Carriageworks today announced 1.2 million visitors will engage with the Carriageworks Program in 2017 whilst unveiling a dynamic program for 2018 spanning contemporary art, dance, performance, music, screen, food and ideas. In 2018 the Artistic Program will support 690 artists and will present 70 projects, including 10 world premieres, 17 international works and 17 new Australian commissions.

Highlights include three large-scale, site-specific exhibitions by international contemporary artists Katharina Grosse (Germany), Ryoji Ikeda (Japan) and Nick Cave (USA), as well as three world premiere works by Carriageworks Resident Companies: Sydney Chamber Opera, Marrugeku and Force Majeure, and the presentation of leading cultural events including the 21^st Biennale of Sydney, the 2018 Sydney Writers’ Festival and Sydney Contemporary 2018.

In 2018 Carriageworks will continue to be home to eight artists in supported studios in the Clothing Store in partnership with UrbanGrowth NSW. From January Carriageworks will introduce 10 new food events, including masterclasses, live cooking demonstrations and continue The Night Market series presenting Australia’s very best chef’s and producers.

Carriageworks Director Lisa Havilah said: “We are excited to be bringing an extraordinary Program of international works, new commissions and large scale works to Sydney. ” 

Just some highlights of Carriageworks exciting 2018 season.

2018 opens with a large-scale, site-specific installation and commission by Carriageworks of renowned German artist Katharina Grosse. Presented from 5 January until 8 April as part of Sydney Festival, Grosse’s immersive installation will take a month to create as the artist fills Carriageworks, with eight thousand metres of material woven and suspended from the building’s unique industrial architecture. THE HORSE TROTTED ANOTHER COUPLE OF METRES, THEN IT STOPPED will be a work of immense scale and kaleidoscopic colour that represents the world premiere of new work by one of the world’s most exciting contemporary artists.

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebrates their 40th Anniversary at Carriageworks from 24 – 25 February, with BLACK NULLA CABARET as part of Koori Gras presented by Resident company, Moogahlin Performing Arts; SISSY BALL a one night only choreographed Vogue-ing ball with a nod to New York’s underground Ballroom scene; and a series of thought-provoking talks and forums exploring QUEER THINKING.

The 21st Biennale of Sydney returns to Carriageworks for the fourth time in 2018, presented from 16 March until 11 June, with a program curated by Mami Kataoka including artists Haegue Yang, Semiconductor, Trinh Thi Nguyen, George Tjungurrayi and Chen Shaoxiong with works chosen to offer a panoramic view of how opposing interpretations can come together in a state of equilibrium.

Carriageworks Resident Company - Sydney Chamber Opera will present the world premiere of a new chamber opera that unfolds as a “slow-motion panic attack” based on a real-life phenomenon of the weeks following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Presented from 28 March until 7 April, THE HOWLING GIRLS is a collaboration between composer Damien Ricketson, director Adena Jacobs and renowned soprano Jane Sheldon. Featuring a chorus of young girls, The Howling Girls is about five teenage girls who presented separately to hospitals in New York with identical symptoms: they couldn’t swallow, and believed that some debris from the destruction had lodged in their throats.

The Sydney Writer’s Festival will be presented at Carriageworks for the first time from 30 April until 6 May as the literary event makes Carriageworks home for the coming two years. The 2018 Festival will bring together writers from across Australia and around the world.

To celebrate NAIDOC week, on 5 July, Carriageworks and Koori Radio will present KLUB KOORI. The program will bring together leading Indigenous musicians presented alongside emerging talent.

A co-commission from Carriageworks and Centre Cultural Tjibaou in Nouméa, New Caledonia, LE DERNIER APPEL (THE LAST CALL) is a multi-lingual, trans Indigenous dance theatre work directed by Serge Aimé Coulibaly for Marrugeku. As New Caledonia moves towards a choice about independence from France, LE DERNIER APPEL explores cultural, political and personal de-colonisation from the perspective of First Nations and immigrant dancers from across Australia and New Caledonia. The work will be performed from 15 - 18 August.

Carriageworks and Resident Company, Sydney Chamber Opera will co-present RESONANT BODIES. This international festival of new vocal music brings together adventurous vocal artists over two days from 31 August until 1 September. First held in New York City in 2013, the Australian iteration brings together Swedish-Ethiopian composer-improviser Sofia Jernberg, Indonesian experimental vocalist Rully Shabara and luminous New York soprano Ariadne Grief joining SCO favourite Mitchell Riley, with new music royalty Deborah Kayser and local rising star Sonya Holowell for a unique demonstration of the breadth and range of the contemporary voice.

Sydney Dance Company and Carriageworks will present the fifth edition of NEW BREED, commissioning Australia’s most innovative choreographers to create new work with members of the Sydney Dance Company. New Breed will be presented from 29 November until 8 December and is made possible by The Balnaves Foundation.

On 4 December Ensemble Offspring will present LONE HEMISPHERES, a program of striking, interdisciplinary music across all forms from seminal chamber music to free improvisation. Based in Sydney, Ensemble Offspring is led by acclaimed percussionist Claire Edwardes and has premiered over 200 works in its 20-year history.

Carriageworks continues its commitment to new work with three major new works in development: A new performance and VR work from Erth directed by internationally renowned Italian director Chiara Guidi; The Conch from New Zealand will develop a new interpretation of García Lorca’s play THE HOUSE OF BERNADA ALBA where acclaimed New Zealand Samoan poet Tusiata Avia will transpose Lorca’s indictment of pre-civil-war Spanish society into the tropical context of 1910 Samoa; and internationally renowned Australian composer Liza Lim will partner with Sydney Chamber Opera to create a new work.

For information about Carriageworks 2018 Season visit: http://carriageworks.com.au/2018-program/