Multicultural Arts Victoria Presents MAPPING MELBOURNE 2019

The 9-day curated festival features over 100 artists from across Australia, China, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and Thailand in 14 events of - contemporary independent dance, theatre, live art, music, visual arts, performance art, film and cross-cultural collaborations, Saturday 30 November until Sunday 8 December 2019.

"Mapping Melbourne is in its seventh year, demonstrating yet again the importance of artists led platforms that engage deeply with the experience of Asian creatives living and working in Melbourne, the nature of diaspora and the vibrant international threads that keep culture alive and thriving."
- Veronica Pardo, MAV CEO

Exhibiting and performing at some of our most iconic institutions and public spaces the program celebrates our unique Asian Australian identity and highlights positive global creative connections.

The festival will launch at Testing Grounds on Friday 29 November, 6 PM - 8 PM with live performances, installations and interactions which will provide the audience a sneak peek into this year's exciting program.

"Multicultural Arts Victoria is thrilled to present this exciting body of work that speaks to the necessity of diverse programming to the broader arts sector. We are also proud to support a model that places creative agency in the hands of culturally diverse artists and creatives, as a best practice exemplar of self-determined practice."
- Veronica Pardo, MAV CEO

Check out the full program here.

Highlights from the program include:
The MAPPING MELBOURNE COMMUNITY DAY on 30 Nov 1-4pm at Testing Grounds, is a day of food, performance and installation, featuring:

The COMIC SANS EXHIBITION, curated by Rachel Ang and Leah Jing, is a serialised Australian comics anthology published by LIMINAL. These comics stretch from a few amusing thoughts, to quiet moments, to deep dives into the most intimate, devastating relationships.

An interactive COMIC DRAWING WORKSHOP, facilitated by the amazing comic artist, Kim Lam (dangerlam), the workshop will create a fun and inclusive environment for self-expression and discussion to learn, play and experiment with comic art.

FORBIDDEN LAUGHTER is created as a collaborative mobile Butoh performance installation between Japanese/Australian performance artist Yumi Umiumare and Thai/Australian installation artist Pimpisa Tinpalit. Several pop-up performances with a surreal sense of humour will occur onsite with performers dancing and interacting as a moving installation.

And the exclusive Australian debut of BELON by P7:1SMA (Singapore) an interactive dance performance which explores the equilibrium between traditional conventions and the contemporary. The work seeks to occupy and engage the space of the in between and is embodied by the belon (Malay for balloon).

Further event highlights from the program include:

ANA MUSLIM (I AM MUSLIM) by Angga Wedhaswhara is an exploration and discussion on being a 'Muslim'. Originally performed in Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, Angga explored the growing dichotomy between those who are practising orthodox Muslims and those that support Pancasila, the official foundation of philosophical theory of Indonesia that supports diverse culture and religions. His practice explores the concept of Muslim Dzmmi, a peaceful compromised position for Muslims that are not living in a shariah country.

SAGA SISTERHOOD, led by Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa, is a transformative performance project from Perth for women from communities who identify as South Asian that come from non-performer backgrounds, but all have something to say about love, friendship, belonging, family and identity.
"We are now in the era of political wars against particular identities where the only thing we might have left is our human stories."

VANITY FAIR ENOUGH and MHP: FOLDING CITY are a double bill at The Toff.
Vanity Fair Enough, by Margot Morales Tanjutco, is a solo hour of original songs, sketch, and standup about sexy capitalism. Accompanied only by electropop tracks, an electric guitar, and her own ego - impending doom never looked so good.

MHP (aka Ma Hai Ping) is a world-renowned award winning Chinese electronic musician who hit the decks composing electronic and techno music forging a new path for the genre in China. Exhilarating live performances and successful album releases paved the way for him to become a highly respected independent musician in China and now he is returning to Melbourne to bring the party. This exclusive Melbourne performance will also feature special guest Mindy Meng Wang.