THE NATIONAL: NEW AUSTRALIAN ART 2017

Making It Big – Richard Bell

Basically Black Film Screening and Discussion

Richard Bell will introduce a screening of Basically Black, a television pilot which was made by ABC Television in 1973 following Basically Black’s theatrical success at Nimrod Theatre. Basically Black created by the National Black Theatre was a revue of satirical and political sketches about Indigenous Australia, which had extraordinary social impact when it was premiered in 1972.

Following the screening Richard Bell will lead a discussion on the contemporary resonances of Basically Black almost half a century after it was first created.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL: NEW AUSTRALIAN ART 2017
A major exhibition partnership between three of Sydney’s premier cultural institutions, The National: New Australian Art is a six-year initiative presenting the latest ideas and forms in contemporary Australian art over three editions in 2017, 2019 and 2021. MORE

See full details of our performance program.

Download The National program of opening events across all three venues: Art Gallery of NSW, Carriageworks and MCA.

Brett Whiteley, Production poster for Nimrod Street Theatre’s presentation of National Black Theatre’s Basically Black, 27 October – 3 December 1972. Offset lithograph/print, black ink on off-white paper. Image courtesy Wendy Whiteley, Brett Whiteley Studio, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales © Wendy Whiteley