Craig & Karl sculptures outside the Powerhouse during the Brisbane Festival. Photo / Anna Knox
Fighter jets and elite ballet, fireworks and aerial cabaret, along with giant blowup sculptures installed throughout the city centre were just a few things on offer over the first three days of the Brisbane Festival.
The festival, held on Turrbal and Jagera lands, runs this year from September 5-27, and is Australia’s largest international arts festival.
Events officially kicked off last Friday evening with a Welcome to Country from traditional owner Yuggera and Toorabul man Shannon Ruska. This was followed by the world premiere of Gems, a riveting contemporary ballet trilogy performed by Benjamin Millepied’s LA Dance Project.
But the Saturday Riverfire event marked the opening of the festival for most. An estimated half a million people packed the banks of the Maiwar River to see an Australian Air Force flyover followed by a fireworks extravaganza. The crowds had been gathering all day, staking out spots with eskies, camping chairs and picnic blankets. As dusk fell, a C17 Globemaster, C27J Spartan and, in a grand and deafening finale, a supersonic EA-18 fighter jet flew at building height over the snaking river, following its tight twists at awesome speed.
After dark, fireworks launched from multiple pontoons, buildings and bridges. No matter your position along the river, you were in the middle of the display. It was the ultimate surround sound-and-light show.
The river is at the heart of both Brisbane and its festival, ferrying people on boats, bikes, scooters and feet (both sides are fully pedestrianised throughout the central city) to various venues along its banks.
In September, its pedestrian bridges are transformed by the festival’s signature visuals; brilliant, bold, brightly coloured artworks, installations and inflatable sculptures created by expatriate Brisbane artists Craig & Karl, in collaboration with digital artist David McLeod. They’re a celebration of colour and quirk, embodying the festival vibe: fun, arresting, edgy. As well as flanking bridges, the artworks appear in windows and on street corners throughout the city.
A public art trail app guides viewers to each installation, though visitors might prefer the joy and surprise of accidental discovery as they wander.
The 23-day festival boasts more than 100 events in more than 40 venues. Dance is a particularly strong offering. International acts include LA Dance Project, Club Guy and Roni, and the Netherlands’ ISH Dance Collective, who will perform Elements of Freestyle, an “adrenaline-fuelled explosion of extreme urban sports, dance, music and theatre” in the final weekend.
Performances centering First Nations stories include Baleen Moondjan, The Boodong’s Song and Breaking Ground. The most original offering has to be Dance Battle of the Burbs, a slightly satirical dance-off by The Common People Dance Project Eisteddfod where, “dressed in sequined armour, the mighty suburban gladiators will meet on neutral territory and dance it out”. The Common People Dance Project also hosts dance workshops throughout the festival – free for anyone keen to try.
One standout from the opening weekend was Back to Bilo, a “verbatim” play in which the lines spoken by the actors are drawn from real life and interviews. Within the scenes, reportage, lighting, archival footage and the stunning vocals of Menaca Thomas come together to tell the story of Sri Lankan refugees Nades and Priya. The couple, who met in Australia, made their home in a small town in regional Queensland and started a family there before being taken into detention during a dawn raid. Horrified, Biloela locals from all walks rallied around the family, advocating for their release over the four years they were held in Australian detention centres. The advocacy grew to a nationwide fight to bring them home.
Another standout was Gatsby at the Green Light. Riffing off Fitzgerald’s ambience, more than his story, it is an energetic and immersive spectacle. With some of the audience seated in the bar of the set, before the show the cast mixes and serves them drinks. After the first dance number, the bar converts into a stage on which the cast juggles, tap-dances, strip-teases and aerial-tricks their way through Gatsby and Daisy’s tragic but glitzy love story.
Not confined to theatres, the festival spills outdoors. Every night at the walk-through sound-and-light installation, Afterglow, thousands of flames illuminate the city’s botanic gardens in a “slow-burn multisensory journey”. Some of the soundscapes are enhanced by the local fruit bats. There is also marshmallow toasting and, of course, a bar, hospitality being one of Brisbane’s claims to fame, and with good reason – though that’s another story.
During the opening weekend, outdoor community “mini” festivals from several of Brisbane’s diverse ethnic communities offered food, workshops, music and entertainment. Indian cooking, Italian music, a celebration of 50 years of Papua New Guinean independence, and the chance to try Pacific art at Pacifica Made were all on offer.
The festival will wrap up as it began, with light shows above the river. Skylore: Nieergoo – Spirit of the Whale is now in its third annual iteration. As hundreds of drones fly above the city, Shannon Ruska and Tribal Experiences will return to tell a powerful story of culture, country and connection to place and to celebrate Brisbane city.
The writers travelled courtesy of the Brisbane Festival.