Free Live Art Festival returns to Wellington’s Waterfront

MEDIA RELEASE

26 January 2015

For immediate release

Attn: Arts Editor/Reporter

Popular free Live Art Festival returns to Wellington’s Waterfront for a dynamic fifth year

Iconic Wellington event, The Performance Arcade, is returning to the Wellington Waterfront from 18 to 22 February 2015, in what will be its fifth year. The award-winning event, presented by The Playground NZ, showcases an exciting and diverse array of local, New Zealand and international artists. Works are presented across a series of architecturally arranged shipping containers, serving as intriguing spaces for a variety of art forms including; live installation, performance art, sonic art, audio-visual art, interactive media and live music. Despite the diversity of the programme on offer, the event remains entirely free of charge, with a growing audience of arts enthusiasts and new-comers alike.

The Arcade programme is carefully curated and designed to generate stimulating new encounters between artists and the public, creating a vibrant hub that activates its inner city location. This year’s curatorial concept is ‘layered-space’ and will offer activities that range in scale from small personal encounters, to AV installations and live music performed under the night skies.

Festival Artistic Director, Sam Trubridge says he is immensely proud of reaching a fifth year, ‘Our 2015 programme is a celebration on reaching our fifth birthday and developing an integrated experience that has become a key part of Wellington’s summer line-up. Audiences will be impressed by the broad talents of the artists participating this year. I can’t wait for it to get underway, and for everyone to experience the event we have worked hard to create.’

The 2015 Performance Arcade features new works from over 70 artists, including 12 Live Art works designed for shipping containers where participants can travel in time (Time Machine), undergo sci-fi psychotherapy with a Storm Trooper (Doctor Outis Is In!) and watch dance performances by Lucy Marinkovich and Footnote New Zealand Dance (Bosch Box).

Producers have created an exciting new City Series programme that will see art works dispersed throughout the streets of Wellington and an Audio Visual Series that will see moving image and sound works installed on screens and projected on to surfaces around the architecture. At the heart of the Arcade is a pop-up bar, featuring a free programme of live music from popular Wellington musicians including Groeni, West Coast Bullies, and Cumbia Blazera.

The Performance Arcade opens at 5pm, 18 February and is then open from 10am to 11pm each day from 19-22 February. It is a free event for all Wellingtonians and visitors to the city. The full programme of presenting artists and events can be found at www.theperformancearcade.com.

The Performance Arcade: 18-22 February, Wellington Waterfront, behind Te Papa. Free. The Performance Arcade 2015 is supported by Creative New Zealand, Wellington City Council, with International artist support from The Bolton Hotel.

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