National Gallery presents Victory over the Sun with Justene Williams

This October, artist Justene Williams, with Sydney Chamber Opera and the Australian National University Chamber Singers present the wildly irreverent ‘anti-opera’ Victory over the Sun.

The visionary work will be presented as part of the National Gallery of Australia’s 40th anniversary celebrations.

Commissioned by the 20th Biennale of Sydney and hailed by Time Out as ‘one of – if not the best things at the Biennale’, the work debuted to sold out audiences in 2016. The performance includes 38 costumes designed by Williams which have recently been acquired by the National Gallery.

For two nights only, on 14 and 15 October, audiences will have a rare chance to view Williams’ costumes in action again during this limited season.

The original opera of the same name, by composer Mikhail Matyushin, premiered in 1913 at the Luna Park in Saint Petersburg. With costume and set design by avant-garde Ukrainian-born artist Kazimir Malevich, it inspired an artistic revolution and caused a riot.

Over 100 years later, Malevich’s original costume designs were reconceived by Justene Williams in a style that she describes as baroque grunge. ‘I came from the 90s grunge scene that was big in Sydney, and I don’t think I’ll ever lose its influence: that free play messiness, that Arte Povera aesthetic,’ Williams explains.

National Gallery Senior Curator, Australian Art, Elspeth Pitt, explains that 'bringing together Justene Williams with the Sydney Chamber Opera and a chorus led by Tobias Cole to reperform the work, is a special opportunity for audiences in the Gallery’s 40th anniversary year.'

The 2022 iteration of Victory over the Sun is presented by Justene Williams with Sydney Chamber Opera and Australian National University Chamber Singers, with production by The Street Theatre. Victory over the Sun is part of the National Gallery’s Project Series and is a Know My Name project.

This event has been produced as part of the National Gallery's 40th Anniversary.

Victory over the Sun will be presented on 14 and 15 October at 6pm in the National Gallery’s Gandel Hall. Limited spaces available and bookings are essential, visit Project 4: Justene Williams: Victory over the Sun.

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MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Jessica Barnes
Acting Communications Manager
P +61 2 6240 6431 M +61 437 986 286 E jessica.barnes@nga.gov.au