A SMOKY New York bar sets the scene for a story of impossible love. Or does it? A man wakes up on his 30th birthday and realises life has lost its shine, he’s stuck in a job he hates and has no love life. Heading home well soused after an office party, things change: “He…

HOMELESSNESS, Aboriginality and the blinding speed of technology are explored in James Taylor’s play Hobo. “Change has been steady throughout history, but over the last 20–30 years technology has absolutely exploded,” the 26-year-old says. “It’s made so many things possible, but I don’t think our brains can keep up with it.” And if young brains…

WITH less than four per cent of Perth city council’s substantial art collection consisting of work by Aboriginal artists, the council’s looking to pick up a piece by Ben Pushman. In a report to councillors, staff concede “there remains considerable room for development” in adding to the city’s 17 Aboriginal works. Pushman’s Washed Out “refers…

A  DUTCH cannon provides a menacing entry to Treasure Ships: Art in the Age of Spices, at the WA Art Gallery — rather fitting given the ruthless hold the Dutch East Indies Company held over a swathe of Asia for almost 200 years. The 250 exhibits provide an arts-eye view of 400 years of the…

A  GHOST tent and things that go bump in the night (or day), Dead Ringer is a deliciously dark exhibition transforming PICA’s heritage-listed James Street home into an art-house version of the Royal Show’s haunted house. “[It’s] a very dark summer show, but sometimes you need an antidote to the beach and endless sunshine,” curator…

WHAT drags someone from their home to the other side of the world? “Love,” says artist Joie Villeneuve. “It’s usually one of the reasons that gets you to cross the world.” Once here she fell in love all over again, this time with Australia’s birdlife. “Primarily the Australian magpie, which you can’t help but fall…

ACROPOLIS NOW was a groundbreaker for Australian comedy — and helped changed how the wider community viewed “wogs”, says the man who was there from the beginning, George Kapiniaris, aka Agamemnon (Memo) Aristotle  Hatzidimitropoulos. “Greeks and Italians were the Arabs of then,” he says. Thirty years ago “wog” was an insult hurled casually by anglo-Aussies…

A “DINGY dark” back room of live rock venue the Rosemount Hotel is the home of the bi-monthly poetry and music gathering Ships in the Night. It’s about to wrap up the 2015 program with headline poets, West Aussie Lucy Dougan and Melbournian Geoff Lemon. Dougan was recently shortlisted for a Queensland literary award for her…

ROLLING green hills and leafy landscapes are not for Sydney artist Jasper Knight. “I’m inspired by freeways and underpasses and industrial scenes,” he tells the Voice. Growing up around Sydney Harbour, and walking to school it’s the harsh urban streets that formed his view of the world. “People say why do you paint such gritty…

“MY favourite is Dark Horses,” Getaway Plan frontman Matthew Wright says, rather appropriately on Melbourne Cup morning. With a single-minded focus on his music the Melbourne muso had missed the connection with the day, telling the Voice the title song of the album “gels perfectly” with its alternative rock style. “For me that song is…