‘What does a wire walker need?’ Quad site, Lismore 13 June 2023
A cold foggy morning brings me to Lismore’s Quad, site of upcoming spectacle The Xrossing, a large-scale event featuring highwire artistry and wide community engagement. I have lurked round the edges of the circus world for 30 years, and am delighted to bring my blogging know-how to this compelling and mindful project. Join me please!
A pano shot of a wide open grassy space, Lismore’s Quad, filled with circus highwire equipment, incl stacked shipping containers & green barrels with hazard tape marking out a rectangle. The sky is blue, as old brick buildings and trees frame the shot.
Simone O’Brien, Artistic Director, is wearing many hats, including juggling being an artist, a production person, the Budget Boss, and researcher/devisor. It’s a tough combination, and I admire her tenacity and flexibility, as I know I couldn’t do it.
My first Production Meeting begins, although this is actually the 3rd week of the development. Acknowledgment of Country is first, on land that was never ceded. Part of the intention behind this project (as well as reclaiming Con Colleano of course, born in Lismore 1899), is to listen to the land, to learn from its people and stories, and to find a way to be soft and receptive among the new processes, including giving feedback to each other (“What I enjoyed was… The Good/the Bad/the Ugly was…”).
Frameworks and protocols are developing organically, for example the ‘Toolbox Talk’, where the riggers identify risks for each daily task, and brainstorm the control measures they need to action.
Creating a completely new show and rigging has been a wonderful challenge it seems; the team is enthusiastic, professional, highly-skilled, and very safety conscious. Pressure is mounting though, as the deadline looms nearer, and the complexities of producing an entirely new work take their time to solve…
The difficulties of the rigging and location include the fact that it is public access open space, (meaning that dogs and children sometimes barrel across the grass), and everything has had to be manufactured specifically to suit the site. There are three wires being rigged, still under construction:
Top- over 6 metres from the ground
Mid- 3 metres
Low- 50cms
For now, the site is still a construction zone, transitioning to a performance area. Coiled ropes are piled high in a wheelbarrow, and carabiners clang while performers-to-be unfurl red and white hazard tape. The sound of a mallet echoes round the Quad as warning signs are tapped into the grass.
Safety is paramount, and while of course there is a sense of urgency as well as playfulness, I leave the site confident in the team’s determination to offer Free Fun Funambulism to as many folks as possible: CLICK HERE to register for the community Low wire workshops July 1-4.
See you again soon, GG ☺
This project has been supported by: Australia Council for the Arts, CreateNSW, Regional Arts Australia, Lismore City Council, Lismore Quad, Northern Rivers Conservatorium, Arts Northern Rivers
