VIP Premiere: Malamadre by Liang Luscombe

Join us at Composite on Friday July 8th at 6:30pm for the premiere of Liang Luscombe’s new short film, the science fiction extravaganza Malamadre (2022). Taken from the Spanish word for the ‘bad mother’ spider plant, Malamadre is the latest work in Luscombe’s ongoing surreal comedy series that follows Sol and Fran on their intergalactic odyssey away from the financial horrors of Earth and towards the planet Howl.

Opening with a sickly Fran and a hangry alien puppet Alice, the film immediately casts doubt on the promise of Howl as a utopia. What Fran finds instead is a strange matriarchal world of asexual reproduction where mothers feed on their young. Will Fran reckon with her maternal fears and finally enjoy a symbiotic alien relationship? Moreover, will she make use of the planet’s five hundred beaches before they close at 5pm? 

To set the stage for Malamadre, the evening will begin with three short films that also circle on the theme of the monstrous mother and the femme body as a site of complex meaning: Claire Lambe’s I Think I’m turning into a Monster (2021), Ilana Harris-Babou’s Decision Fatigue (2020) and Lucy Beech’s Reproductive Exile (2018).

Time: Doors and drinks start from 6:30pm; screening from 7pm.
Prices: $10 waged / $5 unwaged / no one turned away for lack of funds.
Seating allocations will be on a ‘first-come, first-served' basis and capacity is limited.

Liang Luscombe’s practice encompasses painting, sculpture, and moving image that engage in a process of questioning how images and film affect audiences. She received her MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. She has been included in screenings at Liquid Architecture, Melbourne; AceOPEN, Adelaide; MetroArts, Brisbane; OpenTV, Chicago; Comfort Station, Chicago; and Vehicle, NYC. She has undertaken residencies at Chicago Artist Coalition’s HATCH residency program, Chicago, 2019; SOMA Summer, Mexico City, 2018; Australia Council Studio, British School at Rome, 2013; and Perth Institute of Contemporary Art Studio Residency, Perth, 2011.

Ilana Harris-Babou’s work is interdisciplinary; spanning sculpture and installation, and grounded in video. She speaks the aspirational language of consumer culture and uses humor as a means to digest painful realities. Her work confronts the contradictions of the American Dream: the ever unreliable notion that hard work will lead to upward mobility and economic freedom. She has exhibited throughout the US and Europe, with recent survey exhibitions at Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany & the ICA Chattanooga, USA. Other venues include The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, USA; Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark; and West Space, Melbourne, Australia.

Melbourne-based artist Claire Lambe draws from film, music, and traditional sculptural practice to create psychologically complex spaces that invite speculation on the human body as both matter and intermediary. Raised in Macclesfield, North of England in the 1970s, Lambe acknowledges the complexity of leaving, a probing flirtation between transformation, hostility, and tenderness. Lambe trained as a traditional sculptor, and holds degrees from Bristol College of Art, Bristol, United Kingdom; University of New South Wales, Collage of Fine Arts, Sydney; and Goldsmiths, London, United Kingdom. Recent major exhibitions include, The Body Electric, National Gallery Australia, Canberra, curated by Shaune Lakin and Anne O'hehir in 2020; From Will to Form, Tarrawarra Biennale, curated by Emily Cormack in 2017; and Mother holding something horrific, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, curated by Annika Kristensen and Max Delany in 2017. Lambe was awarded the Australia Council, ACME International Residency, London, United Kingdom, 2018; and the Edwards Trust award, ISCP, New York, USA, 2015/2016.

Accessibility Requirements

All screenings in this program are captioned however if you have any other accessibility requirements please let us know.

Wheelchair Accessibility

Composite is wheelchair accessible via the main carriageway ramp from Johnston Street as well as elevator access to the UG floor via the 'art deco' entrance midway down the Johnston Street facade and also via the rear entrance beside the Keith Haring mural, which has a ramp and leads to the elevator.

Gender Neutral Bathrooms

Composite has all gender-neutral bathrooms.

Accessible Parking/Dropoff Areas

If you are coming by car, there is accessible drop-off and pick up space at the side of the building beside the Keith Haring mural. There are also accessible parking located in the carpark at the rear of our venue.

Public Transport

Composite at Collingwood Yards is close to Stop 19 at the corner of Smith Street/Johnston Street on the 86 tram line. Only some Trams on this route are serviced by a mix of low floor and high floor trams. Read more at the PTV site here. The number 200 and 207 Bus' also stop directly over the road from Collingwood Yards.

Guide Dogs/Service Dogs

Guide dogs and service dogs are welcome at Composite.