Sugar Mountain festival kicks off this year with a VR and live performance experience, transporting you aurally and technologically from New York city to the Australian outback. Via Alice is a collaboration between American rapper and producer Khalif Diouf (Le1f) and Indigenous Australian dancer and choreographer Waangenga Blanco, taking narrative cues and soundscapes from their cross-cultural backgrounds and contexts.
Original music from urban and regional centres accompanies the visual journey, combining storytelling and dance mediums. The artists have collaborated with creative director Daniel Stricker (Midnight Juggernauts, Siberia records), multi-disciplinary artist Pete Keen, and artists, musicians and performers from across the country, including the group Kardajala Kirridarra (Sandhill Women) and Snowtown actor Richard Green.
There are free sessions of the VR experience throughout the day (although bookings are essential) on January 18 and 19, and special live sessions with dancers and live musicians accompanying the VR experience on those nights. Ticketholders to Sugar Mountain festival will be able to enjoy the VR film on festival day, January 20.
Read more about the Sugar Mountain line-up.