SPLENDOUR ARTS 2016 | SPLENDOUR IN THE CRAFT

Each year Splendour Arts creates an unpredictable, boundary bending and totally ‘gram-able contemporary art experience that leaves festival goers feeling enriched, inspired and sometimes perplexed. Curated by internationally exhibited artist Craig Walsh, Splendour Arts 2016 will feature six major pieces across the event site. - from July 22 to 24 the green fields of North Byron Parklands will become the ultimate outdoor, contemporary art space.

ARCH TUNNEL RESPONSE
The Tunnel
Ash Keating
Arch Tunnel Response is a site-responsive painting by Melbourne artist Ash Keating, commissioned especially for the entrance tunnel to the Splendour in the Grass site. Keating used a palette of white, yellows, oranges and magenta to create long, continuous and gestural streams of colour.
 
RENDERED
Video Art Space
Shaun Gladwell
The Video Art Space is a new addition to the Splendour Arts program that will feature a different artist each year.
Known for his investigation into contemporary forms of human movement, spatial experience and transformation, Shaun Gladwell has explored these themes through video and photographic recordings, both of himself and other extreme sport athletes. He uses activities such as skateboarding, parkour, BMX bicycle riding, graffiti, urban exploring or "buildering", as well as completely invented actions, as a means to rethink the function of objects and environments. Gladwell has been exhibited extensively throughout Australia, Asia, the United States and Europe since 2001. He will exhibit four video pieces at Splendour 2016…
 
Thursday - Pataphysical Man (2005)
Performer: Daniel Esteve Pomares | Videography: Gotaro Uematsu
 
Friday -  Skateboarders VS Minimalism (2016)
Commissioned for the 40th Anniversary of the Sydney Festival, Skateboarders VS Minimalism illustrates Gladwell’s interest in juxtaposing popular sports culture with art history and museum culture.  The video features skateboarders (including professional Rodney Mullen) riding on exact replicas of well known minimalist artworks. The soundtrack for this video features the music of Phillip Glass.
 
Saturday - Pacific Undertow Sequence (2010)
Videography: Josh Raymond | Sound: Kazumichi Grime
 
Sunday -  Midnight Tracer (2011)
Performer: Ali Kadhim | Videography: Judd Overton, Evan Papageorgiou
 
UPPER DOWNS
The Barn
Bennet Miller
Splendour has seen the evolution of Barnraiser, Rumspringer and Anabaptister, and 2016 brings the 4th instalment of this unique community: Upper Downs.
In Upper Downs you can once again find yourself mingling amongst the mysterious community residing within the walls of The Barn. Some of the inhabitants will lose their way and abandon their values in favour of gambling and liquor.  The struggle will be real when temptation is waved right in front of their eyes with this year’s instalment of an Amish casino including spinning wheels, a roulette table and a range of card games. 
 
PROGRAM 2
Sam Songailo
This Melbourne based painter and installation artist approaches each artwork as an experiment.  Using Splendour attendees as his ‘test subjects’ he releases them into his artwork and watches as their reactions unfold. Program 2 explores the limits of perception and the phenomenology of consciousness. 
Keep your eyes peeled for Songailo’s creation that will be scattering smoke and throwing light in all directions.
 
UN INTELLIGENT DESIGN
Tent of Miracles
Andy Forbes
The Tent of Miracles guarantees to have the audience in stitches with their infamous Splendour wedding show. Grab your three-night stand and pre-book a festival wedding so that the love lasts forever.
Forbes’s iconic inflatable church, inspired by freaky side shows and circus art, will also be home to a potent mix of live theatre, dance comedy and rock n roll.
 
MR POOPIE
Cool Shit
Everybody poops and everybody likes ice cream. Coincidence? Mr Poopie thinks not. The infamous poop emoji is the inspiration for Mr Poopie, who attempts to explore this uncanny relationship in a delicious and disgusting manner.
Jump in and marvel at the indulgent and delicious substance excreting from the ice cream dispensers.  Dine-in or take-away, either way you wont forget Mr Poopie!