Archive of Old and New Events

Jodi Newcombe & Tega Brain (AU)

Humans are quite literally ‘party animals’. Festivals and gatherings define a culture and show a universal appetite for revelry and celebration. Many are historically linked to seasonal cycles and local climate conditions. With the onset of strange weather and dramatic shifts in contemporary climate, many of these long-standing festivals could languish as their environmental triggers change or die off. The last half of the twenty-first century could be replaced with strange new cultural phenomena.

Archive of Old and New Events explores these historic festivals and festivities of the future. This speculative project imagines an archive, established in 2030, with a mission for collecting and preserving artefacts from these events. On show are two collections; The Collection of Lost Festivals holds materials from events no longer in existence—an assortment of fragile artefacts from celebrations gone quiet. The other is The Collection of New Festivals which documents recent cultural phenomena that have emerged in response to new weather and climate. Both explore the consequences of strange weather, materialising cultural loss and the extraordinary human capacity for adaptation and celebration.

For more information or to contribute information about an old or new seasonal festival, please visit the Archive of Old and New Events website.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Tega Brain is an artist and engineer whose work rethinks the infrastructures, interfaces and institutions that structure our relationship with larger environment systems. She creates site-specific installations, dysfunctional devices, experimental infrastructures, speculative services and information visualisations.

Jodi Newcombe is a curator and creative producer specialising in artistic responses to environmental challenges. Jodi is Director of Carbon Arts, an organisation working to facilitate an increased role for artists in generating awareness and action on climate change.