Cementa Friendship

UPCOMING EXHIBITION
2 August – 27 October 2024Leo Zedeux Andy in Kandos Cementa 2013

Cementa Friendship celebrates 10 years of Cementa ahead of the next festival from 19 – 22 September.

Cementa Friendship is a review and celebration of 10 years of one of the most unique arts festivals in contemporary Australia. Curated by co-founder Ann Finegan and current Creative Director and co-founder Alex Wisser, this exhibition will explore and celebrate the journey and evolution of Cementa from the uncertainty and provocation of the first festival to the firm establishment of a unique model of collaboration and engagement that has broadened the horizon of art making for both artists and audiences.

This exhibition will invite artists from across all five festivals to date to restage their work in a collective expression of this journey. The exhibition will open with a celebratory event that will feature performances from the various festivals. The exhibition will feature the original festival works from 18 artists (nine regional, 10 women, and two Aboriginal) to create a survey that outlines the course of the festival’s development and expresses the adventurous and experimental spirit in which a community of artists embraced a small working-class town and the community within it.

Works include Jacqueline Drinkall’s full scale Perspex Flying Saucer from Cementa13 and Melanie E Khava’s highly accomplished nonobjective painting installation made in close collaboration with Kandos High School Students. Ian Millis’ poster installation envisaging a post-industrial future for the town went on to inspire the founding of the artist cooperative Kandos School of Cultural Adaptation. Adam Hill will reproduce his sidewalk hopscotch work ‘Childsplay’ which invites the audience to ‘skip’ over the history of occupation, complimented by Uncle Mervyn Bishop’s portraits commemorating the resilience of Kandos town elders. Also included will be video works by Alana Hunt, Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Linden Bray and Zio Ledeux. The Twilight Girls (Helen Hyatt-Johnston and Jane Polkinghorne) will mount a full-scale reproduction of their billboard from Cementa17, ‘Welcome to Cemental’ taking up the humor of skeptical locals whose pet name for the festival was ‘Dementa’ 

CEMENTA FRIENDSHIP
Opening 6:00pm Friday 2 August 2024