SYDNEY’S UNDERGROUND SCENES – Get under that radar
By Emrys Quin
The sheer depth and variety of Sydney’s underground artistic endeavors can be somewhat staggering to many – often I find myself asking ‘how can I get involved?’ or ‘where can I find the most wonderfully bizarre underground performance in town?’ and the short reply is ‘ask’.
Artists are a great source and are more than happy to share information about upcoming events. However this raises the question, ‘where do I find that first show?’ Having seen an eclectic mix of performances this month, I believe I have had a revelation.
Cyrus Bezyan, stand-up comedian and member of Sydney University’s comedy club, Project 52, gave a brief taste of his upcoming Fringe show ‘I Like Being Conscious’ (Factory Theatre, 21-24 Sept) at Sydney Uni’s Cellar Theatre earlier this month.
Cyrus Bezyan
Discussing Project 52 after the show Bezyan said, ‘it’s organizations like Project 52 that experiment and push the limits with a different comedy show every week, ranging from improv to sketch comedy and stand up… and it’s growing’.
Project 52 is dedicated to presenting comedy on a weekly basis, check out Hermann’s Bar, opposite Sydney Uni, every Wednesday night for a taste. This was voted ‘Best Comedy Night Out’ by Time Out magazine in 2011.
Caravan Slam is a monthly event held usually at venues around the inner-west, its next incarnation is at Camelot Lounge Wednesday 21st of September, kicking off at 7pm. Slam Poetry is a relatively new art form, and many questions have been flung at me when I mention I partake in a bit of slam poetry – ‘it’s hip hop without beats’ is one of my favourite definitions.
But from what I’ve seen, Slam Poetry is spoken word – fast or slow, somber or jubilant. At its pinnacle, it is assonance-obsessed, yet the language is extremely accessible. For more information on slam poetry, go see it!
More recently I’ve been making efforts to see some performance art from the abstract end of the spectrum. For example, my flatmate and I spent an hour watching possibly one of the most anomalous pieces of art being created. Anomalous because essentially a woman squatting over plain paper created some images which were undeniably alluring and incongruously colourful, particularly when the artist splattered the liquid with food dye.
Fans of Abstract Expressionism would have been especially pleased. Simultaneously an audio-visual piece was playing in the back of the Peloton gallery featuring, in brief, a woman continuously screaming at a sunset.
When asked what the piece was about, artist Julia Rochford simply replied “I just felt like screaming at shit” and that, in my opinion, is pretty cool. Pretty cool because there isn’t a blind adherence to overzealous pretention or the ‘it’s about society’ line – it’s humanity, it’s there, it’s blunt and it forces you to deal with it.
Peloton Gallery is located at 19 Meagher Street Chippendale and is hosting an array of similar performances all through September as part of its ‘Performance Month’. Check out their website at https://peloton.net.au/