2005 marks the 20th year of Melbourne
International Arts Festival, and my first as
your new Artistic Director. Hence, I am not
exactly certain who is welcoming whom, but
I am honoured to be here and acknowledge
all who have worked to make this Festival so
astonishing – past and present.
Welcome
www.melbournefestival.com.au
The Melbourne International Arts Festival
has a long and colourful history in
Victoria. First staged in 1986, this critically
acclaimed event has grown into one of
the most popular and accessible arts
celebrations in Australia.
Each year, the Festival attracts some
of the most innovative theatre,
dance, opera, literature and visual arts
performers from both here and across
the globe – as well thousands of local,
interstate and overseas visitors.
It has become an essential part of our
State’s social, economic and cultural
fabric and is rated among the world’s
premier arts events.
The Melbourne International Arts Festival
continues to draw record crowds and this
year – under the guidance of new artistic
director Kristy Edmunds – it promises to
reach even greater heights.
So take a look through this guide and find
out how you, your family and your friends
can be involved in celebrating 20 years of
the Melbourne International Arts Festival.
This year Melbourne International Arts
Festival celebrates 20 years and I encourage
you to participate in one of the highlights
of our cultural calendar.
A packed program has been planned for
the 17 days of the Festival, with some of the
world’s top contemporary artists visiting
Melbourne. Once again Victorian artists
will perform alongside international artists
and connect with the global arts scene.
Kristy Edmunds’ first program presents
wonderful, engaging and challenging
works across all art forms. It offers a rare
opportunity to experience the very best in
local and international contemporary art.
Providing all Australians with access to
diverse and inspiring arts experiences
is a key focus of Creative Capacity+, the
Victorian Government’s ten year policy for
the arts.
I invite you to experience an inspiring
artistic event that continues to secure our
state’s place on the world’s cultural map.
Mary Delahunty
Minister for the Arts
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to
the 2005 Melbourne International Arts
Festival. The cultural capital of Australia
is once again ready for some of the best
national and international artists to
converge. With over 65 events in the city
– involving music, dance, theatre, visual
arts, and exciting combinations of all the
art forms – there is something for everyone
to enjoy.
Melburnians love accessibility as well
as innovation, and our Festival supplies
more than enough to satisfy all. Under
the helm of new Artistic Director Kristy
Edmunds, this year’s program draws from
talents around the world and will reward
the adventurous.
A great program of free events again
focuses on Federation Square, and the
kids will discover their own special
Festival experience at ArtPlay in Birrarung
Marr. Galleries around the city are also
hosting free exhibitions by Australian and
international artists.
For 17 days, the city celebrates, probes,
laughs and ponders as our premier arts
event enjoys its 20th year. Enjoy the best
in the arts, in the nation’s city of the arts!
Steve Bracks MP
Premier
John So
Lord Mayor
Planning a Trip to the 2005 Melbourne International Arts Festival?
To arrange all your travel needs call Qantas
on 13 13 13. For the best accomodation,
stay at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne (see
p64 for details). For the best seats to
Melbourne International Arts Festival
events call Ticketmaster on 1300 136 166.
www.melbournefestival.com.au
For further information on how to make
the most of your time in Melbourne, go to
visitvictoria.com or call 13 28 42.
The projects on offer address the global
subject matter of our time, in the
independent voices of artists. For some
people, these artists are considered icons,
others rebels, and to others still they are
visionaries. Perhaps a combination of all
three. What I would say is that all are
generous of imagination, and are all creative
mavericks who have left the established
terrain to expand our individual horizons.
They ask us to take a journey, and for 17 days
and nights that’s what the Festival sets into
4–6 Free things to see throughout
the Festival
4 Looking Up, Looking Out,
Looking In
5 Ride-In Movies
6 Red Shoe Delivery Service
7–20 Opening Weekend
7 Saburo Teshigawara – Green
8 Weyreap’s Battle
(Cambodian Classical Dance)
9 Forced Entertainment –
Bloody Mess
10 Jon Rose – Pannikin
11 IRAA Theatre – Private Eye
11 Justin Harris – Theatre for One
12 The Odyssey
13 Diamanda Galás –
Defixiones: Orders from the Dead
13 Diamanda Galás – Songs of Exile
14 Victoria Hanna in Concert
15 Robyn Archer & Paul Grabowsky –
i protest!
16 Back to Back Theatre –
Small Metal Objects
17 bird@3000
18-19 Lone Twin
20 Chunky Move –
I Want to Dance Better at Parties
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Week Two of the Festival
Ryoji Ikeda – C4I
Ryoji Ikeda – formula [ver.2.3]
Bruce Mowson – InfraCinema
20 Years of Poetica at La Mama
On the Edge of Sunset Series week one
– Contemporary Chamber Music from
Australia
Oogly Boogly
Théâtre du Soleil –
Le Dernier Caravansérail
Ngapartji Ngapartji
Meow Meow – Beyond Glamour: The
Absinthe Tour
Shen Wei Dance Arts –
Rite of Spring/Folding
Jant-Bi – Fagaala
Anne Bogart & SITI Company –
Death and the Ploughman
Berggasse 19 – The Appartments of
Sigmund Freud
La Clique… A Sideshow Burlesque
Shelley Lasica – Play in a Room
36–45 The Festival’s Final week
36 On the Edge of Sunset Series week two
– New Music from Around the World
38 Ten O’Clock Classics at the Spiegeltent
38 David Young – Thousands of Bundled
Straw
39 Amajuba
40 Richard Maxwell’s New York City
Players – Good Samaritans
41 Stephen Petronio Company –
The Gotham Suite
44 Philip Glass solo concert
45 Orion
42–43 On the Cusp
42 Red Stitch Actors Theatre –
The Night Season
42 Felix Listens to the World– Gilgamesh
43 MSO & Rawcus – Collisions
43 Michalis Hatzigiannis in Concert
motion – an enthusiastic engagement with
the world heritage of contemporary artistic
activity, to be traversed and explored in
Melbourne.
Melbourne International Arts Festival 2005
is most certainly about contemporary artists,
and about counting on this exceptional
community to engage us. It’s about art
and civic life, questions, play and wonder,
catching the moment, being awake, leaning
forward, and extending our curiosity as a
state of being.
Kristy Edmunds
Artistic Director
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2005 Visual Arts Program
Martin Creed – The Lights Off
Fiona Tan – Saint Sebastian
Callum Morton – Babylonia
Daniele Puppi – Fatica #27
51 Xu Zhen – The last few mosquitoes
51 3015/CLUBSproject –
mixMedia TRIP
51 Van Sowerine – Sharper than a
Serpent’s Tooth
52 Awards and Benefits
52 Indigenous Art Awards
52 Stacey Night at the Festival
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Up Close and Personal
In Conversation
Lectures and Workshops
Richard Maxwell’s New York City
Players – Showcase
54–56
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Clubs and After the Show Fun
Festival Kids Club @ ArtPlay
The Famous Spiegeltent
Wrap Party
57–76
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Other important information
Sponsor Pages
Access Information
FAQs
Having trouble choosing what events
to see? Try these navigated experiences
Festival Planner
Booking Information & Conditions
Booking Form
20 Years of the Festival – the book
Staff List
Funding Bodies
Festival Patrons
Sponsor Acknowledgments
Map of Festival Venues
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www.melbournefestival.com.au
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