Next Wave Festival 2014 Begins Its Month Long Celebration in Melbourne

A tidal wave of new and cutting-edge ideas crashed landed in Melbourne last night with the opening of Next Wave Festival 2014. Commencing with the launch of a new 80-page book about contemporary Indigenous art practice and experiences, which sits at the centre of its keynote initiative Blak Wave, Next Wave Festival 2014 is a city-wide, month-long celebration of new and emerging arts and culture from around Australia and the globe.

The Blak Wave book launch was held at the Wheeler Centre last night and featured a panel discussion by contributors and curators Tahjee Moar and Tony Albert alongside Clinton Nain, Destiny Deacon and Virginia Fraser, with Richard Bell hosting the evening.

"I was newly inspired by artist Tony Albert at last night's opening, who commented that a search for a New Grand Narrative could never occur without a strong collection of Indigenous, female, queer and otherwise alternative voices," said Emily Sexton, Next Wave Artistic Director. "This makes so much sense to me, and I'm very happy and proud to say that our 2014 Next Wave Festival offers diverse, potent new visions for contemporary life embracing the essential diversity Tony describes.

"Blak Wave - as a book, as a series of new works, and as a talks series - is the beginning of a large and vital conversation about what kind of world we want to live in, and the role of culture in shaping that word."

The softcover book co-curated and edited by Torres Strait Islander Tahjee Moar and Next Wave's artistic team, Blak Wave's eponymous publication features 28 artists from across generations and includes interviews, artist profiles, essays and articles written by both established and emerging Indigenous voices, such as Djon Mundine, Ryan Presley, Sydney collective Tiddas Take Back and Reko Rennie.

"Our 2014 Festival, New Grand Narrative, has been curated as story with a beginning, middle, climax and end. In this way, Next Wave Festival allows you to stretch out and take your time to think about things over four weeks, or have it all crash together in one weekend of madness," said Sexton."We're at the beginning..."

After Easter, Next Wave's adventurous and wild side will be ignited at Deep Soulful Sweats on Thursday 24 April at Northcote Town Hall. An ingenious combination of yoga and dance music, audience members need not have experience in either discipline and will be lead through their mind and body 'exercises' by an elemental spirit guide. After the yogic cleansing concludes, the night will culminate in an all-night dance party featuring World's End Press DJs.

Next Wave Festival 2014 will climax on 3-4 and 10-11 May with two all-out massive, immersive weekends of new art adventures that span from breakfast to dancefloor. Melbourne will become a melting pot of new art projects including performance, dance, visual art, sound art - and ideas impossible to categorise.

With clusters of Festival activity happening around Arts House, Northcote Town Hall, Theatre Works and Federation Square, Melbourne's forgotten spaces - such as laneways, buildings, bathrooms and even private homes - will also come alive with exciting and unexpected happenings.

Those feeling overwhelmed canhave the guess-work taken out of ticket buying with Next Wave's specially curated PRIMO PASSES, which comprises a carefully selected cross-section of Next Wave artworks. A safari tour of the art world, audiences will join a raft of like- minded Festival goers and experience a carefully curated full-day program, including meal breaks where one can share their Next Wave experiences with new friends over a glass of wine.

Turning inwards, Next Wave Festival 2014 concludes with reflection as 150 national and international delegates gather for the first-ever IETM Satellite Meeting in Melbourne on 12 - 14 May. The leading international network for the contemporary performing arts, IETM has over 500 members in 50 countries and meet twice annually in Europe as well as holding satellite meetings around the world in regions of strategic and artistic importance.

Founded in 1984, Next Wave is Australia's leading organisation for emerging artists, presenting highly sought-after development programs that culminate in a curated biennial experimental arts festival.

Next Wave Festival 2014 runs until Sunday 11 May. For Blak Wave (book) stockists visit nextwave.org.au/blakwave.

Photo Credit: Carly Sheppard