WINTERWILD

Apollo Bay’s multidisciplinary dark arts festival returns this August

WORDS BY STAFF WRITER

The boundary-pushing dark arts, food and music festival WinterWild is returning to the Otways this August for an ambitious three days of music, art, food and fire.

Far from your average festival, the annual event will be taking place at the untamed, rugged landscape in Apollo Bay on the last weekend of winter, 25–27 August, bringing thousands of adventure-seeking audiences to the far reaches of the Great Ocean Road to embrace the dark beauty of winter.

On the music front, highlights include performances from Australia’s premiere satanic gospel collective Dane Blacklock & the Preacher’s Daughter; psychedelic trio MELT; doom psych band s p o r e s; the formidable Jen Cloher, Harvey Sutherland (DJ Set) and Wemba-Wemba rapper RidzyRay.

You’ll also witness performances from disco-infused spacepop project Zoë Fox and the Rocket Clocks, Apollo Bay’s beloved singer-songwriter Sid O’Neil, the soulful vocals of local indiejazz five-piece band Outtatime, ‘80s legends Inked Factor, and acclaimed concert pianist Estelle Shircore Barker.

International Foto Biennale exclusive and can only be seen during the Festival in Australia.

Andy Warhol was a devotee of the Polaroid, taking thousands of photographs between 1958 – 1987. His snaps were both social documents and art; many of the images of people you’ll see were later turned into Warhol’s famous silkscreen prints.

Instant Warhol will arrive in Ballarat in an intimate collaboration with the Brant Foundation in New York and will show us Warhol’s understanding of the superficial nature of celebrity in American society, his obsession with the people behind the personas, and the fleeting nature of fame. Many of the 50+ images show the line and expression of famous faces including Mick Jagger, Liza Minelli, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton, many of which would later be translated into Warhol’s iconic screen prints.

The exhibition is a fascinating social document of a time when celebrity, grittiness in the art world, New York, the Factory, Studio 54 and an expanding media scape were reimagining art, music, and popular culture.

Vanessa Gerrans, CEO of Ballarat International Foto Biennale described the intimate collaboration as similar to reading Warhol’s diaries.

“These original Polaroids captured a moment in time and went on to identify our culture, our art form, our view of celebrity. Warhol was the inventor of the ‘superstar’ and it’s fascinating to take a moment to absorb these tiny snaps within our fast and furious scrolling world,” she says.

“People of all ages will enjoy this exhibition and mini-series of popular culture.”

INSTANT WARHOL, AS PART OF THE BALLARAT INTERNATIONAL FOTO BIENNALE

WHERE: ART GALLERY OF BALLARAT

WHEN: 25 AUG–22 OCT

At the core of WinterWild is the all-encompassing Wild Feast: a favourite for rugging up and sharing a meal around roaring fire pits alongside the ocean. There’ll be pans of paella laden with vegetables, low-and-slow smoked meats, fresh pasta, famous local seafood, mulled wine, and local craft beers, as well as a live performance from Leslie D. King and the Trembling Shakes.

Stay after sunset to witness the festival’s fiery signature outdoor performance, The DogWatch. This is the event that the festival begins and ends with – that defines it, energises it, inflames it.

You’ll also be able to fuel up at the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse with a Low and Slow BBQ Masterclass, while Mark Kluwer, trained under Wim Hof, leads ice bathing and breath workshops to help light a fire within, and local practitioner Dani Cullen will run her famously healing qigong classes in the fresh ocean air. With previous incarnations described as ‘dark, wild and a little bit dirty’, WinterWild is Victoria’s answer to Dark Mofo, and it’s well worth travelling down the Great Ocean Road for.

WINTERWILD

WHERE: APOLLO BAY

WHEN: 25–27 AUG