Junction Arts Festival is five days of playful live art, performance and music in Launceston’s hidden spaces. Having covered it in previous years, we were curious about this growing festival, and so we’ve asked one of the Junction crew, Alison Wilkes, about what’s up with JAF.
How has the festival changed?
Junction Arts Festival is an ever-evolving entity. The major changes at this year’s festival would certainly be the re-visioning of the Festival Hub, previously based at Civic Square in Launceston’s CBD beside City Hall. In past years, a big top circus tent has been the centrepiece of the festival and hosted Junction’s late night live music venue and festival club, The Junc Room. A gust of wind, at another event earlier in the year, destroyed the big top tent, and this gave us an opportunity to revise our festival club. So, this year we’ll host The Junc Rooms — two late-night festival clubs.
The Junc Room will now be situated in an abandoned CBD warehouse space, formerly an old Launceston Salvage Centre. This venue features some of Tasmania’s established and emerging bands like Violet Swells, Emma Anglesey, and Joe Nuttall (Enola Fall) and Bansheeland alongside a few fantastic interstate acts The Royal Jellies and The Babe Rainbow.
The second late night festival hangout is pretty special — it’s a 1930′s prohibition style speakeasy disguised behind the facade of a disused old church, The Gospel Hall. There will be a resident jazz/soul/funk band every night — and the venue is being designed and created by Canadian installation artist Dean Baldwin. We’re really excited about these new Festival Hub venues. We’ve also changed Civic Square, and this year it becomes a children’s and family-friendly zone with a family-friendly program including an outdoor cinema, cabarets, workshops and interactive art installations — and even a resident DJ spinning child-friendly tunes.
How does Junction Arts Festival sit in the festival scheme in Tasmania?
Junction is unique within Tasmania, as a developmental organisation that works closely with professional local, national and international artists to develop, produce and realise their work. We work with artists from concept through to realisation, and often over several years.
The festival’s particular focus is on presenting participatory live art and site-specific performance, and we are one of only a few festivals in Australia that solely focus on this kind of work. Live arts involves a range of audience participation and interaction to create the work — and with all our performances, we place the audience at the centre of the art experience. We offer audiences experiences and adventures that are unique to Launceston, and give access to artists who present their works on rooftops, in abandoned warehouses and shopfronts, down alleyways or even in a dinghy being paddled across the Esk River.
What are your favourite picks for the festival?
We’ve got a stellar program this year and every performance looks incredible, however I do have my eye on a few pieces that I simply can’t wait to be involved in. They are:
1. The Gospel Hall — This is our 1930′s prohibition style speakeasy in the former Gospel Church. I can’t wait to see The Congregation by Dean Baldwin (Canada) whose installation will completely transform the space into a prohibition-style speakeasy. Dean Baldwin’s work is incredible; he creates amazing temporary environments, complete with a bar and often food. He’s created bars in the hulls of wooden sailing boats, bars with bunk beds and even a fisherman’s hut bar that sat on blocks of ice.
2. The Walking Project — by Thomas Quirk. Working in collaboration with the Launceston Walking Club, this performance will take you on an audio guided walking tour of the much undiscovered, overlooked, yet rapidly redeveloping North Bank of Launceston. Thomas has met with locals who live and work around the site to build the stories that will inform the project. He’s met with walking enthusiasts, birders, rowers, boat-makers, botanists architects, building developers, landscape architects, and residents who view the varied edge-lands.
3. The Rogue Tailor Of Neil Pitt’s — is a great collaboration between Junction artist Isis St. Pierre and Neil Pitt’s Menswear. Junction has commissioned Isis to create a clothing line for the festival, refashioned using old stock, men’s tuxedo shirts and ties. As well, Isis has been trained by the official tailor of Neil Pitt’s in formal men’s tailoring, an artform that is quickly dying. I’m really excited to see what she has created. Isis is also hosting a workshop on how to fashion a cool 30s style headpiece from an old tie. I’m definitely looking forward to learning some simple sewing skills —while tasting one of Neil Pitt’s coveted Devonshire Teas.
Check out the Junction Arts Festival PROGRAM!
Launceston Tasmania
10-14th September 2014
Images:
BEST OPTION Big One Little One – Confetti (Image One) by Tom L. Griffiths
The Walking Project, image by paul murphy
The Gospel Hall, image courtesy of Dean Baldwin