Art After Dark

Art After Dark

Take the long way home and prepare to expect the unexpected at BLINDSIDE’s 2016 festival On The Verge, taking over the alleyways and byways of the CBD at the start of the month.

An experimental art festival presented by not-for-profit, artist-run space BLINDSIDE, On The Verge is contemporary art in its most creative and progressive form.

Starting on August 24 and running until September 3, On The Verge invites attendees to look, explore and experience the CBD in a different and more meaningful way through chance encounters, immersive soundscapes and creative exchanges. For 11 days, art will materialise in Melbourne’s laneways, transforming spaces we traverse and take for granted on daily basis.

The 2016 festival features the talents of 30 emerging and established artists, across 18 sites in the CBD, and all exhibitions, events and experiences are free.

Artist Billie Justice Thomson will create a one-of-a-kind home in the CBD with a large scale, site-specific work, on display 24 hours a day for the duration of the festival. You can catch a glimpse of the work, and gain an insight into domestic life, through the lounge room window at 116 Little Lonsdale St.

Guerilla Theatre is bringing performance art to the streets (and a range of other unexpected city sites) with a series of social and politically-focussed plays and skits popping up around the CBD for the length of the festival. Featuring international and local artists, performances range from the absurd to the comedic, interactive and emotionally charged. Check the performance guide online for dates and times, or go for a wander and stumble across (or into) a show.

Video work Idyll – filmed over a seven-year period beginning in New York’s Central Park and concluding in Melbourne and Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens – will be projected from 6pm each night in the level 1 window of the Nicholas Building at 37 Swanston St.

Award-winning performance artist Sarah Rudledge will create live song loops throughout the city in Repeat 1, and Cassandra Smith and Morgan Jones will explore the relationship between poetry, people and public space in roaming poetry project A poem, of course, is always open for business.

The BLINDSIDE gallery space will host the festival hub, complete with comfy chairs, cups of tea and a space to hang out and reflect on the exhibition.

BLINDSIDE gallery presents a range of experimental creative practices and supports the artists, writers and creators behind these works by connecting them with the community. Works cover a range of contemporary art practices, from sculpture, drawing and performance art to new media, video, sound and installation.

To plan your On The Verge festival journey and view the full program visit www.blindside.org.au

Since Labor has been in power …

Since Labor has been in power …

March 20th, 2024 - Evan Mulholland
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