At Artspace on 6 August, artist Toni Tait sat in an armchair and stared at a plywood wall for two hours, and invited the rest of us to join her. Wallmaxx with me, part of the 2026 Kudos Live: G R / N D showcase, turned a TikTok productivity hack into a collective, public and quietly self-conscious experiment in contemporary boredom — and, more interestingly, in watching others watch a wall.

Andrea James Lui on creating a Fringe show around a lesson plan, clown as an accident, and the small tight-knit village keeping The Pole Shebang upright. Lui brings The Pole Shebang, a coming-of-middle-age story about a nerdy pole teacher late to the biggest, glitziest stage in the land, to Erskineville Town Hall — Emerging Artist Share House for Sydney Fringe, 22–26 September.