The inaugural SPRINGTIME festival runs from September 2 to 4, with a debut lineup of more than 20 artists such as Gamilaraay pop queen Thelma Plum, rock trio Skegss and Australian duo Hermitude.

Also featuring in SPRINGTIME is the brainchild of two Gold Coast based artists working under the name Shock Therapy. Their show The Cleaners is the latest in a string of outdoor productions they’ve produced that have previously popped up at Splendour In The Grass, Bleach Festival and in public spaces around the country.

Co-creator Sam Foster said The Cleaners evolves over the three days of the festival, starting as a completely white living room, with two janitors in pristine white uniforms inspecting the room, and taking great pains to maintain its perfect whiteness.

“We just thought of this idea of a large, massive room floating in the middle of the festival ground, and you see two figures up there cleaning it,” Foster said.

“It’s about six metres off the ground – three shipping containers high.

“And then a giant slingshot at ground level appears, and two assistants bring out a wheelbarrow full of water balloons filled with paint. And basically invite the punters to start destroying the room.

“The audience…get into the novelty of the game and they try to cause a lot of pain to us by hitting us with the water balloons. We had a custom-made engineered slingshot that was designed, it’s got some grunt to it. The balloons, when they hit us, they don’t tickle.

“So it’s this absurdist pursuit, and it gets more ridiculous and more funny and more crazy as the days roll on.”

He said the location of the show is a drawcard in itself.

“The shipping containers are stacked up on the beachfront. And the slingshot will be up on the Esplanade, facing the ocean. So it’s going to be quite a spectacular backdrop,” he said.

“You’ll be standing underneath the Surfers Paradise sign, facing out to the Pacific Ocean with this room floating in midair.”

Foster said The Cleaners stay in the room for up to six hours a day, making the ending of the show unpredictable.

“Well, you have to wait and see,” he said.

“We don’t even know. In some ways, there’s a bit of a dramaturgical arc to the piece. But at the same time, it’s all improvised. We have a loose structure of where it’s going to go. But it’s also very dependent on what the state of the room is and what inspiration comes to you as a performer at the time.

“And the room itself would becomes a piece of art that’s created by the people, the audience.”

With a focus on Australian artists and homegrown talent, SPRINGTIME will also feature Sneaky Sound System, Alex the Astronaut, JK-47, Skunkhour, Haiku Hands, Ninajirachi, Teen Jesus & The Jean Teases, and triple j host and DJ Ebony Boadu.

Festival director Mark Duckworth said they’re excited to add a fresh music festival to the Gold Coast calendar, in a similar vein to the successful Blues on Broadbeach event.

“Its been in negotiations for quite a while – originally we were putting it together for last year and had to cancel, so it’s been in negotiations for almost two years,” Duckworth said.

“It’s awesome we’re really excited.

“It’s good to put the local acts on some big stages and celebrate the music scene on the Gold Coast as really growing. To have these kind of events where we can put that out to the world and the nation is really exciting and makes me incredibly proud.”

SPRINGTIME will partner with the Gold Coast Music Awards at the arts precinct at HOTA to provide multiple free outdoor stages and sideshows.