Fusing the serious and the ridiculous: an interview with Brown Council (Sydney, Australia)

The following is an interview with Australian live art collective Brown Council. Formed in 2007, the group has developed an extensive portfolio of interdisciplinary artworks – including video, live performance, and gallery installations – that fuse high and low art traditions in order to critique arts histories, gender, and feminine identity. The discussion below focuses on the company’s appropriation and re-working of popular culture forms and the critical possibilities this provides for them and their audiences.