See the creative process that brought worlds in iconic anime to life in this exhibition curated by Stefan Riekeles for Les Jardins des Pilotes. From location photographs and concept sketches in detailed pencil drawings, through to final expression as anime cels in full colour, Anime Architecture reveals some of the intricate creative processes behind some of the most iconic Japanese animated films.

WHAT: Exhibition
WHEN: 10am-8pm, until August 11th
WHERE: The Japan Foundation Gallery, Central Park, Chippendale.
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

Hosted by UTS Photography, this is the tenth and final instalment in a series of lectures exploring photography’s cultural positioning, with artist Nicholas Mangan: a multi-disciplinary artist known for interrogating narratives embedded in a diverse range of objects. With a keen interest in the processes of forming meaning from objects, culture and natural phenomena, his work addresses a wide range of themes including the ongoing impacts of colonialism, humanity’s fraught relationship with the natural environment, contemporary consumptive cultures and the complex dynamics of the global political economy.

A collection of personal and playful photographs of some of rock music’s greatest figures will be on display in Sydney this May as part of the city’s annual Head On Photo Festival. Pattie’s photography documented events, public and personal around the lives of Harrison, Clapton and their friends, including Paul and Linda McCartney, Ringo Starr, members of The Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream and more – performing, recording and partying.

WHAT: Photography of Pattie Boyd: George Harrison, Eric Clapton & Me
WHEN: May 5th – June 9th
WHERE: Blender Gallery, 16 Elizabeth St Paddington NSW 2021.
HOW MUCH: Free, more info here

In 2016, Ali MC visited Rohingya refugee and internally displaced peoples’ camps in both Myanmar and Bangladesh. His aim was to photograph Rohingya people, document their living conditions and better understand the events that forced them into this situation. Unlike the photojournalism of poverty and angst, Ali MC also aims to portray Rohingya as a people with pride and determination, despite their adverse living conditions. The portraits included in ‘Rohingya: Refugee Crisis in Colour’ accomplish just that – strength and resilience captured on camera.

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: 5:30-8pm
WHERE: Margot Hardy Gallery, Western Sydney University (Bankstown Campus), Milperra
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

Discharge explores the fabrication of human existence in a manner that resonates with nails scratching across a chalkboard. Disruptive audio will ooze into the untouched mind and create migraines, sculptured anxiety will become an accessible vicarious experience, and environmental waste will leave a mark on your soul nearly as big as your ecological footprint.

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: 6-8pm
WHERE: AD Space , UNSW Art & Design, Paddington.
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

Presented in association with The Power Institute, come and listen to a fascinating lecture by Associate Professor Ann Reyolds from the University of Texas.  In 1940s New York, the cocktail party provided artists, filmmakers, and writers with a rhetoric for describing how relationships among individuals might have looked, felt, and signified. Using a group of literary and cinematic descriptions of cocktail parties from this decade, the lecture considers how collectivity was experienced, even if fleetingly, and how we might use these descriptions of social collectives to imagine history differently.

WHAT: Talk
WHEN: 6-7:30pm
WHERE: Old Geology Lecture Theatre,
The University of Sydney
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

A group exhibition with a cheeky premise: each artist featured in a single show will be gifting another participating artist with a work they’ve had one month to create. The works are gifted/submitted anonymously. Playing with ideas of community, it’s like a version of Kris Kringle that won’t induce unbearable cringes.

WHAT: Exhibition
WHEN: 6:30pm
WHERE: Wellington St Projects, Chippendale.
HOW MUCH: Free! Get more info. here.

Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative’s annual ‘Born Into Existence’ women’s exhibition pays tribute to the strength and resistance of Aboriginal women in Australia, while representing Aboriginal women in the arts and their communities. “We are Mothers, Aunties, Sisters, Grandmother, Children, Cousins, Parents and Friends. Aboriginal Women are continuing to build our family bloodlines, traditional practices and cultural laws for the survival of Aboriginal peoples in Australia. Aboriginal Women have always been the back bone of our family structures.”

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: 6-8pm, continues until July 15th
WHERE: Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative, Leichhardt.
HOW MUCH: Free but bookings essential! More details here.

Firstdraft Gallery presents three new exhibitions. Our pick is  ‘Paired’, curated by Harriet Body, which presents eight collaborative projects between artists living with and without intellectual/developmental disability or cognitive difference. The exhibition will aim to illuminate the intricacies of these collaborations including how communication, friendship, and mutual education develops between such artist pairs. Some featured artists include Thom and Angelmouse, and Rosie Deacon and Emily Crockford.

WHAT: Exhibition openings
WHEN: 6-8pm
WHERE: Firstdraft Gallery, Woolloomooloo.
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

Vivid Art After Hours examines collaboration, finding common ground in times of tension and reconciling differences of opinion on issues that affect us all.  ‘Common Ground’ is a meeting of minds in which four Australians of different ages, life experiences and political leanings debate hot button issues including immigration, same-sex marriage, and inequality. The aim of the series is to go beyond our ‘filter bubbles’ to understand how voters form their views. 

WHAT: Panel discussion, musical performance and tour
WHEN: 5-10pm
WHERE: Art Gallery of New South Wales, CBD
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

This Vivid Ideas event, held in conjunction with the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, presents thought-provoking talks and discussion to explore how both scientific images and Indigenous art are used to explain our world and shape our knowledge. Discover surprising connections between the art of Australia’s First Nations peoples and the microscopic world – and how this pairing can help engage young Australians with a more integrated scientific approach for the future.

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: 6-7:30pm
WHERE: Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: 6-8pm
WHERE: ACP Project Space Gallery, Darlinghurst.
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

This is “as saucy as it gets”. Come down for an opening that serves as an evocative reminder of those Sunday arvos spent with your mates, hanging locally in your suburban havens. Your seats are constructed from the nearest found objects, your sneakers double as fine china and the blurred images that stain your phone’s camera roll are reminiscent of those vivid nights coated in a haze of youth, laughter and early hour experimentations. Artist Gillian Kayrooz combines the banal with the extraordinary through a collection of experimental video installations, sculpture and photo-textile pieces reflecting on personal moments of youth within suburbia.

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: Opening night 7th June 6-8pm, Exhibition runs till June 19th.
WHERE: Gaffa Gallery, CBD
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

Regarded as one of the five most prestigious museums worldwide, the Palace Museum stores, researches, and exhibits an extensive range of traditional Chinese art assembled on the basis of a core collection of imperial treasures from the Ming and Qing dynasties. This exhibition carefully selects items including silk textiles, porcelain ware, timepieces, wood products, key chains, jewelry and stationery, seeking to extend beyond the physical confines of the Museum and communicate to the Australian audience with the glamour of traditional Chinese culture.

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: 6-8pm
WHERE: China Cultural Centre in Sydney, CBD
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

Part of Blacktown Native Institute Project for 2018, join community and artists on this historic site to celebrate Aboriginal cultures with brand new performance, sculpture and interactive artworks. Prolific artists & practitioners such as Tony Albert, Sharyn Egan, and Moogahlin Performing Arts have worked together and responded to the site’s importance as a place of ceremony, as well as its history as the location of the Blacktown Native Institution.

WHAT: Exhibition
WHEN: 4-8pm
WHERE: Blacktown Native Institution site, Oakhurst
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here.

Anney Bounpraseuth creates kitsch, vivid, and decorative painting and textile-based works that reinterpret the domestic, matriarchal, and spiritual traditions of her upbringing. Join her for a creative weekend experience in the form of a still life watercolour workshop – referencing the dollar stores and her childhood home decorations of fake flowers, ceramics and textiles. Come along to the Peacock Gallery to learn from Anney and engage with her vibrant and exciting practice and way of making. Materials provided.

WHAT: Workshop
WHEN: 12:30-2pm
WHERE: Peacock Gallery and Auburn Arts Studio, Auburn
HOW MUCH: $15 – More details here.