Festival to take over city, one neighbourhood at a time
The Brisbane Art Design Festival (BAD) will be tearing through Brisbane over the course of May, displaying the work of artists and designers with public exhibitions, tours, talks, performances and projections.
Phillip Perides and workshop colleagues prepare bronze castings at Perides Fine Art Foundry, in preparation and production of artist Hiromi Tango's collaborative artwork 'Roots' 2020, commissioned by the Brisbane City Council for the Platform Project.
The program will begin in the CBD, before moving to Fortitude Valley, Northside, and finally landing in the Southside. In all, the festival, now in its second iteration, will take over 60 venues beginning May 7 and running until May 30.
An initiative of the Museum of Brisbane (MoB), it is a showcase of the best art and design works locally and nationally, utilising neighbourhoods around Brisbane as exhibition spaces.
MoB Director, Renai Grace, said it was time to see a celebration of visual art and design animating a network of parks, laneways, galleries, artist spaces and studios across the city and online.
“BAD is a city-wide place making program allowing us to tell the stories of the city and we are delighted to see that it has gone from 27 to over 60 venues in its second iteration, allowing the community to celebrate the incredible talent within our city,” Grace said.
“BAD is emerging as an important platform for the creative arts sector in Brisbane that has thrived for decades.”
Kicking off in the CBD on May 7, RMXTV will see a three-week live art installation remix as artists draw and paint within the space based on delivered prompts. Hyperlocal: Indigenous Art Program will transform the Outdoor Gallery through projections, glass displays, and banners, while Move Together will exhibit three new kinetic sculptures by Kirralee Robinson.
RMXTV is a chaotic, collaborative art project that will see a purpose-built space redesigned over the course of three weeks. (Image: Steve Alexander)
The second weekend of the festival sees BAD move to Fortitude Valley on May 14 – 16, with a blend of “craftivism” and contemporary art exhibitions.
Radical Localism is part installation, part community intervention, part fashion symposium, which celebrates Brisbane’s local independent fashion community. Other exhibitions include Light Workers, an experimental sound and light installation at Little Street Studio by Jay Jermyn. There will also be a range of contemporary art exhibitions such as Sweat on the Dancefloor, Deviations, and more.
Weekend three runs from 21 – 23 May, where BAD heads to the Northside to get amongst it in Teneriffe, Newstead, Albion, and Bowen Hills.
The Northside will present a series of open studios, talks and workshops from local designers, print makers, and bronze sculptors. Brisbane Powerhouse’s MELT Photographic Exhibition will be on display, there will be a panel discussion with the Quench Collective, and a series of workshop tours with the Museum of Spent Time, Luxxbox, Perides Art Foundry, Ghost Ship Studio, Grey Hand Press, to name a few.
The final weekend of BAD will move to the Southside with a gallery crawl across West End and the BAD Block Party held by Indigenous artists in the new Town Square in Fish Lane, as well as a load more exhibitions, installations, and open studios across South Brisbane and West End.
The festival will be a celebration of the unique cultural output of each neighbourhood around Brisbane with the artists who contribute towards it.
Brisbane Art and Design Festival begins May 7 and runs until May 30, for more information visit the BAD website.
