This is Not Art

09:00am - 10:00am

Breakfast Book Club: Books that make you want to do all the things

Is there anything better than a chat about books over breakfast? Start your day with authors talking about books that have changed, shocked, moved and inspired them.

10:00am - 04:00pm

Instruction Experiment: Action//Reaction

The artist is located in shop window. You instruct her via the hashtag #actionreation. This work is an exploration of the bounds between request and response, instruction and action, method and spontaneity. Octapod and The Lock Up present Critical Animals ...

10:00am - 04:00pm

Hapticity

By working intimately with participants Robbie Karmel creates drawings of tactile, visual, and haptic interactions. This is an open invitation to experience first hand the act and process of drawing.

10:00am - 04:00pm

Side A/Side B

Experienced by two people at a time: take a seat, choose a side and conjure up the face of the one you love. A hypnotic, contemplative place of love and loss.

10:00am - 04:00pm

Monuments of the Everyman

Artists’ create monuments memorialising the everyday. This exhibition reminds us to acknowledge the ‘everyman’s’ contribution to society, affirming our fundamental human right to exist with meaning and purpose.  Octapod and The ...

10:00am - 12:00pm

Writing Sex

Writing sex is hard! Join Emma Jones, who knows her way around the sexy in prose, in an intimate workshop that will get your (creative) juices flowing.

10:00am - 04:00pm

I Before We

Tell us about loneliness / solitude. Talk to yourself about being connected / part of the crowd.  What comes first: I or we? A collective / individuals create a collaborative work with you. Follow @ibeforewe.

10:00am - 06:00pm

Artist Mobile Matchmaking

Can an app designed to quench our amorous urges, be subverted to create fertile creative collaborations? This digital intervention uses tinder/grindr to facilitate artist hook-ups during the three-day festival. Co-presented by Critical Animals and the National ...

11:00am - 12:30pm

Collapse

Collapse will reflect on their research and their exhibition for Critical Animals 2014. Collapse members will reflect on their own personal experiences and consider how their work grew with and reacted against each other. Their investigations used maps and ...

11:00am - 12:00pm

Invisible Illnesses

It's hard to work when you're sick, but what if no one can tell just by looking that you're unwell? How does illness affect individuals in an industry that already struggles to pay them a decent wage?

11:00am - 12:00pm

Dear Diary

Diary writing is an age-old tradition but what purpose do these scribblings serve? We find out with these brave souls willing to open up.

12:00pm - 01:00pm

Free Speech or Hate Speech?

Free and creative use of language is essential as a writer, but where does free speech become hate speech and what does that mean for those who write? Supported by Government of WA Department of Culture and the Arts.

12:00pm - 01:00pm

So You've Published a Book?

Getting published is held up as final goal for writers, but what happens when it's all over? Four published authors talk about what comes next.

12:00pm - 06:00pm

Three Wishes

Walk past thoughts, doors, hopes, and shop fronts. Newcastle shares their wishes for Australia in ten years time. An audio walk. Meet out the front of Cream on Hunter.

12:00pm - 12:00am

The True Story of World War Three

World War Three ended last Thursday… in case you missed it, here’s a recap. We’ve brought the darkly prophetic writings of novelist JG Ballard into the 21st century through spoken word and electronic music mayhem.

12:00pm - 12:00am

sincerely yours, (Love Letter Project)

The manifestation of longing between loved ones... love letters link with a tangible resonance.

01:00pm - 05:00pm

Young Journalist Symposium

Hear how this decade’s graduates are going to shape the industry. From design, to podcasts, to journalism in the digital era, Australia’s student publications are here to hold your hand. Check youngwritersfestival.org for full session info.

01:00pm - 04:00pm

WAY OUT dance

Immersive promenade dance event activating the concrete landscape.

01:00pm - 05:00pm

ON TREND TRAVEL - PERSONAL BRAND AGENTS

Obliterating the insignificance in you since 2014. Upgrade your personal brand with some ‘On Trend Travel’. Book a consultation today.

01:00pm - 02:00pm

The Virtual and The Actual

Join this panel of thinkers as they transcendentally discuss the production of the future, by weighing the roles of actuality, virtuality, entropy and rhythm. Octapod and The Lock Up present Critical Animals as part of This is Not Art.

02:00pm - 03:00pm

The Critic's Identity

Do you need to be a musician to write music criticism; does a food writer need to be a great cook? These critics delve into this space between practice and theory. Supported by Government of WA Department of Culture and the Arts.

02:00pm - 03:00pm

Why Romance is Here to Stay

The romance reading and writing community is thriving yet is still being ignored by the mainstream writing community. We get political about romance and what polarises people about this genre.

02:00pm - 06:00pm

How To Become An Astronaut

Astronauts and writers have more in common than you might think! Have a real life astronaut teach you what it takes to go to space in our writing and IRL.

02:00pm - 04:00pm

Tinder Poetics

A Burroughs-style cut-up poetry workshop, using text derived from the poetics of online-dating. Co-presented by Critical Animals and the National Young Writers' Festival. Octapod and The Lock Up present Critical Animals as part of This is Not Art.

02:00pm - 02:30pm

Far Flung

Relationships and distance... an unhappy mix? Choose your time, choose your venue and join the story as it unfolds. Held at various venues, The Edwards, The Store and Hunter Design School. This project was supported thorough Creative Partnerships ...

02:00pm - 05:00pm

Is this your life

Do you lead your thoughts or do your thoughts lead you? Let this time and gender blending performance help you understand where you truly are.

02:45pm - 02:15pm

Fat Actor

A comedic examination of self, the industry and why fat people are people too... even when they're actors.

03:00pm - 04:00pm

Reading Circle: Affect Theory

In this special TiNA edition of the Australian Experimental Art Foundation’s critical reading group, join us to read and reflect on affect theory in local and international contexts. Check www.criticalanimals.com for a reader!  Octapod ...

03:00pm - 04:00pm

For the Love of an Orange

A new work combining puppetry, visual theatre, projection, and 50 kilos of oranges to take you on a dark, absurdist journey.

03:00pm - 05:00pm

Welcome to Roleplaying

Always wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons but not sure where to start? Want to be surrounded by cute geeks? Roleplaying buff Ben McKenzie takes us on an educational adventure.

03:00pm - 04:00pm

History Chicks

Where are all the ladies in history books? This group of passionate literary historians look at less-told histories and the women behind them.

03:00pm - 04:00pm

What's the point? A discussion of artistic and academic communities

In a time of climate change, political turmoil and war, what do the arts have to offer us? What is the value of community arts? In partnership with University of Western Sydney. Octapod and The Lock Up present Critical Animals as part of This is Not Art.

03:30pm - 04:30pm

We Can Make It

When the going gets tough, how does the tough get going? We talk about strategies to keep getting up when encountering setbacks and difficulty. Join a leading counsellor and artists working in the field of mental health and resilience to talk about what you can do ...

04:00pm - 06:00pm

Drawing for Writers, Writing for Drawers

Grab a pen and head to Staple Manor for some cross disciplinary fun, featuring a combination of word games, picture games and game games. Drawing! Writing! Friends!

04:00pm - 05:00pm

Stand-up Sit Down

What’s it like to tell jokes for an hour? What’s it like writing an hour of jokes? These very different comedians talk about the process of writing full-length festival show.

04:00pm - 05:00pm

Being In-Between

How does one approach entering a new discipline, or stepping into the next stage of a career? This panel of researchers, writers, and artists discuss the merits, pitfalls, and uncertainties.  Octapod and The Lock Up present Critical Animals as part of ...

04:15pm - 05:00pm

The Frankensteined Monologues

We’ve created a monster. One typewriter. Two festivals. Hundreds of voices. See the already sewn, build the next beast.

04:30pm - 05:00pm

Do.

Solo aerial performance in a laneway challenging the ideas of failure and success and exploring what it is to 'Do'. It is a reminder to keep going, keep trying and to overcome the fear that is within us all.

05:00pm - 06:00pm

Salon Talks with Benjamin Law: Pay the Writers

Ever wanted to talk about the apocalypse with David Henley? Discuss feminist futures with Clementine Ford? Three of our festival favourites are giving you the chance to get up close and personal and talk about subjects close to their heart. The first five people ...

05:00pm - 06:00pm

Creating the Story

Journalism is an exacting, often challenging, high-pressured form of career writing. These young writing professionals chat about the practicalities, tensions and moralities of being a young journalist in the modern day environment: where journalists get stories ...

05:00pm - 06:00pm

Dark and Dirty

From Dexter to The Wire, why are we so obsessed with stories about the bad guys? These crime fiction and true crime writers explore what we love about the darker sides of life.

05:00pm - 06:00pm

Fucking While Feminist

Feminists are used to challenging sexual politics in our everyday lives, but what about in our writing? How do we write feminist ficticous sex? What works and what definitely doesn't?

05:00pm - 06:00pm

Writers' Other Jobs

A live Writer's Bloc session of Writers' Other Jobs - find out what strange, wonderful and mundane jobs these writers have done outside writing to bring in the bacon. Supported by ACT Writers Centre.

05:15pm - 06:00pm

Salt

A continuum of harvest. Salty. Salt. Heralding Salt. Need. Salt.

06:00pm - 06:45pm

Dank Beats, Airtight Barrels

The stealthy world of the gay beat meets the testosterone stricken locker room in this public hazing of intimate encounters.

06:00pm - 08:00pm

The Future's Knot - Exhibition Launch

Casual reception to celebrate the opening of 'The Future's Knot', Critical Animals' official exhibition at The Lock Up. Octapod and The Lock Up present Critical Animals as part of This is Not Art.

06:00pm - 07:00pm

Storm Clouds Reading Launch

Ben Mitchell presents a sneak preview of his new graphic novel, Don't Panic, with an exclusive reading and behind-the-scenes talk. Fans of Ben's last comic, Storm Clouds, shouldn't miss this exciting opportunity! Entry comes with a complimentary ...

06:00pm - 08:00pm

NYWF Trivia

Pit your wits against the smartest minds in the Australian writing community in a battle of general knowledge. Prizes include fame, glory and maybe actual physical objects/lollies.

07:00pm - 08:00pm

Icarus Falling

Icarus Falling' is Scott Wings’ story of trying to fly, learning to fall and digging for wax.

07:00pm - 08:00pm

Crack Family Dinner: It's the End of the World As We Know It

Humans have been preoccupied with the end of the world throughout the ages, but with climate change making real strides to our imminent downfall, and many people worrying about what conservative new laws and invasive terms and conditions mean for society, the ...

07:00pm - 09:00pm

Madhouse Interactive Hip Hop Panel

Catch up with a select panel of some of the countries best Hip Hop artists, from Newcastle and abroad.Spend an hour directing your own personal questions to the panel and learn about the Australian Hip Hop industry from people with the experience! Live at The ...

07:00pm - 12:00am

FISTOGRAPHY - Bloody Fist Records Audio Exhibition

BF 1994-2004 material curated, mixed and presented live by: Xylocaine / Hedonist / Epsilon / Mark N COST: $10

08:00pm - 10:00pm

The Evolutionary Straitjacket: Climate Change Karaoke

The StraitJacket encourages audiences wear an extinct animal costume while belting out karaoke pop songs that are lyrically rich with tales of evolution.

08:00pm - 09:00pm

TV-Land

What does it take to get an idea turned into a show? How does TV even work? These industry insiders share their tips and horror stories from the word of screenwriting.

08:00pm - 08:45pm

Project '84: Part One

An interactive exploration of an Orwellian inspired future, performed spontaneously through precise, synchronized instructions delivered to participants mobiles.

08:45pm - 09:00pm

Electric Naga

You're a ghost driving a meat coated skeleton made from stardust, what have you to be scared of? Dance | Dark Circus | Insanity | Beauty. An experimental performance piece combining new technology and ancient moves. A plug and play performance.

09:00pm - 11:00pm

Poetry is Dead

A multisensory collaborative performance between poet Josh Donellan and sound/projection artist Mike Willmett. Comic and cosmic, personal and political, humorous and heart-breaking.

10:00pm - 11:00pm

In the Parlour with the Lead Pipe - Crime Late Night Reading

Get gritty and grueseome with some of the festival's most dangerous writers. Late night stories filled with lawlessness - from arson to assault, burglary to blackmail.

10:00pm - 11:00pm

Gail Force Wins!!!

Are you feeling lucky, c*nt? Batten down the hatches! There's a Gale a'blowin'! This project was supported thorough Creative Partnerships Australia’s pilot program - MATCH: Crowdfunding for the Independent Arts Sector – which helped ...

11:00pm - 12:00am

Shakespeare is Dead

New plays performed by professional actors every episode. Stories, plays, monologues, poetry, music and more. Presented by Marcel Blanch- de Wilt.