Carlos Russell is a multi-skilled artist with vast working experience in visual arts, theatre, music, film, television, cabaret and corporate events. From 1998 Carlos worked extensively with Etcetera Theatre Company, performing nationally and internationally at festivals in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Singapore, Edinburgh, and London and at the comedy festival Just for Laughs in Montreal. Etcetera toured to Monte Carlo as part of the Sydney Olympic Bid in 1993. Other credits include Nigel Triffitt's The Fall of Singapore with the Sydney Theatre Company, Andrew Denton's The Money or the Gun, ABC-TV's The Big Gig.

Carlos first worked at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1997, co-creating the music/performance piece We Were Framed with the orchestral ensemble The Seymour Group. Following the success of this project, he formed Etcetera Duo with Russell Garbutt and they have since created several performance pieces commissioned by Art Gallery of NSW Public Programs for selected exhibitions. Carlos has lectured in performance at The University of Sydney where he is currently completing a Masters of Teaching.

PERFORMANCE

Think in thongs

This performance – a blend of illusion, mime, puppetry and comic action - by Carlos Russell (co-devised by Russell Garbutt) was commissioned by Public Programmes, Art Gallery of New South Wales, for the 2005 summer school holidays. Designed to engage the imaginations of children and families with selections from the Modern Australian painting collection, it plays across the boundaries of the virtual and the real with transformations that blend education with entertainment. Originally a 20 minute performance, including musical soundtrack and video, Carlos has modified Think in Thongs for the symposium in the Domain Theatre. The presentation is now a 7-minute highlight.

 ABSTRACT

Was that meant to be funny?

Good fun can be taken as seriously as ‘good taste’ and good taste can be fun. But should good taste be funny? Accessibility is more than just opening the front doors to the museum. Public perception of the museum has changed with it visitors now expecting multiple entry points of education and recreation. Humour can be a useful tool to engage, educate and entertain. The museum provides a complex platform for the comic situation because its associated seriousness strongly contrasts with being funny. For humour to be effective the performer of it needs to consider the particular sensibilities of the museum context.