Over the next ten days, the Art & Industry Festival will celebrate and investigate the ever-changing industrial and manufacturing heartland of Australia based in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
“Industry is a lens through which we can view and acknowledge the past and generate ideas on how we build and design the future,” said Festival Director, Donna Jackson. “The Art & Industry Festival will create astonishing and important art that will move and connect the local community in authentic, inspiring and surprising ways.”
Running until Sunday 27 November, this new and inspiring festival puts the spotlight on the local industrial creators and resources in the Hobsons Bay area – home to craft brewers, carmakers, designers, oil tanks and treasured heritage buildings. Culminating in multiple art presentations and activities, the Art & Industry Festival features:
FLUOROPHONE
Fluorophone moves between noise, theatrical music and virtuosic instrumentalism, in a synesthetic display of light and sound. Analogue and digital fluorescent lights, the naked flame, strobe lights and custom-built LED discs are combined with percussion to create a program in which the music and lighting design are one and the same.
IF: INDUSTRIAL FASHION
Inside the Williamstown Town Hall, the grand dame of high Victorian architecture, local fashionistas will create, design and build costumes inspired by local industrial heritage – including recycled plastic milk bottles and shipping containers.
INDUSTRIA TO SUBURBIA – STREET ART NEWPORT
With the inner-west rapidly transitioning into a mainly residential area, Tony Mead will draw on his signwriting skills and explore the people and industries that played a part in creating the uniquely diverse area that is Hobsons Bay.
SPARK
An old style family fun night of fun, Spark is an explosive extravaganza to kick off the final weekend of the festival featuring fireworks, car crushing, sideshows, music, signwriting, printing and furniture making.
TALKING HANDS
Zoya Martin has photographed and created large format black and white images, exploring the diverse experiences of local workers, revealing their skills, struggles and passions as told by their hands.
THE CAPTAINS DAUGHTER
Using 3D printing and 3D modelling software and displayed among the historic maritime collection of Seaworks in Williamstown, Bin Dixon-Ward has created a collection of contemporary jewellery that draws a connection between historic artefacts, digital technologies and personal memories of being a seafaring Captain’s daughter.
WESTERN LIGHTS
Artist Phil Lethlean will light some of our favourite industrial buildings and spaces across the area of Hobsons Bay including Scienceworks Pumping Station, Modscape and the Westgate Bridge. Locals and camera buffs are invited to step out after dark with cameras, tripods and smartphones to capture some of these luminously-dressed industrial beacons
WESTSIDE COOL
The industrial west is evolving and very hip – Westside Cool is a collective of local makers and industrially-enthused creators, including makers, bakers, brewers and crafters from Spotswood to Newport and Williamstown to Altona.
The 2016 Art & Industry Festival runs 18 – 27 November. For more information, visit: www.artandindustryfestival.com.au for details.
Image: Sparks are set to fly at the Art & Industry Festival (supplied)