[Oasis in a Storm]
I, like many others, was enthusiastic about F.O.L.A’s preliminary line-up – promising an attractive array of native and worldwide experimental artists, and a variety of modes and mediums. It appeared to be a competition that will blur and push the boundaries between artwork kinds, genres and types, that will not finish when you stepped exterior the theatre however would stretch into the entire venue, reminding us that artwork can’t be confined to 4 partitions however that it’s consistently round us, interacting with the non-public and political. It was gutting for almost all of the competition to be cancelled, attributable to Basement’s energy outage brought on by Cyclone Gabrielle.
This was the third time F.O.L.A suffered from disruptions, with the earlier two instances seeing the competition cancelled all collectively attributable to Covid. The forces of nature proceed to be relentless, an ever-evolving wave of small apocalypses, and the humanities should not the one trade to endure consequently. We have seen numerous postponements and cancellations, and it’s absolutely been a disheartening time for a lot of – to not point out, a surreal and scary time for some. Which is why it was so nice to be on the Basement on F.O.L.A’s remaining and solely evening on Saturday 18th February 2023. It was buzzing with our bodies and music and visuals, courtesy of the competition backyard. It was a spot to discover, to commune. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to Once More, With Feeling or Into the Well: Sounds from the Deep, however did handle to catch the remainder of the evening.
Sadboi was electrifying, thrilling, tantalising. It embodied the contradictions of our fashionable society, feeling each fantastically linked (a lot in regards to the physique and the senses) and disconnected by irony and a no-fucks angle (a lot about know-how and apathy on the finish of the world). The house was arrange in order that the viewers stood or sat on the ground, creating a very communal expertise. Performer Palos Malactos held the viewers, awe-struck, in each second. It created such a hype afterwards that I’m certain these of us fortunate sufficient to bear witness will likely be impressed for months to come back.
Samuel Te Kani’s Keynote, Surviving the Necropolis, is a fantastically hyper-stimulating set of movies and accompanying textual content. Text on textual content on sound on visuals, phrases mixing collectively to create new which means. A way of the chaotic and rebellious and revolutionary. Te Kani invitations us to consider the physique as an lively power of reactivity and of company, as a political entity and a “locus of power”. He encourages us to contemplate the present local weather of illustration and “retroactive righteousness” in mainstream media – how we should not neglect the fixed push to make us shoppers above all else – and wards us away from simple solutions to systemic issues. It is written juicily and hungrily.
I’ve little doubt F.O.L.A would have been a splendidly curated competition that will have elevated the expectations for artwork in Tāmaki Makaurau. As it stands, even such a small sampling did fulfil the promise of boundary pushing. We bought a scrumptious style of F.O.L.A – a sense of enjoyable and boundless creativity, a disruption and a unification, profane and elegant.
This assessment is a part of the Auckland Pride Review Project – a collaborative venture between 4 native publications (The Pantograph Punch, Bad Apple Gay, Rat World and Theatre Scenes) to supply extra important discourse round queer theatre and efficiency work. We will likely be reviewing a spread of reveals all through the month of Pride – so preserve a glance out and go assist our native queer performers!