BLINDSIDE presents their 2014 Festival, ‘MEET THE PUBLIC‘ from 27 August to 6 September. This 11-day multi-platform event tests the limits of public participation in contemporary art practice.
Curators, Xanthe Dobbie and Raymonda Rajkowski, explain that this year’s festival will ‘showcase a series of performative and participatory works by artists and art collectives who explore the parameters for artist and audience engagement through live art, site-specific interventions, and inter-subjective encounters’.
Artists include Amy Spiers and Michelle Sakaris, and artist collectives In The Meantime (Alica Bryson Haynes, Lizzy Sampson, Shae Rooke and Claire Robertson), Performprint (Michael Meneghetti & Joel Gailer) and Collab Comics (Julia Trybala and Aaron Billings) and Waterfall Person and Paradise Structures.
The program includes two associated off-site events presented by Festival partners Arts Participation Incubator and Field Theory:
Deakin University’s Arts Participation Incubator, with the support of City of Melbourne, is presenting a networking night on Thursday 28 August, 6-7.30pm, and a workshop on Friday 29 August, 9.30am-1pm, led by Christchurch post-quake urban activist group Gap Filler. This two-part workshop will explore how to prepare the ground for a successful creative project, whether you’re establishing some productive constraints for a project of your own, or running a local arts program. Both events will be held at Donkey Wheel House, 673 Bourke Street, Melbourne.
Field Theory is presenting ASTROJET, an after-dark performance by Zoe Meagher on the evenings of Friday 5 and Saturday 6 September. Part bus tour, part audio guide, this participatory work takes visitors on an eerily familiar expedition to Melbourne’s forgotten Astrojet Space Centre.
A special closing event will take place on Saturday 6 September, presented by Sticky Institute and The Newport Dolls featuring zinemaker readings and zinemaker rock.
BLINDSIDE Artist-Run Space
27 August to 6 September, 2014
Melbourne