Splore festival explores new dimension

The Jasper Middleton/Cut Collective vortex at Splore 2010. Photo / Supplied

As well as the many musicians and bands playing across four stages at Splore - including everyone from main drawcard Erykah Badu and British beat freak Hudson Mohawke to local sing-along favourites the Yoots and bass music heavies Tiki/Optimus Gryme - the festival is also about the visual arts and family fun.

Set in Tapapakanga Regional Park at Orere Point on the Firth of Thames, the arts programme and installations will be spread throughout the sprawling beachfront location for the first time - right from the front gate and into the camping areas.

One of the highlights - which has come about after several years of negotiation by Splore organisers and this year's curator Mark Osborne - will be a temporary structure by British public arts curator, Emma Underhill.

She will collaborate with local arts group Cut Collective and architect Jasper Middleton on Portavilion Splore 2012.

The piece is a continuation of the temporary, large-scale work Underhill does in London, which engages the public and encourages participation. So let the kids loose.

Other works worth checking out include Sense Collective's Move, which takes people on a "visceral" journey through space and time, Ben Ku's Windows, which is an in-your-face work made up of 24 television sets, and take some time out from dancing and step inside Rhonda Menschen's Temple of Light and Darkness for a pretty, trippy experience.

Where & when: Tapapakanga Regional Park, Orere Point, starts midday Friday, Feb 17 and runs until late afternoon on Sunday, Feb 19.

Getting there: By car, take the Manurewa or Manukau off-ramps on the southern motorway and head for Clevedon. At the Clevedon roundabout turn right on to to Pacific Coast Highway. At Kawakawa Bay turn right at the dairy and travel approx. 11km to Orere Point. Turn right at the Orere Point intersection, carry on over the hill for 2km and turn left down Deerys Rd.

Buses leave Britomart on Friday at 12pm or 6pm, and from K' Rd at 12.30pm or 6.30pm, and return 12pm or 6pm Sunday. Email admin@splore.net with your name, contact phone number and what bus you want to take by Feb 15.

Tickets: $220-$120 at 1-night.co.nz

More info and full line-up: www.splore.net

-TImeOut