Bill Viola, Fire Woman, 2005 (detail). Video/sound installation. Performer: Robin Bonaccorsi. Photo: Kira Perov.
Contrary to popular myth, Adelaide Festival is not the oldest international arts festival in the nation – Perth is – but it is arguably the most prestigious. Its transition from a biennial to an annual event has not diminished the festival’s reputation or its impact on Adelaide; in the coming weeks, the City of Church’s denizens – and countless visitors – will be frantically scurrying from Writers’ Week tents in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens to the theatres of Adelaide Festival Centre, and from the Adelaide Town Hall to the Art Gallery of South Australia, as they attempt to gorge themselves on all the festival has to offer.
