Interview with Alex Wisser, Cementa_13 Director

The Cementa_13 Contemporary Art Festival is happening in one months time, the four day festival starts on February 1, and preparations are now seriously underway to organise and accommodate the as yet unknown number of people who will be descending into the small and at the moment quiet rural town of Kandos. A call out has just gone out on the Cementa_13 website for participants and guests  to register so that a clear idea may emerge of the size of the coming festival. Just before the New Year I interviewed festival director Alex Wisser, and was fascinated to find out more about the background and stories behind the festival.
The full interview was published earlier today in Arts Features International. Here is an excerpt:

Alex Wisser: "One night we sat drinking too much wine, talking about the recently closed cement works on the mountain next to the town and the thought quickly formed that we could stage a contemporary art festival here.  Haha.  Yes, another glass of the shiraz please.  We woke up the next morning and Ann was drawing up artist lists and thinking about public liability insurance.  Georgie and I rubbed our eyes and realized we had signed on.  Artists have these kinds of crazy ideas all the time.  It usually requires someone taking them seriously to cause any real trouble".

The full article and interview is in Arts Features International at artsfeatures.com, at this link.

Copyright ©Ruth Skilbeck,  2013