Sydney Festival returns from 6 to 28 January 2018 transforming the city into a stage for pirouettes, puppetry, circus acts, underwater concerts and feminist debates. For art lovers, highlights include; Helen Johnson’s ‘Warm Ties’ addressing the complex colonial relationship between Australia and Britain in a suite of large-scale paintings at Artspace. ‘Tell’ showcases the work of 17 contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists that reframe Indigeneity at UNSW Galleries. German artist Katharina Grosse transforms Carriageworks with a site-specific installation comprised of concrete, mounds of earth and 8,000 m2 of suspended fabric. Campbelltown Arts Centre presents New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana’s first Australian survey, ‘Cinemania’, showcasing three decades of film and photography including a 26-metre panoramic video installation from 12 January.
Helen Johnson, A feast of reason and a flow of sould (recto), 2016, Impotent observer (recto), 2016 and Bad debt (recto), 2016, installation view at Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 2017. Photograph: Mark Blower. Courtesy the artist and Sydney Festival
