Black Drop Effect

Sydney, Australia: Bankstown Arts Centre, in collaboration with Sydney Festival, presents the world premiere of Black Drop Effect, a new work by Nardi Simpson. Produced by Bankstown Arts Centre, Black Drop Effect is an immersive, multi-layered experience that draws audiences into the contested spaces of ideas and emotions inspired by, and responding to, the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s landing in Australia.

Yuwaalaraay woman and famed Stiff Gins musician Nardi Simpson turns her attention to the ongoing effects of colonisation in a powerful collaboration, with a collective of First Nations and non-Indigenous artists, led by director Felix Cross.

Binno, an Aboriginal elder and erstwhile member of a community dance group, is asked to present a series of traditional dances, alongside readings of Captain Cook’s diaries, for a 26 January celebration. Binno is unsure, until his straight-talking sister Beenie convinces him to teach the dances to three young men seeking connections with culture, country and their place in the world. As they learn the dances and understand their meanings, a bigger plan emerges.

Produced by Bankstown Arts Centre, the work emerged from a short-term residency by the Stiff Gins—Nardi Simpson and Kaleena Briggs—in 2018 at the Arts Centre. Bankstown’s landscape and a connection to Country served as a creative starting point, as the ‘City of Two Rivers’ is bound by the Cooks and Georges Rivers, historical passages to colonial incursions into Dharug and Dharawal Country. Centering on traditional knowledge and the transference of culture, Black Drop Effect is a critical discussion for our times.