2023 Culture Guide: Summer’s hottest offerings

We’ve put together a summer program of festivals, exhibitions, films, and live shows to get you through this holiday season.

NGV Triennial, opening 3 December at NGV International, Melbourne. Picture: Eugene Hyland

Time off. Are there two words in the English language that look better together? They are a perfect complementary pair, much like “music festival”, “summer blockbuster” or “dirty martini”.

As December days get crossed from the calendar and the holiday break beckons, the excitement of a summer program of big days and even bigger nights builds. Then again, many of us are grateful for the chance to simply relax – to curl up with a great book, see that film with the Oscar buzz, or settle in to binge on a great new TV series.

Whatever the summer months mean to you – arms aloft in a mosh at a Stormzy gig, scoffing popcorn in an air-conditioned cinema, or ogling a brightly portentous inflatable octopus – you’ll find it here.

Arts and live shows

Kandinsky

Sydney, until Mar 10

Vasily Kandinsky 'Yellow painting' July 1938. Picture: AGNSW

Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky pioneered the abstract art movement. For the first time, thanks to the Art Gallery of NSW, a local audience is granted a comprehensive exhibition of his life’s work.

AGNSW had help curating this summer blockbuster from New York’s Guggenheim, which holds 150 of the artist’s works. The highlight of the show? Kandinsky’s 1923 piece Composition 8, wherein his interplay of colour and form and embrace of circular shapes ushered in one of his most lauded eras.

Fairy Tales

Brisbane, until Apr 28

Fairy Tales at the GOMA, Brisbane.

A sumptuous mash-up of contemporary art, costume design and cinema, Fairy Tales at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art explores folk stories through the eyes of internationally acclaimed artists such as Del Kathryn Barton, Anish Kapoor, Yayoi Kusama and Tracey Moffatt. Sculptor Henrique Oliveira’s work Corupira adorns the entry to the exhibition giving them a taste of what’s inside. “We think of fairies and princesses,” says curator Amanda Slack-Smith, “but fairy tales play with the darkness, the unconscious, the surreal.”

We’re offering readers the chance to win a Brisbane getaway to Fairy Tales. Visit theaustralianplus.com.au

GöteborgsOperans Danskompani

Sydney, Jan 23-28

GöteborgsOperans Danskompani.

Dancers grapple with a 37-degree tilt.

Not often is the actual stage the star of any show, but in Skid – part of a double bill by Sweden’s contemporary dance powerhouse at Sydney Festival – it is the central attraction.

In the show at the Roslyn Packer Theatre, 17 dancers grapple with a 37-degree tilt that pushes the limits of their athleticism in this Sydney Festival exclusive.

Stormzy

Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Feb 3-11

British hip-hop artist Stormzy. Picture: Ollie Adegboye

This month’s British Vogue cover star brings his winning combination of gospel and grime to Australia via the Laneway Festival.

Stormzy, whose activism on behalf of the victims of London’s Grenfell Tower disaster made him a spokesman for modern Britain, is accompanied on the Laneway bill by the Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter Steve Lacy (whose Bad Habit track was a worldwide hit in 2022) and US Euphoria television star and alternative hip-hop performer Dominic Fike.

Seventeen

Melbourne, Jan 15 - Feb 17

Youth is wasted on the young, it’s said, and this Melbourne Theatre Company production of Matthew Whittet’s Seventeen at the Southbank Theatre puts that theory to the test. None of the cast is aged anywhere near 17 – yet they are required to channel teenage angst in this coming-of-age tale.

Tacita Dean

Sydney, Dec 8 - Mar 3

Tacita Dean’s work.

Turner Prize-nominated British artist Tacita Dean is absolute in her embrace of the analogue. Working in paint, chalk and film, she says the creative process is about uncertainty – and you just can’t get good old-fashioned uncertainty in a digital world. “Nothing can really happen indigital that is not intended,” she said in a 2018 interview.

Dean will premiere a new film work titled Geography Biography – combining Super-8 footage with 16mmand 35mm – at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art. It will sit alongside a huge chalk-on-blackboard illustration completed by the artist last year.

Vincent Namatjira

Adelaide, Until Jan 21; Canberra, from Mar 2

Vincent Namatjira’s Australia in Colour exhibition. Picture: Saul Steed

“My paintbrush is my weapon,” the Archibald Prize-winning artist Vincent Namatjira said earlier this year. Namatjira, who paints with wry humour, is a commentator on modern Australian life, skewering and celebrating with his brushstrokes.

His Australia in Colour exhibition, presented at the Art Gallery of South Australia as part of the Tarnanthi Festival, runs until January 21 before transferring to the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra from March 2.

Sampha

Perth, Feb 9 - Mar 3; on tour, Feb 23 - Mar 3

Sampha, Perth Festival. Photo: Supplied

Britain’s Sampha was the collaborator of choice for Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Frank Ocean, and Solange Knowles – and when he broke out on his own the world took notice.

He headlines the Perth Festival alongside Angelique Kidjo and Sampa the Great, and will also play concert hall dates in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Triennial

Melbourne, until Apr 7

Yee I-Lann’s woven mats. Picture: Eugene Hyland

Where does one begin with the National Gallery of Victoria’s Triennial? This is a monumental event featuring 100 projects from 120 world-class artists. Perhaps we could start with Yoko Ono’s moving participatory project celebrating Mums? Or with Agnieszka Pilat’s robotic dogs painting on canvas? What about a seven metre-high thumbs up? That’s the unexpected contribution from David Shrigley who is typically known for his understated line drawings.

Or check out Tracey Emin’s neon wall-mounted confessional letter, the giant textural installation by Sheila Hicks or the woven mats (pictured right) that Malaysian artist Yee I-Lann has created in collaboration with the people of Sabah in northern Borneo.

Another coup: Italian haute couture house Schiaparelli, now led by US artistic director Daniel Roseberry, has contributed several pieces from its collection. Bellissimo!

Mona Foma

Tasmania, Feb 15 - Mar 2

Courtney Barnett.

Hobart and Launceston will share in the busy summer program of Mona Foma, headlined by the Josh Homme-led US hard rock kings Queens of the Stone Age (whose latest album In Times New Roman finds them in unfamiliar art-punk and funk territory), Scottish prog-rock legends Mogwai, and the all-female Japanese punk veterans Shonen Knife.

Perennial favourite Paul Kelly will also perform, as will Courtney Barnett – the new-age Australian troubadour is touring her unexpected latest release, a completely instrumental album.

BBC Earth Experience

Melbourne, until Jan 28

A David Attenborough-endorsed, BBC branded celebration of the natural world, this 1600sqm triumph in audio-visual technology gives visitors a 360-degree view of life’s curiosities and wonders from each of the seven continents – all in the comfort of Melbourne Convention Centre.

It opened in London to rave reviews lauding the “raw power of some of the greatest wildlife footage in history…. combined with pin-sharp sound design”.

Louise Bourgeois

Sydney, until 28 Apr

Louise Bourgeois’s 'Maman' at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Picture: AGNSW

You really can’t miss the 10m-high metal spider sculpture on the forecourt of Sydney’s Art Gallery of NSW right now. Named Maman (Mother), the giant arachnid will stand guard all summer long while an expansive exhibition by the French-American artist who created it, Louise Bourgeois, goes on inside.

The show is titled Has the Day Invaded the Night or Has the Night Invaded the Day?

Te Wheke-a-Muturangi: The Adversary

Sydney, Jan 5-28

Te Wheke-a-Muturangi: The Adversary. Picture: Mark Tantrum

To the casual observer, this free Sydney Festival installation – a giant, inflatable octopus floating in a Barangaroo cove – may represent nothing more than a terrific opportunity to capture a little something for the ‘Gram, or to frighten small children. But Kiwi artist Lisa Reihana is in fact telling an ancient Maori story – a tale of immense significance across the Tasman, which visitors can learn about.

Smashed: The Nightcap

Sydney, Jan 6-27

Victoria Falconer will host Smashed: The Nightcap. Picture: Ruby Sam Clark

Racy and ribald, this after-dark program presented by Sydney Theatre Company and hosted by Victoria Falconer incorporates elements of cabaret, circus, and drag; it enjoys a full Sydney Festival residency at the Dawes Point precinct, which will attract thousands of festivalgoers over three weeks.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Melbourne, until Feb 4

The set of Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

If you didn’t catch this show in Brisbane or Sydney, don’t miss it in Melbourne. It’s a better fit for this town.

Doubts about the source material? The production is arguably superior to the film of the same name. Perhaps it’s the updated songs, or the talents of actual singers in the roles of Satine, Christian and the Duke. The dazzling set evoking the famous Parisian nightclub helps, but ultimately, Moulin Rouge! just makes more sense alongside Melbourne’s brand of faded glory (and revolutionary politics).

Make it a perfect mini-break and book a room at the Laneways by Ovolo. It may be on the edge of Chinatown but there’s something distinctly Parisian about this smallish but stylish hotel, with its playful rooms, ingenious honesty bar, friendly (if endearingly insouciant) staff and, most importantly, a revelatory plate of delectable madeleines at the adjoining Amphlett House bistro. Très bien indeed.

Egyptian summer

Sydney, until May; Canberra, until Sep

Maintaining rock-star status 3000 years after mummification is no small feat. The Australian Museum has sold more than 100,000 tickets to the Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs exhibition, which pays tribute to the reign of Ramses II and features his show-stopping sarcophagus.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a priceless artefact. And in Canberra, the Discovering Ancient Egypt exhibition is on at the National Museum of Australia.

Going to the movies

Priscilla

Opens January 18

Sofia Coppola’s retelling of the love story of Elvis Presley – the world’s most famous entertainer – and a teenage Priscilla Beaulieu recasts their relationship as one fraught with infidelity, emotional volatility and drug abuse.

The film stars newcomer Cailee Spaeny who set Venice alight as Priscilla and Australia’s man-of-the- moment Jacob Elordi as Elvis.

Ferrari

Opens January 4

Adam Driver. He’s certainly got the name for it. The Oscar-nominated actor is close to unrecognisable as he leads Michael Mann’s long-awaited Enzo Ferrari biopic, simply titled Ferrari, that will keep F1 fans sated throughout the off-season.

Mann commits to bringing a pivotal part of the title character’s mythology to film. In 1957, the cult car company was staring down the barrel of bankruptcy. Enzo Ferrari gambled it all on winning the high-octane cross-Italy road race, the Mille Miglia. His reward? Glory but also unimaginable tragedy.

Anyone But You

Opens December 26

Co-stars Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney set tongues wagging during filming of this R-rated rom-com in the Emerald City. Sydneysiders clamoured for a view of the pair frolicking on the harbour or brunching in Bondi and wondered aloud, “Are they or aren’t they?”

In between times, Powell and Sweeney filmed one of the most anticipated comedies of 2014. Directed by Will Gluck.

All Of Us Strangers

Opens January 18

You may recognise Andrew Scott from playing the role of “Hot Priest” in TV’s Fleabag. His co-star in that series, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, did not mince her words last month when she declared him “the greatest actor of our time”. High praise!

Scott leaves the small screen behind to take on the fantasy romance film All Of Us Strangers, alongside Paul Mescal. Opens January 18.

The Colour Purple

Opens January 25

Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Quincy Jones teamed up to create this musical version of the 1982 Alice Walker novel The Colour Purple for the cinema, with Taraji P Henson leading the cast.

Readers will recall Winfrey starred to great acclaim in Spielberg’s 1985 film version of the book, which chronicles a lifetime of struggle for African-American women in the south in the early 1900s.

Poor Things

Opens January 18

One thing’s for sure: this is gonna be weird. Poor Things, directed by thrice Oscar-nominated Yorgos Lanthimos and adapted from the Alasdair Gray novel of the same name, is a surrealist Gothic story in which the main character, played by Emma Stone, has her brain swapped out and is brought back to life.

Maestro

In cinemas now and streaming on Netflix on December 20

A prosthetic nose hasn’t caused this much controversy since Nicole Kidman’s turn as Virginia Woolf in The Hours – and look how it turned out for her!

Does an Oscar beckon also for Bradley Cooper, the writer, director and lead actor in this Leonard Bernstein biopic? His performance has been described as “exuberant”, while costar Carey Mulligan matches his intensity as Bernstein’s wife.

It’s in cinemas now, or you could put your feet up and wait for it to land on Netflix.

Summer reads

The In-Between

by Christos Tsiolkas

The In Between by Christos Tsiolkas.

Two chaps in their fifties go on a date after matching online. They fall in love. But they have other loves in their lives. The question for readers: do we ever really stop loving the people to whom we once gave our hearts? (Allen & Unwin)

A Memoir Of My Former Self

by Hilary Mantel

A memoir of my former self by Hilary Mantel.

This is a collection of essays by Mantel, who died in September last year. Two of the three books in her Wolf Hall trilogy won the Booker Prize. Her essays are personal, political, warm, and funny, and her prose is always beautiful. (Hachette)

Let Us Descend

by Jesmyn Ward

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward.

A novel that chronicles the passage of slaves across America, including the harrowing moment they are forced to wade into a swollen river, and hope to keep each other afloat, despite being chained and bound. Mesmerising. (Simon & Schuster)

Bright Shining

by Julia Baird

Bright Shining by Julia Baird.

A thoughtful examination of the concept of grace, which is tricky to define. Grace helps us understand how beauty can exist alongside suffering in this world; it reminds us also of the importance of kindness and mutual respect. (HarperCollins)

A Kind of Confession: The Writer’s Private World

by Alex Miller

A King of Confession by Alex Miller.

An Australian writer’s diary. Miller wrote for 20 years before he was finally published to acclaim, and (almost) never gave up hope. (Allen & Unwin)

Boy Swallows Universe

Streaming from January 11

A scene from Boy Swallows Universe. Picture: Netflix

Trent Dalton’s beloved semi-autobiographical novel has been adapted for the small screen with the help of co-producer Joel Edgerton. Starring Travis Fimmel, Simon Baker and Phoebe Tonkin, the miniseries will be available to Netflix’s enormous global subscriber base, taking Dalton’s 1980s Brisbane milieu – mullets and all – to the world.

Strife

Streaming now on Binge

A scene from Strife.

From bedroom blogger to online powerhouse, this Aussie comedy drama series is based on the rise and rise of Mamamia new-media doyenne Mia Freedman – indeed it takes its name from Freedman’s 2017 memoir Work Strife Balance. Asher Keddie heads an ensemble including Emma Lung, Tina Bursill, Matt Day and Alex Dimitriades.

Feud: Capote vs The Swans

Streaming from February 1 on Binge

A scene from Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans.

The Calista Flockhart comeback is on. Queen of the ’90s small screen as Ally McBeal, Flockhart is among the cast in this latest chapter of the Ryan Murphy-produced anthology, based on the real-life story of Truman Capote and his epic falling out with a set of high-society women.