The Super Wonder Gallery: Ten Minute Theatre
01 Apr 2019.  -

Photos by Raymond Helkio.

Created by artists Christian Aldo and Kevin Bushman, The Super Wonder Gallery is a 2,500 square foot art emporium tucked into Little Italy. Their latest offering, Ten Minute Theatre, presents five short works, each under 10 minutes in length to an audience of peers and friends. At various stages of development, the curation mixes smart, irreverent and experimental works into a circus of performances.

Between the format of the show and the space itself, there is little separation between performers and the audience which makes for mixing with luminaries like Sky Gilbert, who made a special appearance starring as himself in Christian Aldo’s work about censorship and power.

Dressed as a sadomasochistic leather daddy, Sky drills his subject into submission by assuming the role of judge and jury, “Yes, you have crossed the line between political correctness and good taste!” he barks at his subject while aiming to pit the audience against itself. This timely work about censorship and power takes aim at self-appointed speech police who enforce community standards through acts of shaming, intimidation, triangulation and censorship.

Audiences have the right to be offended, after all offence is the price for diversity. The dismantling of colonialism has coincided with an “us versus them” narrative that can have the effect of disengaging audiences by creating sub-tribes of right versus wrong. While Christian’s new work is not offensive an idea, it is thought-provoking and only one example of how to grab an audience in under 10 minutes, and leave them begging for more.

The Super Wonder Gallery has tapped into an exciting format that, while complete by midnight, the circus continues until late with an over-the-top bohemian vaudevillian vibe. The next instalment of Ten Minute Theatre kicks off April 26, 2019 and features an exhibition of intergalactic art including seventy artists, UFO fashion show, the Super Wonder Robot Collection, and a life size spaceship prop.