Cementa_13 has been awarded $60,000 from ArtsNSW to support the innovative artist-run festival to be held in the rural-industrial former cement-works town of Kandos three and a half hours drive west of Sydney, in early February 2013, it was announced earlier today.
"The generous grant will go predominantly towards paying the over seventy contributing artists, said festival director, Alex Wisser in an email release addressed to Our dearest Cementaliers. "It is an incredible outcome for the festival, the town of Kandos and the region as well as the rights of artists to get paid for the work they do so tirelessly, and so often for free." The announcement concluded with a promise: "we won't let the money change us, though we do think that the festival needs its own helicopter."
The festival, which will run over four days in Kandos, is an artist run initiative founded by Sydney based artists, Alex Wisser and Georgina Pollard. Over seventy contemporary artists, ranging from emerging to established, and practising in a wide range of arts media, will journey to the former cement-works town in the shadow of a spectacular escarpment, to participate in the festival.
The impressive lineup of artists taking part in the festival include in no particular order, and in a random selection: John A. Douglas, Ruark Lewis, Lisa Andrew, William Seeto, David Capra, Kurt Sorenson, Ian Milliss, Liam Benson, Fiona Macdonald, Pia van Gelder, Vienna Porreno, The Stoked, Sarah Goffman, The Motel Sisters, Jenny Brown, Fiona Davies, George Tillianakis- and many more. One work that in particular catches the eye as exhibiting the concrete qualities one may associate with a cement town, is this witty yet strangely poignant image by Vienna Parreno:
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| The art of concrete poetry? One of the works that will be exhibited at Cementa, by Vienna Parreno |
Kandos is a location that is not entirely unfamiliar to the Sydney art scene. Sydney based contemporary artist John A. Douglas recently made a compelling video work in the visually dramatic post-industrial rural and strangely abandoned landscape, which may evoke comparisons with other filmic renditions of aftermath for instance in Tarkovsky's Nostalgia: Strange Land Vol I, 3 channel HD video (featuring Sari T.M Kivinen and Liam Benson) with an original soundtrack by sound artist Debra Petrovitch.
In John A. Douglas's current work exhibiting at Chalk Horse Lacey, Body Fluid- The Seven Cycles, he seeks to transcend the monotony of daily dialysis treatments through self transformation in fantastical artworks, as part of his ongoing research at the UNSW Museum for Human Disease; in the video his imaginary golden figure levitates through replenishment of bodily fluids and takes flight through the Australian landscape of the Snowy Mountains and Mullee.
John A. Douglas is one of the artists participating in Cemetia_13, and with recent works including extended performances wrapped entirely in gold latex it will be interesting to see what he does in his next foray into the former cement town.
The aim of Cementa_13 contemporary art festival is a "celebration of contemporary art set within the rural industrial history of Kandos NSW"
In coming weeks, and over the summer, The Daily Fugue will feature exclusive interviews, reviews and profiles on some of the participating artists.
7 Dec 2012
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