Friday Fotos – Moon Lantern Festival

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The Moon Lantern Festival is held as part of the annual OzAsia Festival which takes place every spring in Adelaide, Australia under the direction of the Adelaide Festival Centre. The OzAsia Festival celebrates the diversity of Asian life – from the Indian subcontinent, to Japan, China and Korea, and South-East Asia and Indonesia (and a multitude of places in between).

The OzAsia Festival and the Moon Lantern Festival are great examples of how our communities are exploring the links between Australia and our neighbours in the Asian region.

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The Moon Lantern Festival takes place each year when the moon shines brightest – at the time of the full moon on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. This festival celebrates the South-East Asian belief that the moon provides positive influences over the earth during this time of the year.

The Festival brings together families to enjoy the beauty of the moon, eat moon cakes, sing songs about the moon and take pleasure in each other’s company to celebrate this special event.

For Australia, the countries of the Asian region are of critical importance. They are our closest neighbours and major trading partners. Their rich traditional and contemporary cultures provide opportunities for our social, creative and intellectual development.

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The Moon Lantern Festival is celebrated by many Asian cultures including Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Laotians, Cambodians, Koreans, Japanese, Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans. For many Asian cultures, the Moon Lantern Festival is the most important date in the second half of the lunar calendar and has been celebrated for thousands of years.

In Australia ‘mid autumn’ is early spring, so the first full moon of the new season is a important time, when winter is behind us and the energy of summer is on the horizon. People celebrate the beauty of the moon at public celebrations across Australia, as well as in backyards, with lanterns and moon cakes.

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In Vietnam the Moon Lantern Festival is one of the most popular family holidays, while in Korea the festival occurs during the harvest season when Korean families thank their ancestors for providing them with rice and fruits. The Japanese too celebrate the full moon in September, admiring the moons beauty and praying for a good rice harvest.

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And yes, despite a day of clouds and overcast skies, the full moon did make an appearance right on queue, soon after the sun set in the west and the Moon Lantern Festival got underway.

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Things You Discover Walking - Vertical Carpet

Vertical Carpet, Stephen Killick, 1990

Stephen Killick's 1990 work, Vertical Carpet (hardwood, industrial resin, 230 x 440 x 20 cm), graces the exterior wall of the Adelaide Festival Centre close to the main entrance.

Close up of Vertical Carpet, Stephen Killick, 1990

A plaque attached to the wall close to the work states: The three central figures in this allegorical relief sculpture are intended to symbolise technology, money and innocence, which the artist regards as the controlling influences in contemporary society. Killick stated that the wider meaning of the tableau is deliberately enigmatic and open to individual interpretation, intended to have infinite readings. The figures assume attitudes that are readily identifiable, but their relationship to each other and the scene as a whole is affected and determined by the course of history.

The work was commissioned by the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust in 1990. Assisted by the Art for Public Places Program of the South Australian Government.

Close up of Vertical Carpet, Stephen Killick, 1990

Stephen Killick was born in London in 1947, and came to Australia in 1952.

This post is another in an occasional series of entries under the general theme: Things You Discover Walking. The premise behind the series is that you never know what might be just around the corner from your home, place of work, or favourite attraction, and the only way you might discover them is if you get out of your car and start walking.

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Adelaide Festival Centre: OzAsia Festival

The Adelaide Festival Centre’s OzAsia Festival was established in 2007 and is held annually in September/ October (according to the lunar calendar) for approximately ten days.

The OzAsia Festival presents work by Australian artists that identify with an Asian heritage, stages collaborative work between Australian and Asian artists, and presents a cross section of traditional and contemporary cultures of Asia. The OzAsia Festival has a broad cultural reach and includes theatre, dance, music, film, visual arts, food and design culture.

In 2011 the Moon Lantern Festival will be held on Monday 12 September in Elder Park.
When: Sepember 2 - September 17, 2011
Where: Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Road, Adelaide
Entry: Free
More info: http://www.ozasiafestival.com.au/

Solar Mallee Trees

The things you discover walking...

Image: Solar Mallee Trees, 2005. Artist: Anthony Materne.

So there I was, visiting the Adelaide Festival Centre (see my entry AdelaideFestival Centre) for the first time in years. As I wandered across the complex I came across Anthony Materne’s Solar Mallee Trees on the plaza between the Festival Theatre and the Dunstan Playhouse.

To my surprise, a plaque near the installation bore the date 2005, indicating the year the work was created and installed on the plaza. I was surprised, I suppose because it just showed how rarely I paid a visit to my home town’s principle arts centre.

Image: Solar Mallee Trees on the Festival Theatre plaza

Created in steel, aluminium, and fibreglass, and incorporating sound and lighting elements, Solar Mallee Trees is an “…interpretive sculpture developed to creatively exhibit solar power technology through its form, movement-activated messages, lighting display at night, and digital power generation display. The form is a contemporary interpretation of the indigenous Adelaide plains mallee tree.”

There is a lot of public art around Adelaide, and as I discover it for myself, I will present the best of it here.

Notes:

Name: Solar Mallee Trees, 2005

Artist: Anthony Materne

Location: Adelaide Festival Centre Plaza

View: All year round

Entry: Free

Adelaide Festival Centre

Image courtesy of Wikipedia…

Yesterday, I decided to practice what I preach by becoming a tourist in my own town, so utilising public transport, I headed into the city just after midday and alighted in front of the Adelaide Festival Centre, located alongside the River Torrens.

The Adelaide Festival Centre was built in three stages between April 1970 and 1980. The main building, the Festival Theatre, was completed in 1973, and is known for the excellent quality of its acoustics. 

I can’t remember the last time I visited the Centre, but it has been years. During the day there is not a lot to see or do – unless you are attending a matinee session of a major theatre production, or some other public event. However, I wandered into the main building and after checking out some of the art work: the Fred Williams series, River Murray Scenes, and John Dowie busts of Sir Robert Helpmann and John Bishop, I stopped to examine the current Festival Theatre Foyer exhibition The Art in Performing Arts.

The exhibition highlights the work of some of South Australia’s best known arts luminaries including ballet dancer/choreographer Sir Robert Helpmann, theatre/arts critic Peter Goers, actor/director Keith Michell and numerous other local thespians and artists.

There are multiple theatres within the Adelaide Festival Centre which provide seating for a total of 5000 people. Apart from the Festival Theatre, the complex also houses the Dunstan Playhouse (named after Don Dunstan a former State Premier), the Space Theatre and an outdoor amphitheatre.

Before I left I filled up my tote bag with various program guides and brochures including those of the State Theatre Company and the State Opera as well as the program for the upcoming Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Later I stopped by the information center in Rundle Mall and picked up more brochures. These have been produced by the Adelaide City Council, and outline numerous cultural and historic walks around the city and North Adelaide.

I am becoming increasingly excited by the prospect of become a tourist in my own town, and I am committed to going out at least once a week to discover some of Adelaide’s attractions, and look forward to writing about my adventures via the Compleat Traveller.

Aboriginal Attractions Around Adelaide

~ Kaurna people and Kaurna land
The Kaurna people (pronounced, Garna) are the traditional Aboriginal owners of the area now called, Adelaide. Kaurna land stretches along a narrow corridor across 29 council areas from Cape Jervis in the south, to Broughton in the north.

The Adelaide City Council works closely with the Kaurna people on specific initiatives that include giving all 29 parks around Adelaide Kaurna names, and assigning dual names to prominent sites around the city. For example, Victoria Square, in the heart of the city is also called Tarndanyangga, an Aboriginal name meaning a place of the Red Kangaroo Dreaming. The River Torrens has the dual name, Karrawirra Parri, or red gum forest river, in the Kaurna language.

There are several locations that should be on everyone’s itinerary if they are at all interested in Aboriginal culture. These attractions and their locations are detailed in the rest of this feature .

Tandanya (the National Aboriginal Cultural Institute)
Established in 1989, Tandanya is Australia’s oldest Aboriginal owned and managed multi-arts centre.

Tandanya is a visionary and vibrant place to explore and experience contemporary and traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. The centre features an ongoing performing and visual arts program, exhibitions, tours, a cultural presentations and performances.

Tandanya is open daily from 10am to 5pm
(except Good Friday, Christmas and New Years Day).
Entry: Free into gallery spaces
Performances: Adult $5, Concession/Kids $3
Address: 253 Grenfell Street, Adelaide

The South Australian Museum
For over a century the South Australian Museum has been involved in the collection, study, display and interpretation of Australia's Aboriginal cultures.

The Museum’s Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery holds the largest display of Australian Aboriginal cultural objects in the world. Consisting of over 3000 artefacts, sound recordings, films, photographs, and manuscripts, the collection reveals the beauty and sophistication of Aboriginal culture.

The SA Museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm
(except Good Friday and Christmas Day)
Entry: Free
Location: North Terrace, Adelaide

Other places of interest include:

• The Piltawodli Memorial (off Memorial Drive) was installed in May 2000 to commemorate National Sorry Day. Piltawodli is a Kaurna word meaning ‘possum place’.
• Kaurna meyunna, Kaurna yerta tampendi (Recognising Kaurna people and Kaurna land) the reconciliation sculptural work in the forecourt to the Adelaide Festival Centre
• The Three Rivers Fountain (Victoria Square), commissioned by the Adelaide City Council to commemorate the 1968 visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
• Yerrakartarta, Kaurna for ‘at random’ or ‘without design’, in the forecourt of the Hyatt Regency Hotel on North Terrace, reflects the seemingly random order of the natural world and consists of various elements set within the pavement and surrounding walls.

More Information
A walking guide is available for visitors who want a more detailed, self-guided tour of the Kaurna and European history that abounds right across Adelaide. The guide is available from the SA Museum, the Adelaide Festival Centre, and the Adelaide City Council.

SOURCES: Adelaide City Council Aboriginal Attractions Guide
IMAGE: Courtesy Tandanya