Up Here 5 brings contemporary graffiti-sculptor KWEST and more musical acts
Urban artist KWEST will create a large-scale site-specific installation with Manitoulin Island-based artist One KWE as part of the fifth-anniversary edition of Up Here festival that runs Friday, August 16 to Sunday, August 18, 2019, in downtown Sudbury.
Sudbury’s urban art and music festival is also announcing over a dozen new emerging musical acts that will perform alongside the 15 artists announced earlier this spring.
Up Here 5 will present three days of concerts by more than 40 of the country’s brightest up-and-coming artists, curate the live creation of new murals by artists (to be announced shortly!), and transform public spaces with immersive art installations.
The Dome, an ephemeral urban park on Durham Street, will feature local DJs all weekend long, and remain free all weekend.
Immersive art installations
The large-scale immersive art installations that have been an integral part of Up Here since its foundation will grow this year thanks to the support of the McEwen School of Architecture.
KWEST at Yonge and Dundas in Toronto as part of Nuit Blanche 2017
Notorious graffiti sculptor KWEST will create a three-dimensional installation in collaboration with Manitoulin Island-based sculptor One KWE. KWEST (Brian Leitch) is a pioneer in the fusion of graffiti and sculpture and has a unique ability to create site-specific installations, which maintain relevance to the location while emphasizing contemporary aesthetics.
One KWE (Kathryn Corbiere) is an Ojibwe artist and welder from M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island and has been making her mark in metal, art, furniture, and fabrication on Manitoulin and the North Shore since 2014. This project is made possible thanks to Surface Art and the Ontario Arts Council.
Chandra performing in Kristina Rolander installation at Up Here 2018. Photo by Vanessa Tignanelli.
Other art installations include Delineate by new media artist Daniel Freder, (re)experience by McEwen School of Architecture students Hamza Adenali and Anastasia Renaud, stunning immersive environments by Kristina Rolander, and more.
Even more emerging music
Up Here curates an ambitious musical program in line with the event’s signature spirit of curiosity and discovery. Fifteen new musical acts will join the previously announced artists.
Lydia Ainsworth will close off the festival Milk & Bone and Jennifer Holub at the Grand on Sunday, August 18
Some of the newest additions include the bewitching fantasy pop of Lydia Ainsworth, the ’70s proto-punk legends Simply Saucer, the haunting melodies of Jennifer Holub, the highly anticipated return of poet-punks FET.NAT, the Boston garage-punk gurus The Monsieurs, the noisy-rock power-trio Nuage Flou, the primal rhythmic skronk of Andy California, a hot stream of punk from Sudbury’s Piss Face, the swoon rock of Vancouver’s Alexandria Maillot, and the Windows 95 dance party vibes of Nuisance.
Ziibiwan will perform as part of the RBC Northern Series
The RBC Northern Series
The RBC Northern Series is back this year offering free concerts by emerging musicians from Northern Ontario in small downtown venues every day of the festival between 5 and 7 p.m. Artists include dreamy electro-folk songstress Cindy Doire (Timmins), indie-pop group Kutch (Thunder Bay), electronic soundscape artist Ziibiwan (Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation on Manitoulin Island), folk singer Brooke Bruce (Sudbury), and Juno award-winning Greyson Gritt (Noëlville).
Individual tickets available at noon
Individual tickets go on sale at noon on Wednesday, June 19, 2019 at UpHere.com. Regular Passports are also on sale for $110.
Up Here has been able to thrive with the support of countless allies. A special thanks to Downtown Sudbury, Canadian Heritage, Barrydowne Paint, Equipment World, Greater Sudbury Utilities, the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Creates, the City of Greater Sudbury, Sudbury Tourism, RBC Royal Bank, Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations a Glencore Company, Bureau des affaires francophones de l’Université Laurentienne, Copy Copy Printing, Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, Downtown Sudbury Art Crawl, CBC, Exclaim!, Sudbury.com, CKLU 96.7 FM, A.Side, Stack Brewing, Studio123, Surface Art, and many more.
To partner up with Up Here, visit UpHere.com.
