This summary was researched and written by Isabell Bilous as part of RMIT internship in early 2025.

The Intertwining and reflective. The complex and compelling identity of the 2000 Next Wave Festival, called Wide Awake - Dreaming at Twilight, was directed by Campion Decent.

The festival explores the idea of having an advanced awareness of our surroundings, such as a flexible festival that entertains oneself with understanding of the past, present events and possible manipulation of our fate in its assortment of digital and analog mediums.

Campion’s curatorial style emphasises free-flowing structure, embracing the notion of ‘messy’, which is especially evident in selected artists such as Natasha Kulyuk, Liam Cuffley and Hamish Johnston for their digital works on the topic of screen migration and how it is integrated into a public gallery setting. This festival has a thematic mixture of past topics like mythological beliefs, to present-day issues with new technology—in essence, creating a ‘lucid dreaming experience’.

Analogue works such as cartoons or written texts wrangle with the juxtaposition of the ‘Cold War to Flower Power’ to personal connections of ‘familial relations’, ‘the stitches of memory’, and ‘the burden of the body’ like the cartoon made by Amber Carvan, which it discusses the decay of memory over time. The main character states, ‘I will set a reminder that I cannot forgive you, and I will never forget’.

About Isabell
I am Isabell Bilous. I am currently studying for a bachelor of printmaking, however, I have always been a mixed media artist at heart, incorporating my cultural traditions, such as sewing motifs, poetry, and traditional dance, with today’s relevant issues. Even though some of my works are based on literature, movies, music, and nature and aren’t commenting on current society, they still have a metaphoric undertone with an abstract aspect to them. Alongside my artistic passions, I have a strong interest in conservation due to my experience with history, and my end goal is to work as an archival conservator in a major gallery.