Six events not to miss at You Are Here Festival 2019

Posted on 24 October, 2019

From an interactive dinner party to an opportunity to BYO sleeping bag and pillow, here’s what to expect at You Are Here Festival 2019.

Back for 2019, You Are Here Festival began as a commission by Robyn Archer—who felt very strongly that the ‘alternate underbelly’ of Canberra should be supported—as part of the program of activity for the Centenary of Canberra.

In 2018, after seven consecutive festivals, You Are Here stepped back and undertook a 12-month program of research, planning and strategising, culminating in a 2019 program packed with the best experimental artists from right here in Canberra and across the country.

Kicking off this Friday, 25 October and running over three days, the producer and artist-led festival prides itself on accessibility and inclusion with each event being addressed individually, identifying key accessibility opportunities for all, with most events free and not requiring booking in advance.

Multiple, unsuspecting venues across the city will be utilised, as well as cluster events on the Northbourne Avenue median strip between Alinga Street and London Circuit, and Verity Lane.

“Our producer team realised that the true value of You Are Here is not just presenting art, but the opportunities the organisation creates for artists and producers to develop their practice, their community, and the giving and receiving of critical feedback.

“So, in 2019, You Are Here ran our first Artist Development Program. Our artists have created artworks, found new collaborations, moved into new artforms, examined the deepest assumptions that underpin their practice and, in some cases, exploded their sense of their practice altogether,” says Ketura Budd, Producer Team.

Dotted around the city you can find an interactive dinner party, theatre, live painting of the walls of Verity Lane, an opportunity to BYO sleeping bag and pillow for an exciting event inside the old Phoenix site and a ceramic salon to get your hands dirty outside of Smiths.

The full, three-day program of events can be viewed here but here are six not to miss:

Dark Mutter

Exploring a new collaborative approach to creating, visual artist Nicci Haynes, dancer Debora di Centa and sound maker Shags perform a completely improvised set that is responsive to the moment and the artists within it.

Live drawing is projected onto the walls of the performance space as the artists take their cues from each other to create movement, music and imagery, fully immersed in real-time performance creation.

youareherecanberra.com.au/event/dark-mutter

AR(boreal)

Credit: Daniel Savage.

An augmented reality digital forest in Garema Place, created by artist Daniel Savage. Experience a shared digital environment that overlaps with the physical world and plays with unique landmarks in our city centre.

Digital elements grow and respond as individuals move throughout the space. Over the festival weekend, the forest will grow with the collective participation of the audience.

youareherecanberra.com.au/event/arboreal

Time For Sleep

Claire Granata and Benjamin Drury understand the negative impacts that modern technologies have had on our lives and have formulated an innovative therapeutic approach proven to reverse unhealthy physical and mental conditions.

Tucked into bed and lulled into a gentle sleep by their qualified staff, their patented bedtime simulation will reconfigure the brain with vital skills needed for a fulfilling and balanced lifestyle.

youareherecanberra.com.au/event/time-for-sleep

Blankets

This immersive sound installation challenges the preconceptions of what a music performance can be.

By removing the expected structures that are common in the presentation and experience of live music, constructing a different environment, Benjamin Drury moves us away from crowded rooms, busy, sweaty atmospheres towards quiet contemplation and restoration.

This is an intimate setting to be yourself and experience sound in a space where you can choose to be seen or secluded.

youareherecanberra.com.au/event/blankets

The Moon Is Beautiful, Isn’t It?

Enter isolation. Perch on the edge of the artist’s. In their solitude, approximate towards peace through the preparation of a meal as a form of self-care, nourishment and, ultimately, healing.

Receive and eat a meal while sharing in this process with artist Zhi Yi Cham.

youareherecanberra.com.au/event/the-moon-is-beautiful-isnt-it

Draifa

Filmmaker/sound artist, Hannah De Feyter tests elements for a future work about the fibrous, webbed, nagging nature of memory and forgetting.

A work which wants to do better with the way that film is presented in and interacts with the space that it’s shown in.

youareherecanberra.com.au/event/draifa

the essentials 

What: You Are Here Festival 2019
When: 25-27 October
Where: Various locations around Canberra
More information: youareherecanberra.com.au

Feature image: Georgia Kartas/Pricks and Bones. Images supplied.