Celine speaks to Rachel Roberts from the artist collective Applespiel on their new exhibit ‘Return to Escape from Woomera’, and artist Ali MC on his upcoming exhibit ‘Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands’.

 Sixteen years ago a group of Australians rocked the political landscape with Escape from Woomera, a video game putting players in the shoes of a refugee escaping detention. Now the sprawling creative collective Applespiel invite you to make your own bid for freedom as part of a turbo-charged and retro-fitted evening of live gaming, performance, discussion and debate. Each night the artists conjure a live commentary to accompany the gameplay alongside human rights advocates, refugees and the game’s original makers, exploring the ongoing significance of this singular cultural intervention.

  Applespiel are a collective of eights artists who collaborate as performers, musicians, technicians and devisers. None of its members have any lived refugee experiences, but know that as Australians they’re complicit in the treatment of asylum seekers. Detention has been a political point-scorer since Applespiel were infants, and a defining way in which this nation engages with the rest of the world. 

Return to Escape from Woomera – Applespiel

Season 21 – 25 May 2019

Times 6.30pm Tue – Sat

Location Meat Market

Address 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne

Duration 150 minutes (audiences are able to leave and re-enter the space at any time)

Tickets $25 – $35 (plus transaction fee)

Bookings artshouse.com.au or (03) 9322 3720

Ali MC's ‘Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands’.

 High in the mountains of north-east India, the indigenous Khasi eke out a living quarrying stone for shipment to Bangladesh. Hauled from the quarry and broken into smaller sized pieces by hand, the ‘nong shain maw’ – a Khasi word meaning ‘the people who break the rock’ – are paid as little as $2 per day.

OPENING: Saturday 18 May, 4pm – 5.30pm
EXHIBITION: 18 May – 8 June
VENUE: FCAC Gabriel Gallery
COST: FREE
PRESENTATION: Thursday May 23 1-2pm, Michaels Camera (263-269 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne)
LINK: http://footscrayarts.com/event/nong-shain-maw-stone-breakers-of-the-east-khasi-highlands/