The laneways of Chippendale will get a futuristic make-over through the Beams Art Festival.
As creative concepts are shaped through the many projects of Art & About Sydney, there is one event that has a particularly strong vision extending way beyond 2013. This is the Beams Art Festival in Chippendale.
Colour, shape, texture and light will be experimented with from a forward-thinking perspective, with themes of ‘revitalisation’ and ‘new world cities’ explored across disciplines. Works take the form of installation, dance, theatre, performance art, video, lighting projections, workshops, music, and even outdoor dining in a one-night event that somehow manages to pack over 350 artists, musicians and performers into just five hours of activation.
As six laneways of Chippendale are closed down for the evening to host the event, countless minds will be expanded through the experimental and technological artwork at play. Site-specific sculptural works will be created in real time, with video, light, interactive work and even performance crossing wires and leading to new artistic freedoms.
President of the Beams Art Festival Executive Committee Nicky Ginsberg sees the festival as a great way for people to rediscover the area of Chippendale as a strong cultural hub.
‘I think festivals are a really important way to celebrate one’s community and to give people the opportunity to see the vibrant art world that we occupy here,’ said Ginsberg.
However, she believes the festival has a wider scope and has invited the entire creative community of Sydney to participate. ‘It’s very important that it’s a quality festival across different categories like video, performance, dance, and theatre.’
As well as a strong visual art component there is also a growing musical element to the Beams Art Festival with over 10 bands serving up funk, hip hop, jazz, soul and more to enthusiastic partygoers. These sounds will mix with the other art happenings as the area is reimagined for one evening. ‘The idea is wherever you wander at night between five and ten pm you will be embracing so many different types of works seen and viewed and it’s a real feast for the senses,’ said Ginsberg.
The Beams Art Festival has also formed a relationship with the University of Technology, Sydney’s Faculty of Design. ‘The School of Architecture and the Masters students have all been invited to create works, and the curatorial committee in the next few weeks will go in there and select the best,’ said Ginsberg.
This all shapes up for an innovative event that is impossibly free and unable to be missed.
As Ginsberg said: ‘It’s about giving people a fantastic opportunity to indulge and be embedded with art in ways they had never considered or imagined.’
The Beams Art Festival will be held on Saturday 21 September from 5-10pm as part of Art & About Sydney, running from 20 September to 20 October.
For more information about installations and events visit the Art & About Sydney website.
(Pictured: Beams Art Festival, Central Park, 2012)
