Acquiescence.
 Vivienne
Holloway sounds exhausted, and with good reason. As the creator
and prime mover behind the biannual Fringe event 'Acquiescence:
Not Dreaming, Creating' she's seen her original idea of a huge,
multi-disciplinary arts event grow from a two-stage band fest
in 2002 to the huge melange of dance, comedy, theatre, films,
visual arts, electronica, DJs and bands that will be filling
Viva (the former Night Train and Le Rox in Light Square) to
the brink in 2006. In fact, this time around there will be over
200 artists involved.
"223, to be exact" she confirms. "The growth this year has been through the performance art space: there are heaps and heaps and heaps of performance artists. There's two and a half hours just of stand-up comedy; and we've also got a whole bunch of films as well, which is very exciting - it's just grown."
That's not to say that the band component is any smaller - and, given the involvement of artists like The Levitators, Sumi, Mirrorline, Amoeba and Foreshore, the profiles of the acts are, if anything, higher- but the previous events taught Holloway an interesting lesson about what the punters enjoyed most. "In the 2004 and 2002 Acquiescences the performance artists were sharing a stage with the DJs, and we've decided to give both those areas a higher profile [in 2006], so we're giving a whole stage to the performance artists, all by themselves, and we've shifted the DJs up into the band area, which I think is a good move: electronica and live music have been really merging in the past few years," she explains. "For the first ones the bands were the main area, size-wise - and also in the profile of the bands who were playing - but with the performing arts acts the feedback that we got from patrons last time was that the bands were cool and awesome and wicked; but the real surprise came from the performing arts area. People were just blown away and we got a lot of comments from people saying that they'd come for the bands and had thought performing arts was a load of crap, but then they'd seen this amazing dance piece, or the theatre or comedy pieces we had. They were the stars of the 2004 event and hopefully we'll increase that by giving them an entire stage to themselves. It's less about the individual artists on stage and more about the space."
So does Acquiescence have a hidden agenda of exposing people to new art forms by deceit - say, luring people who'd never go to a dance performance by hiding it behind a punk gig, for example? "Well, yes," she coughs. "I mean, to a great extent the vast majority of people who'll come will be drawn to the event through the bands, but I think it's getting easier [to appeal to fans of other art forms]. I mean, comedy's one form that's very popular, so I think that gives the event broader appeal. But you're right, part of what I wanted to grow out of this event was audience development: people can get very wound up in their own little thing, like 'I only like punk music' or 'I only like hard trance', and this can show them that there's more outside of that."
While it's understandable that people will tend to drop in and out of such a sprawling, 12 hour event, Holloway is adamant that the punters who get in early and stay until stumps will get the most out of it. "The whole day is a pretty awesomely exciting event," she enthuses, "and it all ramps up the excitement until the conclusion; the energy upstairs [the musical acts] just keeps building and building, and you can get your breath back downstairs in the performance arts space and gallery. And there are no under-pars on the lineup this year: we had 200 bands apply [to be part of Acquiescence] and so the ones on the bill are awesome - and it was the same for the DJs and the electronica acts and the performance artists. So if you do rock up late, you will miss out on some really good stuff; but if you rock up at midday, you will get a day of premium performance."
Adelaide, consider yourself told.
Andrew P Street
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The multi-arts extravaganza that is 'Acquiescence: Not Dreaming, Creating' happens from midday on Sat 4 March at Viva
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