General News
9 March, 2022
Dimboola lights up at Steampunk festival
A lighting project consisting of recyclables will be featured in the upcoming Steampunk festival in Dimboola.
WIMMERA Mallee artist Nichola Clarke is one of the visionaries behind a project to light up Dimboola for the upcoming Steampunk Festival on April 23.
The Wimmera Steampunk Festival was scheduled to be on September 4, 2022, but was postponed due to COVID.
After the initial postponement of the event, Dimboola residents began creating bunting’s to join into a “community bunting” that will decorate the town when the Steampunk festival arrives.
It came as a blessing for event committee member Chan Uoy who said the rescheduled event will have some extra attractions for event-goers.
“The postponement was a blessing because it rained that night, and the new Tower Park was not completed. It has enabled the event to attract people far and wide,” he said.
“We have stallholders coming from Narre Warren and Sassafrass. We have a Fossey's Gin from Mildura attending the event. Nichola Clarke reached out to me about creating an installation art for the event. The enthusiasm from strangers has been phenomenal.
“The concept is to create an evening of enchantment in Dimboola, whereby people of different backgrounds can come together to celebrate life and appreciate the 19th-century aesthetic.”
Ms Clarke is the visionary behind the ‘Following the Milky Way’, a project about the journey each milk bottle takes from the factory to landfill.
Ms Clarke wants to change people's relationships with recycling the milk bottle and has been working with local communities to do this.
For the Steampunk event, she wants to create an enchanting experience for event-goers by turning the average milk bottle into a flower.
Solar lights are attached to the flowers to enchant the audience and add a shadow effect to the installation.
Flowers are individually mounted on poles. Lights are attached to the flower. The poles add height to the flowers thus stand at a height that the audience can view up close and easily.
Flowers are placed in a maze fashion so the installation becomes interactive at night or by day. Under the Milky Way, at night - following the milky way installation.
“This project creates discussions about environmental effects caused by plastic pollution. Where does it go? Into landfill, river waterways and ends up in our oceans,” Ms Clarke said.
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It is a project she has taken on and wants residents to be a part of in the lead up to the Steampunk festival.
Solar flower making workshops will be held on March 16, 22 and 23 at the RSL from 10am to 3pm.
“The solar flowers and buntings entail community participation and engagement. The intention is to create a magical atmosphere whereby people can live in the moment,” Mr Uoy said.
“It's about creating pure theatre, memories and a mind trip when you see the decorations, lights and costumes mingling together. Where are we? Who are we? What period are we in?.
“People can bring their clean plastic milk bottles, glue guns, solar lights or just your willingness to help make the flowers. Rsvp on 0425705591.”
During the events, buildings and trees in town will be illuminated and when combined with solar flowers the effect are hoped to create a magical atmosphere.
Owner of Vornehm Audio Visual Brandon Farley is another creative behind the festival, and is organising light displays in the town.
“Essentially it’s lighting up the township of Dimboola to showcase everything great about it, ranging from the architecture to community spirit,” he said.
Mr Farley is looking at illuminating structures and vegetation along Lloyd and Lochiel Streets.
“I am tasked with illuminating key landmarks surrounding the area, setting up a performance space and running video projections onto the facade of the Dimboola Imaginarium.
“To light up the town we will be using a mixture of par cans, floodlights, projectors and moving head fixtures.”
“No set colour theme at this stage, just full control to find whatever I see fits”