An unnamed woman alone in an apartment conducts an increasingly panicked conversation on the telephone with the man she loves, but who has abandoned her for another. Her assumed fortitude gradually crumbles…
It’s not been a long year for arts and culture – at least, not on The Conversation. We launched the section on October 28, sneaking in at the end of festival season like someone who sneaks in at the end…
Australian reading experiences weren’t limited to the pages of printed books – as this screenshot from Christy Dena’s AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS demonstrates.
Christy Dena/Universe Creation 101
I spent most of 2013 living overseas and from afar Australia’s beauty and its fault lines came into sharp focus. In my reading I found myself searching for insight, and three Australian stories stood out…
Serialised eBook chapters force us to make time to read.
Ken Lee
I’ve nominated these eBooks as notable publications in 2013 based on three criteria. First, I enjoyed reading them enough to finish the whole text on a digital device. Second, they use the digital format…
Ridiculous Fishing, one of many memorable games of 2013.
Vlambeer
I love writing and reading Games Of The Year posts. It’s so nice to just once every year be given the liberty to think back on the games you played, not forward to the games you might play in the future…
Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux, stars of Blue is the Warmest Colour, at the Cannes Film Festival.
EPA/Ian Langsdon
From limited theatrical releases to the queer film festival circuit – and being refused classification – 2013 has seen films with LGBT content distributed to audiences by a variety of means. Box office…
Shows with strong Australian links have done well both home and away.
Lubs Mary
What follows is not a “best-of” list and is by no means conclusive – but these are some of the Australian TV shows that stood out for me in 2013. Top of the Lake Top of the Lake is a seven-part mini-series…
This exhibition is not just about art, it is about us: the land, the sea, our ancestors. Those words were spoken by Waka Munungurr, ceremonial leader and senior custodian, Djapu clan, at a preview viewing…
Australian crime fiction hit the regions on 2013 – and international crime held a few surprises too.
jcoterhals
Oddly enough and against trend – all those Scandinavian crime novels bobbing up in translation – I spent most of the year travelling Australia in crime fiction. From East (Peter Cotton’s Canberra in Dead…
The jury of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival had its say on the films of the year in May.
EPA/Guillaume Horcajuelo EPA/Sebastien Nogier
Warning: this is not a list of the best movies of 2013. There were plenty of movies released this year that stirred up debates about cinema and who makes it. They were the ones that made me sit up and…
The Necks combine sparkling surfaces with ominous undertows.
Holimage
Australian improvising trio The Necks – pianist Chris Abrahams, drummer Tony Buck and bass player Lloyd Swanton – recently released their 17th album, Open. Although the three began playing together in…
It’s a film about the vision and style of Cormac McCarthy – but does it work?
Twentieth Century Fox
The Counselor is a collaboration between one of the last century’s literary greats, novelist Cormac McCarthy, and one of the filmmakers who has helped define contemporary, mainstream American cinema, director…
Street and graffiti artists such as Ash Keating are recognised in Melbourne Now – in and out of the galleries.
NGV
The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne recently opened what may be its most ambitious exhibition: Melbourne Now, on display until March 23 2014. It features hundreds of works selected by 30…
One is confronted with the obligations of being invited to view the sacred.
Viki Petherbridge
Just outside the level-two gallery at the Ian Potter Museum of Art in Melbourne, four black and white photographs capture young Aboriginal men posing with intricate designs on their shoulders, torsos…
Device 6 is an interesting and intriguing entry to the indie games market.
Simogo
We live in exciting times for videogame development. The rapidly growing indie game scene has started to provide an antidote to the creative stagnation of the now mature videogame industry. One such game…
Tinkler might be considered a has-been, but it seems foolish to write him off.
Jane Dempster/AAP image
Bogans are here, there and everywhere; the word is a cover for any concept you can imagine. That Nathan Tinkler – the former mining magnate, once considered Australia’s youngest ever billionaire – made…
Super Discount reminds us theatre should seek to do more than merely entertain.
Jeff Busby
Super Discount – currently playing at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre – is the latest work by Geelong-based Back to Back Theatre company. The project launched to great critical acclaim at the Sydney Theatre…
Andrew Upton’s production of Waiting for Godot breathes new life into the play.
Sydney Theatre Company/Lisa Tomasetti
On Saturday night, Andrew Upton’s production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot opened at the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) – without provoking the executors of the Irish playwright’s estate to anger…
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne