Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

A by-election in the wealthy beachside suburb of Wentworth, Sydney, wouldn't usually make international headlines but today’s vote could be pivotal for Australia’s ruling Liberal party. Sparked by the resignation of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in August, this by-election will serve as a crucial test for his successor, Scott Morrison. Current polls suggest the Liberals are heading for defeat and, with it, the loss of their one-seat parliamentary majority in Canberra. That alone would be unlikely to bring down the government but it would make passing legislation far more difficult. Morrison’s two-month premiership has been beset with infighting and a crisis over immigration policy – an electoral defeat today would deepen his woes ahead of May 2019’s general election. Today’s results will not only impact those catching waves at Bondi beach but will, whichever way the vote goes, ripple out to the wider Australian electorate.

Urbanism festival Torinostratosferica may have been born to reflect and examine its namesake city of Turin, but its remit goes well beyond the Piedmontese capital. Taking place this weekend, the three-day conference was set up by a team that also organises city breaks dedicated to creative types hungry for transnational inspiration. The festival’s line-up is all the better for being equally as outward-looking: today’s highlights include an address by the Canadian architect Jean Beaudoin. An appetite for exploring notions of utopia is also one of the festival’s strongest assets. In an Italian context, too often burdened by bureaucracy, big ideas are a powerful tool with at least one tangible consequence: to shake up morale and a discourse often demoralised by the details.

An elevator full of sharply dressed creative types clutching coconut water, a list of buzzwords on a whiteboard, a tense conference call about the best way to sell mouthwash; these are all familiar scenes for photographer David Stewart. “I’ve worked in advertising for most of my career,” says Stewart, whose exhibition Paid Content takes place this weekend in East London’s Wren Gallery. This clash of corporate and creative worlds provides the brilliantly sardonic humour behind Stewart’s work. “Over the years I’ve noticed how creativity is gradually being diluted by committee decisions,” he says. “I wanted to hold a mirror up to the industry and give it a gentle prod.”

France’s Annecy Film Festival has long championed animation as being worthy of critical acclaim. This weekend it’s upping sticks and paying a second visit to LA’s TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood for “Animation Is Film”. Anime titan Mamoru Hosoda’s Mirai opened the event last night, following its fêted premiere at Cannes this year, and is the centrepiece of a retrospective about the director. In addition to upcoming family-friendly big-studio release Ralph Breaks the Internet, the festival will screen internationally acclaimed animated tales including Belgium’s This Magnificent Cake!, which explores Europe’s colonisation of Africa. The festival comes at a buoyant time for animation houses around the world and aims to present the medium as a diverse and bona fide genre of the film industry.

Brisbane band The Goon Sax hit Midori House to play from their latest album, ‘We’re Not Talking’, and to have a chat with Andrew Mueller.

In the latest episode of our 'Secret to...' series we talk to Jack Pattison, co-founder of Freddie Grubb, about the key elements that go into creating an outstanding bike shop.