From Lismore to Prague: NSW Performing Arts group head to Europe

Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA)’s The HOME Project is opening at the Prague Quadrennial of Design and Space!

The HOME Project is one of eight Australian works selected to feature in the Australian Pavilion at the June 18-28 event, where it will be presented to an international audience as a large scale audio-visual installation.

Prague Quadrennial of Design and Space is the world’s largest scenography event. Its rich program, presenting more than 70 countries, is filled with not only exhibitions and cutting edge theatre design works, but also hundreds of live events including lectures, workshops, architecture walks and public space projects. The international contingent of curators will respond to themes of Weather, Politics and Music.

To celebrate the inclusion of The HOME Project, NORPA are inviting their local Lismire community to come and immerse themselves in the beautiful audio-visual installation that will be projected on the exterior of the Lismore City Hall as it simultaneously opens across the globe in Prague.

 

“I congratulate NORPA on the home-grown production it is taking to the world,” said Kevin Hogan.

“It is testament to the artistic vision of our premier local performing arts organisation, and the stories it tells, that its audience now reaches from Lismore to the other side of the world in Prague. I encourage everyone who can to attend the free event at Lismore City Hall on Friday June 19.”

The HOME Project was a 3-year creative and research partnership between NORPA and Southern Cross University, exploring the nature of homelessness in the Northern Rivers region of NSW. It invited the perspectives and stories of people in the local community experiencing homelessness (as well as those who weren’t) asking what the concept of ‘home’ meant to them.

The project began in 2011 with an interactive art exhibition and culminated in a multimedia, food and music event in 2013 at the iconic Winsome Hotel, hosted by the hotel’s residents and the community of the Lismore Soup Kitchen. Approximately 70 people a day currently access the Soup Kitchen’s services at The Winsome Hotel that also offers transitional housing for marginalised men.

 

“I was immediately attracted to The HOME Project for the way that it celebrates a place and building (Lismore’s iconic Winsome Hotel) as something that can be reinvented,” says the PQAU curator Anna Tregloan.

“I was impressed by the way a place that has played an important part in a community can change in its purpose but remain essential to the fabric of the community. As a collaborative community event The HOME Project is a stand-out for the methods it used to intertwine visual arts, music, theatre, hospitality and daily life into an event shared by many.

“The strength of the event is evidenced in the continuing strong relationships and exchanges between all collaborators in years that have followed.”

“We want our community and all the wonderful people involved in The HOME Project to see the work that’s going to Prague, so we are projecting the installation here at Lismore City Hall as well ” says NORPA’s Artistic Director Julian Louis

“This is a free and open event – everyone is welcome to come and experience it. It’s a great achievement that deserves to be celebrated.”

Catch The HOME Project at Lismore City Hall on 19th June. It’s a free event but please RSVP to rsvp@norpa.org.au by Monday 15 June if you’re planning to attend. For more information, visit www.norpa.org.au.