The inaugural run of the critically acclaimed Caldera Festival was dubbed “Sydney’s answer to Dark Mofo”, way back in 2018. Plans for a biannual return were scuppered last year, for obvious reasons. But that enforced benching got artistic director Laurence Rosier Staines thinking about how to deliver an online version that would stay true to the spirit of the live experience.
Caldera 360º is the result, and it’s arrived just in time for our current snap lockdown. The immersive platform hosts five 360º digital artworks and performances, all scattered across a surreal landscape. From the outset, it asks you, the visitor, the question, “Caldera 360º is a website… or is it a game?”
The digital playground, designed by Martin Baker and featuring a soundscape by Sydney composer Clemence Williams, actively encourages the audience to explore the environment. The space is just as intriguing as the first round of discoverable works, all commissioned by Rosier Staines. “360-degree viewing is fascinating, because we have the wherewithal now for it to be widespread and accessible, but almost no one has been thinking about or making art experiences to take advantage of the immersive nature of the experience,” he says. Each of the works was created by an artist affected by last year’s shutdowns.
Internationally acclaimed artist Meng-Yu Yan’s work ‘Black Butterfly’ is inspired by Chinese shadow puppetry, mythology and memory. You can also check out a ghostly music video by Marcus Whale, Athena Thebus and Chloe Corkran, called ‘Cowboy Song’. It depicts Sydney-based interdisciplinary composer and performer Whale as a cowboy who wants to be a vampire, for cross-genre realness exploring loss and sexuality.
Melbourne’s culture-clash disco musician, DJ and artist Tanzer delivers ‘Fantasy’, a lyrical song of yearning and obsession, accompanied by Samantha Ramirez on harp. Burlesque superstar Zelia Rose performs to the retro-futuristic strains of French disco legend Marc Cerrone and his mega-bestselling album Supernature. And eco-artist OneJessa’s haunting work ‘Exit’ depicts a three-dimensional tomb where the desiccated remains of hundreds of bees hang pendulous, ensconced in resin spheres.
Rosier Staines encourages you to dive on in and take a look, for a one-off fee of $10, with proceeds going towards new artworks to add to the Caldera 360 experience. Even better, you can pop in the promo code FIRE to get half price until the end of June 2021.
“The five artworks and performances currently featured on Caldera 360º are only the tip of the iceberg, with room for expansion both locally and internationally,” he says. “I hope that through the launch of this portal, we can open the door for a new cultural dialogue where we find out what is possible for audiences to engage more meaningfully in the digital arts space.”