Just up to Sydney for a weekend to catch up, mainly to catch up with mates from Edinburgh who were passing through. We ate well and got to a few art events. We checked out the local music scene, not that I know Sydney too well. There was some jazz but not too obviously adventurous (not surprising on a weekend), and some classical that was sold out or exorbitantly expensive for what it was. Otherwise, DJs. Getting there we came across several demos and I always like them, even if they seemed pretty small. Thank God some people still hope for better. The Ukraine demo was underway; a demo against executions in Iran was setting up; the Christians were also setting up and singing and handing out brochures as we left. Otherwise, Banksy at the Town Hall. He's well known and interesting enough. I liked his politics, including purchase of a yacht to save refugees on the Mediterranean. He obviously does well out of his work (this exhibition seems pretty commercial and touring the world: "The show is now touring Australia after its incredible worldwide success with over 1,750,000 visitors!" [exhibition website]) but his heart seems to be in the right place. I thought of Andy Warhol but perhaps with more empathy. Certainly he'd used similar techniques at times and obviously referenced Warhol's Marilyn. I particularly liked the reference to Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the running naked girl in Vietnam after US bombing, but Banksy had her between symbols of US capitalism. Nice. Lots more interesting if obvious commentary and just a few pics here. Interestingly, if you bought an expensive ticket you could stencil a Banksy image on a t-shirt on exit. Merch: as I said he's cluey in more ways than one.
Without limits [There is always hope], the art of Banksy was at the Sydney Town Hall.
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