Underbelly Arts Festival

Are you into large-scale art stacked events in non-traditional spaces? Cool. So are we.

It would be a fitting time to whipout the diary and grab a sharpie.

The weekend of October 7-8 for The Underbelly Arts Festival at The National Art School, cause it’s everything you ever wanted.

Underbelly Arts Festival is a two-day, kick in the teeth presentation and a big old celebration of the Australian contemporary art scene and all its lumps and bumps. Taking in all forms from giant installations to performance pieces, digital to experimentation, Underbelly showcases all this in one weekend – creating something like this:

Since the inception of Underbelly back in 2007, the team have worked with over 800 artists to transform spaces all over Sydney. From the incubation stages to the final touches, the artists work within the Underbelly Lab to explore their ideas which in turn creates the Underbelly Arts Festival. This year the festival is allowing a little peek behind the curtain with the Lab Series being opened to the curious public. Check out all that’s on offer at the Labs HERE.

Officially kicking off the festival will be the Opening Night Party that’ll be taking over the Cell Block Theatre at The National Art School in Darlinghurst. Grab a ticket if you’re into sad gothic jams, visceral electronic beats and roaming performances.

With over 116 artists and 21 new projects, Underbelly 2017 is about to blow your socks off. Check out the full lineup of artist and offerings HERE.

We urge you to pay special attention to the Amrita Hepi piece by Honey Long and Prue Stent (pictured above). The artwork explores the idea of being protected by a soft and gentle structure. This piece uses dance and sculpture to create a standout event. File this one under DO NOT MISS.

words by ben stephens