Friday, March 25, 2011

10 Days on the Island starts today

10 Days on the Island, Tassie's hyperactively-promoted biennial arts festival starts today. Well, unless you're a visual arts event, in which case you've been up and away for up to a week. 20 Days on the Island? I calculated yesterday that I'm personally 2584 days on the Island. You can probably tell I'm doing a PhD (or similar procrastination-rich study).

This is not a critiquing post, because I've been hibernating and haven't seen anything yet. It's more a 'this is what's on, and this is what I plan to see' post. The major constraint, as I've mentioned in other posts, to seeing 10 Days events is cost. I can't afford to attend most events. The one paid event I'm making my priority is Power Plant at the Botanic Gardens. It's $15 concess, $25 full, which is on the very low end of the paid scale. I'd love to see some of the music events and the theatre, but on a student wage, the cost is prohibitive. I think MONA FOMA has spoiled me! The cost structures are incredibly strange. Take one music event, DBR and DJ Scientific with Emeline Michel: It costs $25 in Hobart, but it's free in Launceston. If you have 5 people in the car, it's far cheaper to drive to Launceston from Hobart to see the show. If anyone can explain the reasoning behind this discrepancy, please do!

Anyhoo, I shouldn't really have a whine. There are free events, such as the visual art events (because visual artists aren't paid as much as other performers?). In the south, Reconstructing the Animal, curated by Yvette Watt, and held at the Plimsoll Gallery, and interestingly, the old Beaumaris Zoo site. Craig Walsh's Digital Odyssey is also at the top of the list. Rather than just be a 'gonna', I need to crack my cocoon and go see some of this stuff. Will post reviews soon....