When the Sunshine Coast’s annual multi arts festival, Horizon, decided to push the boundaries of what it means to be a regional festival, a visual arts collaboration between Horizon and Experimenta was an obvious fit.
Experimenta is Australia’s leading organisation dedicated to commissioning, exhibiting and touring contemporary art driven by ideas and shaped by technology, which aligns perfectly with a festival looking to focus, not just on big and bold ideas, but also on intersections of art and technology, says Creative Director of Horizon, Megan Rowland.
“[We were] looking at ways that we can innovate through the Festival, to connect with more diverse audiences, younger audiences,” she explains, adding this meant “a slightly less traditional festival model.”
Less traditional? Horizon is going further than that this year. The theme for 2025 is ‘Radical Hope’. And in a time when the global geopolitical landscape is shifting and fracturing in alarming ways, perhaps remaining hopeful is the most radical thing of all.
But we can’t be passive in our hope, says Rowland. Community is key, which is why this format of art-making and exhibiting is so important. “Festivals bring people together, provoke connection and challenge ideas. They bring people into new ways of thinking.”
The curation of the Horizon 2025 reflects this, particularly the works presented by Experimenta. “When researching for this project, I looked into works and projects that go beyond a single act of art making. Each one of the works presented is part of long-term projects embodying the artists’ act of radical hope,” says Experimenta curator Lubi Thomas.
This translated not just into those works selected for the festival, but the way they are presented. It was important that they would be accessible to everyone, not solely the usual festival-goers.
As the festival is held in regional Queensland with limited traditional spaces for art, Rowland was keen to collaborate with partners experienced in creating and exhibiting art in non-traditional spaces. She was surprised and delighted to discover Experimenta’s “incredible skills in working in less than usual contexts and spaces,” she says.
The resulting collaboration is the Festival Precinct, Urban Gallery – a project that utilises disused shopfronts and urban spaces off Ocean Street in Maroochydore to showcase a range of curated and commissioned works.
Experimenta presents three works: act as known by Vernon Ah Kee – an extension of his long-term project Dark+Disturbing, Stasis by Kenneth Lambert and Shadowgram by Art Thinking.
Ah Kee’s piece will be projected onto a street wall. “We haven’t cleaned or painted the wall…” says Thomas. “Vernon wanted that wall to be as it is – he wanted to reference the idea of graffiti, in the sense of graffiti often being the mechanism by which marginalised communities get to have a voice.”
Also giving voice to a marginalised community is Lambert’s work, Stasis. “It’s part of a much larger project where the artist has been working with and presenting stories from refugees and asylum-seeking youths in Australia. Through the project, he has been developing ways in which those individuals who want to participate can speak their truth,” explains Thomas.
Shadowgram invites audiences to contribute to a wall of ideas expressed through shadows and words. “It’s a community participatory project and, once it starts, it takes on a life of its own. The power of this project is that it reveals unexpected and hidden connections between strangers, age groups and community sectors who would not necessarily think they have connections with each other,” says Thomas.
Complementing these Experimenta-curated works are four new commissioned works from Sunshine Coast-based artists: Light Line – Kabi Kabi by Gaba Musik, Tokyo Rain by Mary Eggleston, Möbius and Miami Vice, Confashional by Shaye Hardisty and Ketakii Jewson-Brown, and The Daily Muse by Alison Mooney, as well as Counterpilot’s interactive theatre work Pigeon Fool.
Thomas concludes by clarifying her concept of radical hope, noting that US author and columnist Rebecca Solnit states it well. “She says radical hope isn’t buying a lottery ticket, sitting on the sofa, crossing your fingers and hoping you win,” explains Thomas. “It’s an action. It’s an active thing. Radical hope is a transformative framework that challenges us to move beyond passive optimism and instead embrace collective action, shared goals and resilience.”
Horizon runs 2-11 May 2025; the Urban Gallery is open every day of the Festival. The Urban Gallery has been made possible through support from Arts Queensland, and Horizon program partners, Big Top Shopping Centre and Solbar.
You can also hear more from Lubi Thomas at REMIX on Thursday 1 May.
