The Sydney art world is turning its eyes to Kandos following the success of the town’s Cementa_13 festival of contemporary art at the beginning of February.
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Cross Art Projects in Kings Cross is displaying a number of artworks created for the Kandos festival and photos of the event in an exhibition through March titled Cement Town: Placing Cementa13 at Kandos.
The promotional material for the show describes Cementa_13 as “a wildly successful contemporary art festival” that “showed that cutting-edge art can thrive outside the art world bubble”.
Alex Wisser, one of the event’s organisers, said people were excited and intrigued by Cementa because it had been such a great success.
“The level of work was very high, the event was also very relaxed,” he said. “People had a really good time and it allowed them to enjoy the art in a way they normally couldn’t.”
He said the artists were very happy to have been able to spend time with each other and to talk about art with locals and hear some fresh perspectives.
Mr Wisser said Kandos residents also told him they had enjoyed meeting the artists and hearing the ideas behind the artwork during the artist tours.
Cross Art Projects emphasises socially-engaged artwork, and the exhibition features pieces that engaged with the town, including Josephine Starrs and Leon Cmielewski’s chapel to the Kandos Street Machine Show, Bronia Iwanczak’s photos of the Kandos Museum collection and Madeleine Preston’s artefacts of an art movement built around items found in the museum collection.
The festival’s directors and some of the artists will talk about Cementa in a round table discussion on the afternoon of Saturday, March 16, sharing with the audience the discoveries and challenges that arose during the inaugural festival.
The festival will return to Kandos in two years with Cementa_15, helping to celebrate the town’s centenary.
Meeting to review Cementa_13
The organisers of the Cementa_13 contemporary art festival in Kandos want to hear the community’s thoughts on the event to prepare for Cementa_15 in two years’ time.
A community meeting will be held on March 9 at Henbury Golf Club, from 4.30pm to 5.30pm, allowing locals to share their reactions to the inaugural event and suggest improvements for Cementa_15.
Anyone who would like to contribute feedback but cannot attend the meeting can send their thoughts via email to info@cementa13.com.au or write to Kandos Projects, 18 Angus Avenue, Kandos 2848.
