2022

The Nati Frinj Biennale 2022 brought together the vision and programming of the two Festival Directors Greg Pritchard and the previous Festival Director Hannah French.  Like most of us in the Arts sector, the ACT Natimuk Committee made the important call to postpone the 2021 festival due to concerns about public safety in the face of the ongoing pandemic.

The program had 66 individual shows and events over the weekend of 28th, 29th and 30th October.

Greg Pritchard worked closely with Production Manager (and ACT Natimuk General Manager) Tracey Skinner, Volunteer Co-ordinator Lauren Urquhart, the ACT Natimuk board and an excellent group of volunteers to deliver a program of innovative entertainment.

For the first time the festival included some of the work created through the ACT Creative Lab program, including Kat Pengelly’s community engagement spectacular Truck, Sam Burke An apology that was never asked for, in collaboration with local artist Dave Jones, and Jacqui Schultz’s bespoke performance Very Long Distance. The festival also had a Creative Lab launch event with other artists involved talking about the process and their work.

The breakdown of events is as follows:

Bamboo Exquisite was a huge bamboo structure built in the days leading up to the festival. It was the site for circus, slackline and silk workshops, and the venue for Saturday night’s performance with projections onto the silo sound score, circus skills, silk performance, dance and high-line walking.

It reasserted Natimuk’s premier position in the history of bamboo construction, and continued the legacy of bambuco and Simon Barley.

It was also one of the largest legal urban highlining events in the history of that activity in Australia.

The performance elements were put together by previous Frinj festival director Kate Finnerty and choreographer Abby Watkins, with Y Space Jillian Pearce as consultant. The tower was built by Natimuk’s own vertical access company, Nati Access.

It’s accompanying work, Forest, (a forest of vertical bamboo) was a place of reflection for the weekend with a beautiful nuanced sound scape by the festivals sound artist in residence Russel Goldsmith.

In the Barley Shed, Nancy Black’s, Black Hole Theatre, produced Someone in the Dark, an interactive Wotjabaluk Story written by Tracey Rigney, in a sewn dome (with 180 degree projections by Dave Jones, score by Dave Franzke.

All up there were:

  • 5 theatre shows, and 20 performances
  • one locally produced hybrid event with projection and music
  • 10 visual art exhibitions and installations, including a local artist pop up market
  • over 10 musical performances – of which three were by local musicians
  • 10 workshops and classes – 9 of which were locally produced
  • a film program and several outdoor projection moments.
  • a book launch about Climate Change

And as always, random unprogrammed events which are a main stay of the Frinj ethos.

Images: Michelle MacFarlane – Bamboo Exquisite, Bridget Hillebrand Surge and below, by Suzanne Phoenix.

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