Sunday Arts Magazine

26 Mar 2017

Love:Art of Emotion, a play at Metanoia, Like Literally,Tangible

Arts, Comedy, LGBTIQ, Performing Arts, Society & Culture, Sports & Recreation, TV & Film, Visual Arts

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Love:Art of Emotion, a play at Metanoia, Like Literally,Tangible

David and Brendan are in today and have gallery exhibitions and comedy looming large in their interviews with guests. One form of comedy is within a play but they also have a famous comedian who has a show in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF). Our hosts will be asking him–is comedy an artform?

Brendan reviews the new film Beauty and the Beast which is a remake of the 1991 animated film and has a much publicised gay character. Our hosts talk about Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame. She is an independent, feisty and more modern heroine. Brendan thought the film was beautiful and magical–4stars.

There are 4 interviews this week and our guests talk about their own journey to where they are now as well as a current event, show or exhibition. Along with inside stories, interesting anecdotes and descriptions.

Special guests this week include:

11:51 to 33:09 mins–Curator Dr Angela Hesson is here to talk about an upcoming FREE exhibition at the NGV called Love: Art of Emotion 1400–1800 on at NGV International from 31 March to 18 June. She got her BA and PhD in Arts at Melbourne Uni and went on to lecture in Arts there as well as do research. At present Angela is mostly curating at NGV due to a collaboration between them, Melbourne Uni and a research centre called The ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (CHE) which has ‘nodes’ in Universities. She explains the function of the CHE which essentially is to give us a broader understanding of the way emotions are expressed and understood. Angela and our hosts discuss her research, the rich history of art and sexuality in different eras. She also talks about how she put the exhibition together including depictions of many forms of love, and objects ‘infused with feeling’ such as clothing,textiles, jugs, jewellery and furniture. She then details some of the exhibits. Exhibitions also need cohesion and a sense of narrative or trajectory–in this case having love as a cycle with Anticipation, Realisation and Remembrance. Along with this exhibition there is an extensive publication, public programs and a special symposium (4 to 6 May).

34:05 to 53:06 mins–Theatre-maker Gorkem Acaroglu has been to JOY before and is part of the team at Metanoia Theatre at the Mechanics Institute in Brunswick. Metanoia is an artist-led company that creates and directs diverse and boundary-pushing theatre and performance experiences. She talks about past work such as the live art 24-Hour Experience in Ballarat (and Melbourne) and the Milk Bars installation/experiential piece at the Mechanics Institute. Their latest venture is a bit different. It’s an Argentinian play, a comedy, called The Omission of the Coleman Family on from 12 to 22 April at the Mechanics Institute in Brunswick. It is directed by Gorkem but in collaboration with the actors; and it is part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF). The play is about a crazy, obsessive family which is falling apart–only held together by the grandmother. Once she becomes ill, the play looks at what keeps the family together. Despite the absurdity and outlandishness of the family, it is actually very relatable. It is not a ‘light’ comedy but is very funny in its absurdity and is universal in its themes. **Gorkem then announced that Metanoia will be leaving The Mechanics Institute soon. They want to take theatre out to places you don’t usually find it. They want theatre without walls. Gorkem gives some examples of some future work.

53:26 to 1:17:41 mins–Famous comedian Lawrence Mooney is here to entertain us, give us food for thought and also talk about his show Like Literally on from 29 March to 23 April. This is also part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF). Our hosts immediately hit Lawrence with the question–Is comedy an artform? Lawrence defines art as ‘something that can remove you from the everyday life’ and ‘articulates something that your heart is unable to articulate’. It makes the intangible tangible. He thinks the BEST comedy can do that, like the best theatre! So the answer to the questions sounds like a YES. Lawrence then talks about his comedy writing process, usually starting in the middle, and his theatre background which eventually led into stand-up comedy when he saw a brilliant comedian at Melbourne Uni. His first gig went so well it reinforced his resolve to do stand-up comedy. As we know, he went on to a successful career and also moved into a wider media career including an appearance on a pre-game panel show for the historic AFLW final. He is very supportive of women’s football, the LGBTIQ community and equality for all. As for his show Like Literally, it started from a publisher asking if he wanted to write a memoir! He agreed and then had to decide what stories went in and what went out and do they stand up to his heroes. That is the premise of the show.

1:18:51 to 1:32:15 mins–Artist Jason Moad has got an Exhibition at Fox Gallery in Collingwood called Tangible on until 15 April. Jason tells us about the owner of the gallery, Michael Fox, who he first met in Brisbane where he had another Fox gallery. They met again in Melbourne when Jason needed an Arts Accountant. He considers Michael a very conscientious and trustworthy art dealer and gallery director. Jason started painting fulltime when his wife got a fulltime job in Melbourne, and they moved here, about 10 years ago. He talks about how he feels about Melbourne in regard to his art and arts generally. He calls himself a realist painter and talks about his ‘labour-intensive’ way of producing his paintings. Each painting takes about 3-4 weeks to finish. The background colours in his paintings are very vibrant and presently his subjects are usually objects he has in his living room– such as a stack of books or a skull. The theme of his body of work is about residual media and our connection to physical objects; because the digital revolution has moved in the opposite direction and things are so ephemeral now. He feels that is a poorer experience of culture when you cannot touch or feel a physical object. Jason and David discuss examples of this in their experience. Jason expects he will continue on this theme in his artwork for the foreseeable future.

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