Everyone’s favourite annual weekend of creative over-stimulation is back. The This Is Not Art festival (TiNA) will be rocking Newcastle until Monday (October 6), with a five-day program chock-full of experimental and cutting-edge arts events. There’ll be workshops, installations, exhibitions and plenty more arty antics to arouse the senses and get your creative juices flowing. Or, naturally, you can just walk around and enjoy the vibe and the coastal air. Check out the
This Is Not Art website for the full programs and all the travel and accommodation info you’ll need.
TiNA is actually made up of four interconnected sub-festivals taking place at a variety of venues in Newcastle.
Electrofringe is at the forefront of electronic arts and culture, with an overloaded power board of events including workshops, presentations, panels and gigs. Bash some buttons, check out some .net art, blow a fuse with the Solder Girls and meet the MIDI-controlled animatronic penis mask… And just try to tap your feet along to the sonic adventures of the large-scale improvised music ensemble, The Splinter Orchestra.
Wordsmiths will want to dip their nibs into the
National Young Writers’ Festival. Celebrating its tenth year with a brand-spanking new anthology, it will be a caffeine-fuelled frenzy of forums, readings, workshops and performances for emerging writers, comic artists and publishers – and the people who love them. Weigh up the relative merits of Mr Darcy and Rupert Murdoch, take part in the letter-writing marathon, or find some relief for your artistic fatigue at the daily Creative Health Check. And don’t forget Sunday’s zine fair.
For the aurally inclined, there’s the
Sound Summit. Onstage, strapping independent artists from all over will be peddling their sonic goods, from apocalyptic pop and psychedelic weirdness to neurotic hip-hop and Japanese grindcore. There’s bound to be a veritable moshpit of ideas offstage too, with discussions on the new liquor licensing laws, and industry bigwigs sharing their insights into the murky world of music copyright.
Finally, join the quasi-intellectual love-in with the
Critical Animals, a chance to wag chins with writers, artists, poets, performers, academics and other thoughtful types. They’ll be jamming their squidgers into all sorts of metaphysical tiddlywinks, engaging with issues as varied as sustainability, sex, psychogeography and why civilisation can never truly progress while we all continue to buy bottled water. There’ll also be a book launch of two, and a musical interpretation of Slaughterhouse Five that probably has to be seen to be believed.
- By Darryn King