PUNQ's Powerful Platform Presents Pioneering Performances and Projects
A performance marking First Nations' history and connection to the water and land along Townsville's famous Strand Promenade will take place for the first time in over 100 years on Thursday August 1.
This powerful event marks the opening of North Queensland's place-based contemporary arts festival, PUNQ (Pop Up North Queensland) and begins a program where local, national and international artists activate and engage with the region's spaces, histories and futures.
TOP 10 UNMISSABLE EXPERIENCES AT PUNQ 2024
MUST-SEE: PUNQ OPENING EVENT - Gundil Released by Big Eye Theatre and Wulgurukaba Walkabouts
Thursday 1 August 5:30pm | FREE | www.umbrella.org.au/gundil-released/
This major new work illuminates a site of Cultural significance located on 'The Strand Promenade' where, pre-colonisation, a series of lagoons existed. Through this work, the Wulgurukaba people intend on sharing true name and history of the lagoons which were a ceremonial and gathering site where fresh water was in abundance. It is at Hambeluna where their ancestors performed the brolga (gundil) dance and song, which is recorded in early colonial sketches. In recent years, Wulgurukaba Walkabouts have been performing this dance once again. Gundil Released will see this First Nations' history and connection to the water and land performed for the first time on this site in over 100 years.
TOP 10:
- View the Waymaker Billboard Exhibition while travelling North Queensland's highways
Thursday 1 August - Sunday 18 August | FREE | www.umbrella.org.au/waymaker/
Waymaker is a captivating art exhibition that celebrates the wisdom and strength of First Nations Elders of North Queensland on road billboards. This exhibition celebrates First Nations stories of the lands between Warrgamay, Nywaigi & Bandjin Country / Hinchinbrook through Wulgurukaba and Bindal Country / Townsville to Gudjal Country / Charters Towers. It's a powerful trail.
"PUNQ is giving us, Vicki Saylor and Pippa Samaya, a big opportunity to celebrate First Nations Elders of North Queensland through art and collaboration. We are thrilled to be commissioned by Umbrella for a project like Waymaker. It is important to celebrate the work of our Elder's community in North Queensland and provide a platform to share their inspiring stories." Vicki Saylor and Pippa Samaya
- Discover, Dive, Draw – a contemporary underwater art experience on The Great Barrier Reef
Saturday 10 August - Sunday 11 August | *$625pp (*Hire of BCD & Regulators will be $45.00 extra)
www.umbrella.org.au/punq-discover-dive-draw/
Dive the Great Barrier Reef and draw underwater with artist Kerrie Everett Horrocks. This exceptional two-day workshop experience will take participants to the Great Barrier Reef and Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA) to discover, dive and draw – on a boat, in the water and on shore at Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts.
- Visit the PUNQ Art Fair: A Constructed World and see Indentured, a powerful installation by Gail Mabo at a heritage-listed building the heart of Gurambilbarra / Townsville CBD
Saturday 3 August - Sunday 4 August (9am - 4pm) | FREE
Over the first weekend, A Constructed World will take over the old Bank of New South Wales building, a heritage-listed building at 337–343 Flinders Street Townsville built back in 1887.
Gurambillbarra / Townsville based artists will take over – with art installations and works for sale. The rooms provided to the artists are part of a larger maze-like installation inside the building created by local artists, Jan Hynes and Candace Miles.
Indentured by Gail Mabo - Thursday 1 - Sunday 18 August 24 (24hrs) | FREE
www.umbrella.org.au/indentured/
Indentured is a major new public art installation by Gail Mabo. The work illuminates the often unacknowledged and sometimes suppressed Queensland history of South Sea Islander indentured labour in the early colonial era, which is part of the artist's matrilineal family heritage. In the installation these people become present and unavoidable in the Gurumbilbarra / Townsville CBD.
"Many people may be shocked to learn that the past still echoes in the present, and exploitation of Pacific and South Sea Islander workers is still happening here under our noses. Back in the late 18th century my ancestors were brought here on ships without permission, kept shackled in tunnels and sold like livestock. They worked long hours in brutal tropical heat, far from their families. They were stripped of the basic human rights, access to fair wages and decent working conditions. These were the Indentured!"
"This history is woven into the fabric of my family. Through this artwork, 62,500 lives are made present and impossible to ignore in the heart of Gurambilbarra / Townsville." Gail Mabo
- Immerse yourself in the world premiere of Coiling by Baylee Griffin and Jenn Ma
Wednesday 14 August - Sunday 18 August 6:30pm | Various Sessions | $35 General Admission | $30 Concession | www.umbrella.org.au/coiling/
Clay and flesh spiral as one in this experimental performance. Coiling is an intimate meditative experience delving into the parallel cycles of the human and clay bodies. Inside the re-imagined space of the old Commonwealth Bank, a fabric installation acts as a billowing sculpture surrounding the performers and audiences.
- Experience STILL – a sunrise sound bath
Tuesday 6 - Sunday 11 August (5:40 - 6:40am) | $40 Concession | $50 General Admission | $0 *Community Access (2 per show) | www.umbrella.org.au/still/
Still is an immersive sonic journey curated by Dancenorth's Artistic Director Kyle Page and set to the sounds of Canadian composer Jessica Moss.
"Still is housed in a 40-foot shipping container which we worked with Tasmanian company Liminal Spaces to architecturally engineer. The container acts as a seating bank and sound shell, kitted with 32 speakers that fully envelop audiences in the beautiful soundscape created by Canadian composer Jessica Moss and Sound Artist and Designer Byron J Scullin."
- Step back in time with Kiri-Edo: The Japanese House and Stirring Histories in Ingham (Warrgamay, Nywaigi & Bandjin Country / Hinchinbrook) and attend their Artist Talks
Thursday 1 - Sunday 18 August 24 | FREE
ARTIST TALKS:
Elysha Rei (Kiri Edo)– Sunday 18 August at 12:15pm
Alison McDonald (Stirring Histories) – Sunday 11 & 18 August at 10:30am
Kiri-edo: Japanese House is a site-specific installation which responds to the oldest and finest known traditional piece of architecture outside of Japan. Created by Japanese Australian artist Elysha Rei, this work honours traditional Japanese aesthetic principals around light, shadow and pattern with a paper-cut installation that captures the essence of Japanese aesthetics and the history of Japan and Australia dating back to the late 19th century.
Stirring Histories is a site specific and kinetic artwork and aims to take audiences on a journey though layered narratives through a very recognisable and kitsch implement that serves as a conduit to history.
- Explore the PUNQ Art Trail Map and Fringe Art Trail
Thursday 1 - Sunday 18 August 24 | FREE* | *Some workshops are ticketed
