Carriageworks today announced that chef, restaurateur and pioneer of distinct Cantonese-Australian cuisine, Kylie Kwong, will curate the Night Market with a line-up of over 60 stalls from Australia’s best chefs and producers on Friday 15 February, 2019. The event is designed to showcase creative responses to themes presented by renowned American artist Nick Cave’s installation UNTIL, Carriageworks’ largest installation to date. The Night Market will feature a program of live music, DJs and cooking demonstrations and celebrate locally-sourced dishes inspired by diverse global communities and story-telling.
‘Part of my responsibility as an artist is about how do I engage Community. It’s not something that I even think about anymore, it’s just part of my practice and I think that is because I can’t do it by myself. I need the Community to help me deliver the message.’ Nick Cave.
Chef and curator Kylie Kwong was invited by Nick Cave to participate in a one-day Call and Response workshop last month alongside musicians, poets, artists and writers. The Night Market is Kylie’s unique creative reponse to his monumental work and she has encouraged each participating restaurant and bar to bring its own creative response via the dishes and drinks they will serve.
Kylie Kwong describes her vision for the event: ‘I felt really inspired by Nick’s message in UNTIL and immediately thought of my own practice as a cook – what does it mean to be a cook, why do I choose to offer the food I serve, what is my message, what do I stand for and what best ways can I positively contribute to the community? What is my personal journey with food? How can I convey my message via my food and share the story of the community from which I come? So, the Carriageworks Night Market in essence is a night of ‘sharing and story-telling’.
Highlights of the Night Market program of performance, featured chefs and demonstrations include:
– Ben Shewry of Attica will demonstrate how to cook native Australian seafood (sourced from Josh Niland of Fish Butchery) on a fire made by founder and managing director of Ngaran Ngaran Culture Awareness, Dwayne BanonHarrison, who will conduct a demonstration of traditional fire making along with Indigenous dancers. Ben and Dwayne will speak about the theme and what it means to them from their different perspectives.
– Danish chef Rene Redzepi’s non-profit organisation, MAD (taken from the Danish word for ‘food’) a global cooking community with a social conscience, will also feature. MAD Mondays Sydney, represented by Bella Napier and Caroline Baum will also speak about the theme, alongside Jon Owen CEO of the Wayside Chapel and Wayside’s Bondi Heart Cafe.
– Female chefs and bakers from Four Brave Women refugee-run restaurant in Summer Hill will share their personal stories and food samples from Iranian, Ukrainian, Russian, Iraqi and Syrian cuisines.
– Gospel-inspired acapella singing group Café of the Gate of Salvation will surround the Night Market with the joyful soulful sounds of African-American music; Matavai Pacific Cultural Arts will showcase dance and music from Maori and Pacific Islander traditions, and local FBi Radio’s Music Director, Amelia Jenner will play an eclectic mix of international beats.
Plantbased, vegan restaurants Alibi and Paperbark; new restaurants Bert’s Bar and Brasserie and Don’t Tell Aunty; Fish Butchery by Josh Niland; David Thompson’s Long Chim; The Rockpool Group’s Bar Patron, Rockpool Bar and Grill and Rosetta; and Chase Kojima’s restaurant Sokyo will serve food inspired by UNTIL.
Byron Bay natural wine company Jilly Wine, Potts Point wine bar Dear Sainte Èloise, Brent Savage’s Monopole, Enmore purveyors of natural wine P&V Wine + Liquor Merchants and South Australia’s Summertown Aristologist will join the Night Market, along with local brewers and distillers Archie Rose Distilling Co., The Grifter Brewing Co. and Young Henrys.
In keeping with the Night Market philosophy of celebration, collaboration and community, representatives from several community organisations will feature at the Night Market. Visitors can find out more about community engagement initiatives from The Wayside Chapel, OzHarvest, National Indigenous Culinary Institue and Two Good Co. Cariageworks Night Market will be a plastic-straw-free event, and will feature a stall from Sydney Doesn’t Suck, the local environmental initiative spearheaded by City Of Sydney Councillor Jess Miller.