Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)

If you’ve ever heard the words “feminist” and “Australian contemporary artist” in the same sentence, then you’ve probably also heard the name Julie Rrap. With a career spanning more than 40 years, she’s a major figure in the art world who is known for stripping down and incorporating her own body into her multidisciplinary art practice – in which she examines representations of the female nude in art and popular culture over time. You have the chance to have an intimate encounter with Rrap’s work at the the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) with Past Continuous, a new exhibition featuring both new and past work.  “When I looked in art history books, particularly, there were lots of pictures of women – nude women mostly – and not a lot of women artists,” said Rrap, when speaking with Time Out Sydney’s Alannah Le Cross.  “At the same time I was reading people like Simone de Beauvoir, and I was just beginning that little journey of my own about what it is to be a woman in the world,” she said, also adding that at the time she was studying literature and was quite active in the anti-Vietnam War protest movement. “So I guess this show, for me, represents that back history for me… there was always this way in which the female body was always the subject, but they were never themselves a subject.” Rrap’s landmark 1982 installation work – ‘Disclosures: A Photographic Construct’ – has been drawn from the MCA Collection for the exhibition, and this is where your journey begins. The firs

In its 33rd year, the MCA’s Primavera is back in Circular Quay to showcase the brilliance of young artists under 35. This year’s exhibition, curated by Lucy Latella, revolves around the generational struggle Australians face to maintain their diverse cultures.  Two of the selected artists hail from Victoria, one from each of NSW, the ACT and SA, but their backgrounds, and the cultural stories they have to share, extend well beyond (colonial) Australian borderlines. Here’s a rundown of the art on offer... Chun Yin Rainbow Chan is a Hong Kongese-Australian artist from. Her background in music bleeds into her art, where she explores the mistranslation of women’s folk songs from the Weitou people.  Walgalu and Wiradjuri man Aiden Hartshorn hails from Wagga Wagga and Canberra. He works with modern materials like aluminium to reference the man-made industries that play havoc with his peoples’ ancestral connections to the river systems.  Teresa Busuttil splits her time between Adelaide and Malta, where she salvages materials like seashells to pay homage to her father’s migration from Malta to Australia. Her other works traverse the experience of young people under various colonial and contemporary powers in Malta. Sarah Ujmaia draws on her family’s experience of migrating to Melbourne from northern Iraq. Her interactive piece And thank you to my baba for laying the timber floor is an array of pavers that represent both the marketplace back home, and the evolution of oral languages. 

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia sure knows how to party. This November, Circular Quay’s temple of future-forward art is handing over its Foundation Hall and Level One foyer for a massive night of performances, art, DJ sets and more. For the latest edition of Artbar, the visionary founders Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales of the groundbreaking fashion house Romance Was Born have curated an immersive night of art and entertainment on Friday, November 8 in response to the theme of ‘Romance’.  To celebrate romance in all its forms, Plunkett and Sales will transform the museum into a dreamy prom night, complete with serenades, corsages, and wedding band covers. Plus, exhibitions from Isaac Julien and Julie Rrap – all of which you can enjoy after-dark. There’s an epic line-up of local artists on music duties, including the Sydney-based multidisciplinary artist DJ Aunty Jonny, the duo Chakita playing Love Song Dedications and the dreamy synth-pop singer Montomery.  You can also encounter the works of textile sculptor Troy Emery and see his colourful, sculptural creations up close. Performance artist and poet Meagan Pelham will be writing love notes on the night and chameleon of the stage and screen and former RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under's Top 4 Hollywould Star, is set to deliver a powerhouse performance.  First release tickets for this 18+ event have already sold out, so make sure to grab yours from the second release, now on sale for $51–$60. MCA members can score 15 per c