Up Here 6

There’s something
in the water.

It can be mysterious monsters lurking under the surface to some or a magical rallying force to others. It can be making us special, or it can be making us sick. It can challenge us to reflect on what water means to life on Earth. It can be a way of addressing the climate crisis through art. It can be light refracting through it creating spectrums of colour. It is in these waters that we find the theme for Up Here 6.

The theme is meant to serve as a loose inspiration for artists submitting mural and installation projects to the festival. Take it literally, take it figuratively, take it wherever it takes you (or feel free to completely ignore it if you've got a really cool project to propose).

Up Here is a laboratory festival.

Up Here is a multi-venue music and urban art festival with a focus on exciting and provocative emerging artists. We are dedicated to presenting underrepresented genres, and to curating contemporary pieces of public art. We are looking for musical projects, muralists and installation artists to help us shape the festival experience.

Submit before midnight on January 31st, 2020.

All submissions are reviewed by discipline by the Up Here Artistic Committees and based on artistic merit, the timing of latest releases, the pertinence of the project with this year's theme (less relevant for music projects) and pairing with other artists in the lineup.

We receive over 500 artist submissions every year. All submissions will be reviewed but due to the high volume, only successful applicants will be contacted.

 

Inspiration

 
 

Trailer for the 1954 classic Creature of the Black Lagoon.

Autumn Peltier, a 13-year-old Anishinaabe girl from Wikwemikong First Nation, addresses world leaders at the United Nations about protecting water.

Yes it does Jeff, yes it does.

Lab experiments to recreate what happens when asteroids hit the Earth show how these rocky objects could have transferred water to terrestrial rock in the intense heat of impact.

This massive mythical tentacled beast of the deep has terrorized sailors and seafarers for hundreds of years.

 
“The human body is 80% water, so we are basically just cucumbers with anxiety.”
— Meme, on the Internet
 
 

Facts

  • Home to 330 lakes, Greater Sudbury is locally known as the City of Lakes and contains more lakes than any other municipality in Canada.

  • Ramsey Lake is located near downtown Sudbury and is used as a source of drinking water for the city.

  • Prior to colonization, Ramsey Lake was known to the local Ojibwe population as Bitimagamasing, or "water that lies on the side of the hill".

  • Lake Wanapitei on the outskirts of town is the largest city-contained lake in the world at 13,257 hectares, which represents 1/3 of the total lake area. Oh, and the lake is one big crater created by a meteor smashing into the earth 1.2 million years ago.

 

Potential Presentation Spaces for Art Installations

Up Here makes use of specific venues and temporary infrastructure on the street. We often work with installation artists to find the space to showcase their installation. Although not a requirement for submitting a project, this year’s installation artists are invited to think about how their project could be integrated within specific festival infrastructure.

The Dome

The Dome prior to a pop-up show during the festival

The Dome prior to a pop-up show during the festival

Up Here’s signature geodesic dome is a central piece of the festival experience. A freestanding 35-foot tall structure, the Dome is used to present pop-up shows, dance parties and all-around good times.

In the past, it has been used as a canvas for projections as well as hanging sculptural pieces in lieu of a chandelier. Artists are invited to consult the Dome Construction Manual and submit projects that could be installed in the Dome during the festival.

The Shipping Container

The shipping container during the festival setup on Durham Street.

The shipping container during the festival setup on Durham Street.

A large metal 20 ft rectangle finds its home on Durham Street. Acting as storage for the festival throughout the year, it is brought to Durham Street during the festival setup. The standard container is 20 ft long by 8 ft wide by 8 ft 6 in tall.

Artists are invited to submit projects that play with and integrate the container.

Late-Night Stages

Stunning immersive installation by Kristina Rolander at the Townehouse Tavern during Up Here 4.

Stunning immersive installation by Kristina Rolander at the Townehouse Tavern during Up Here 4.

Late-night venues are smaller than our main venues and space on stage is often limited but if you’ve got a project in mind that can work with these constraints, we want to hear from you. We love allowing visual artists to turn our stages into immersive experiences for both artists and festival-goers.

 
 

Past Themes

There’s something in the water, 2020
Colour Force, 2019
Mutations, 2018
Micro, 2017
Terraformation, 2016
Kaleidoscope, 2015