There are fables about a Monkey King.
In Eastern folklore, he’s a celestial monarch, a leader, an exuberant spirit beloved for miles and miles. Inspired by this pillar of Chinese royalty, Kensington Street’s Chinese New Year celebrations assume a familiar spirit as we herald the Year of the Monkey.
Draped in red fabric and lanterns aglow, life darts back and forth across the cobblestones on Saturday 6 February, 3 - 7PM, with all the energy and agility of this celebrated creature.
As the lunar calendar begins, Kensington Street will play host to new creative ventures - art exhibitions, Laneway Yum Cha, Chippendale New World Art Prize. Generously supported by Greencliff and Kensington Street Holdings, Sydney’s newest lifestyle destination courses with ambition. So many stories unfold here - discover more on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
In the Year of the Monkey, Kensington Street becomes even more playful and adventurous.
 
ADMISSION IS FREE
SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY
3PM - 7PM
On the first weekend of the lunar calendar, Kensington Street becomes a bastion of live performance, accompanied by art, workshops and abundant food. This cobblestoned street will be the stage to a lively cast of characters: lion dancers run wild, martial artists deal their blows, musicians bear their instruments and dancers spin in endless circles.
Lion dancers of the Australian Chinese Teo-Chew Association will open these festivities. Weaving down Kensington Street, they’ll bite the heels of bad spirits.
Australian Chinese Teo-Chew Lion Dance Association
Behold BlackSwan Dance’s choreography of contemporary ballet and traditional Chinese dance, swept up in billowing fabrics and opened fans. Southern Star Performing Arts presents children’s traditional folk dances, in lieu with the school’s aim to promote Chinese culture through dance.
By your own sleight of hand, take a seat at our games boards - roulette, Chinese checkers, mahjong - and gamble with a stash of lucky charms, as Pak Hok Kung Fu International manoeuvre the spectrum of martial arts, from advanced fist form and self defence to weapons demonstrations by the bo staff, and the sword.
Chinese Music School
As the lanterns dim and evening encroaches, be lulled by the song of the erhu and the guzheng, delivered by musicians from the Chinese Music School.
Kensington Street’s chefs will wield knives equally sharp at their food demonstrations, where they carve into each of their specialty cuisines. With French-Asian fusions from Bistrot Gavroche, noodle craft from Chefs Gallery, Vietnamese stylings from Mekong and desserts from Reynold Poernomo of KOI Dessert Bar - be transfixed by our chefs’ deft hands.
Accompanied by electric commentary from Enzo Guarino - this is something for the food connoisseurs to sink their teeth into.
Aby Dotulung Photography
Beneath a new moon, Spice Alley’s Lunar Feasts will gather our hungriest diners around the table. Drawn from the fragrant flavours of Asia, chefs of the Kopi-Tiam and Chefs Gallery present dishes blessed with good fortune, longevity, prosperity and luck for the new year.
Comprised of 8 courses at $88 per person, extended over 8 days (Sunday 7 - Sunday 14 February), these Feasts are bound to be a good omen.
Bookings essential
Direct all bookings and enquiries to John Gray (0424 756 969, john@greencliff.com.au).
SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY
2PM - 4PM
Linda Sok Photography
To quote Rebecca Solnit, "walkers are the 'practitioners of the city' for the city is meant to be walked."
In the truest fashion of exploring Chippendale, embark on our EXPLORE CHIPPENDALE FREE Gallery Walking Tour with a group of equally curious pedestrians and traverse this precinct’s gallery scene together.
To coincide with Chinese New Year on Kensington Street, be the audience to exclusive commentary from acclaimed curator Susannah Smith and talks from exhibiting artists:
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The Japan Foundation: Zodiac, Damon Kowarsky and Kyoko Imazu
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The Old Rum Store: Twenty Twenty
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Kensington Contemporary 1: Milky Eye, Lisa Jones
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Kensington Contemporary 2: Yoshio Koaze: A Retrospective, Yoshio Koaze
Bookings essential
Reserve your spot now at info@chippendalecreative.com.au
Many thanks to our partners and sponsors, whose generous support has made our Chinese New Year celebrations more grand and joyous!
THURSDAY 4 FEBRUARY
6PM - 8PM
Join us for the opening reception of Kensington Contemporary’s two new exhibitions, Milky Eye and Yoshio Koaze: A Retrospective.
Jones brings her drawings as witness to bodily movement. Koaze brings his paintings as witness to Japanese culture. Kensington Contemporary rings in a new creative epoch in its exhibitions calendar, polished off with a glass of wine under evening skies.
Lisa Jones' Milky Eye is a series of maps, of drawings, of erasures.
In her own cartography, Jones maps out the tentative relationship between body and place. Our human bodies make the marks, and their subsequent erasure is the passing of time, which inevitably removes all trace of life.
Download e-invite
Kensington Contemporary 2 welcomes the works of the late Yoshio Koaze, a retrospective from the recommendations of The Japan Foundation.
To celebrate the recent opening of Ky-oto, the newest restaurant on Spice Alley, Koaze's paintings pay homage to the intricacies of Japanese heritage. These are the cornerstones of traditional culture: geishas, samurai, royalty and heavyweights of the sumo world. Their gazes steady upon us from these portraits of the past, theatrically lit like a kabuki performance.
Download e-invite
Scott Marsh Graffiti
Behind Kensington Contemporary 2 lies Ky-oto.
Offering ramen, udon, and all the classic side dishes to dip into - this is a slice of Japanese dining life in Spice Alley. Indulge in their rich noodle broths one summer evening. From the shrines and traditional ryokan of Kyoto to the restored terraces on Kensington Street - we speak the universal language of good food.
Spice Alley’s own Hong Kong Diner has been transformed into a Laneway Yum Cha!
No lazy Susans, no troublesome aunts - just a fine selection of handmade dim sum with only the best company in our favourite hawker eatery. Claim your own table under these lantern ceilings.
Vegetarian dumplings, BBQ pork buns, crab spring rolls - our trolleys are abundant, and our bellies are full.
Spice Alley is open 11AM - 10PM, 7 days a week.
In its fourth year, Chippendale New World Art Prize (CNWAP) presents a one-weekend vignette of life in the vibrant Chippendale arts scene, in collaboration with VIVID Ideas - "Asia Pacific's annual celebration of innovation, creativity and community." Part of a program that "truly spans the innovation and imaginator sector", CNWAP highlights the most striking features on the face of Chippendale.
Hole in the Sky - Hobart Hughes (CNWAP 2015)
On Thursday 2 June, the CNWAP opening night will exhibit all finalist works to the public, each piece an artistic investigation into the notion of "Spirit". The evening of Friday 3 June will behold a Feast for the Senses, where an opulent degustation menu is accompanied by talks from esteemed curators, artists and cultural commentators. We will conclude on Saturday afternoon with talks and walks across the precinct's gallery scene, embracing the rich gallery coterie that resides within Chippendale.
To all our spirited creatives, learn more about the CNWAP and download this year’s creative brief here.
Submissions close Sunday 3 May.
Stories are abundant in these here parts. The media’s been spinning some new yarns about Kensington Street:
Broadsheet - Chinese New Year on Kensington Street
Broadsheet - Silvereye
The Daily Telegraph - Kensington Street Social is a mix of glitz, gimmicks and gutsy food.
Not Quite Nigella - A Long Sunday Lunch with Friends at Kensington Street Social
The West Australian - Chippendale “reborn as arty haven
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