Concrete Playground

art free Lucien Alperstein: Every Time

Wednesday, 23rd May - Sunday, 27th May
@ The Tate

The Toxteth Hotel's art space continues to impress with this exhibition of engaging old-school photography.

art free Recycled Library: Altered Books

Friday, 1st June - Friday, 22nd June
@ State Library of NSW

Print is dead! Long live print! These artists have carved into books, metaphorically and literally.

art free amaZINE Zine Fair

Sunday, 24th June - 11AM
@ Gallery: 5 Crown Lane

A day trip to Wollongong's literary creations.

film Beauty

Thursday, 2nd August - Wednesday, 29th August
@ Various cinemas

The Cannes' Queer Palm winner is a disturbing study of a man dealing with his closet racism and homosexuality.

film Elena

Thursday, 21st June - Tuesday, 10th July
@ Cinemas Everywhere

A modern-day Russian fairytale with a relatable, repugnant core.

art Secret Walls

Wednesday, 13th June - 6PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

Two artists, a blank wall, an hour and some markers. Fight!

art free Kare Martens: Homeward

Wednesday, 6th June - Saturday, 30th June
@ A-M Gallery

The strange and lonely life of men at sea made tender.

art free Mostly Agree

Friday, 22nd June - Saturday, 21st July
@ Stills Gallery

Photography and installation about the slow time from nine to five.

art free 18th Biennale of Sydney

Wednesday, 27th June - Sunday, 16th September
@ All around Sydney

The joy of the Biennale is that it disproves that much beloved myth: that contemporary art is inaccessible, irritating and elitist. Thousands of pilgrims will ferry over to Cockatoo Island, once an industrial graveyard and now a premier entertainment and tourist precinct, and a work of art in and of itself. Not just a three-month exhibition and program of artist talks, performances, forums and film screenings (all free, might I add), the Biennale is also a link to that global art world which can often feel so far away from Australia.

art free SafARI 2012

Friday, 22nd June - Sunday, 15th July
@ All around Sydney

An artist-run art safari.

art free Creative Lane

Saturday, 30th June - 11AM
@ Gaffa Gallery

A market of handmade treasures from local artists and designers.

art free play Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan: In-Habit: Project Another Country

Friday, 22nd June - Saturday, 25th August
@ Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation

Artists create a living, floating, migrant shantytown. From cardboard.

art ARTBAR with Eddie Sharp

Friday, 29th June - 7PM
@ Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

ARTBAR's second instalment is all about cinema.

art performing Applespiel Make a Band and Take On the Recording Industry

Wednesday, 25th July - Saturday, 28th July
@ CarriageWorks

A manufactured non-band playing non-music - don't fret, it's in the name of performance art.

art free music Analog

Friday, 13th July - 6PM
@ Tortuga Studios

A night of analog art and live music at this St Peters artists' studio.

performing Metamorphoses - Apocalypse Theatre Co and Bakehouse Theatre Co

Saturday, 21st July - Thursday, 1st January
@ PACT Theatre

A Tony Award-winning play of Greek and Roman mythology comes to Erskineville.

art film free music performing think Time Machine Festival 2012

Wednesday, 18th July - Sunday, 29th July
@ Serial Space

An adventurous program of sound- and time-based art that includes workshops, talks, installations and gigs.

art music performing play ARTBAR curated by Jess Olivieri

Friday, 27th July - 7PM
@ Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Jess Olivieri riffs on the Biennale theme 'all our relations' with Wrong Solo and Karaoke Massage. And her mum.

think Michael Kirby on Law, Love and Life

Sunday, 29th July - 4PM
@ Drama Theatre, Opera House

The good, gracious, heart-wearing, and honourable former High Court judge continues to speak out.

play Truth or Dare Sydney

Tuesday, 28th August - 5PM
@ Australian Museum

Do you have the guts and goofiness to play NYC's favourite public game?

music performing play Jurassic Lounge

Tuesday, 28th August - 5PM - Tuesday, 30th October - 5PM
@ Australian Museum

The breakout hit of the 2011 after-hours scene returns with more intelligently curated nights at the Australian Museum. The new season line-up promises previews from the Sydney Underground Film Festival, a special queer culture night, a nerdy cosplay evening, and a sneak peek at the Sydney Fringe Festival.

performing play think Bites After Work: Campfire Collective Storytelling Night

Tuesday, 7th August - 6PM
@ Newtown Library

Real people telling real stories around the proverbial campfire.

film Bernie

Thursday, 16th August - Sunday, 16th September
@ Various Cinemas, Auckland

Black curbs his most irritating tendencies to give an endearing, convincing, and ultimately confounding performance.

film Bernie

Thursday, 16th August - Wednesday, 12th September
@ Various cinemas

Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine make a rare cinematic treat that embraces the oddity of small-town America.

art free John Fries Memorial Prize 2012

Saturday, 11th August - Saturday, 1st September
@ Gaffa

A 'pick and mix' of young contemporary visual artists compete for $10,000.

art free think Everything Falls Apart (Part II) at Artspace

Friday, 10th August - Sunday, 16th September
@ Artspace Visual Arts Centre

The words of the late, great Robert Hughes come to mind in an exhibition that asks the big questions.

art film performing play ARTBAR curated by Shaun Gladwell

Friday, 31st August - 7PM
@ Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

The video-maker, landscape-lover and official war artist takes over your Friday evening.

art free Double Take

Friday, 31st August - Monday, 2nd January
@ White Rabbit Gallery

The new show from the Sydney art world equivalent of wide-eyed, out-and-out pop music.

art free Shaun Gladwell: Broken Dance(Beatboxed)

Saturday, 25th August - Sunday, 21st October
@ Art Gallery of New South Wales, Level 2 Contemporary Projects Space

Flat-out great video art combining beatboxing and breakdancing.

film Sydney Underground Film Festival

Thursday, 6th September - Sunday, 9th September
@ Factory Theatre

A counterculture weekend of weird, wack, and unearthed cinephilia.

art free music performing play Friday Night Live: Art & About Opening Party

Friday, 21st September - 6PM
@ Martin Place

Galleries, bands, pop-up bars and food trucks get together for a late one.

art free play Art & About 2012

Friday, 21st September - Sunday, 21st October
@ Various

Here’s the lowdown for Art & About 2012: art doesn’t belong in galleries. It belongs in our cities and streets and in our everyday lives. Streets aren’t just for street artists, but all artists. And maybe all artists could be considered ‘street artists’, not just the ones with a graffiti vibe. This is a festival of art in unusual spaces, marshalling artists out of the silent white gallery and into stairwells, intersections, billboards and building facades.

art play Moveable Feast: Art & About Closing Night

Saturday, 20th October - 7PM
@ George St (Park to Bathurst)

The dream of a car-free George Street comes true - if only for one night.

art free Go Figure!

Saturday, 15th September - Saturday, 1st December
@ Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation

Our love affair with contemporary Chinese art rolls on thanks to portraiture that's both fun and political.

art music performing play think ARTBAR curated by Daniel Boyd

Friday, 28th September - 12PM
@ Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Catch video works, The Crayons, a Dreamtime Ink Australia tattoo parlour, and a panel discussing 'When I die bury me inside the Gucci store'.

free play Bites After Work: Storytelling 102

Tuesday, 16th October - 6PM
@ Glebe Library

Learn to tell real stories around the proverbial campfire.

art play ARTBAR curated by Nell

Friday, 26th October - 2AM
@ Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Nell takes over the MCA for a Halloween ARTBAR.

art Margaret Olley: Home

Saturday, 10th November - Monday, 1st April
@ Museum of Sydney

A celebration of the living, breathing art installation that was Margaret Olley's home.

art free Elizabeth Street Gallery

Monday, 12th November - Tuesday, 12th November
@ Elizabeth Street Gallery

Just a couple of weeks ago, the stretch of Elizabeth Street between Goulburn and Campbell was a "cultural chernobyl": one of the most God-forsaken, bricked-up eyesores in the CBD. Now a crew of professional photographers have unilaterally hijacked this carpark wall, installing a street gallery of 40 large-scale works.

art The 61st Blake Prize

Friday, 9th November - Sunday, 16th December
@ S.H. Ervin Gallery

A spiritual art prize loses its religion.

art free Passing Parade

Thursday, 22nd November - Thursday, 13th December
@ Alaska Projects

Alaska Projects' last 2012 show promises a hurricane of unblinking, raw, political art.

art free play Index 2012: Vertical Street Party

Tuesday, 27th November - 6PM
@ Building 6, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building

DAB's end of year show takes on all levels across a single UTS low-rise.

film Love Story

Thursday, 6th December - Thursday, 27th December
@ Selected Cinemas

A silly, sweet pseudo-documentary romantic comedy written on the fly by the people of New York.

art free Robin Clare: Badda dan dem star

Friday, 30th November - Sunday, 2nd December
@ China Heights Gallery

Art at the collision of painting, design and Jamaican dancehall popular culture.

art free Dobell Prize for Drawing

Friday, 30th November - Friday, 10th February
@ Art Gallery of New South Wales

Get back to art basics with Australia’s top shelf prize for drawing.

art film All The Way Through Evening

Friday, 2nd November - Wednesday, 5th December
@ Dendy Newtown

The story of the 1980s HIV/AIDS epidemic told via classical music.

art free Ripple Effect: Boomalli Founding Members

Friday, 23rd November - Sunday, 20th January
@ Boomalli Aboriginal Artists' Cooperative

Big names as this indigenous artists' collective celebrates 25 years.

music Beck Hansen's Song Reader

Wednesday, 19th December - 7PM
@ The Standard

The ever-ambitious, ever-irresolute Beck has a new high-concept project: his latest album, Song Reader, has been released as sheet music only. The 20 tracks will be brought to life by fans and musicians around the world and posted online, with the first local performance also raising money for the Sydney Story Factory.

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