Cirrus@Austlit

'Within the everyday, performance arises as a constant struggle of asserting the self within the social domain that places constraints on individual expression. Every person and environment imposes a particular brand of civilising influence, requires specific performative protocols or conventions that are measured during everyday interaction. As with an actor on stage, the performer within the everyday endures the fear of being unmasked, of hidden agendas and desires being revealed. Everyday interactions must appear natural and unrehearsed. An individual in the everyday is usually expected to keep most of their thoughts private; they are required to take responsibility for their impulses. Signs of vulnerability should be kept at bay. The everyday environment, as with conventional theatre, is governed by learned rules and protocols that ensure anarchic impulses are contained within clear parameters. Yet the field of the everyday is filled with exceptions. On continuous display is the over-riding desire of people to connect with each other in profound ways, an instinctive and all-pervading spirit that 'jolts the audience' and nullifies social restrictions that stymie genuine contact.' 

(Publication abstract)

'Mammad Aidani's books, such as Narrative and Violence: Ways of Suffering Amongst Iranian Men in Diaspora, and plays, such as In the Mirror [La Mama 2021] and I Said This to the Bird [IPCS 2022 and La Mama 2023], explore what it is to be displaced in the modern world. For Aidani, the experience is one of 'catastrophe' and he argues that there is a compelling need for greater national and international recognition of the challenges of exile. Nonetheless, his works seek to find the humanity within exile, and explore what hope emerges when the need for human fellowship is realised.' 

(Publication abstract)

'Cancellations and online pivots predominated the festival industry at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, some festivals just scraped through with their 2020 programmes; Sydney Festival and Adelaide Festival ran during January and early March, respectively. Many other festivals, however, faced significant institutional changes. While online pivots became the norm, some festivals shifted from an international to a local approach. Darwin Festival reimagined its scale and scope to offer a hyperlocal programme in August 2020. Brisbane Festival then followed suit in September 2020. Given that health directives in the Northern Territory and Queensland were not as restrictive as those of other states at this time,1 the Festivals had the capacity for delivering in-person programmes. Darwin Festival, however, incorporated online elements to become more of a hybrid event. In this article, I focus on Brisbane Festival, as it programmed a fully in-person event. Such programming raises questions about the efficacy of a hyperlocal approach. How does the rapid shift to hyperlocal programming impact a previously international festival? More specifically, how does it affect the Festival's organisational aims? As hyperlocal festivals are strictly community focused, they tend to support artists and arts workers within a restricted geographical reach, such as a single neighbourhood, suburb or city. Per the definition provided by Emily T. Metzgar et al., 'hyperlocal' connotes the production of community-oriented and original content that promotes civic engagement.2 While the term originated in journalism, hyperlocal programming has since proliferated in the festival industry. In the wake of the pandemic, this programming has, according to Stephanie Convery, reflected 'a renewed consciousness of physical proximity, of boundaries'.3 Essentially, hyperlocal programming highlights the intimate relationship between a festival and its host place. For Brisbane Festival 2020, prioritising hyperlocal ideals arguably strengthened its relationship with the Brisbane community. In this provocation, however, I propose that while the Festival's hyperlocal programming was successful in managing COVID-19 restrictions to facilitate in-person connection, it prompted a major dramaturgical shift that deviated from the Festival's mission of participating in global conversations - that is, engaging international artists to bring global stories to Brisbane.' 

(Publication abstract)