Sexton is finally enjoying the culmination of two years’ work with various visual artists and live art practitioners from here and around the world. “I’ve done lots of travelling. All corners of Australia and internationally. Mostly Europe, not so much Asia this year, but we still have a collaboration with Korea and the Philippines.” Where on earth (pun intended) does she start to find the projects? “You don’t ‘start’”, she answers. “It’s an ongoing process. This festival began well before the 2012 festival.” An example is the ongoing development of the Blak Wave element of the festival which in 2014 features a book covering contemporary indigenous arts practices, a series of talks, and several new works. “Blak Wave is a lot more embedded this year,” notes Sexton. “It’s representing ideas, original work – and some of it is still in development. It comes back to the definition of my job as artistic director: I see patterns, make connections, and join the dots. I watch and I listen.”
One aspect of 2014’s Next Wave Festival highlights the strong connection between food and art. “It makes sense in Melbourne,” says Sexton. “We enjoy that larger culture of food experiences here. It’s the way contemporary art is expanding everywhere, combining the experience of art with food. It’s been prevalent for some time; artists in the ‘90s were exploring more socially-minded trends in festivals.” A welcome instance of this is the The Dokboki Box (떡볶이) by Nathan Stoneham, Park Younghee and M’ck McKeague (Wednesday April 30 – Sunday May 11 at Princes Walk, Federation Square) with classic Korean street food accompanying a pop-up musical performance by a bilingual, singing cook inside a food stall. Punters enjoy simmering dokboki (spicy snacks of rice cakes in chilli sauce) while being regaled with “a gorgeous story, based on The Good Samaritan”.
Is there more of a focus on the political this year? “I’m certainly always interested in the political,” answers Sexton. “The interplay between personal and political… It’s a big ambition for 2014’s festival. The world and top issues are things explored by artists, for example the Vietnamese refugee experience.” (Article 14.1, by artist Phuong Ngo at No Vacancy Gallery). How deliberate is the inclusion of more politically-minded artists this year? Has Sexton chosen work for its political content? “It’s definitely an indication of my interests,” she responds. “It reflects my curatorial eye. The works reflect the artists as public intellectuals – they look at what’s going on, they respond, they confuse, they challenge …With all the indigenous works there is a strong political focus.”
Sexton says that challenges she faces this year are not specific to 2012. “The festival involves things I’ve built over a long period of time. It’s a two-year cycle. I want to show art to the world but it sits in the imagination for a long time. It’s a blessing but a challenge in other ways. When the festival opens it’s a relief to stop thinking about it and actually be in it.” Are there any acts in particular she’s looking forward to seeing? “We’ve had an amazing run-through,” she notes. “Just one example: there’s a great bit of theatre by Louris van de Geer, that’s being performed at ACMI with people like Susie Dee and Genevieve Giuffre – Hello There, We’ve Been Waiting for You – it was inspired by a town in New Mexico that changed its name to Truth and Consequences.”
Aware that ‘overwhelm’ can be a problem for punters in deciding what to experience, this year the festival makes available a Primo Pass, a specially-curated pass that provides a ‘safari tour of the art world’, participants can get together with other like-minded festival goers and experience a carefully curated full-day program. Next Wave has taken a ‘holistic’ view this year, says Sexton. “It’s more hands on, more personal. You’ll have a group of 15, like a moving dinner party – it’s really enjoyable, with Tristam Meecham leading. It includes cafes and bars. We’re interested in finding ways that art can be social as well as exploratory and challenging, interactive and fluid. We like that in Melbourne.” To make choosing a performance, exhibition or event even easier, Next Wave 2014 includes a phone app to help you work out what to do and where to find it in relation to where you happen to be. “The app is so easy to use,” says Sexton. “You can stand on the corner at Fed Square and it will tell you what is close and free.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
