20/23 visions: cultural resolutions you’ll actually want to keep

Every new year, people swear to some new diet, but what about our cultural consumption? We talk about a TV binge or devouring a trashy novel; we promise we’ll take in art that’s good for us, go on a digital detox or expand our palate. New year’s resolutions can be quickly forgotten, but they at least give us pause to reconsider our habits. Why not regard our aesthetic tastes the same scrutiny? This year, I’m going to try my best to get away from my usual fare and sample a whole new range of flavours. Here are 16 ideas to kickstart your cultural new year.

From left: Work from “home” in the NGV’s Great Hall; read an old favourite, such as Elizabeth Strout’s My Name is Lucy Barton and toast Nosferatu at Malthouse Theatre.

1. Let’s start with old mate Nosferatu, another cultured type whose appetites are never sated. Vampires are about to return to fashion – a new version of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot hits this year, and director Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse, The Northman) is working on his own Nosferatu. Closer to home, cinema’s first bloodsucker is about to take to the stage. Malthouse Theatre has a killer line-up of shows this year and Nosferatu (February 10-26) transplants the vampire to today’s Tasmania.

2. The sheer volume of new culture means we all struggle to stay on top of the latest must-watch or read. It doesn’t leave much room for the distinct pleasures of revisiting old favourites. This could be the year that changes, starting with Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy Barton Trilogy, Max Porter’s Lanny and anything and everything by Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu.

3. One of the lessons of lockdown, was that a lot of us could get our jobs done at home. Why not make the most of that, and work somewhere inspiring. File that report from the NGV’s Great Hall, delete those emails in the Melbourne Museum foyer, procrastinate on the steps of ACMI.

4. Another side effect of the pandemic is the backlog of amazing theatre. MTC and Malthouse are full of promising new work. I watch a lot of independent performance, but the big players deserve a look-in right now. Start with MTC’s Prima Facie (February 8-March 25), the show by Australian lawyer Suzie Miller that took the West End by storm.

5. Opera is not my thing – the misogyny and racism that plague many of the classics, the often outrageous ticket prices and, you know, out of respect for my bum — but I know it leaves a gap in my cultural horizon. This year, I’ll try to remedy that. Victorian Opera has the most encouraging line-up, especially in The Visitors’ (October 18-23) investigation of colonialism’s impacts on First Peoples.

6. Some of the most interesting conversations I’ve had in the last few years have been with Indigenous artists exploring the relationships between their contemporary practices and the various cultures in which they live. This year, I’m looking forward to How I See It: Blak Art and Film at ACMI (until February 19). Partly because it brings together a group of artists I admire and partly because there are some I don’t know. I think there will be surprises and discoveries galore.

From left: Check out the Heide Museum of Modern Art; catch a stand-up gig with Claire Hooper Comedy Republic; investigate How I See It: Blak Art and Film; and don’t miss Prima Facie with Sheridan Harbridge at MTC.

7. Despite its pivotal position in the history of Victorian visual art, Heide Museum of Modern Art is one of those places that rarely enters my mind. The 2023 calendar offers ample reasons get to reacquainted: the exhibition, wHole, (until February 26) features artists from near and far – Anish Kapoor to Rosslynd Piggott – exploring the ways that absences, holes and perforations can be sources of abundance and liberation.

8. Melbourne’s comedy scene is no longer dominated by the festival. There’s a huge year-round presence. Take advantage of it. Start with Claire Hooper and the Good Company line-up on January 5 at Comedy Republic, the Bourke Street venue dedicated to live stand-up year-round.

9. A strange side effect of lockdown was that a huge number of people reported a change in their  reading habits. They were reading more, but making less progress. I began reading short books and where once I was a marathon reader, I became addicted to these short, intense sprints. The downside was that I lost my marathon legs. This year, I’m going to wean myself off the short stuff. I’ll start with Vigdis Hjorth’s Is Mother Dead . The past two works I have read by the Norwegian novelist clocked in at 180-190 pages but at 352 pages, her new one shouldn’t have me cracking too much of a sweat.

10. Another weird habit I’ve developed is that of watching a film just so I can listen to a podcast recap. It’s a lot like talking about a movie with close friends, but why would I want to listen to them discuss something I hadn’t seen? The result is that I’ll watch something I’m pretty sure I won’t like, and persist even when I’m not into it. That’s idiocy. Just listen to the podcast. Try Too Scary; Didn’t Watch, Still Processing or Pop Culture Happy Hour without doing the homework beforehand.

11. Film and TV franchises can play with our emotions, and if I’m honest, the gravitational force that some exert has nothing to do with the actual payoff. I’m not yucking anyone’s yum, but I’ve forgotten more Marvel and Star Wars films than I remember. This might be the year to give a more high-minded subscription film service such as MUBI a go, or spend more time with Kanopy, a free streamer (if you have a library card) with a huge selection of outstanding world cinema.

From left: Take the kids to see the new MPavilion; don’t miss dance company Chunky Move at the FRAME festival; and sneak in a morning movie at Yarraville’s Sun Theatre.

12. Melbourne has long been home to some of the most exciting contemporary dance in the world, but it’s never had anything like FRAME, a new biennial dance festival kicking off in March. It’s taking place across a dozen venues with companies big and small involved. There are the heavyweights such as Chunky Move and Lucy Guerin Inc, but I’m also fascinated to see how dance takes on new forms through more unusual partners such as the Centre for Projection Art.

13. My son was six months old when I first took him to a show. It was a Spiegeltent variety thing and he went bananas for it. We’ve been to plenty of live performances since, but somehow they’ve dropped away in favour of other activities. It’s left a void, I think, since sharing a room with strangers is a skill in itself. Best to foster it early; I’m thinking I Wish... at Arts Centre Melbourne (January 18-21), a collab between kids theatre specialists Patch Theatre and circus mavericks Gravity and Other Myths.

14. And I should expose the kids to interesting architecture, too. We could start with the latest Mpavilion instalment (until April 6) opposite the NGV, then take a trek to some of its former incarnations in Docklands, Melbourne Zoo and beyond.

15. The narrowing effect of algorithmic recommendations gives less respect to the people who’ve made it their job to scour every cultural nook and cranny and report back on their findings. This year, I want to find those experts – whether professional critics or amateurs veering off the beaten track – to discover not what I was looking for, but the stuff I had no idea I’d love. I’ve got time for current and former critics at the New Yorker, such as Anthony Lane and Emily Nussbaum, but with the crumbling of Twitter, Tumblr is experiencing a resurgence of people serious about promoting the oddball stuff they love.

16. And finally, there is nothing like a suburban cinema at 10am on a weekday. Try the art deco charm of Yarraville’s Sun Theatre, which is free from typical multiplex crowds. If you ever want a palate cleanser for your brain, you’ll find one there.

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