A riverside art and feasting experience takes over the Brisbane Powerhouse throughout March: Night Feast.
This inaugural experience is the perfect way to merge food with art – a foodie mecca set within a temporary village of Queensland fretwork, Cantonese lacquer and luminous neon.
There'll be a free programme of site-specific art, giving attendees the opportunity to sample some of the best of Brisbane's gourmet scene and absorb immersive installations, performances, DJ sets and live music.
Entry to Night Feast is free and open to all ages – and it's not just for autumn either. The event will return later in the year, in October, for its spring offering.
Brisbane Powerhouse Arts Program Director Brad Spolding talks more about this brand-new event.
This is the inaugural Night Feast. The first one ever! So what’s it all about?
Night Feast is a month-long immersive celebration of food and art at Brisbane Powerhouse. For the month of March, the site has been transformed with a morphing of extraordinary art installations, live music and food from Brisbane’s best restaurateurs.
Why an event like this for Brisbane?
With such a strong local food, music and arts scene, Brisbane is the perfect place to stage Night Feast. Our climate is also the perfect excuse to hold an outdoor event. There is nothing else like this across the country – it’s been a unique opportunity to bring international installation artists, renowned chefs and some of our best DJs and bands together to celebrate and feast – both on art and food!
Rising Lotus
What sorts of things were important to include in the Arts Program for this event?
For the first-ever Night Feast, we were keen to bring high-quality, surprising and thoughtful arts experiences to a broad and diverse local audience that they can interact with and discover. From Swiss-Australian artist Tom Mùller’s extraordinary site-specific installation, Steam Works that draws on the industrial history of the Brisbane Powerhouse site to the refracted pillars of artificial sunlight in Meagan Streader’s Tower and the imposing Fantastic Planet humanoid by Amanda Parer, there’s something around every corner. Plus, from a music perspective, we have worked with local artists giving them a stage to perform live. There’ll be DJs programmed by QUIVR and artists including Glves, Akala Newman, Mark Crotti and Lucy Francesca Dron.
What is 'site-specific art'?
Site-specific art is made either in the place it is staged or responds in some way to the location. We have several artworks premiering across the site which have been commissioned for Night Feast. Brisbane Constellation by Robin Fox runs every night and was commissioned for Night Feast. Made specifically for the Brisbane Powerhouse Stores building, laser beams have been precisely mapped to create explosions of colour via a matrix of suspended crystal refractors set up in the space.
What has been the biggest challenge in putting Night Feast together?
The Brisbane Powerhouse team have worked tirelessly to bring Night Feast to life. Being a totally new project, not only has this been challenging, on the plus side it has also enabled the team to run with some out-there ideas and create something truly unique to the site.
The Tower
And the biggest reward?
One of the most rewarding things is gathering like-minded people together not only to create Night Feast but also to celebrate diverse culinary and artistic talents. It's rewarding to have another opportunity to support local businesses and artists, as well as encourage more people to join in the already connected community here at Brisbane Powerhouse.
And there’s of course going to be lots on offer to eat. Can you give us a bit of a teaser regarding the kinds of food available?
We have some of Brisbane's best chefs featuring their signature dishes so you will be spoiled for choice. From Vietnamese cuisine to wood-fired meats and even limoncello, the aroma as you walk through is amazing. My personal favourite is the scallop and prawn wontons from Donna Chang.
Why do you think Brisbane Powerhouse is the perfect place for something like Night Feast?
As a leader of contemporary arts and new experiences, Brisbane Powerhouse is the perfect location for Night Feast. The Brisbane River, our iconic building and surrounding parks and outdoor precinct combine as an incredible backdrop for this month-long celebration of feasting and art.
What reactions are you hoping will come from attendees of Night Feast?
We hope audiences will be surprised and excited by the food, art and music, discover new chefs and artists from the local area – and tell their friends! Night Feast is a unique celebration of local culture brought together by Brisbane Powerhouse running all March and we can’t wait to host it again in October.
Night Feast takes place at Brisbane Powerhouse from 1-26 March.
