Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s (TAC) creative theme for 2020 – Solastalgia – has striking new relevance as communities across the country come together to support one another in the face of destruction and dislocation.
TAC CEO Rauny Worm says their theme, a term coined by Australian environmental philosopher Dr Glenn Albrecht in 2005, describes the sense of loss or nostalgia we feel when our homes or environments change irreconcilably in the face of climate change or natural disaster.
The first exhibitions for 2020 will open as part of the arts centre’s official program launch event on Saturday 8 February.
The Burning, by Sydney Morning Herald photographer Nick Moir, captures the horrendous fires that continue to burn across the country.
In Fake Nature, artists Waratah Lahy and Tony Curran have separately produced contemporary approaches to the painted landscape through a technological gaze highlighting photographic, algorithmic and Web 2.0 sensibilities towards nature.
Visit tuggeranongarts.com.au for more information on their 2020 program.
Canberra REP tell an epic 20th century tale
Lauded as the best-selling book of 1939, it won its author John Steinbeck both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. However, it was also highly controversial.
Based on Steinbeck’s novel, adapted by Frank Galati and directed by Chris Baldock, Canberra REP’s upcoming production of The Grapes of Wrath will bring to life the powerful story of the Joad family’s trek from the dust bowl of Oklahoma to the promise of a new life in California.
They will take the stage from 14 to 29 February at the Canberra REP Theatre, Acton. It’s the local company’s first production for 2020.
This will mark Baldock’s fifth directorial role with REP. He is an award-winning Canberra director and actor, and operates the Mockingbird Theatrics Acting Company.
The Joad family are heading west in their own starving nation, but being treated at every moment like non-resident aliens.
A great 20th century story, the themes of this work are as relevant as ever today.
The Grapes of Wrath, presented by Canberra REP, will be performed at the Canberra REP Theatre, Acton, 14-19 February; canberrarep.org.au
2020 vision
Drawing together 16 artists, PhotoAccess’ Huw Davies Gallery’s first exhibition for this year, VIEW2020, presents challenging and diverse new work in analogue and digital photography, alternative processes, video and experimental photo-media.
As their annual emerging artists showcase, it features the best and brightest upcoming ACT and surrounding region’s photographers.
The 16 featured artists are all within the first three years of their practice, or within three years of returning to their practice after a break.
Together, they explore a wide range of photo-media and address questions of contemporary identity, the meaning of family, environmental degradation, the possibilities of public space and the challenges of negotiating a digital world.
The VIEW2020 exhibition is on display at the Huw Davies Gallery, Manuka, 30 January-29 February; photoaccess.org.au
