fortyfivedownstairs Explores The Theme Of 'Journeys' This March

This week a common theme of distance - both in time and geography, links exhibitions and our forthcoming production.

Large Gallery: Sun Lin
Verses Between Heavenly Beings
Until Saturday 5 March

Chinese artist Sun Lin is an inveterate traveler, who divides his time between Shanghai and New York. This is his first visit to Australia, showing works that could move those who see them to travel to the site of their inspiration in remote Western China.

Over 45,000 square metres of the caves are covered with murals painted by Buddhist monks since the third century A.D. These multi media works are created with a complex technique the artist has developed himself over many years

Verses Between Heavenly Beings is the first in a series of exhibitions of contemporary art from China presented in association with MEOU Art.

Small Gallery : Shirley Cass
Calibrations
Until Saturday 5 March

In Shirley Cass' exhibition Calibrations there is also reference to a journey - that of her mother to Australia, in a ladder with Perspex treads marked Smolensk, Tel Aviv, Melbourne. Ladders feature in another work, which is perhaps a dual homage to the drawings of Louise Bourgeois, and to the work of Hossein Valamenesh, whose ladders comment on his journey both as a migrant and an artist. This is extremely sensitive work, with multiple layers of meaning.
Coming up in the fortyfivedownstairs galleries

Gallery: Victorian Indigenous Art Awards 2011
Saturday 12 March to Saturday 2 April

A most significant exhibition, supported by Arts Victoria and sponsored by the Koorie Heritage Trust and Copyright Agency Ltd Cultural Fund, with total prize money of $45,500 (including a special people's choice award).

This is a completely new venture for us at fortyfivedownstairs. We were joined last year by Nicholas Boseley, who took up the residency created by Arts Victoria, to organize and curate the exhibition in conjunction with Abby Storey (till November 2010) and Martina Copley (from December 2010).

A record number of entries were received, and following pre-selection, a total of 25 selected for the final judging.

Artist talks will take place each Saturday during the exhibition, between 2 and 3pm. It's a great opportunity to see some of the diverse Indigenous art being produced in Victoria, and to meet some of the artists and hear their stories.

Theatre: Café Scheherazade
A fortyfivedownstairs production

Tickets have never sold as fast - Café Scheherazade, written by Thérèse Radic and based on the novel by Arnold Zable has had a wonderful response .

The stories of this disparate group of refugees, holocaust survivors who left their homes and often families in Europe, and made their tortuous journeys to this small café in Melbourne, is one that strikes a chord today, when so many hundreds of thousands of people continue to be displaced by wars and disruptions in their own countries. It's also a wonderful love story, which relates the meeting of Masha and Avram Zeleznikow, founders of the now legendary café in St. Kilda over 50 years ago.

Director Bagryana Popov has assembled a great cast, including Polish born Marta Kazcmarek in her first Melbourne stage apearance, and klezmer musicians Ernie Gruner and Justin Marshall, under the direction of Elissa Goodrich. But this is no sentimental Fiddler on the Roof - this is a story of heroic endeavours.

11 performances are sold out, including all the Sunday performances, and sadly there is no possibility of extension beyond April 3.

Limited $25 Tickets for a preview performance have just been released - 8 pm Monday 7 March!

Dates: Mon 7 March- Sun 3 April*
Times: Tue -Sat 8pm, Sunday 5pm, 2pm matinee (Thu 10 march)
Tickets: Preview $25, Full $45, Seniors $40, Conc $37.50 and Group(10+) $40 *No performance on Friday 11 March

Book online here or call 03 9662 9966.

For those who love Chekov and matinees

Theatre: I Take Your Hand in Mine
Presented by Australian Classical Theatre

I Take Your Hand in Mine by Carol Rocamora is based on the love letters between Chekov and his wife, the actress Olga Knipper. Following the success of last year's readings, I Take Your Hand in Mine returns for day time and early evening performances between March 15 and March 21.

The letters have all of Chekov's charm and wit, and Olga Knipper is vivacious, flirtatious, loving and impetuous. This is a wonderful insight into the background and inspiration of many of Chekov's renowned characters, some of them written expressly for Olga Knipper. Featuring Anastasia Malinoff and Paul English/Stewart Morritt.

Dates and Times: Wed 16 - Thu 17 March at 10am, Mon 21 March at 1pm & 6:30pm and Tue 15 & Fri 25 March at 2pm

Tickets: Full $22, Conc $18

Book online here or call 03 9662 9966.

One for the diary

Music Atticus
A string quartet for the 21st century

A stunning programme of contemporary composition from Australia, Europe and the U.S. includes the world premiere of Shaun Rigney's The Circular Ruins, recently recorded by the ABC.

Members of Atticus have appeared in many Arts Festivals including the Melbourne International Jazz Festival and Brisbane International Arts Festival.

Date and time: Monday 28 March 7:30pm
Tickets: Full $15 Concession $10

Book online here or call 03 9662 9966.

Bookings for all fortyfivedownstairs shows: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com tel 9662 9966

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Since 2002 fortyfivedownstairs, a not-for-profit organisation, has offered an evocative urban space and a personalised service to an eclectic mix of artists for theatre, visual arts, forum, music and dance .