Brioni has already displayed a tendency towards creative expression in many facets of her life, and so I’m pleased that on her birthday, we could visit a temporary art exhibition. Art with Altitude features art installations, live music, theatrical performances and a opportunity for kids to make their own artistic creations.
The 10-day contemporary art festival is hosted by a shopping centre near the airport — hence the clever name.
This is the first of Keg de Souza's inflated igloo exhibitions that we visited. Inside is another art installation — balloons and strings of cassette tape.
Lucas Abela's Mix Tape installation features magnetic tape from cassettes hanging from helium balloons. When run across the heads, the tape's sound emits from a speaker below the table.
In-flight — the children's workshop curated by artists Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan — presents children with a range of recycled materials which they can use to fashion fantastic flying machines.
Although I thought they were fantastic, our girls weren’t impressed by the hand-made artworks already on display, and even less so by the materials on hand. They wanted to make people, not machines, and after a couple of minutes of playing with sticks and pipe-cleaners, they retreated in disgust. “I can’t find a pen to draw a face!” Brioni exclaimed. So we moved on.
Nicole Voevodin-Cash's Ghost Trees stand out in the stark corridor of the shopping centre.
Aisha and Calista enjoy the sensation of hugging the inflated tree.
Outside, a number of artworks were scattered in the courtyard. Young roving performers from Flipside Circus demonstrated their skills and handed out flyers.
Keg de Souza has entitled this colourful dome "Impossible Utopia".
Inside, cushions invite us to recline and enjoy the colours around us.
Local artist Sue-Ching Lascelles used about half a kilometre of plastic string and another 200 metres of rope to construct "Falling for Fireworks".
Nellie and Arlo chat happily with us about their stilt-walking experiences.
Calista and Delaney enjoy a game on the outside cushions. I love seeing them share the same imagination.
Lena Yarinkura is an Indigenous Australian artist who fashioned a number of these whimsical cast metal dogs as part of "Camp Dogs". At the time she began working on the installation, she kept 27 dogs (!) and considered them to be her protectors.
Other Flipside Circus performers give hooping and juggling demonstrations.
Another of Keg de Souza's igloos is completely black, but studded inside with fairy lights. Called "LUTS" as an acronym for "living under the stars", it inspires me to install fairy lights in our housebus.
This large, interactive installation by Inkahoots is called "New Anthem V". Viewers are invited to send a text message and see their words scroll across the display at the bottom of the inflated words that read "I still call Australia".
Indigenous Australian artists from the Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre have created these spirit bodies called "Bagus" from wood and clay.
The Girringun artists are from the North Queensland rainforest region.
We’ve seen one of Nicole Voevodin-Cash’s Mounges at the Ipswich Art Gallery and immediately recognised it. The girls were happy to climb all over this installation and play with the pieces lying around.
Brioni shows me how strong she is.
Michael Candy has created these living sculptures that grow and move with the help of solar power.
Calista tries rolling down the grassy slope.
John Nicholson's Multiple Transmissions is one of the art installations that will remain a permanent fixture at Airport Village. His artworks are placed alongside the pedestrian crossing and serve as a colourful guard of honour to the shoppers who walk past.
We enjoyed visiting the Art with Altitude exhibition — the artworks are positioned within sight of each other and so lure us on without making us trek across great distances. We didn’t see everything that is on offer, but we’ll be back next weekend for another show, so perhaps we’ll see some more then!
