A note from Artistic Director Jeff Khan
I’m often asked what experimental art is, and one of the ways I define it is as a collision of artistic disciplines. Experimental artists may come from a particular artform or background, but they explore and explode the boundaries of those artforms to create something new and unexpected. Experimental artists take risks, inviting audiences to dive into the unknown and discover new possibilities. They offer us extraordinary new ways of seeing the world.
2019 marks the fifth annual Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art at Carriageworks. The festival is programmed across all spaces at Carriageworks—from the theatres, galleries and studios to the vast public and exterior spaces of the precinct. This enables Performance Space to curate adventurously across all of the venue, and enables you to experience multiple artworks over a single visit to the festival.
Liveworks has always had an Asia-Pacific focus, and the Festival’s international profile is growing along with its strong ties with artists across the region. Australian arts practice - and Australian culture more broadly - sometimes feels beholden to the Northern hemisphere for our benchmarks and reference points: but we are an Asia Pacific country and there are so many incredible artists making work closer to home, from the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and beyond. By building stronger collaborations with these artists, we’re working to create richer and more relevant experiences for our audiences and to better reflect the diversity and complexity of Australian culture.
We’re looking forward to sharing more with you across further Thoughts posts; stay tuned for more behind the scenes info on our two broad themes of Liveworks 2019 - Feminist Sound and Culture Disruptors!
- Jeff Khan
