Assemble! by Next Wave 23/03/2020 to 30/05/2020

Next Wave runs Next Wave Festival, a national biennial arts festival that focuses on the development and presentation of emerging  artists, to explore and create artworks that contribute to a new dialogue in contemporary arts and culture. 

Next Wave manages  Brunswick Mechanics Institute (Brunswick Mechanics), a centre for experimental performance and artist-led learning in Melbourne’s Inner North. In 2018 Brunswick Mechanics held a variety of performances for Next Wave’s 2018 Festival, and was also scheduled to host performances and exhibitions for Next Wave’s 2020 Festival as the Festival Hub. Next Wave announced their 2020 program on 12 March (scheduled to run 15 May – 31 May), which involved 28 artist projects with 80+ artists parties & public programs. Approximately 100 volunteers had been engaged to volunteer to help facilitate the Festival. It was only four days after the initial programs announcement that Next Wave reported the cancelation of their Festival due to the legitimate safety concerns from the Covid-19 outbreak. ‘We closed Brunswick Mechanics, paused our festival presentation and talked with our community of artists about what was next, what they needed, and how we could make that happen’, explained by the Next Wave team. Assemble! was what Next Wave delivered, which was built in response to their discussions with the artists initially involved in the 2020 program and their community. 

Assemble! was announced 5 days prior to the commencement of their online release, running between 21-31 May 2021. Assemble! positioned itself not as an arts festival, but rather an online interactive platform and space run by a gathering of artists. The purpose of this platform was ‘to share ideas around leadership, community and care in a time of crisis’ as stated on the Assemble! website. Many of the artists who were involved in the initial 2020 Next Wave programming had also contributed to this online platform alongside community partners including APHIDs. Some artists adapted their already existing works to be accessible online, and some created new works particularly in response to the pandemic.

A green screen with audiovisual broadcasting equipment was installed at Brunswick Mechanics studio 2, giving an opportunity for artists and presenters to explore their audience's interaction from a safe online distance in real time. This initiative was called radioWAVE, which ran coinciding with Assemble! online programming. Next Wave partnered with Hope st Radio and MESS (Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio) to help produce all of the radioWAVE events. Even though Brunswick Mechanics’ audience chairs were stacked to the ceiling, and only 1 projector screen was occupying the large performance space of what would have been a full house production, audiences, artists and the surrounding community were tuning in online by the masses. Watching, listening and dancing from the comforts of their homes. 

Next Wave also distributed Next Wave Essentials, an additional initiative and care package that aimed to reach out to people in their homes, to fight digital fatigue and to share artist writings in a tangible way. These packages featured artworks, activities and products by the Next Wave and local community. As there were many people still in isolation at this time, these care packages were a valuable way for people to physically reconnect with the community from a safe distance. 

Assemble! And radioWAVE website: 2020.nextwave.org.au 

Next Wave Website: nextwave.org.au

Brunswick Mechanics Institute: brunswickmechanics.com

Location: 270 Sydney Road, Brunswick VIC 3056