Yandell Walton is one of the artists whose work will be featured as part of the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s new Drift festival starting on April 21.
Drift, Mornington Peninsula Shire’s new annual festival of art, music and celebration, is about to bring the Peninsula’s venues, places and spaces to life. Over 11 days it will feature performances, music, visual arts, film, public art installations, multimedia and projections, writing and literature, and local food and wine, offering exciting new opportunities to experience the best of the region.
“Drift is our new annual flagship arts festival with events between Thursday, April 21, and Sunday, May 1,” said Mayor Anthony Marsh. “From Portsea to Balnarring, Mornington and beyond, Drift will take you on a creative journey across our Peninsula, all showcasing the best of our Peninsula’s creative community and places.”
O_C_E_A_N, a multidisciplinary arts project encompassing contemporary art, story and spiritual practice across a series of iconic, unique and hidden locations around the Peninsula, was developed by Shoreham-based artist and curator Janenne Willis. O_C_E_A_N explores and pays homage to the transformative nature of our water environments. Explore a floating gallery offshore at Flinders; soak in a host of projection and video works such as Patricia Piccinini’s Swell; trek across wetlands and clifftops in search of sculptural installations; even learn to paint while surfing. O_C_E_A_N also brings Matthias Schack-Arnott’s new work Groundswell to Victoria for the first time. This is a beautiful installation that combines auditory, sculptural and interactive elements to prompt a meditation on our relationships with the Earth, ocean and one another. Audiences are invited to climb a 6m circular platform that tilts as you walk, causing a sea of 40,000 ball bearings to cascade and summon a complex oceanic soundscape. O_C_E_A_N features works from Patricia Piccinini, Abdul Abdullah, Brett Whiteley, Rebecca Jensen, Yandell Walton, Matthias Schack-Arnott, Sean Gladwell, Todd McMillan, Henry Jock Walker, Shanai Kellet, Leyla Bulmer, Hayden O’Neil and more.
Drift also presents Into the Wilderness, a family-friendly day of live music, performance, workshops and activities at Balnarring’s Emu Plains Reserve. Fun, free and immersive, it will feature music from Pierce Brothers, The Grogans, Hayley Mary, Andy Golledge, Bumpy, Nicky Bomba, Stiff Richards, Time Machine, Polarize, Hayden Calnin, President Roots, NinchFest DJs and more across two music stages. Into the Wilderness also features the Little Palais Circus tent, filled with circus, physical theatre and comedy, and a makers’ market curated by Emu Plains Market/Untold Events Co, showcasing the best in local art, craft and design.
As dusk falls, Emu Plains will light up with colourful light installations from Playable Streets and Lantasia Lights, blending traditional lantern design, sculpture and illustration to create luminous pieces of art courtesy of The Lanternist.
Falling Into Place is a creative reflection on Hastings and Western Port – known to Traditional Owners as Warn Marrung or Murambik – through live art, performance and cultural experiences. Falling Into Place features workshops led by First Nations groups designed to bring understanding, acceptance, connection to self, Indigenous culture, Country and each other, as well as site-specific performances around the jetty and foreshore sites, and discussions and walks led by environmental experts.
Mornington Peninsula Shire’s Police Point Artist in Residence program is also subject to a significant retrospective exhibition, featuring many of the 90-plus participating artists from its six-year history. Artists will host a range of workshops for the community for the duration of the festival. The Police Point Shire Park will play host to 262 – Our Stories So Far, the project that has collected our community’s stories from 262 days in lockdown and transformed them into a documentary, live music and projection event.
Dreamhouse Theatre Company, Living Culture, MP Music Network, Peninsula Studio Trail, Peninsula Writers Club, Spark Productions, The Pig & Whistle Tavern, Mount Eliza Chamber of Commerce, and Manyung Gallery are among a host of Peninsula groups and venues involved. Click here to find out more.
Recent Comments