YAH Notebook 2018 byrd

You Are Here, Research Notebook. byrd 2018 This notebook is the collected record of performed thinking resulting from an invitiation by the crew at the You Are Here festival: to reflect on the history of this festival; and the production of art for and in the city of Canberra.

It begins with drawings made, revisiting the rich archive of traces (catalogues, conversations, online) left by the previous 7 festivals. I have included the producers reflections as inserts, roughly equivilant to their publication dates.

Slowly projects to enact begin to crystalize and become manifest. I reflect on places in the city used to produce and publish art; and the modes of producing art. Which leads towards projects reflecting historic actions;and projects enabling future artworks.

And towards a project disseminating artworks across the whole of Canberra, focussed on the suburbs and lived spaces. Advantaging the lessons of City centre based action/production, with a set of rules and protocols.

During this research project I travelled to Wellington, NZ; Hong Kong, China; and Marburg, Luebek and Berlin, Germany. Which amplified my reflections on the Festival and let me test some of these new suburban art practices.

(NB- I collect stickers from the streets. Sometimes as a record of time and place, sometimes in lust, sometimes to remove them from public view.)

If you’ve not yet heard, there’s not going to be a You Are Here festival this year. Many

by some variation of outrage on our behalf. Understandably the first assumption is that the decision to not run a festival (which would be our 8th) has been forced by lack of

good example is that when the festival began there was only one café in Braddon. One!

then was different to the Canberra now. It’s hard to succinctly articulate how so, but a

As we said in our public statement about putting the festival on hold, the Canberra back

pilot was contracted at first (2011), followed by two subsequent years.

enviously looked upon by various governments and councils at the time. A single-year

A commission was laid down for a ten-day long arts festival in the Canberra CBD, ideally utilising vacant shopfronts, riffing on the Renew model that was favourably and

perhaps weren’t going to be interested in the rest of the program.

celebrations that highlighted and supported what she viewed as the ‘alternative underbelly’ of Canberra arts, or at least, there should be something for the people who

director, Robyn Archer, felt very strongly that there should be a component of these

being actioned in the ACT region, backed by federal funding. The Centenary’s artistic

You Are Here had a very strange birth. That well-worn tale goes thusly: In the years leading up to the Centenary of Canberra all sorts of cultural activity was

support. But not so! Or at least, it’s not that simple.

On origins and growth

“Any conversation around growth has to be anch conversation about values.”

– Joshua Hoare

people, upon receiving that news, have reacted with dismay (which is flattering) followed

Where do we go from You Are Here #1

festival it needed?

sections of the community. We were the festival Canberra wanted, but were we the

pressing was growing lack of conviction that we were doing the right thing for the right

factor, as was the instability that comes with major shakeups to arts funding at both national and local scales. The latter contributes most certainly to the former. Also

however, things were losing their strength of vision. Burnout was one contributing

the collective memory and experience of Canberra artists and arts people. At the core,

By 2017 You Are Here had run seven consecutive festivals, and become embedded in

scary at first, to “downsize�, the shift was effective.

refashioned itself as a five-day festival, in the interests of doing things right. Though

more, and yet the festival staff and board decided in order to maintain what we had created, hold its integrity, that we needed to take on less. In 2015 You Are Here

artists wanting to participate and more partners wanting to collaborate. More, more and

ongoing preoccupation, our profile steadily increased, bringing more audience, more

commission of the Centenary to an independent annual project (2014 onwards) was one such achievement. Although the search for adequate funding became a major and

doing it for, and what we hoped to achieve. That YAH was able to transition from a

youthful determination, we had a very clear sense of what we were doing, who we were

At the outset, in part because of the nature of our beginnings, and in part just due to

hored in a

we weren’t educated about where the conventio boundaries were meant to be." – Nick Delatovic

"One reason that You Are Here has ended up kin stuff specialising in interdisciplinary cross-form

this case meaning both the makers of artwork but also the development of people in the

On accidents and avenues

producer?’ Turned out it was just a fancy word for management and administration, so I figured I could hold up a convincing portrayal. But I was unsure whether I had what it

without even knowing what that meant. I got straight onto Google and typed: ‘what is a

Yolande: When I got invited to assist produce the first You Are Here festival I said yes

their start with You Are Here and are still a part of it. But why and how, and what?

Two such examples are Yolande Norris and Nick Delatovic, creative producers who got

possibilities for learning and exploration. Sometimes (a lot of the time) these are born of accident and chance. These stories are unheroic.

life of an artist fraught with angst but graced by endless and often unexpected

career success to follow. The lack of predictability and rejection of rigid paths makes the

how an artist gets from here to there (wherever there might be). We don’t. And neither do you. There is no one route or series of actions one can take to cause artistic or

like there is a plan or a path, or in the least that one or some of us have some idea as to

The words ‘artist development’ or ‘developing artists’ go a long way to making it sound

many other roles that are necessary in the creation and delivery of art.

One thing You Are Here (and our funders) continually refer to is artist development. In

Where do we go from You Are Here #2

we we bound

"One r specia

took – I came from the visual art world and at that point felt that I ‘didn’t know enough’

onal c

realised.

labour you end up doing, all to get something off the ground. To see an artist’s idea

Y: The drudge work can’t be overstated, really. The bizarre tasks and errands, the hard

contest between having one and not having one.

do the grown-up drudge work and they Believe In And Cheerlead for your work. It’s no

what they do—they handle logistics, they act as a creative voice and outside eye, they

N: I’m also an artist who’s worked with producers myself so I can say with authority

ways.

handful of exhibitions, and I after a while I could see that it was the same space, in many

Y: Totally. It’s all the stuff we’ve always done, with a different name. I’d curated a

just as often find and co-ordinate the right people to do them.

role, but a facilitator role. I’d do the invisible drudge-y jobs that needed to happen, or

me into a producer, and he replied ‘you were always a producer Nick’. And he was right!

In any band or event collab or project I’d ever done I gravitated toward, not a leadership

Then it was 2013 that I made a rueful joke to (then producer) David about him turning

involvement was because I wanted to do a gig there with my band.

Nick: I’d just been a guy in bands who put on gigs before I got involved, and that initial

about other disciplines. If it had been a job application I would never have applied.

eren’t educated about where the conventional daries were meant to be." – Nick Delatovic reason that You Are Here has ended up kind of alising in interdisciplinary cross-form stuff is that

nd of is that

Y: And we used these neutral venues that meant you didn’t have to have prior

N: It was a really specific way for me to learn about all the other artforms besides music—suddenly being responsible for a bunch of different artists and having to divine their individual needs. I think one reason that YAH has ended up kind of specialising in interdisciplinary cross-form stuff is that we weren’t educated about where the conventional boundaries were meant to be!

Y: It’s a creative practice unto itself, right? Using artwork itself as a medium. Playing with spaces. Playing with how people use spaces and guiding experiences. But that side of it—it’s not something that can be taught. You Are Here is one of those anomalous spaces where you can come fresh to something, try it for the first time. Low to no risk.

N: But then also I’m being disingenuous because creative producing does require having a sensibility, a take on things, even maybe a vision, and building consensus and buy-in around that.

Y: I’d say the same, definitely. A producer is a collector of people.

N: The other thing that I’m only just becoming conscious of as a long-term obsession is that I love and am good at building teams of artists and producers. I find it compulsively fun to file away the skills and qualities of artists that I meet or observe, then match them to the right teams and projects as they come up. In fact, I somewhat consider Correct Team Selection as 90% of successful producing, at least the way I do it.

Did you come to us by accident? What happened next?

That’s something that we need to work at, no matter what form the festival takes from here. Ways at finding new producers outside of our existing networks, but not in ways that mimic bureaucratic processes that bear no relevance to our work. Ways of facilitating beautiful accidents and meandering avenues.

Y: In recent years we’ve gone down the line of more typical recruitment processes, more formal, which is kinda tricky because that sets up a notion that the team only welcomes people with existing experience. And yet, many of us – like you and I – came in totally sideways. The idea of formal recruitment is that on the one hand it’s making the positions more open, more transparent. But on the other hand, it instantly knocks down anyone who doesn’t fit the stated requirements. It perpetuates the idea that there are right and wrong ways to conduct a creative career. Rather than just the beautiful hot mess that most of us are in.

N: Yeah my ‘emerging producer’ antennae is pretty sensitive these days, and it’s never about someone’s CV. It’s a sensibility, a way of engaging with creation that tends instinctively towards the models of creation itself. And yeah that compulsively dwells on the nitty gritty invisible work that always needs doing. When You Are Here recognises that in someone we show no mercy in throwing them in headfirst.

knowledge of, say, how a theatre works. That’s the really exciting form of artist development, for me, when someone is introduced to a whole new aspect of the arts industry, or a new role within a discipline, that they may not have know about but that meshes with their skills and strengths.

Where do we go from You Are Here #3

Announcing our artists

This is where things get really excit

It was always our intent that our planning year woul artists. Artists sit at the centre of what we do, both development needs, and as advocates for their com commissioned projects, artist led research, which is

Combing through the daunting amount of artistic ne seven years of the festival, we settled on five artists believe resonate with what it is we’re trying to do, w to achieve, who will ask us chunky, difficult questio possibilities.

The artists come from a range of disciplines and dif robust, cross-disciplinary practices. Over the next s

a) take an unflinching critical eye at the past and fut questions like: What does Better mean for artists an Growth mean? and/or

b) reflect on Canberra as a city and as a situation fo since You Are Here began? What is lost, and what i aims? What use is art in the making of a city (for rig

Most of all, we want to be surprised and challenged understanding of Canberra and its arts sector than

So, who’s it to be? Read on as Nick and Yolande m

ting...

ld still provide development opportunities for as knowledgeable commentators on their mmunities. And then, there are s where things get really exciting.

etworks that have proliferated over the past s. These are people whose practices we who can get to the heart of what we’re trying ons and illuminate new directions and

fferent creative communities, and each have six months we’re asking them each to:

ture of You Are Here and engage with nd art? What does Help mean? What does

or artistic practice. How has the city changed is gained? What spaces intersect with our ght or for wrong)? And so on.

d, to gather a deeper and broader we could create ourselves.

make the first introductions‌

Daniel Savage

Nick I love the way that Dan’s work manipulates and controls my

perceptions and forces me to confront the way that perspec my reality. He’s constantly working to master different art t

just because the tools themselves are exciting, but because him more and more ways to make us sit in the sensory exp

others and confront the biases of our own experience. His pitch to us was both dauntingly ambitious but also made u in manic smiles at how exciting the concept is.

Yolande Of our five artists Dan is the one whose work I am least fam

We were at the ANU School of Art and Design at a similar p but passing like ships in the night. I knew him as a photom

but in recent years have heard a lot about him as an artist w on sprawling, unwieldy concepts–goes where others fear to

has the skills and connections to embark on them. To me, You Are Here, to take on the near impossible, to grasp at a

something. It’s famously said that ‘everything’s been done’ you get talking with a mind like Dan’s that saying suddenly currency.

y

ctive shapes tools, not

e they give perience of

project us break out

miliar with.

point in time, media artist,

who takes o tread–and

that’s peak a glimmer of

’, but when y loses

Nick Em is dream sort of writer to throw at big messy topics

reasons. Firstly there’s her total command of seemingl forms, her unerring sense of which form and shape to

moment at hand. Second is the breadth of what she ca few lines- sharp sensory detail, brutal critical evaluatio

personal history, wry warmth and a great leveling sens Any few lines of her stuff tends to have all of that, and

turning that incredible focus toward the ongoing proje Are Here both calms and terrifies me.

Yolande I’ve been a long-time fan of Emily’s poetry and writing

really clicked for me when I came across her visual elem material she was collating/responding to via Instagram

sharp sense of the intersection of environments and in

structure vs. chaos, intent vs. reality and so on. Or at l read it! She is currently undertaking her PhD, and there

startling crossovers between her research interests and wait to see Canberra through her lens.

s, for a couple of

ly all writing apply to the

an hold in just a on, the weight of

se of the absurd. d the idea of her

ect that is You

Emily Stewart

g, but something

ments, and the m. She has a very

nner lives. Of

least that’s how I e are some

d ours. I can't

Yolande Over the past decade, (or is it more like fifteen years?!)

a real omnipresence in Canberra’s music scene. But th or points, at which Shoeb moved from the sort of stan

spearheading and sound art community and events tha new territories and made everyone step it up, artists, p

audience, all of us. I saw Shoeb’s practice gathering m how different and exciting it was. And I saw just how h

making work and producing others. What we are seein artist really coming into their own, inimitable, while su other musicians, and driving so much of what’s happe scene.

Nick I feel a lot of kinship with Shoeb, I feel like we’ve been

musicians who can’t help sprawling all over the genre for more and more collaborations, and then having to out into entire other artforms. Shoeb is a compulsive a

compulsive responder to the other artists around her. what she would do for us she zeroed right in on an inv

Yolande and my process as a thing to investigate and c think Shoeb would ever think of conceiving of any artw the relationships between the makers of said artwork, wonderful way to approach

) Shoeb has had

here was a point, ndard gig to

at pushed into performers,

momentum, saw hard she worked,

ng now is an upporting rafts of ening in the

Shoeb Ahmad

n on similar arcs–

map, hunting move further artist, and a

In discussing vestigation of

centre. I don’t work apart from

which is such a

Nick Ali has created something for almost every year o

time she’s been the producer and central perform facilitating challenging collaborations for herself

She’s already rigorous and bold, already constant which raises the question- what can a body like Y

further the practice of someone like Alison, beyon work? Of all our artists I feel that working with Al questions around our creative producing models Yolande

Alison was one of the first artists I programed an in my first You Are Here festival in 2011. I had be

in the visual arts, but contemporary dance posed drug that opened me up to a universe of perform

possibilities. Alison really stood out from the crow choreographic practice encompasses a wealth of collaborations. She’s adaptive, responsive, thinks

high, with a firm focus on the things that matter. share, really

Alison Plevey

of the festival. Every

mer while also at the same time.

tly completing work, You Are Here do to

nd just presenting lison will bring the

into sharpest relief.

nd produced way back een firmly ensconced

d as a sort of gateway mative art forms and

wd. She still does! Her applications and s deeply and aims

. All traits we’d like to

This is my first time working with Byrd, it’s always wild meeting so when you’ve been seeing and enjoying their work for years. His wo self-possessed and confident, which he is, but his other immediate t aren’t anxious attempts to place himself within a situation (like min a simple desire to know and understand. That inquiry without proje relate back to his work, he’s just the kind of artist that you want to s

Yolande Byrd is one of the most prolific artists I know, and one of the most g constantly producing, constantly present. And manages to carve out renegade root–but quietly, without fanfare. His work is so embedde rounds that it’s part of the fabric, from tiny interventions to huge mu formed, in perhaps unexpected ways, by the spaces, people and natu to have one of the most highly developed understandings of the Can Its history, present and future.

Byrd

Nick omeone in person for the first time ork set me up to expect him to be trait is curiosity. His questions ne often are), but stem clearly from ection or pre-judgment is easy to spill all of your secrets to.

generous. He works in the open, t a sustainable practice from a ed in the Canberra CBD and surural walls. And in turn it is inure of this place. I consider Byrd nberra city and psyche of anyone.

On developing audience

"Go to them, where they are. Take them as you – Lauren Honcope

Where do we go from You Are Here #4

Recently I went to a panel discussion for Dance Week, co Ausdance ACT. The subject of the panel was ‘Dance Acti (including current You Are Here commissioned artist Aliso dance, choreographic and community coordinating pract much of this work is its presentation in public spaces – so sometimes in the manner of a flash mob. It seems a natur social themes, political change and social betterment – to people. Sometimes in the context of a festival or protest a

The question of audiences for contemporary dance (spec audiences, or in the least stop them shrinking) was raised Lauren Honcope, Ausdance ACT Chair, remarked that, to need is to:

“Go to them, where they are. Take them as you find them

I was extremely taken by this stark and striking statement refreshing in its clarity.

Many of us arts workers know too well the lonely futility o again to find new audiences for the same product, alread one that is oftentimes set in their preferences.

A huge amount of time in any arts organisation office is sp elusive audience may be found – and making assumption plucked from what a perceived otherwise droll life, void o relocated into our gallery, theatre or festival as soon as is converted, saved! Retained.

u find them."

onvened and hosted by ivism’, and five panelists on Plevey) spoke about their tices. One thing that typifies ometimes site specific, ral fit for work that deals with o take it to the action, othertimes standalone.

cifically the want to grow these d in the Q&A that followed. o get through to audiences, the

m.�

t, poetically direct and

of being directed again and dy tailored to a fixed audience–

pent hypothesising where the ns around who needs to be of meaningful experience, and s possible. There they will be

But it doesn’t take much further thought to know this is idyllic a imagined audience has money to spend on membership, ticke at tax time. They have the time and freedom to attend events o probably even transport to get there on time. Once there, they ‘behave’. The premise is that it has just never occurred to them we dream they would do, and if only they heard of us, all would

But who are these people? Is there room in their lives and mind put upon them? We may want them, but there is no reason to other than our condescending insistence that a life without art empty and somehow less.

You needn’t look far to see that the wider populace are investin attention to creative outlets and participating enthusiastically a cultural pursuits that might bear little resemblance to the activi place on a pedestal (literal or otherwise). Their creative vernacu odds with our strategic frameworks and classist notions of rea

I think of Summernats, a much-maligned Canberra institution a bitterness for funding competitors in the arts. What can be fram debauchery and toxic masculinity writ large is also an annual c and months hard work and investment of creative individuals fr and source of inspiration for those whose creative practice exi garages. Both things are true.

I think of Christmas light displays in deep suburbia. Of the indiv and Bunnings to amass the materials that will see their suburb cookie-cutter obscurity into mega-watt resplendence. Every ye last.

I think of the drunk gentleman at my local, who after telling me gout segued to a story about seeing Rose Tattoo perform at th as his eyes welled with tears, explained that it had been the mo experience of his life.

Anything resembling audience development surely begins with organisational strategy, rather than slotting in with marketing a end of the line. We need to attempt to genuinely

and simplistic. Our ets, books and donations of an evening–babysitters, know what to do, how to m to do before what it is d be well.

ds for the art we would believe they want us, (as we define it) must be

ng their energy and and authentically in ities and practices we ulars can appear to be at l art.

and eternal font of med as a fresh hell of culmination of hours, days rom around the country sts hidden in sheds and

viduals who trawl eBay ban homes lifted from ear’s work surpassing the

e about his latest bout of he Majors Creek pub, and, ost beautiful musical

h programming and core and communications at the

understand what life is like on the outside, and manage our ow preconceptions and prejudices first.

Lauren’s words might provide a sort of map.

Go to them: explore public spaces, non-arts venues, online for comfort zone and into theirs. Get away from the city.

Where they are: lower costs, make things free, prioritise acces relevant. Make the barriers for engagement so low, people trip

Take them as you find them: expect nothing in return, be prep and unexpected wins. Welcome new artists, develop new insid out, and they might come, if they want to.

Where did you find an audience? Who and how and what didn't?

wn expectations,

rmats. Get out of your

ssibility in all its forms, be and fall in.

pared for colossal failures ders. Never stop reaching

w? What worked,

"Without really intending to we’ve been acting as a term case study in decoupling arts audiences from Default Precondition."

– Nick Delatovic

On alcohol

Where to from You Are Here #5

Producer Nick Delatovic muses over how a point of difference borne of la circumstance has come to play a major role in defining the festival...

A Thursday night in 2013: You Are Here Festival has been running for a fu already, headquartered in a vacated menswear store 20 meters from the Mooseheads, Canberra’s most shorthand-for-drunken-clubbing nightclub holding our own dance party, free of charge and alcohol-free, run by the global dance-accessibility movement No Lights No Lycra. The crowd is s songs are daggy, and the energy is furious. A few drunk Mooseheaders p heads inside, perhaps with trolling in mind, but they quickly leave again. T that something is happening outside their frame of reference, and it’s eas be.

I’m an arts producer, an artist, and a non-drinker. Let that colour your sen biases as you will.

I spent 10 years playing live music in pubs before I did any other art stuff knowledge that the service and availability of alcohol is a deal breaker for audiences. As in, they won’t show up without it, at least not in numbers. A festivals employ labyrinthine operational models to ensure that the adults while the underage attendees ‘can’t’.

In Australia the provision of alcohol is accepted as a precondition of enga arts events as a whole (think of book launches, exhibition openings, the t and so on.) Audiences are in most ways a game bunch. Shows might be outdoors, physically comfortable or physically uncomfortable, accessible populations or not. Just as long as there’s booze. It’s an indivisibility that curious if it were anything else, for instance if the service of chocolate wa for audiences (I use that analogy because I love chocolate).

a longm the

aziness and

ull week entrance to b. We are local chapter of sober, the poke their They can tell sier to leave it

nse of my

f. It’s received r live music All-ages s can drink

agement with theatre foyer, indoors or e to special t would seem as a necessity

You Are Here didn’t choose to be an alcohol-free festival on any ideologic Launching in 2011 as a small-budget collection of events happening mos shopfronts it posed too much administrative hassle in too short a turnarou liquor permits (this aversion to red tape is also a big part of why we origin festival of mostly unticketed, free events). As a government-funded festiva have the stress of recouping costs, all we had to do was stay in budget an frameworks. The upshot of all of these conditions is that we got away with whole festival of dry events, which increased the potential for inclusivity, m security issues and made it a whole lot easier to clean up afterwards. Bes headquartered in the city meant that there were ample opportunities for o duck off and drink if they must.

They’ve been another six You Are Heres since then, and all but a tiny han odd events we’ve run in that time have been alcohol-free (and those were licensed venues). Without really intending to we’ve been acting as a longstudy in decoupling arts audiences from the Default Precondition.

I can’t know how much the core sensibility of our events has been shaped relative sobriety of our crowds. As I’ve already stated this was never a gam we discussed in depth. We just hoped that the audience would still come the thing was their type of thing. And they did. Without the offer of anythin were irrefutably there for the art.

Of course, I hear you smartly say, for many people a swig of the good stu push through the nerves and anxiety that might make it hard for them to t on a weird public event. To that I say good point-ish. As a producer I alwa responsibility to help people feel welcomed and entitled to take part in the argue that not having the magic bullet that is bar service has meant that th Here team has always had to think more creatively and rigorously about h to crowds.

When I look around metropolitan Australia I see a lot of people who consi to be engaged day-to-day with the vibrant culture of their city. Some of th most of them are just eating and drinking in spaces amidst cool design. A who myself spends huge chunks of time eating in these spaces myself (an appreciates design) I’m not ready to subordinate all other art forms as me accompaniments to a nice cocktail. Even the most hardened let-the-mark capitalist values the chance to choose from a variety of experiences, and serviced by a narrowing of what culture is conceived to include.

If you’re worried about the growth of your mid-sized cultural festival then s

noodle market and craft beer is definitely going to work. And I enjoy The P Smiths naming drinks after local musicians as much as anyone. But in a w every independent artist’s chief rival is Netflix it’s worth forcing ourselves t the first principals of what makes people enjoy the experience of art. Surp Challenge, Transgression, Discomfort – we can trust in these things as stu audiences actively want. Sometimes we can get them to it a bit quicker by them everything that they already know they like.

Have our alcohol-free events affected how you engag the art, for better or worse?

cal grounds. tly in empty und to obtain nally became a al we didn’t nd within legal h staging a minimised sides, being our crowd to

dful of the 500e situated in -term case

d by the me plan that to the thing if ng else, they

uff helps them take a chance ays have a e art. I would he You Are how to connect

ider themselves hem are, but As someone nd who ere ket-decide that isn’t

sure, adding a Phoenix and world where to go back to prise, uff that y not giving

ed with

"Anyone who makes any decision about Canberra first have to spend ten days and ten nights in the m Civic."

– Yolande Norris

What the city wants Where to from You Are Here #6

There's no shortage of images in the Are Here archive of art happening in city...here's Humans in the Midst – a performance by Amie Ilfield, Lisa Petheram and Debora Di Centa, 201 Image credit: Sarah Walker.

And this of a performance from Eve At Once and All Together, featuring Charles Martin, Reuben Ingall, Ellen Falconer and Chloe J Hobbs, 2016. credit: Sarah Walker.

Prompted by our commissioned artist Alison Ple between You Are Here festival and the city...

Nick:

I moved to Canberra in 2001 after growing up in splendour of City W alk blew my mind. M y attem yes I know) had been largely thwarted by the re hometown, so I took unbridled delight from Dro interchange and letting the gentle slope carry m record store and comic shop that I’d dreamt of

The slightly-foxed, past-its-prime-that-maybe-n matched my intuitions of a what cities should b various conversations about How To Fix The Ci obsession with making the city vital and cool – origin story, and by extension the last 8 years o

In 2011 the Renew Newcastle model was the B city centres everywhere. The first You Are Here this trend toward ‘pop-up’ activity in vacant sho that allowing for weird culture to happen in thes some general way. As it happens most of the sp years have become shops again. I have no idea

It takes about 120 seconds to get from any part should be easy to get people to come to any on the city by actual distance. They navigate by na that have been key to their lives for as long as t pulled back into as soon as their concentration a hundred meters to the left or right, that are ab spots that don’t even show up on the mental m

The bus interchange, The Phoenix, Bunda St w places to have events happen, the places wher the casino end of City W alk – you might as well

a should middle of

e You n/to the a

16.

erything

n

Image

evey, we reflect on the relationship

n Broken Hill, and the cosmopolitan mpts to be a sick teen rollerblader (yes, elative lack of paved streets in my opping In at the top of the bus me all the way to the casino, past the indie my whole childhood.

never-was feel of Civic has always be like, so I’ve never really related to the ity. That said, Canberra’s ongoing activated – is key to You Are Here’s of my life.

Big Idea that was going to save moribund e festival was commissioned as part of op fronts, and the prevailing idea was se spaces would revitalise said spaces in paces that YAH has occupied over the a if there’s a causation chain there or not.

t of Civic to any other part. On paper it ne area. But Canberrans don’t navigate arrative. There are patches and corners they remember, eddies that they get lapses. Then there are other spaces, just bsolute no-go zones; story-free dead map of everyday city-dwellers.

where it meets the mall – these are reliable re people Are. Civic Square, Glebe Park, l stage something in Timbuktu. Garema

Yolande:

The first You Are Here festival I learnt a great many Not just logistical details, like where the power acc milk crates, but intimate details about the city as a and pattern – at times exuberant, at times subdue guaranteed and omnipresent role of a city centre i homeless and poverty-stricken or perhaps otherw marked difference between groups who were in an through on their way hurriedly to someplace else. any decision about Canberra should first have to s middle of Civic, should first have to see it this way

As part of our commission series this year we’ve b conversations with dance artist and choreographe activating and enlivening city spaces. It is of cours are inactive – dead. And that this is a mark of failu as a means by which “fix” the issue, we remain un is, and what our contribution does as remedy. Tha our thinking this year.

This week coming, August 21st to 25th, Alison and base themselves in Civic in a sort of mobile, respo called Situate. They’ve put forward the following q

How can we truly draw from, not impose on, site to audiences? What performance is already there? W [Situate is] A process of witness, receiving, respon through movement.

Alison will share updates to the Australian Dance P progresses throughout the week. Keep checking in up to for yourself if you’re city-side next week.

What do you think - have arts events caused you to view the city differentl

y things about Canberra’s city centre. cess is and who has the best stash of a living organism with its own routine d. We observed that the only is as communal space for the ise disenfranchised. There was a nd of the city, and groups that passed I recall thinking: anyone who makes spend ten days and ten nights in the y.

been having some fascinating er Alison Plevey about the notion of se a notion that suggests these spaces re. But after 8 years of being tasked nconvinced of what exactly the issue at’s something that’s loomed large in

d group of collaborators are going to onsive research residency questions:

o amplify its spirit and engage its What themes underlie its essence? nding and revealing this place to it self

Party Facebook page, as the work n and perhaps even see what they’re

s/installations/activities ly?