FUSE Festival presents Ganbu Gulin: Grandmother Spirit and renowned artist Patricia Piccinini delivers 2024 FUSE Artist Keynote
Ganbu Gulin: Grandmother Spirit is the opening event at this year’s FUSE Spring festival on Saturday 14 September. Delivered in Partnership with Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation and curated by Allara Briggs Pattison, this annual Welcome to Country event features live music, visual art, a panel talk and community workshops, and takes place at a new site this year, the Bundoora Park Farm, Preston.
FUSE is proud to present the 2024 Artist Keynote with internationally renowned artist Patricia Piccinini. Sharing details of her journey as an artist exploring sculpture, photography, video and drawing, Piccinini will examine the increasingly nebulous boundary between artificial and natural as it appears in contemporary culture and ideas. Guests will gain a unique insight into the career and body of work from one of Melbourne’s best-known artists. The keynote is followed by a Q&A, taking place at Darebin Arts Centre, 21 September. FREE
Barkandji artist, writer and researcher Zena Cumpston, presents Return, a visual art exhibition, celebrating the plant knowledge of southeastern Aboriginal peoples, with a particular focus on the cultural landscape of the Darebin area and the plants of Wurundjeri Woiwurrung Country.
Featuring artworks, performances and workshops, the exhibition includes both Indigenous and non-Indigenous guest collaborators aimed at engaging diverse audiences with Indigenous knowledge, plants of place and the deep knowledge of Country embedded within them. Return will provide opportunities for learning, art making, conversation and empowering actions in backyards, balconies and nature strips to support biodiversity and embrace the shared responsibility to act as custodians of the lands we call home. Eastmint Gallery, 19 – 22 September. FREE
FUSE Darebin presents an evening of exploratory and reverent performances at the Darebin Arts Centre on 20 September with Nikodimos and his Orchestra. Exploring unorthodox approaches to orchestral music, they activate unconventional spaces with deep and spiritually charged music. This is a rare appearance by an accomplished ensemble. With standout talents like Tamil Rogeon on viola, Komang on vocals and Annwen Roberts on violin, as they perform original compositions with and by Nikodimos, a compelling woodwind player with a technicoloured essence.
Also performing on the night will be AARTI JADU, a multidisciplinary sound artist with roots in devotional and raga music from India. Darebin Arts Centre, 20 September.
FUSE is the City of Darebin’s multi-arts festival—providing a platform for local artists, designers and performers to transform our amazing city into a dynamic hub of creativity. FUSE allows artists and audiences alike to enjoy Darebin’s streets, parks, venues, theatres, galleries and public spaces as transformative zones—infused with the power of art, culture, and creativity.
FUSE Festival 14 – 22 September
www.fusedarebin.com.au
