Reflecting on Art Basel Paris and Paris Art Week (16th–20th October), I’ve been returning to the idea of set and setting. It’s a term used for psychedelic drug use – set being one’s mindset and setting being the physical environment – but fitting for perceiving art, too. If set and setting are off, the experience can be jarring; if right, it’s conducive to an enriching encounter.

For some reason, Art-o-Rama – an art fair in the southern French city of Marseille – has three Google reviews, including a one-star labelling it for “pseudo fashion intellectuals” and those “armed with easy money”.

For good reason, everyone is talking about Archie Moore at Venice. Presenting Australia at the 60th La Biennale di Venezia, the Kamilaroi/Bigambul artist is the first Australian to win the Golden Lion – the top award. Until November, his exhibition kith and kin makes sovereign Indigenous voices heard on the global stage with a focus on the resilient interconnection between people, place and time.

Collingwood Yards hails itself as a response to Australia’s crisis of affordable arts space. But is it as simple as taking some idle buildings, polishing them up and calling it an arts district – or is there a muddier question of sincerity?

Back in Melbourne, when friends ask How’s your French? I say that I sit down to my French class each week, and I can get through my chores. I can check for my allergens on packaging. I can read menus at a bistro and signs on the metro. At the beach, I understand children speaking to their parents about poisson in la mer. I understood the drunk man on a bike telling me about the bon chien across the road.

I spoke with The Cat Empire’s OG Felix Riebl (lead vocals, percussion) on beckoning in a new era.