Posts

Posted on

MEAA Members for Palestine

Today a new group of rank-and-file members of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance have published an open letter standing in solidarity with Palestine against genocide.

Please read, sign and share our letter here. There’s also a link to join the union if you’re not already a member, and to follow us on socials.

Square social tile that says "MEAA Members for Palestine > Read our open letter" in black text on a white window, with a green background. A round handdrawn logo shows the Palestinian flag surrounded by the text "MEAA Members for Palestine".

Our letter has also been published today in Overland, where it stands alongside statements from artists, academics, booksellers and other groups who bear witness to the insidious and escalating censorship taking place in all areas of culture when it comes to Palestine. And of course Overland has published lots of great Palestinian writing over the years, and was the first publication in Australia to sign onto the MEAA Freelance Charter of Rights. They’ve been copping a lot of abuse for their position so please also subscribe and support Overland if you can.

Posted on

I’ve been to a parallel world | Melbourne Conversations

On Wednesday night, I’m doing a talk with an excellent bunch of people, hosted by The Parallel Effect as part of Melbourne Conversations. A moment of collective otherworldly imagination between actions. Also it’s free and there’s catering!

L to R: Caroline Bowditch, Jinghua Qian, Zena Cumpston & Georgina Woods.

I’ve been to a parallel world
Wednesday 8 November 2023
6:00 pm to 7:30 pm
The Wheeler Centre, 167 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Free – book here
Full event info including accessibility details here

What if you could learn from a person who has been to another world? This event takes the premise at the heart of The Parallel Effect project – that an untold number of universes exist alongside each other –  and invites you to gain direct access to some of our reality’s most fascinating thinkers as they describe the histories, structures and systemic workings of the parallel worlds they have visited, in detail.

Posted on

Worth While | Public Art Park

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a speculative time travel roleplaying game at Queen Vic Market!

For the last couple of months I’ve been doing this very cute public art residency with a whole bunch of folks, over at the new Testing Grounds site next to Queen Victoria Market. Basically every Thursday we hear a talk, make lunch together, then chat about art and capitalism and ecology and whatnot while we eat. Then we have a play and test out our ideas on each other. We all arrived with a rough idea of something we wanted to do for Public Art Park, but I think everyone’s work has changed a bit through the process of chopping tomatoes and sipping endless cups of coffee.

I’ve been collaborating with Mick and we wanted to make something fun and spiky – something that pokes breathing holes in how we think about cost, value and the market, that also has space for different feelings. Softness and silliness and homesickness. The smell of fish and the squish of a persimmon. So somehow we ended up with time travel.

Worth While is a live-action time travel game exploring what value really is.

Take on a new identity as a traveller from the year 2100. Go through a time machine to the market in 2023 where you can hunt for bargains and treasures to take home to the future. Then show and tell your fellow travellers what you found so you can pass through customs.

We look backwards to taking you to the past!

We’re running three sessions on Sunday 15 October and you can get your free tickets here.

And check out the full program of Public Art Park ’23 – there’s lots of cool stuff from a slow walking race to cooking workshops.

Posted on

The Drop-In | State Library Victoria

Super excited to announce that the State Library is supporting The Drop-In, my advice program for emerging writers.

We’re running two sessions online (one with guest cohost Arlie Alizzi, editor at Magabala and one of my fave essayists) and two onsite at SLV. Come along to pick our brains and ask all your burning questions about writing, editing, and getting paid and published!

The Drop-In is open to all, with priority for First Nations, trans/nonbinary/genderfluid and international student writers. Places are limited so register asap.

Graphic banner for The Drop-In with writer and editor Jinghua Qian. Background is yellow lined paper with graphics of scrunched up paper.

More info about how The Drop-In works here.

The Drop-In at State Library Victoria
Session 1 (Studio 1, SLV): Saturday 23 September 2023, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Session 2 (Studio 1, SLV): Saturday 23 September 2023, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Session 3 (online): Sunday 24 September 2023, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Session 4 (online): Sunday 24 September 2023, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
State Library Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.
Free | Register your interest here

Posted on

Audio histories gone wild

I just realised that I had this post sitting in drafts for more than a year after I posted my first ‘Friends of Underfoot‘ roundup! Well, it’s never too late. If you’re into audio journeys, hyperlocal history, site-specific art and Underfoot, here are some other projects to check out:

Six Walks

Six Walks is a series of audio walking tours that was commissioned by the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) in 2020 as part of the multi-platform project Who’s Afraid of Public Space?

I think Underfoot fans will particularly enjoy Episode 5 with Timmah Ball, ‘Exploding the Maribyrnong‘.

Yalinguth

Yalinguth is a mobile app that delivers an augmented audio experience reflecting the oral storytelling tradition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Queerways Melbourne

Queer-ways maps the queer cartography of Australia, combining the queer stories and voices of past and present into a permanent, interactive record of being queer in Australia. It’s curated by Luciano and Georgia Keats and supported by the Australian Queer Archive and there’s also a delicious interactive map you can add your own footprint to.

A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects

Another beautiful queer history project with a place-making focus, this project was commissioned by Heritage Victoria and it’s full of intriguing surprises.

Oscillations

Speaking of history through objects, here’s one I loved being part of: Powerhouse’s Oscillations six-part series, which takes unassuming objects in the collection as departure points for all sorts of reflections and investigations. Listen at the link above or view the illustrated transcripts on the Powerhouse website.

Posted on

Unison Symposium | West Space

I’m doing a reading of my infamous anti-grant essay at West Space’s Unison Symposium next week, which features a whole heap of artists: Aida Azin, Archie Barry, Torika Bolatagici, Gabi Briggs, Sebastian Henry-Jones, Indra Liusuari, Lisa Radford, Diego Ramirez, Leen Rieth, Iran Sanadzadeh, Chloë Sobek, Aziz Sohail, Salote Tawale, Star Wanyama and me.

Unison Symposium
Saturday 5 August 2023
11 am to 3 pm
Music Market, Collingwood Yards
2/35 Johnston Street, Collingwood VIC 3066
$20/$12/free | book here

Image shows a white gallery room with natural coloured floor boards, hanging with varied artworks including a large textile with black diamond patterns and several digital screens.

Unison, a group exhibition curated by Sebastian Henry-Jones, West Space, Collingwood Yards, 2023. Installation view. Photo: Janelle Low.

Posted on

Indelible City & Who Needs the ABC? | Willy Lit Fest

I’m presenting a couple of sessions at Willy Lit Fest next weekend: First, an in-conversation with writer and podcaster Louisa Lim (Indelible City) about resistance and heartbreak in Hong Kong, then a panel with academic Matthew Ricketson (Who Needs the ABC?) and broadcaster, comedian and commentator Sami Shah about the role of the ABC and the future of public broadcasting. So come west! You can also catch me at EWF’s Club Critique the day before.

Indelible City
Sunday 17 June 2023
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
The Chamber, Williamstown Town Hall
104 Ferguson Street, Williamstown, 3016
$20 concession/$22 full/book here

Who Needs the ABC?
Sunday 17 June 2023
3 pm to 4 pm
The Supper Room, Williamstown Town Hall
104 Ferguson Street, Williamstown, 3016
$20 concession/$22 full/book here

Posted on

Review: Loaded, Malthouse Theatre

For The Saturday Paper, I reviewed the long-awaited stage adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’ Loaded which is playing at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne.

Danny Ball plays Ari in Malthouse Theatre’s 2023 production of Loaded. Photo: TS Pubicity / Tamarah Scott.

Ari’s casual assertion that he’s a wog, not white, scorns millennia of Western empires claiming Greek epistemology as an intellectual forebear while systemically deorientalising it. This feels particularly salient for how homoeroticism in Greek antiquity is absorbed into the lineage of anglophone gay culture today. That troubled relationship to history and lineage is also a recurring trope in migrant narratives, as the point of origin recedes into a romantic homeland fading into the horizon, or becomes a risk and a burden, a chorus of voices clamouring for tribute. Or a third thing: a ship with new parts but the same name.

It’s really interesting to see all the different iterations of this story (I also reviewed the audio play in 2020) and be pushed to tease apart my responses and figure out what’s in the work vs what’s changed in the world or the presentation context or my point of view. A good exercise as a critic!

Posted on

Club Critique | Emerging Writers’ Festival


And further on criticism, I’m chairing this panel at Emerging Writers’ Festival and the National Writers’ Conference featuring Prithvi Varatharajan, Dan Hogan, Jess Ho and Vyshnavee Wijekumar.

How and why should one write deeply engaged, contemplative, and authentic criticism? From literature to food, music to screen, join these writers as they consider the purpose and scope of criticism, the role criticism plays in the arts, as well as hopes and ambitions for the future of the form.

Club Critique
Saturday 17 June 2023
12:30pm to 1:30 pm AEST
Online via Zoom with closed captioning, Auslan on request
Book here

Also if you’re an arts critic or editor in Australia, you can add yourself to the Critical Mass database I made to help media outlets access a more diverse pool of critics.

Promo graphic with Club Critique in pink all-caps text over a purple background. Emerging Writers' Festival logo and website in green and white at the bottom of the square.
Posted on

Finalist for the Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism!

The Walkey Foundation announced their finalists for the 2023 Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism today and I’m shortlisted for the Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism alongside Catriona Menzies-Pike and Christopher Allen! How thrilling!

The piece that’s nominated is my review of Chinese theatremaker Wang Chong’s solo show at the Malthouse, Made in China 2.0. So many great critics have won this prize in past years, including Anwen Crawford, Jeff Sparrow, Sarah Krasnostein, and my editor for this piece and so many others, Alison Croggon. It feels like an unthinkable privilege just to write criticism at all, let alone get recognised for it, so I’m really startled, chuffed, blushing, beaming.