Some 700 guests gathered on the North Burleigh headland last night for the launch of this year’s BLEACH* festival, which opens in August. Now in its 11th year, this will be an eagerly awaited return for the Gold Coast’s flagship contemporary arts festival, after its cancellation in 2021 due to the pandemic. Limelight spoke with Artistic Director Rosie Dennis shortly before yesterday’s event.

First Light, BLEACH* 2022. Photo © Maleika Halpin

While choosing not to salvage any abandoned events from 2021 for this year’s program, Dennis did make one exception with BEACONS  – a genre-blurring collaboration by percussionist/composer Vanessa Tomlinson and sound artist Lawrence English. The opportunity to place an orchestra on a cliff face above the ocean must have seemed too good an opportunity to waste, and Dennis granted the work its long-awaited world premiere as part of last night’s launch.

Speaking to Limelight shortly before the performance, Dennis explained her decision by saying, “I didn’t want a sizzle reel. I felt like doing something different and opening our program with...