Brisbane’s Metro Arts presents a celebration of groundbreaking new art, creativity and community in 2024.
The season introduces a fresh wave of innovative artists and daring artistic endeavours. Metro Arts, with its 43-year legacy, places Australian artists and experimentation at its core. This year there are 13 art exhibitions, 5 mainstage productions, and the debut of an innovative experimental dance festival.
“Our 2024 programme stands as a monumental celebration of the current diversity and talent within Australian contemporary art,” Metro Arts Executive Director Genevieve Trace says. “It underscores Metro Arts’ unwavering commitment to fostering creativity, celebrating diversity, and amplifying the myriad voices that contribute to the vibrant landscape of contemporary and experimental Australian art.”
Metro Arts Executive Director Genevieve Trace - Image © Morgan Roberts
Programme highlights including two-week dance festival DANCE24, ‘Scaredy House’, an interactive theatre experience for children from Counterpilot, and an international First Nations Exchange.
Metro Arts continues to support experimentation by independent artists through their Creative Development Program, and multi-faceted residency programmes.
Creative Development Artists in 2024 include Joshua Taliani, First Nations’ theatre collective THE DEADLY THEATRE, IMRSE (Emma Churchland and Dan Gough), and the creation of a new dance work by Ashleigh Musk, Anna Whitaker and Jenni Large.
Counterpilot - Image © Jade Ellis
Brisbane artist Elizabeth Willing will create a major art installation as part of the Metro Arts x Brisbane Festival 2024 programme. Elizabeth’s large-scale interactive installation Kitchen Studio aims to challenge perceptions of the modern diet, by exploring edible materials in unconventional ways.
Themes within the Metro Arts visual programme include exploring the impact of the Metacrisis through moving image (In The Mudline by Gary Lobwein), capturing the vertigo of urban landscapes through realist painting (Bypass Blue Abyss by Ann Debono), and a ‘queering’ of the family narrative, with hand-crafted soft toy sculptures (Monolith by Jeremy Plint).
In The Mudline
Meanwhile in the performance realm, there are 10 mainstage productions complemented by the revival of the One Night Stand Series, presenting five distinct performance events.
There will be two world premieres – ‘Matriarchs’ by Olivia Adams, delving into the journeys of First Nations women. . . And ‘[Gameboy]’ by Amy Zhang, blending street and contemporary dance forms to explore gaming culture.
Tickets are on sale now.
