Spectacular digital illuminations will herald the opening of the 30th Adelaide Festival of Arts in February 2015, as Blinc will transform the entire Torrens Riverbank and Festival Theatre precinct into canvases showcasing the world’s best digital art.
The stellar 2015 Adelaide Festival program features 42 music, theatre, dance and visual arts events alongside Adelaide Writers’ Week. The line-up includes 22 Australian premieres and 26 events exclusive to Adelaide.
In his third year as Adelaide Festival of Arts Artistic Director, David Sefton said, “Blinc will be the most ambitious public art event the festival has ever presented – obviously I’m very excited about that. To present a free event of this scale is a massive commitment from the festival and one that I believe will be enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of festival-goers.”
“The rest of the festival is a huge range of firm favourites – from the mammoth Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton, to unique festival shows like Tommy and up-to-the-minute events with the return of the fabulous Unsound.”
New York’s world-renowned Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet make their long-awaited and exclusive Australian debut, performing works by Crystal Pite, Hofesh Shechter, Jiri Kylian and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
The 2015 program features a number of genre-defying shows, including French visual theatre maker Aurelien Bory’s metaphysical masterpiece Azimut, Canadian Kid Koala’s multidisciplinary show Nufonia Must Fall and new media performance project The Experiment – featuring Australian composer David Chisholm.
Theatre program highlights include formidable Irish actress Olwen Fouere who embodies the voice of the river in Finnegans Wake in riverrun; Belgian Valentijn Dhaenens, star of 2014’s BigMouth, returns to Adelaide with SmallWaR; a whip-sharp and decidedly adults-only Beauty and the Beast (UK) from Improbable/ONEOFUS (UK); Stan’s Cafe (UK) take on religion and belief in The Cardinals; Italian actress Silvia Gallerano delivers a blistering monologue in La Merda; and Australia’s often unsung war heroes tell their stories in Black Diggers.
An eclectic music program is led by the Australian premiere of Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton – a celebration of movie music magic starring Danny Elfman with full symphony orchestra and choir. The program also features Tommy – a radical reimagining of The Who’s seminal album; the father of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti lives on in Fela! The Concert; a residency from one of the world’s most highly regarded composers Gavin Bryars; and Unsound Adelaide returns with a new and exciting line-up.
The free visual arts program exclusively features the broadest selection of works ever curated in Australia from American video and sound installation artist Bill Viola and an extraordinary solo exhibition from local Magnum photographer Trent Parke. Featuring more than 30 digital artworks from 18 international artists and collectives, Blinc will be displayed at more than a dozen locations turning buildings, bridges, trees, a waterfall, the sky and even the surface of the river into canvases for digital art.
Adelaide Writers’ Week will also celebrate its 30th event in 2015, with guests headlining the stellar line-up include influential chef and author Dan Barber (USA) in his first visit to Australia, beloved British writer John Lanchester, best-selling novelist Tom Rob Smith (UK), and prize-winning biographer Jenny Uglow (UK), celebrated novelist Joan London (AUS), political commentator Don Watson (AUS) and playwright Hannie Rayson (AUS).
The 2015 Adelaide Festival of Arts runs Friday 27 February to Sunday 15 March. For more information and complete program, visit: www.adelaidefestival.com.au for details.
Image: Tony Oursler, The Influence Machine, 2000