On Saturday 17 March from 1 to 7pm, indoor and outdoor spaces throughout NewActon, The Shine Dome and the National Film and Sound Archives will host an array of curated projects responding to the this years theme ‘climax’ for ‘Art, Not Apart’, Canberra’s free contemporary arts festival.
At the heart of the festival is the need to utilise art in a way that increases understanding about scientific developments and the implications with climate change, politics and other global ‘climaxes’. This year’s program comprises immersive performances, three music stages, multiple exhibitions, video art and virtual reality, wild interventions, live street art, delicious food and drink, and two afterparties.
Impro ACT (Karina Salgado and Geoff Wallace), Rogue Safety
Festival highlights include performance artist Hanna Cormick’s appearance in The Mermaid, which deals with the current state of the world in relation to the artist’s own health struggles, and ‘Point’, a group exhibition at Nishi Gallery featuring artists Hanna Cormick with Christopher Samuel Carroll, S.A.Adair, Tom Buckland, Alison Alder, Dean Cross, Julie Brooke, Oscar Capezio, Grace K Blake, Peter Vandermark and El Boliche.
Hannah Cormick with Christopher Samuel Carroll, The Mermaid
Interestingly, meals are powered by discarded food of all things – as a result of Yarringan’s Digester – a biochemical mechanism breaks down NewActon’s food waste and turning it into nutrients and bio gas to burn at the festival barbecue located in the surrounds of The Shine Dome. The hungry machine has been decorated by local street genius, Houl.
SAFIA in collaboration with Pursuit Technology, Freaking Out
Canberra’s music artists from the Brass Knuckle Brass Band, the Canberra Opera and the Fun Machine will feature alongside Nadya and Zoran’s 101 Candles Orkestra and Benny Walker. And, once again Edinburgh Ave will be adorned with 100 metres of local street art, on view until the end of April. Finally, don’t forget to check out SAFIA’s virtual reality event corresponding with their new music release; expect all manner of perception-altering works from the visualisation of extinct animal sounds to kaleidoscopic drone footage of local landscapes.
