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For 1984 to 2020, Next Wave Festival shaped the Australian arts landscape through imagination, bold ideas and passion for the new. Next Wave’s focus has always been on the next generation of artists in a changing world. Career development, presentation opportunity and multi-disciplinary representation have been integral since our inception.

2018

Ritual and reflection.

As Australia’s pre-eminent festival for emerging artists, Next Wave Festival 2018 brought the most exciting new artists from across the country together, to launch the careers of the next generation in Australian art.

Making space for new conversations, dissolving artform boundaries, and setting new standards for inclusion in the arts, the works in this year’s Festival revealed multi-faceted perspectives of a world in crisis; offering reflection, rage and release in response. Ritual, our major project, unfurled across multiple sites as artists invited audiences to participate in a shared experience each sunset of the Festival.

The third successive Festival to see significant increases in tickets sold, swathes of sold-out events and increasingly culturally diverse audiences – Next Wave’s curatorial commitment to high quality work by emerging artists and rigorous national research, strongly resonates with audiences who love discovering new art and artists.

Download the Next Wave Festival 2018 program here.
Download the Festival Report here.

Three figures stand in a dark room with UV coloured light shining on them. Each are wearing woven eye masks and seem to be looking for something in different directions.

Three figures are on a theatre floor with a spotlight shining behind them. They are in a row, one standing at the back, one kneeling in the middle and the person in front is on their knees much lower to the ground. The fron two peole have their heads held high while the person at the back looks down at the other two. They are al wearing white mixed texture clothes.

A figure stands behind a desk in underpants. They are wearing nothing else except a rubber horse mask. To the left of the figure is a pink inflatable pool toy shaped like a flamingo.

A person leans over a bar with very high ceilings, stone walls and large glass windows. They have a glass of wine in their hand and are talking to a bar tender in a white tshirt, who has their back to the camera. There are glasses of wine, empty glasses and wine bottles on the bar. There are many people in the bar behind them talking amongst themselves.

Four people sit around a table. The person on the far left is making a funny open-mouthed face and looking at the camera. The figure wears a bright blu striped sweater and has grey hair with blue and pruple highlights. The net person is laughing an has bright orange hair and a black sweater. The next person is smiling and wearing a black and white striped shirt. The next person has a bright orange jacket on and curly long hair. There are lots of pens and scissors on the table.

Two people with their backs to the camera are watching an installed video work in a gallery space. There is a person on the screen who appears to be talking expressively, they are wearing a black dress with a white singlet underneath. The figure closest to the video has a puple jacket with printed shapes on the back.

Two people watch a large video work in a gallery with their backs to the camera. The room is dark apart from the screens. There are two people on the screen. The one on he left is talking, and wearing red frame spectacles and a white hat. The other person is lisenting to the other.

A person in a red tshirt is leaning over and pouring a hot drink for two people. One in a leather jacket with their back to the camera, the other is lookin away from the camera and wears a sports jacket.

A person in a white bodysuit with white gloves holds a small camera in their right hand and is photographing objects on a table including lego, a toy truck, deflated balloons and a small porcelain rabbit. The figure is looking very focussed.

Three small groups of people sit at very low red tables on small red stools. The groups are chatting, laughing and drinking in a room with paintchipped walls.

Next Wave,

Ritual and reflection.