OpenField 2023 Curatorial Theme : Intersections & Interplay

OpenField is a space to reconnect & intersect, a place to gather and build a more distinct diverse cultural identity. It questions what a regional town is in the contemporary experience and presents a conversation about what is possible in an environment moving beyond former conventions.

Artistically, OpenField can exist as a place beyond accepted structures. The expanded field offers possibilities of interactive, collaborative, hybrid, cross-form, experimental work and allows for non-restrictive approaches to how art can be made, presented and experienced. 

Thematically artists and curators are invited to respond to ideas of Intersections and Interplay, and how the opposing qualities of an evolving country town can converge at a crossroads. For example, what lies at the intersection of Nature and Technology? Old and New? Work and Play…

In agricultural terms, open field refers to the clearing of wilderness to create arable/pastoral land. We invite the possibility that this term can now evolve to reflect a different meaning; to present a framework within which to form new exchanges and new fields to develop and explore.

OpenField acknowledges that we live and work on stolen land. The festival supports and invites First Nation perspectives and subscribes to truth telling, especially the stories of the traditional custodians of our local country, the Wodi Wodi and Jerrinja peoples.

The town of Berry exists within both literal and figurative crossroads. In gathering artists from the region and afar together at this central point, OpenField aims to engage, cooperate and promote exchange within the community to invigorate, foster and refresh culture in all its multiformity. 

Words by Sarah Enright.