Editorial 25 October 2017

In one of Proximity Festival’s one-on-one performances reviewed this week, artist Cigdem Aydemir (image above) takes a participant on an unexpected studio-shoot spin on a Harley Davidson. It’s that sense of surprise and being taken out of ourselves that we look for in works that label themselves innovative or experimental. We address the latter in critiques of works by Agatha Gothe-Snape and Christian Thompson in the first week of Performance Space’s busy Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art, while Andrew Fuhrmann worries at the diminishing meaningfulness of “independent” after seeing works in Darebin Arts’ Speakeasy program. Also in this edition, adventurous music concerts coming up in Brisbane from ELISION and Kupka’s Piano, a review of Georgie Pinn’s media art empathy machine and, in Critical Audio, a superb collection of tracks chosen by Brooke Olsen and, in Critical Video, Matthew Berka’s haunting foray into a Gothic Australia. Next week, more from an action-packed Liveworks. Keith & Virginia

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Top image credit: The Ride, Cigdem Aydemir, Proximity Festival 2017, photo PAVLOVA