New Speakers And Artists Added To 2018 Lineup

Sydney Opera House today announced new speakers, performances and visual art elements to the ANTIDOTE 2018 lineup. Taking place over the weekend of 1-2 September, ANTIDOTE is a festival of pioneering ideas, action and change focusing on global, local and personal issues of the day.

The Gauntlet is a site-specific immersive choral experience by leading experimental New York composer Sxip Shirey featuring the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs with choreography by Coco Karol. Audiences will be immersed in an original musical composition performed by 50 choristers. They can walk between formations of singers exploring musical phrases and tones echoed in four clockwise movements within the architecture of the Joan Sutherland Theatre foyers and stairways. The lyrics are inspired by interviews with some of Sydney's leading cultural, social and environmental activists.

War Gardens, a free exhibition of photography by journalist, photographer and filmmaker Lalage Snow, will be presented along the Western Broadwalk, taking viewers on a journey through Afghanistan, Gaza, The West Bank, Israel and Ukraine to explore private gardens tended to by civilians caught up in conflict and the universal search for peace. War Gardens is a surprising, tragic and beautiful photographic journey beyond the bloody headlines of these conflict zones, revealing the ways everyday people are trying to maintain a modicum of normality and colour in the middle of destruction.

Additional ANTIDOTE speakers and chairs:

• Joining Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sisonke Msimang on the Race, Power & Privilege panel is Professor Megan Davis, Pro Vice Chancellor Indigenous and Professor of Law, UNSW. Prof Davis is an expert member of the UN Human Rights Council's Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She is also a constitutional lawyer and a member of the Referendum Council and the Expert Panel on the Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution.

• Alt-America author David Neiwert and former Islamic radical turned anti-extremism consultant, Ed Husain will be joined on the Fringe-dwellers & Fanatics panel by left-wing Guardian writer, past editor of Overland literary journal and 3RRR broadcaster, Jeff Sparrow. His most recent books include No Way But This: In Search of Paul Robeson and the forthcoming Trigger Warnings: Political Correctness and the Rise of the Right.

• World-famous whistle-blower Chelsea Manning will appear in conversation with award-winning foreign correspondent Peter Greste who spent 25 years working in some of the world's most volatile places, from Afghanistan, Latin American, Africa and the Middle East. He made headlines himself when he was arrested and charged with terrorism offenses in Cairo where he spent 400 days in prison.

• Richard Fidler, host of ABC's most popular podcast, Conversations will chair an unmissable session with Ta-Nehisi Coates, National Correspondent for The Atlantic, Black Panther comic book writer and author of several seminal books on race relations in the US.

• America's best-known female newspaper columnist Maureen Dowd will appear in conversation with good friend Julia Baird, host of ABC TV The Drum and author of Victoria: The Queen, about this astonishing era in US politics, the #metoo and the unique importance of long-term female friendships.

• ABC TV News presenter Fauziah Ibrahim will moderate sessions with Ed Husain on Islam in the Free World and Islamic architecture expert, Marwa Al-Sabouni on Rebuilding Syria.

• Host of ABC Radio National's Science Friction Natasha Mitchell joins marine biologist Dr Lisa-ann Gershwin for a discussion about the wonders of jellyfish and what they teach us about the future of our marine ecosystems. She will also appear in conversation with Jonathan Drori about humanity's interaction with trees as a bellwether for the health of our planet.

• Fenella Kernebone, Head of Curation for TEDxSydney and former host of ABC Radio National's By Design will chair a session with disabled designer Liz Jackson about uniting accessibility with creativity and good design.

• Maeve Marsden's legendary storytelling night, Queerstories will be staged at the Opera House for the first time featuring the creative force behind the ABC's cult TV show, Black Comedy, Steven Oliver; Rugby League legend Ian Roberts; and Liz Jackson.

• Senior Fairfax journalist and former Canberra press gallery sketch writer, Jacqueline Maley will join The Sydney Morning Herald's Editor Lisa Davies and fellow columnists Adele Ferguson and Ross Gittins for a special SMH Live: Passing the buck examining the Financial Services Royal Commission.

• Adding to the lineup of 'How to' workshops, Rootstock Sydney co-founder and local legend of natural wines Mike Bennie will guide participants on a tasting tour of natural wines. Other 'How To' workshops include: Fillet a Fish; Ethically Declutter Your Home; Make Your Own Eco-products; and Become an Activist).

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