"We want our patrons to value live art." - DARKWORLD Festival set to tantalise this weekend
Well, if you’ve got itchy feet for dancing and a thirst for some visceral performance art, we have the catch of the day ready for you. DARKWORLD Festival is the salve your festival-deprived soul has been holding out for. Coming up this weekend on Saturday March 6, we chat to John Larney about what exactly is this mysterious art and music mash-up and what to expect.
Image + cover: Young Lions; credit Oliver Rudloff
Fifty words or less – what is Dark World Festival?
This is DARKWORLD: a one day, indoor, multi-form festival all crammed into twelve hours at The Triffid. From the glowing exhibits of local visual artists, to the live art growing and swimming around you, DARKWORLD plans to render the iconic Brisbane venue, unrecognisable.
Bringing all forms of art together as one community, Darkworld celebrates the endless but sadistically enjoyable, struggling lives as creators.
What’s exciting about mashing up music and performance art?
New relationships and new collaborations. We want to erase the blurred lines between these individual industries that often operate, and are mostly considered as separate. What’s exciting is the opportunity for demographics to collide under one roof, and new potential friendships to develop across the line-up.
We’re getting huge Dark Mofo vibes. How this festival meet up against their kind of programming?
Satan’s Rainbow. Image supplied.
Dark Mofo is more of an inspiration, the way they promote a more R rated style entertainment, and the exclusivity they promote. Darkworld is rather different however, it’s niche is its format. As bands play one after the other, no piece of planned performance-art will clash, the attendees being taken from one space to another creating a guided theatrical tour through Brisbane’s most weird and wonderful local art. It will always be indoors, always take over a venue, always be one day, always have our Darkworld King and always involve all art!
No photos! What’s that about? In this insta-ready world, what are you hoping to achieve with that?
Being present. We’re trying to do things different and we’re trying to provide an experience. We want our patrons to value live art, in a way where we remind ourselves how truly removed live performance is from what you can experience through a phone screen. The Insta-ready world is more so the reason we’re doing it, fighting this digitising world.
Who are you really excited to see? What’s the must-see act on the line-up?
Lilith Revere. Image supplied.
Lilith Revere, the heart of Steel, everything about her act intrigues us and we’re super lucky to have her, that and Pernicious, we’ve worked with Nadia Milford before and we know everything she works on is truly incredible. Watching the works of live art muralist I.Rok develop has been awe inspiring and for music we’d suggest getting there for Bamboo Bonsai, because those who get to the event early are in for some exclusive surprises.
Limited tickets still available, check out the full line-up at darkworldfestival.com
Image: Boss Moxi dancers, credit Racheal Baskerville
