Next Friday locals and tourists in South Bank can experience a free, family-friendly contemporary art performance thanks to the launch of Co-MMotion, Brisbane City Council’s new Temporary Art Program – a year-long series of live art activations taking place in public spaces across Brisbane in 2018. Produced by people+artist+place, the inaugural program will ignite conversations about temporary public art and community self-expression through a collection of artworks that promote participation and community involvement.
The Co-MMotion program kicks off with its first activation on Friday 23 March with Star-Crossed Rivers, which will see local artists Anastasia Booth and Naomi Blacklock collaborate with 28 year 10 Brisbane State High School students to create a special dusk performance at River Quay Green, South Bank.
Booth and Blacklock will work with students at Brisbane State High School and at the river site during the day to create a stylised performance of Sohni Mahiwal, a famous love story of the Punjab, using choreographed movement, costumes and sculptural objects. The story centres on Sohni, who longs to be with her true love Mehar. Every night she swims across the river to where Mehar lives, using an earthenware pot to keep her afloat. One night, her sister-in-law replaces the earthenware pot with a vessel of unbaked clay, which dissolves into the water and she vanishes.
This retelling of Sohni Mahiwal will be influenced by the river site and the two artists’ shared interrogation of mythological tales and their significance in contemporary understanding of gender and identity. The artists will speak to universal notions of love and longing, and how rivers function as symbols of movement, time and myth.
The Co-MMotion activations are progressive, diverse and accessible, with the hope of expanding public perception of what contemporary and temporary public art is. The temporary nature of the artworks aim to bring people together to participate in everything from a mindful ritual to a wild, colourful spectacle. Building the capacity of local artists is a big focus of the program, offering rare opportunities to negotiate the risks and challenges that come with creating live work with community stakeholders, in a public space.
people+artist+place co-directors Jenna Green and Marisa Georgiou hope Star-crossed Rivers and the upcoming activations appeal to a wide audience and spark discussion about how temporary public art informs daily life and cultural spaces.
“We encourage Brisbanites to come down to River Quay on Friday 23 March to experience Star-crossed Rivers, and to join us for the first of many conversations we hope to have about temporary public art and how it can activate our daily lives, public spaces and communities,” said Ms Green.
