaza.

This is contrary to the intent of the DCP, where the Plaza is a connecting element between the development and the existing streets.”

The application itself was listed as a “mixed use development including retail, commercial, club and residential.”

The proposal also addresses a “local environment plan, urban design, amenity, integration and transition with existing development and street activation” amongst others, contributing to “long term viability of club use.”

Chris Johnson, the CEO of Urban Taskforce, a property development industry group, said that his interpretation of the ruling was that “the scheme complied with planning rules, and the decision made said

Proposed towers as they would have looked. Image: supplied

that the proposal was okay in terms of height and bulk.”

“It seems to me that the areas of concern were to do with traffic congestion, street edge activation and the way that people move through the building. It’s a strange decision not to approve the project, I would have thought these issues could have been easily resolved.”

Mr Johnson also said that the proposal being refused was yet another blow to a site that has already been sitting idle thanks to what he perceives as a convoluted planning system.

“It’s a big set back, here’s a scheme that is 8 storeys and 12 storeys which isn’t too high for a site like that, a transport hub in the city centre.” “[This is] just another case study of a project that seemed to fit the rules, it wasn’t too high and of appropriate bulk, being unable to get through the planning system.”

The applicant of the appeal, Urbis Pty Ltd, was appealing against the deemed refusal of a development application, made on the behalf

of Rozelle Village Pty Ltd, the site owners.

Interim Inner-West Council General Manager Rik Hart said that the outcome was ideal for the community, as Council had been fighting for the interests of the people and club.

“Council’s top priority was always the return of the Balmain Leagues Club to Rozelle,” he said. “A new home for the Club was one of the cornerstones of the rezoning of the site, first approved in 2008. Council fought for the Tigers to be offered a home at an affordable rent, however the developer insisted on holding them to a commercial lease with a lower floor space than was permitted by the planning controls.”

Many saw the proposal of the two buildings, one eight storeys the other twelve, as being an imposition on the streetscape of the local area.

Local Greens Member, Jamie Parker is one such person. He said that the decision is positive for the community, fighting overdevelopment, and a win for the Rozelle community.

“I have been fighting over-development of the site for more than a decade and this refusal is such a win for the Rozelle community. I am committed to working with the community to ensure only appropriate development is approved.”

Mr Johnson said that his prediction for the future position of the club is ambiguous.

“It’s hard to find in inner-city areas a large site; It’s a large site that can contribute the proper massing and shape to get a reasonable development to occur. It seems it will be difficult to create a new development.”

The Wests Tigers have been contacted for comment, but at the time of publication had not responded.

Cartoonist: Peter Berner @peter_berner

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COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SYDNEY ELECTIONS HELD SaTUrDaY, 10 SEpTEmbEr 2016 Declaration of Election An election was held to elect the Lord Mayor. I declare

MOORE Clover elected as Lord Mayor until the next ordinary election of the Council in 2020.

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An election was held to elect 9 Councillors. I declare

PHELPS Kerryn FORSTER Christine SCOTT Linda THALIS Philip SCULLY Jess KOK Robert MILLER Jess CHUNG Craig VITHOULKAS Angela elected as Councillors until the next ordinary election of the Council in 2020.

Detailed results are available at www.votensw.info and for inspection at the Council’s office.

PATRICIA LEWIS Returning Officer for Council of the City of Sydney Tuesday, 20 September 2016

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city hub 6 OCTOBER 2016

5

Protestival hits Sydney Park

BY JORDAN FERMANIS On Saturday October 1, protestors and partygoers descended upon Sydney Park in what was billed as a ‘protestival’. The protestival was organised by the WestCONnex Action Group and Reclaim the Streets.

The protestival came together with only a weeks notice. It commenced at 1pm, where music acts kept crowds entertained until 6pm.

The event was held not far from where WestConnex protestors have set up a tent blockade which has been running for almost three weeks.

Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore has offered her support to members of the tent blockade who have vowed to stay to protect the removal of trees to make way for the road.

The protestival was a joint effort in solidarity to those protesting as well as a protest against Premier Baird’s controversial lockout laws.

Longtime advocate against WestConnex and Member for Newtown, Jenny Leong addressed the crowd at the start of the day’s events, unveiling the Green’s ‘solidarity wall’ which attendees signed for the members of the tent blockade.

“Those people [occupy Sydney Park members] don’t roll over, they don’t comply, they don’t refuse to resist and they don’t stay silent when they see injustice occurring. They actually come together and say, ‘I’m sorry, we don’t like your system, we don’t agree with your rules. We do not want to see you destroying our green space. We don’t want see you bulldozing our trees and we don’t want to

see you putting a $16 billion tollroad next to our Sydney Park,” Ms Leong said.

Ms Leong implored that the only way to stop WestConnex from completion was to physically prevent construction works.

“The Baird Liberal government will not stop unless we physically prevent them from building this road.”

“There is only one way for us to stop them destroying Sydney Park and that is for us to continue occupying it,” Ms Leong said.

Newly elected councillor from the Clover Moore Independent Team, Jess Miller also spoke to the crowd at the start of the day’s events where she criticised the Baird government’s road project.

Protestors and partygoers gathered together at Sydney Park. Image: Jordan Fermanis

Member for Newtown Jenny Leong at the newly unveiled solidarity wall. Image: Jordan Fermanis

“Like Jenny and the Greens, we know that you, our neighbours and the broader Sydney community stand absolutely nothing to gain from Westconnex.”

“We gain nothing but a sense of loss for the 350 plus trees that will be lost of Campbell and Euston Streets and our public space being covered in bitumen,” Cr Miller said.

Cr Miller said that the process behind the construction of the road has not been adequate.

“The major parties are backing Casino Mike’s biggest and dodgiest gamble yet.”

“A bet made with our money where the stakes could not be higher. Decisions are being

made behind what can you be presumed as ‘high roller’ doors.”

“Make sure the parties know there’s nothing for them to gain by supporting this ludicrous act,” Cr Miller said.

Reclaim the Streets spokesperson, James Loch said that Sydney Park is an important hub of the free, renegade party scene and loss of space to WestConnex is a further blow to Sydney’s night life.

“Where we see a park, Casino Mike sees an opportunity to sell us out.”

“If money grew on trees, you can bet he wouldn’t be cutting them down,” Mr Loch said.

BY WENDY BACON Community campaigners have maintained the camp on Euston Road twenty-four hours a day for more than two weeks after Westconnex tried to begin work that would destroy hundreds of trees and remove strips of Sydney Park for the New M5 tollway. Westconnex failed to file a tree report required to justify the destruction before beginning the work. A report has now been filed but has not yet been approved by the NSW Planning Department.

A Save Sydney Park festival held near the camp last Saturday was organised by Reclaim the Streets in only eight days. “In that short time, we signed up seven sound systems and multiple acts, and convinced thousands of people to come out and support the fight against WestCONnex,” said Dr Ivan Crozier, spokesperson for Reclaim The Streets. Crozier claimed that this level of support in record time “shows how angry people are about WestCONnex, and how sick they are of Mike Baird selling us out to his toll road mates.”

The Festival and camp has been a boost to the anti-Westconnex campaign hit by more bad news after Westconnex announced that it plans to demolish more than a hundred homes and other buildings in St Peters in coming months and will take even more open space than originally announced in Haberfield, which is already devastated by demolitions and massive construction sites.

The Inner West Council also posted a legal opinion

by Senior Counsel Tim Robertson who found that there are no grounds for a successful legal challenge to the Westconnex approvals for the M4 Widening, the M4 East and the new M5, all of which are underway. The legal opinion came as no surprise to the Westconnex Action Group that received the same legal advice earlier this year.

Westconnex has been approved under Part 5.1 of the Planning Act designed by the LNP government to prevent appeals. It gives the Minister wide discretionary power to approve projects such as Westconnex that are declared to be ‘Critical State Significant Infrastructure’. These approvals cannot be legally challenged on their merits, even if it can be shown that the arguments used to justify approvals 6

city hub 6 OCTOBER 2016

Image byPauline Lockie

Tent blockade stalls WestCONnex

are factually wrong. There are no hearings under this section. The key requirements are the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which must be exhibited for a minimum of 30 days during which time any person is allowed to make a written submission.

The Minister sets down factors to be considered in the EIS such as traffic, biodiversity and air quality but as long as these factors are not completely ignored, the approval will be valid. The approval can only be challenged in court if it can be shown that the Minister did not have the power to make the decision.

The LNP introduced this section which based on the notorious previous Labor government’s Part 3A but is even more restrictive. Part 3Awas criticised by the then LNP opposition as being undemocratic, granting the Minister dangerous levels of power and leading to corruption. Opponents of Part 5.1 law argue that judicial scrutiny is even more necessary when $17 billion of public money and the mobility of Sydney’s residents is at stake.

For example, it is clear from the EIS that thousands more cars will be brought into Alexandria and Enmore as a result of the Westconnex and that there

are no approved plans or allocated funding to deal with this extra traffic. Despite these obvious problems, no legal challenge can be mounted to contest the approval.

Shadow Minister for the Environment Penny Sharpe, Greens spokesperson for the Environment MP Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Mayor Dr Kerryn Phelps and Labor Councillor Linda Scott have visited and offered support to the camp this week.

Newtown MP and Greens WestConnex Spokesperson Jenny Leong who strongly supports the camp told City Hub that the legal situation was “unacceptable” and a “legacy of the former NSW Labor Government which began the corruption of our planning process.” She said,”resident and community members have no choice but to take nonviolent direct action because the law as it stands deliberately shuts them out” with no “checks and balances on the Baird Government’s polluting private road agenda”.

WAG spokesperson Vince Pollito said the lack of legal fairness only made the community more determined to build its campaign against Westconnex.

Pollito said, “Communities across Sydney have

engaged with the legal and governance processes set up by Westconnex and the Department of Planning in good faith. Unfortunately these processes have proven to be a complete sham. Over 17,000 people wrote careful, considered and detailed responses to the Environmental Impact Statements for stages one and two of Westconnex only to have their input summarily dismissed by the roads minister as “political opposition”. He also pointed to the protection of the Sydney Motorway Corporation that is constructing Westconnex from NSW freedom of information laws, secrecy around key parts of the business case, the refusal of Premier Mike Baird to release a report into unfair property compensation and the dismissal of democratically elected Inner West councils as a “clusterfuck of governance failure that leaves responsible citizens no option but to engage in direct action to prevent Mike Baird irreparably destroying large swathes of Sydney with this irresponsible and unjustified project” Ten people have already been arrested for taking peaceful direct action against Westconnex. This week, No Westconnex campaigner Cassi Plate who locked onto a tree at Kingsgrove when critically endangered Ironbark forest was destroyed by Westconnex in September appeared at Burwood Court. A magistrate dismissed two charges against her of entering and remaining on land but put her on a six-month good behaviour bond because emergency services were called. Plate said that although she regretted that emergency services were called, “it’s very important to inspire people to take direct action because at the moment that is what we need to do to stop Westconnex.” She said that she was especially appalled that approval conditions supposed to protect animals trapped in the trees were ignored by Westconnex.

In the eyes of campaigners at least, her argument for direct action is strengthened by the IWC legal opinion that also states that no legal challenge to approvals is possible even when conditions are breached.

Wendy Bacon was previously Professor of Journalism at UTS and is a supporter of the Westconnex Action Group.

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Opinion

WHY OUR HERITAGE MATTERS “HERITAGE is like a hippopotamus. It’s impossible to define but you’ll know it when you see it”, I once told a slurry of solicitors outside the NSW Land and Environment Court. I was making as much sense as Donald Trump. But our society was celebrating one of the most important precedent-making decisions handed down by the court. We applied for and were granted full rights as a third party in case for the first time ever using a small unused section of the Act. Sydney Council refused to consider our concerns as part of a DA case involving heritage demolition. We asked the court to allow us to put our case direct. After frantic objections from QCs from the other two sides, a forensic examination of our Constitution, Minutes and financial affairs, the court said yes.

We were declared bona fides and created a precedent which has allowed many other community groups to do the same. We then had legal rights to call witnesses and cross-examine the developers’ witnesses. It was our first act and our finest hour. It cemented our role as a public paladin for heritage. Disappointingly, the on-street coffee shop outside the court wouldn’t serve champagne: they had no liquor licence.

But the case also crystallised why heritage matters.

Heritage defines our desire to keep things we cherish and recognise as significant for future generations. Heritage is only about thing: significance. It’s inchoate and forms part of our communal DNA. It is therefore a part of who we are as a community. It’s what we have in common and becomes a continuing part of our identity and part of our social glue. It’s worth fighting for because once it’s gone it’s gone forever.

Our heritage exalts the past but also savours the present. So in many ways our heritage doesn’t belong to us - we belong to it. We’re embedded in it. It takes many forms: archaeological, indigenous, natural, technical, social and the one known to most people, architectural. The corollary is that if an item doesn’t fit one of these types it probably isn’t a heritage item. This shocks people who know their item is an “icon” or simply “beautiful” and must be heritage. The best heritage assessments are not subjective: it’s their objective recognition which assures them community recognition.

And it’s more than possible an item may exhibit more than one type of significance.

Consider your local cinema, or our former local cinema, The Metro, 30 Orwell Street, Potts Point. This site was recently conserved by a local specialist firm of master painters, Men in White, using council-approved colors and working according to UNESCO- given Burra Charter guidelines. These respected guidelines state:”do as much as necessary to care for the place and make it useable, but otherwise change as little as possible.”

The Metro’s powder blue and special color mix recipes earned Men in White the coveted 2016 Master Painters Australia NSW Association Inc. award for Heritage and Restoration (Commercial) this month. Roan Calvert, the firm’s Director and a detail fanatic, said it was a difficult and intricate project but highly rewarding.

“We loved using the history of the site to re-interpret and curate it through sympathetic colors,” he said.

And it shows: heritage exalts the past but savours the present.

The site is owned by George Miller, award-winning film director, of Babe, Happy Feet and Mad Max fame. Its interiors are adaptively re-used for TV mini-series studios.

Metro cinema heritage conserved.

Photo supplied by Andrew Woodhouse

The site’s silhouette was also once the logo of the local 2011 Residents’ Association although it fell from use for unknown reasons.

But it still has more layers than lasagna of heritage.

Behind its fresh façade hides a hidden history. Although generally unknown, history is distinguished from heritage. History is the story of a site and heritage is its what’s left: its tangible remains.

The site has noteworthy social and architectural heritage.

Minerva, this cinema’s original name and the ancient Roman goddess of the arts, still lives on at the Metro cinema/theatre.

This local Kings Cross theatre’s dramatic design made it a modern day temple to the arts. Opened in May 1939 and

designed by Sydney modernist architect, C. Bruce Dellit (18981942), the winner of the design competition for the heroic War Memorial, Hyde Park (1929) and designer of the Liberty Theatre (1934). A confident man and a talented painter, he often worked from 5:30am to midnight. “Architects should work with, not against, scientific progress and modern science,” he said.

Professor Ross Thorne describes the Metro as “the best example of its Art Deco-modern type.”

Minerva was designed, unusually, as a multi-function live theatre with orchestra pit and cinema combined. The original Minerva Cafe, now the Roosevelt nightclub adjacent, an upscale New York-style bar and diner with an Americana-themed tapas menu and a private poker den, is in its buddy building with offices fronting Macleay Street, was built simultaneously. Even grander proposals for another complex nearby were later shelved as WWII (1939-1945) loomed.

Its exterior, originally with pale green highlights and laminex glass, had “a new system of Neon lights” and a large light tower. Its interiors were originally intended to have a mural by Norman Lindsay with Aliquot glass but eventually included an aquarium and changing coloured lights. It boasted airconditioning, a novel luxury, plush lounge seats with footrests, and a crying room for those who sobbed uncontrollably during heavily-emotional scenes, and was billed as “Australia’s Wonderland Theatre”. Plays included Coward’s Design for Living (1940) with its usual “cheek and chic, pose and poise”.

Sir Noel Coward himself attended.

In 1941 it was also used for fashion shows but was on-sold to the MGM chain and renamed the Metro cinema in 1952.

On a cold evening on 5th June 1969 it reverted to a live theatre for the controversial, “tribal love-rock musical,” HAIR. The show was the product of the hippy sex revolution with several songs becoming anti-Vietnam war anthems. Suggestions of illegal drug use, censorship issues, an actual fourteen-second nude scene in dim light (but banned in Queensland), on-stage profanities, also banned in Queensland, and an invitation to the audience to be part of an on-stage “sit-in” all added to public outrage. By the 1970s, however, the Metro was a supermarket and then a failed venture. The last live performance was in 1976 with Ginger Rogers (aged 65) who received a standing ovation.

Its heritage remains largely intact.

Chris Reeves, the original HAIR stage manager of the cast which included Marcia Hines and Rag Livermore, still remembers the Kings Cross police presence and the famous nude scene.”In the low-level lighting the audience couldn’t have seen every much.

We knew it would be pretty controversial because it challenged so many people in so many directions ... racism, war etc ... people were flabbergasted ... it was fun ... the drug squad were constantly in the audience ... local police phoned ahead to say when they were coming ... the issues are still relevant today ... it was special,” said Mr Reeves.

By the 1970s, however, the Metro was a supermarket and then a failed commercial venture. The last live performance was in 1976 with Ginger Rogers, aged 65, who received a standing ovation.

Its heritage matters.

By Andrew Woodhouse, President, Potts Point & Kings Cross Heritage & Resident’s Society

MEET the locals

Forging new ties at Annandale Interiors

BY JORDAN FERMANIS In August of this year City Hub announced that Annandale Interiors had won the best furniture store in Sydney as part of ‘Best Of’ issue.

Now Sydney’s best is forging a new partnership with Le Forge Furniture and Decoration. Le Forge are located on Denison St in Camperdown and specialise in wrought iron, French style metal work, a perfect match with Annandale Interiors.

The other part of the news, is that Annandale Interiors will be having a renovation clearance prior to Le Forge moving in.

“We will be having a renovation clearance on all our floor stock because Le Forge who are in Camperdown, are looking for space and they will be coming into this space with us.”

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“They love this area, they love Camperdown, Annandale, Stanmore. They love the inner west,” Kim said.

Kim told City Hub that Le Forge will be moving in in December, just in time to launch a new summer range together.

Annandale Interiors has a beautiful balance of the past and modern designs. Furniture will inbuilt bluetooth capabilities sits along side Tuscan-style Italian woodwork with fine detail.

Annandale Interiors and Le Forge will pair tastes, as both boast French-style reproduction furniture. Timber as well as wrought iron with the whole spectrum of colour will be on show as the warmer months approach.

“Their products suit us very nicely, we are a very good marriage.”

“All of our local customers love them as well,” Kim said.

FEATURE

Conscious consumption

into the shop asking for dairy-free options; and her father, who created the business and makes the gelato, is lactose intolerant.

“Being around milk would affect his skin and affect his allergies,” Fotini explained. Her father started experimenting with alternatives some years ago, finally deciding on coconut milk because of its creaminess.

When they opened the shop around four years ago the product was mostly cow-milk based, now it is entirely plant-based. It was a gradual transition, so they were able to garner converts along the way.Asked how it has affected business, Fotini replied: “It’s been a really good move for us.There’s a lot of people out there that have been forgotten about…Now when people come and say ‘What are your dairy-free options?’ we can say ‘well the whole shop is’…that’s something we’re really proud of.”

Gelato Blue’s All Vegan And it’s not just vegans or people with intolerances who are trying the Selection. Photo: Steph Miles plant-based gelato. Spurred by public discussions about gut health and diet,

BY Rita Bratovich many are seeking alternatives.

There was a time when the word “vegan” was irrevocably “People will try it because they feel ‘Oh I won’t have dairy bloat after I eat linked to tie-dyed t-shirts, incense burning, mystical cults and this – that’s so good,’ ” Fotini has observed. She believes veganism is here a diet reduced to lettuce leaves, tofu and purified water. But to stay: if you browse a restaurant guide these days you’ll find the “[It] is not a fad, I think it’s something people are moving towards as they choices in Sydney have transitioned well beyond “vegan find more about why…it’s better to reduce meat and reduce dairy out of friendly” to include “vegan” as a stand-alone category. your diet.”

Sydney’s Inner West, with its demographic of young, alternative, socially If pub food was the last bastion of the meat-eater, then it too has been conscious hipsters was an early adopter of vegan culture. Suzy Spoon, who conquered with the recent opening of Australia’s first vegan pub bistro, owns Suzy Spoon’s Vegetarian Butcher, ran a vegetarian burger cafe in The Green Lion. Situated above the long-running Red Lion Hotel in Newtown in the mid 1990’s (nowadays her business runs out of a Rozelle,The Green Lion bistro offers a totally plant-based version of a purpose-built food production workshop in St Peters). classic pub menu and also features a bar serving vegan drinks and alcohol.

The then much smaller community included lots of punks and Owners Bhavani Baumann and Sacha Joannou saw an opportunity to skateboarders who met at the cafe and formed friendships.When she introduce veganism to this less conventional segment of the market. closed the business, those people dispersed – some even going back to “Our thing is that we want just the average family to maybe eat a couple eating meat.Today, however, the community is stronger than ever, of plant-based meals a week and we try to make that easy for them,” something Suzy attributes to the Internet and social media. explained Bhavani.

“It’s massively important. It’s how this thing has grown in the last ten The menu is a plant-based imitation of traditional favourites like burgers, years,” she said, adding,“once you’re part of this team, it’s a real community pizza, lasagne, tacos and even shepherd’s pie.The Red Lion Hotel had not and you can go to dinners and you can go to events and you can make offered food for a number of years, and if the first week’s business of the friends…”

Green Lion bistro is any indication, then patrons were clearly hungry.

The networking and communication opportunities afforded by social “We’ve been full every day, night.Totally packed,” Bhavani beamed.And media appear to be key in the growth of the vegan movement, with there’s been no negative feedback or experiences so far. different aspects appealing to different people.

Gigi’s Pizzeria in Newtown recently celebrated it’s first anniversary of Fotini Platis of Gelato Blue in Newtown says their decision to become a becoming vegan.The very popular restaurant took a chance on a total plant-based gelateria came down to two things: people frequently came menu overhaul, with vegan substitutes for classic Italian fare. It hasn’t hurt

business at all with patrons having to line up on some nights.

So, what are the health benefits or risks of changing to a vegan diet?

Nutritionist Robyn Chuter of Empower Total Health, advises that for most people, a vegan diet is a healthy, complete, optimum way to eat, although, consultation with a professional is recommended for people with particular health issues, pregnant or breast-feeding women and young children and adolescents.

“One thing that I would say, a lot of people have just followed various celebrities on social media and been led down some awfully bad paths when it comes to nutrition,” noted Robyn.There are many myths and misconceptions to contend with. One being the idea of “detoxing” – “If you want to detox, stop toxing!…Your body knows what it’s doing and it’s constantly striving for health.”

Another prevailing view is that you need to take supplements. Robyn admits that the body may need to go through some adjustment and recommends a gradual transition to veganism. She does advise taking vitamin B12 supplements but insists nothing more is normally needed.

Elizabeth Usher is a vegan spokesperson and entertainer who writes and performs parody songs. For her, as for all the vegans in this article, animal welfare is the central motive. She says “ideally… veganism extends beyond diet; it should include what you wear, what you use to clean your house, personal care products…”

To that end,The Cruelty Free Shop in Glebe provides a full range of vegan products including ingredients, snacks, cleaning products, pet care, gifts, clothing and books.They are also active in the community, raising money for charity and hosting festivals.They’ve become an epicentre for Sydney vegans.

The future? It seems the movement now has traction and is embedding itself into mainstream culture.“I can’t see the trend tapering off,” noted Elizabeth Usher.

Suzy Spoon’s Vegetarian Butcher, 49-51 Hutchinson St, St Peters, ww.ssvb.com.au Gelato Blue, 318 King St, Newtown, www.gelatoblue.com.au Gigi Pizzeria, 379 King Street, Newtown, www.gigipizzeria.com.au The Green Lion, 726 Darling St, Rozelle, www.facebook.com/ thegreenlionbistro The Cruelty Free Shop, 83 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe, www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au Empower Total Health, 1B Bulls Rd, Burraneer (cnr Woolooware Rd), www.empowertotalhealth.com.au Elizabeth Usher, veganthused.com

Save money. Save lives.

Every dollar you spend in our Op Shop goes directly to The Cat Protection Society of NSW; Sydney’s only no-kill shelter just for cats.

Over 1500

vegan & cruelty-free products Shop online for delivery to your door 83 Glebe Point Road, Glebe NSW 2037 anywhere in9660 Australia Phone: 02 9426

or visit our shops www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au

Opportunity Shop 85 Enmore Road, Newtown. T 9516 2072 More info: www.catprotection.org.au city hub 6 OCTOBER 2016

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city hub 6 OCTOBER 2016

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Please Explain – Halal-Certified Comedy Weekly and The (un)Australian.

“If we don’t laugh we cry,” began Sands. “…

Every time you look at the news in Australia, the situation is pretty dire… all of these things are pretty terrible for people to wake up to in the morning, and so we thought we all needed a laugh.”

“I think that the key thing with humour in a situation like this is [to ask] ‘how do you take a very dark situation and use humour as a way that people can confront it…and draw something essential out of it?’”

Will Please Explain get the tick of approval?

Raise some funds for an anti-racist paper by booking a table, and find out. (AM) Oct 8, doors 6.30pm/show 7pm.

Leichhardt Town Hall, 107 Norton St, Leichhardt. $12-$50.

Tickets & info: www.trybooking.com, more info via the Facebook Event.

Emilia Stubbs Grigoriou & Benjamin Winckle

The Green Left Weekly’s annual comedy night is an evening of bold laughter and bolder jokes as a cross section of the people who make up the city’s social movements converge to watch our most hilarious comedians.

“Green Left Weekly has organised these comedy nights now for four years in Sydney; and we pull together antiestablishment feminist, anti-racists, anti-war comedians, proenvironment, anti-fascism who lambast the establishment…” explained co-organiser Rachel Evans.

In the past they’ve held ‘Should Team Australia Be Disqualified?’ and this year it’s ‘Please Explain’ with starring comedian and major guest Pauline Pantsdown.

Pantsdown will be joined onstage by a full halal snack pack of comedians, including Carlo Sands, a columnist for The Green Left

Romeo & Juliet Playing one of the most famous roles of all time is a unique challenge for any actor, and one that Benjamin Winckle is facing in the Sydney Shakespeare Company’s forthcoming production.

“There is a weight to playing Romeo that I feel.

Many people – if they only know one text, they’ll know Romeo & Juliet,” he admits. And yet, rather than seek out a new twist or angle, Winckle believes the best way to perform the iconic character is tap into the pulse and soul of Shakespeare’s original text, and ignore the ubiquitous familiarity of it.

“If you are going to recite the lines as if everybody knows them, it’s like you’re leading a pub song,” he explained.

What’s more important to Winckle is delivering the lines with sincerity and instinct. Also important is having faith in the director, and Winckle is clearly in awe of Steven Hopley, especially with regard to Hopley’s knowledge of the Shakespearean universe.

“He’s like a living glossary,” Winckle said of Hopley’s ability to answer any question on any aspect of the bard.

In turn, Hopley is clearly

in awe of Shakespeare: “It’s great writing, it’s as simple as that…and he’s the greatest writer that ever lived.”

Hopley, who founded the Sydney Shakespeare Company, believes in staying true to the original text and staging as authentically as possible. In this minimalistic production he hopes to create “a slice of Verona”. (RB) Until Oct 9; Wed–Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm. PACT Theatre, 107 Railway Parade, Erskineville. $27-$37.Tickets & info: www.sydneyshakespearecompany.com

a&e

11 STAGE 12 Sounds 13 SCENE 14 SCREEN

The Cartographer’s Curse Presented by the National Theatre of Parramatta and Third Space Productions,The Cartographer’s Curse weaves together elements of poetry, prose, music and parkour; reflecting a moment in history with effects that continue to stain the present.

In 1916, British diplomat Mark Sykes and his French equivalent François Georges-Picot, divided up the Middle East by drawing straight lines on a map.

The Cartographer’s Curse, written and directed by Paula Abood and featuring an Arab-Australian cast, follows the story of the Cartographer and his family, and addresses the consequences of greed and power on freedom; beyond the impacts on physical borders and boundaries.

The melodic sounds of the Qanun, a stringed Arabic instrument played by Mohamed Lelo, and the urban charisma of parkour performed by Ali Kadhim, work harmoniously in this production. Spoken word poetry also inhabits the space of the stage along with academia, humour and story telling.

“The predatory Islamophobic animus that is pulsating across contemporary Australia, France, Britain and the United States draws on Orientalist tropes of the ‘primitive, violent and dangerous subject’

Sara Saleh

as a strategy to legitimise containment and negation policies.”

Such attitudes bleed into the everyday and foster a damaging social psyche that shapes the contemporary political landscape of our nation.

“Look how we think about and treat those seeking asylum; look who is calling for a ban on Muslim immigration,” Abood added.

“These stories are our stories and we tell these stories in our own voices. Re-imagining history using shards of memory and collective imagination brings us closer to perhaps understanding where we have come from and who we are.” (SH) Oct 5–8, 7.30pm (+ 2pm Sat). Lennox Theatre – Riverside Theatres, Cnr Church and Market Streets, Parramatta. $27-$37.

Tickets & info: www.riversideparramatta.com.au

Marat/ Sade The New Theatre in Newtown has mounted some 550 productions since its inception in 1932, and from the beginning they’ve done things their way, not conforming but being driven by passion and not money to promote artistic and social expression.

This theatre has over the years presented the smaller scale ‘intelligent’ productions for ‘thinking audiences’ who expect to be mentally stimulated by high quality non-mainstream theatrical productions.

Currently playing is Marat/Sade, a production which changed theatre forever when it premiered in the 1960’s. Described as a ‘bawdy, bloody unrelenting political parable of class struggle and human suffering’ this is one of the most ambitious productions ever presented at this theatre, with a cast of over 20 performers.

German writer Peter Weiss gained international success with this play, the American production being awarded a Tony Award in 1966. Translated from German into English by Geoffrey Skelton and Adrian Mitchel, this play-within-a-play is set in 1808 in the bath hall of a French asylum where Marquis de Sade (a French aristocrat) performed plays with inmates during his imprisonment. A reenactment is presented of the vicious murder of

Arts Editors: Jamie Apps - Alannah Maher For more A&E stories go to www.altmedia.net.au and don’t forget to join the conversation on Twitter at @AltMediaSydney

radical Marat by the unhinged partisan and fellow revolutionary Charlotte Corday.

Theatre enthusiasts disinterested in the larger style Broadway productions currently on offer may be mesmerized and entertained by this alternate theatrical experience. (MMo) Oct 5–Nov 5;Thu-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 5pm. New Theatre, 542 King Street, Newtown. $27-$32.

Tickets & info: www.newtheatre.org.au

Contributors: Carmen Cita, Craig Coventry, Greg Webster, Alicia Sim, Peter Urquhart, James Harkness, Leann Richards, Lisa Seltzer, Mark Morellini, Mel Somerville, Rocio Belinda Mendez, Sarah Pritchard, Athina Mallis, Leigh Livingstone, Joseph Rana, Shon Ho, Jacqui Rothwell, Emily Shen, Andrew Hodgson, Irina Dunn, Caitlin Burns, Zeiya Speede, Rita Bratovich, Chantal Walsh, Raffaele Piccolo, Barbara Karpinski, Taylah Felice, Georgia Fullerton, Bobby Stephenson, Olga Azar. city hub 6 OCTOBER 2016

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No Regrets – The Edith Piaf Story

Nikki Nouveau

Edith Piaf is widely recognised as one of France’s greatest international stars and her music is still celebrated globally, decades after her untimely death in the early 1960’s.You don’t need to be a diehard fan to recognise her iconic voice in hits such as ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ or ‘La Vie en rose’ within the first few notes.

But how much do you know of her early career and the lifetime of hardship and tragedy which forged such an emotionally rich voice? In No Regrets – The Edith Piaf Story Nikki Noveau tells the story of one of her greatest icons through an intimate cabaret.

“I’ve always been a very big fan of Edith Piaf and have incorporated her songs into my

repertoire for many years, but I was particularly moved by and inspired by her life story, her tragedy and triumph, and I wanted to create a musical narration of her journey,” said Noveau.

Assisted by the biography by Carolyn Burke, Noveau has constructed a show that incorporates some of Piaf’s biggest hits along with a careful selection of songs she personally adores.

“I especially love her earlier music where she would sing realist songs which were about poverty, prostitution, pimps, love, loss and death...she knew what she was singing about and that comes across in her vocals...” she added Noveau is quick to point out that while her show pays homage to Piaf, it is not an impersonation, and this sets it apart from other tributes.

Noveau will be joined on stage by pianist and accordionist Marcello Maio and Natalie Mayes on violin; together they are “The Little Sparrows”. (AM) Oct 6, 7pm.The Basement, 7 Macquarie Place, Sydney. $30 ($90 inc. dinner).

Tickets & info: www.thebasement.com.au or www.nikkinouveau.com

Live Music Guide LIVE WIRE Sydney

By Jamie Apps

Byron Mark: One of Australia’s most diverse and talented musicians is releasing his debut album Amalgamation tonight. The night will feature more than 20 of the musicians who have collaborated with Byron over the last five years in various forms and who also feature on this stunning and powerful debut album.

Thu, Oct 6,Venue 505 Lachy Doley: The mercurial Lachy Doley Group is back at Camelot for what will be their final show for 2016. Lachy Doley is a player who can pump, pamper and pound unbelievable, intense sounds from his organ. Add his powerful blues vocals and you’ve got one mesmerising, unforgettable show chock full of energy and good times.

Fri, Oct 7, Camelot Lounge The Superjesus: Having recently released their new EP Love and Violence, which is the band’s first in 13 years, fans now have the chance to hear them live again tomorrow night as they perform songs from their new EP, plus their biggest hits including ‘Gravity’,‘Down Again’, and ‘Secret Agent Man’.

Fri, Oct 7, Oxford Art Factory Teeth & Tongue: With their fourth album Give Up on Your Health now out in the wild, the group look to bring their handcrafted kitchen-sink dramas and relationship vignettes onto the live stage.

Fri, Oct 7, Brighton Up Bar Pandora Warehouse: This will be the first time EVER that Pandora has thrown one of their secret warehouse parties in Australia.

Taking the stage for the event will 12

city hub 6 OCTOBER 2016

be Seth Sentry, Ladyhawke, Nicole Millar, The Griswolds and Ecca Vandal. Register now on the Pandora website to secure tickets and find out the location.

Sat, Oct 8,Top Secret Location Drapht: This Aussie hip-hop artist delves deep and reveals a lot on his fifth album Seven Mirrors. The album chronicles Drapht’s personal relationships – whether introspective, family, with partners or exes – exploring them through the concept of the Seven Essene Mirrors... the existential premise that our relationships reflect back upon ourselves.

Sat, Oct 8, Metro Theatre Stonefield: In celebration of their album As Above, So Below.Australia’s favourite psych-rock sisters, who are renowned for their energetic and engaging live performances, make a stop in Sydney this weekend.

Sat, Oct 8,The Imperial Going Swimming: Fresh out of the studio, Melbourne garage stalwarts Going Swimming have unveiled tour dates to coincide with their (yet to be released) single ‘Debt Collector’.

Sun, Oct 9, Frankie’s Pizza Lime Cordiale: Inspired by influences as broad as Charles Bradley to Daft Punk to The Roots, Lime Cordiale’s latest EP, Road to Paradise, secured an international fan base for the band. Every time these boys return home for a show they quickly sell out whatever size venue they are in, so this is sure to be a hot ticket show this week.

Wed, Oct 12, Newtown Social Club

Dance Rites

Photo: Prudence Upton

The Sydney Opera House will play host to two days of free music, art and performance, as the annual Homeground festival celebrates First Nations culture.

Leading the festivities will be Dance Rites, Australia’s first national Indigenous dance competition, which will take place in a specially made harbourside sand circule. Dancers will showcase movements, language, instruments and skin markings of their communities.

Opera House Head of Indigenous Programming, Rhoda Roberts, said:“Dance Rites will become a stand alone event once it grows, but because we’ve got the infrastructure there already over the weekend, we thought it was a great fit to include it as part of Homeground Festival.”

Dancers will entertain and pass on knowledge to crowds, while reigniting vanishing cultural practices.

Roberts said: “We’ve been doing Homeground for several years at the Opera House, it really

brings about a cultural hub and brings the site alive.”

The festival will also feature Echoes of Fat Freddy’s Drop, an indigenous arts market, and menu items created by Australia’s only ‘hatted’ Indigenous chef, Clayton Donovan.

“The Opera House is very committed to embedding work. 600,000 works a year are programmed and only 2% showed that they were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.The Opera House has a programming system that no other performing arts venue has, which really says something about that level of commitment and how important it is.We’ve chosen to be leaders in our field, showing by example.” (GF) Homeground is free at the Sydney Opera House this weekend. (GF) Dance Rites: Oct 9, 5–7pm. Western Broadwalk, Sydney Opera House.

Info: www.sydneyoperahouse.com/dancerites

All Our Exes Live In Texas

By Jamie Apps Four young ladies from Sydney have been making a name for themselves recently, even if it is a name they thought would only be temporary.

The story behind the band name for All Our Exes Live In Texas is actually quite funny. “We had to come up with a name pretty quickly after a friend asked us to perform a half hour set,” reflected Hannah Crofts. “We didn’t know we would be staying together as a band so we googled ‘worst country song titles’ thinking that would be funny to use.”

Aside from ‘All Our Exes Live in Texas’, some of the other names in the running included ‘You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly’ and ‘Her Teeth Were Stained But Her Heart Was Pure’, who knows how the ladies careers would have panned out had they chosen one of these instead.

Since these early days the band’s reputation has gone from strength to strength, seeing them play alongside some remarkable artists and groups.

“We’ve played with such a mixture of people

Amarillo – Eyes Still Fixed

it’s actually hilarious,” explained Hannah. “We played arena shows with the Backstreet Boys, who I was obsessed with when I was 13 and 14, so that was a dream come true. Then this year we got to support Nathaniel Ratliff and The Night Sweats, someone I’ve listened to twice a day since getting their record early, so I was beside myself when that opportunity came about.”

While checking off dream gigs such as these are momentous occasions for the band, a true goal

As I sit in my office abroad looking out over sweeping farm land for the long weekend, Amarillo’s latest offering playing away in the background makes for the perfect soundtrack to a relaxed and blissful getaway.

The alt-country four-piece from Melbourne do a wonderful job of capturing the beauty of our fine country and portraying that in song, whether it’s through the subtle instrumentation and acoustic soundscape arrangements or the soft, enchanting vocal work.

Standout tracks are ‘Lemonade’, which highlights the laid-back sound of the band, and ‘Look At You Baby’, which then contrasts that laid-back style with a more energetic pop vibe. (JA) WWW

has always been to release an album. Now thanks to their new record label ABC Music the ladies have had that opportunity after two long years writing and recording.

“The ABC team is a small team but they’re all really hard working and they love our music so we’re really excited to have signed with them,” said Hannah. “It’s also very exciting for my parents because it’s something they can point at and say ‘oh my god she’s on a record label and doing something with her life!’”

To celebrate this moment the band are continuing to work incredibly hard, touring around the country and world, with a show in Sydney next week. This show will be an extra special one as they will be performing in their home town with a full band for the very first time.

“A lot of these songs were written with a full band in mind so you’ll get to hear the album to its fullest, and we really couldn’t be prouder of these songs,” added Hannah.

Oct 13, 8pm. Oxford Art Factory, 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst. $20+b.f.

Tickets & info: www.oxfordartfactory.com

Jordie Lane – Glassellland

There is truth in this album, the kind of truth that lives between the walls, invisible to the eye, threading through the masonry and holding them up.

Organic and earthy, this album is the result of talent and experimentation without fear or design.

It lacks nothing for lack of design. Glassellland has substance and whimsical lyrics, unity, and that responding beat in the chest of every listener.

These mini stories reside in a full bottle of tequila and the bellies of friends and new acquaintances sharing a drink, causing happiness and sadness with equal measure.

Listeners will smile and click and let a tear roll from the lashes to the chin before they wipe it away. They will listen and enjoy that bittersweet sad streaked knowledge. They will listen and they will hear the invisible things in the walls. (SP) WWW

THE NAKED CITY

Five Stars For Your Appendectomy!

With Coffin Ed They’re calling it the ‘Tripadvisor’ for medical procedures with the expansion of the Australian ‘Whitecoat’ website to include ‘reviews’ of doctors and specialists.

These reviews will initially be nonclinical, with only those doctors agreeing to take part being listed.

However eventually the website might go further with ‘restaurant’style patient reviews of their own clinical outcomes.

Given that the website is run by private health insurance companies like NIB, Bupa and HCF, the AMA has expressed their concerns about the increasing influence of the insurance industry with many health professionals speaking out against the concept of being rated publicly on the internet.

With sites like Tripadvisor itself already under scrutiny in recent months for the posting of bogus reviews, a medical version does appear like another Pandora’s box of

potential misinformation, unfair labelling and even slander. Nevertheless with consumers regularly posting internet reviews on everything from fleabag hotels to the handyman who assembled their Ikea flat pack, it all seems horribly inevitable.

Which is probaly just an excuse to post my own ‘horror hospital’ story, following a pedestrian accident in the inner city back in the eartly 2000’s. I’d been bowled over on a crossing by a driver who failed to stop at a red light and who was ironically driving a busload of disabled people at the time.

Carted off in an ambulance to a nearby hospital, I was severely concussed, in considerable pain and feeling like I had just been crash tackled by the entire forward pack of the Canberra Raiders.

At the hospital there was an agonizing one hour wait, without any medication, before I was finally admitted to a makeshift ward. I was wearing a brand new woollen jumper which was quickly removed by an over-zealous intern via a lethal pair of scissors and then moved off to X-Ray.

Diagnosed with a broken shoulder I was fitted with a sling, given a couple of Panadols and told abruptly that I would be going home in an hour as vacant beds were desperately needed.

Less than 45 minutes later and still incredibly dizzy, I was helped out of my cot by a nurse and instructed to get dressed. After almost passing out I was back in the bed with a lukewarm cup of tea and another 60-minute deadline to get the hell out of there. Finally back on my feet I shuffled out to the foyer of the hospital where I asked the desk attendant if they could call me a cab. My phone had gone dead and it was now around 1.00am.

“We’re not running a five star hotel here you know,” were the words of the almost hostile desk attendant, “you can grab a taxi in the street outside”. With my jumper shredded and a cold winter’s wind blowing, I stood shivering in the street, waiting for a taxi to come – all the time feeling that I was about to pass out at any moment.

Taxis were scarce and the wait seemed interminable. Finally after about 15 minutes of near hypothermia, one finally appeared. I motioned to flag it down but before I could it was intercepted by a young doctor and his friend, the very doctor who had treated me a few hours ago.

When another taxi did finally arrive I was feeling that crook that I almost asked the driver to take me to the nearest hospital. Home in bed, feeling like I had just spent the last twenty four hours in the belly of a concrete mixer, I began to reflect on the state of the NSW public health system. I scribbled out an abusive letter to the head honcho at he hospital but quickly trashed it in the bin. Had an open slather Whitecoat site existed at the time, God only knows what fury I would have unleashed!

Stuart Miller – Gold Photographer Stuart Miller pokes fun and despairs as it lays bare advertising as omnipresent and suffuse. In Gold, Miller captures large scale portraits of objects and people coated in liquid gold. He writes that his technique highlights “the everyday smothering of who is

beautiful, what to consume and what should be considered valuable convinces people who in this world has privilege, who holds power and who does not.”

Dripped onto his subjects of choice – which include a gun, a cigarette, a banana and a penis – the rich, gloamy gold seems to reveal patterns. He performs a sort of topography with fluid, gilding surfaces in liquid gold to highlight, or maybe to generate, their inequities, pits and hills.Working as a diagnostic tool, epidemiological tool, the languorous drip of the gold onto flesh feels epochal, ancient and choking.

In some of the photographs, a gilded woman walks through a forest. Standing against a tree, hands templed and looking upwards, she seems caught in prayer. In another photo, the same woman, still in the woods, looks to the sky.

Spotlighting suggests that her prayer has been answered, and, perhaps, in the darkened low lying area in the image’s bottom right is some way out of the trap. Some way to wash off the gold... (ZS) Until Oct 9. Black Eye Gallery, 3/138 Darlinghust Road, Darlinghurst.

Info: www.blackeyegallery.com.au

Amy Ellen Schleif – Seeing

In her latest collection, artist Amy Ellen Schleif continues to push the conceptual and physical limits of her glasswork practice. Originally from Michigan in the United States, Amy has been working with glass since 1999. She relocated to Canberra in 2007 to pursue her work at the acclaimed ANU Glass Workshop.

“For a number of years now, I have been exploring what spiritual space may look like at any given time. I work to consider how our emotions and perspective impact what this space may look like. As these human states are in a constant state of change, then it would make sense that our spiritual spaces are also in a constant state of change,” explained Amy. In Seeing, Amy pursues these themes through the use of colour layering and reflections – the works begin to reveal themselves over a period of time.

The artist also incorporates reclaimed and everyday objects into her practice, as she explained: “They act as a vehicle that provides a sense of comfort, an immediately recognisable object, for the viewer to consider the more confronting ideas of the work...”

“I think the principal feature that draws me to work with glass is its complexity, both visually and technically,” said Amy. “Glass can present some interesting challenges both visually and technically. In a visual sense, it can be paradoxical in that it can focus the viewers attention by providing a “looking glass” to what is beyond and block the viewer from seeing past the surface with it’s reflection of light. In this exhibition at FOSTERED, I work to manipulate this complexity.”

(AM) Until Oct 20. FOSTERED, Level 4, 74-84 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills.

Info: www.fostered.com.au or www.southheadstudio.wixsite.com/amy-ellen-schleif-

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Antenna Documentary Film Festival 2016 They Call Us Monsters

TOP PICKS The Age Of Consequences: Takes a terrifying look at the nexus between climate change and global conflict - the film interviews Pentagon insiders and war zone veterans and builds a picture of a series of humanitarian catastrophes, asking: does climate change lead to war?

Do Not Resit: Against a backdrop of burning cars and tear gas in Ferguson following the police killing of Michael Brown, this film tackles the rapid militarisation of police forces.

They Call Us Monsters: Takes us for the first time inside The Compound, a high-security juvenile jail in California that holds youths who are being tried as adults for violent crimes.

Oct 11–16. Palace Cinemas, Blank Space Gallery & MCA. $16-$155 (10 film pass).

Tickets & info: www.antennafestival.org

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Tim Burton has come to be known as somewhat of an enigma with his eccentric film style, so when Ransom Rigg’s 2011 young adult novel popped up as an option to adapt for screen it made perfect

sense that Burton would be chosen to direct. Sadly however this film is closer to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory than it is to Edward Scissorhands in regards to its level of polish and audience impact.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children tells the story of Jacob, a 16-year-old misfit struggling to make sense of life after the death of his grandfather.

Along the way he uncovers some fantastical information about his grandfather which sets him off on an time-travelling, magical journey.

Unfortunately the scrip is clunky, slow and plodding as it attempts to shoehorn in a coming of stage story whilst also laying all of the foundations for this new fantasy world. We’re not even gifted with a thrilling climactic final battle following all of this slow tension building, which will undoubtably leave many in the audience walking out dissatisfied. (JA) WW

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caused one of the worst ecological disasters in history.

Deepwater Horizon the film embodies the rudderless and directionless oil rig that shares its name following the explosion. In terms of narrative and message it is hard to tell what Berg wanted to convey, at times the film is focused on the heroics of crew members but then at other moments it appears to be trying to convey a much deeper message of the consequences of greed, which leaves it feeling incredibly superficial.

The two men who brought us Lone Whilst the cinematography, action Survivor, Mark Wahlberg and director sequences and Wahlberg’s portrayal of Peter Berg, join forces yet again to tell us the ‘everyman’ electrical engineer are another ‘true story’. This time they focus on impressive, it is easy to become disoriented, the 2010 offshore oil rig explosion on the (which may have been by design?) during Deepwater Horizon, which saw 11 crew Deepwater Horizon. (JA) members lose their lives and subsequently WW1/2

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Antenna offers a rare opportunity to see the very best in documentary cinema from the furthest corners of the world right on your doorstep in one superbly curated festival.This year’s edition of the festival is the most ambitious to date with 39 features from 18 countries, 14 shorts and six Virtual Reality experiences.

Festival director David Rokach’s carefully curated program aims to provide Sydney with a diverse selection of films which push boundaries and tell compelling stories, whether that be climate change, racial tension or incredibly personal stories.

“We have watched over 1000 films this year through a call for submission process and also attended international film festivals around the world to curate what we believe represents what is happening in documentary cinema today, as well as what is happening in the real world.Antenna is a festival which for 6 intensive days - people are watching and talking and breathing documentaries.” Rokach explained. (JA)

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