This Is Not Art (TiNA) is a national festival of new media and arts organized in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area ...

, Australia each year over the October long weekend since 1998. TiNA is dedicated to the work and ideas of artistic communities not generally included in other major Australian arts festivals or institutions. The program includes the festivals

Electrofringe Electrofringe is a presenting platform for experimental electronic and technology-based art in Australia. Electrofringe is a non-profit arts organisation and annual festival. Overview Electrofringe hosts exhibitions and events throughout the ye ...

, the National Young Writers' Festival, Critical Animals, and Crack Theatre Festival.

Naming

The name This Is Not Art was adopted in 2000 to reflect the very different but interconnected events of the festival. It takes its name from a piece of graffiti on what was Newcastle's tallest building, Latec House (now completely refurbished and converted to apartments), which had been derelict for several years. The name also refers to the content of the event, which is outside the ambit of traditional Australian arts festivals.

History

This Is Not Art evolved from the National Young Writers Festival and National Student Media Conference which were established in Newcastle in September 1998. In 1999, The National Young Writers Festival combined with the Electrofringe Festival (which had previously been an independently organised part of the now defunct Newcastle Fringe Festival) and moved to the October long weekend. In 2000, the addition of Sound Summit (then known as the National Independent Electronic Labels Conference) and several other smaller events necessitated the invention of an umbrella term to cover all of the disparate events. In 2002 Vital Focus Productions (now Minski Media) made a 25-minute open source documentary about TiNA called Dancing to Architecture - a motion picture about TiNA. For the first 3 years, This Is Not Art was directed by

Marcus Westbury Marcus Westbury (born 1974) is an Australian urbanist, festival director, TV presenter, writer and broadcaster. He is based in Melbourne, Australia where he filmed the TV series '' Not Quite Art''. for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation scre ...

who had previously been the founding director of The National Young Writers' Festival.

Structure

Each year TiNA is produced b
Octapod
in partnership with arts collectives and organisations from across Australia. In 2015 TiNA will once again present programs from Crack Theatre Festival, National Young Writers’ Festival and Critical Animals.

Notable guests

Over its lifespan a wide variety of guests have appeared at This Is Not Art including:

Kevin Blechdom Kevin Blechdom (born Kristin Grace Erickson; 1978 in Florida) is an American experimental electronic musician and performance artist. She is based in Santa Cruz, California. Early life and education Kristin Grace Erickson was born in 1978 in Fl ...

Sage Francis Paul William "Sage" Francis (born November 18, 1976) is an American independent underground rapper from Providence, Rhode Island. He is the founder and CEO of Strange Famous Records. Early life and education Francis was born in Miami, Florida ...

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, The Light Surgeons, Caribou,

Concord Dawn Concord Dawn is a New Zealand drum and bass group, active since mid-1999, consisting of Matt Harvey (aka Matty C). Until 2010, Evan Short was one half of the group. They were courted by local electronic music label Kog Transmissions and release ...

Mad Professor Mad Professor (born Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser, 1955, Georgetown, Guyana) is a Guyanese-born British dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work. He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music ...

Anticon Anticon (often styled as anticon.) is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1998 by seven musicians and manager Baillie Parker. It is now collectively owned among six musicians, co-founder Parker, and ma ...

Fat Cat Records FatCat Records is an English independent record label based in Brighton. The label's output reaches into many styles including experimental rock, electronica, psychedelic folk, contemporary classical, noise and post-punk. Notable artists that ...

Paul Reed Smith Paul Reed Smith (born February 18, 1956) is an American luthier and the founder and owner of PRS Guitars, a high-end guitar maker. Early life Smith graduated from Bowie High School in 1974. He also attended St. Mary's College of Maryland wh ...

Little Nobody Andrez Simon Bergen is an Australian musician and writer. , Bergen lived in Tokyo, Japan with his wife, Yoko Umehara, and their daughter Cocoa. He has performed and released electronic music as Little Nobody. Biography Andrez Simon Bergen, ...

b(if)tek B(if)tek was an Australian electronic music duo comprising Kate Crawford and Nicole Skeltys, which formed in Canberra in 1994. They released three albums, ''Sub-Vocal Theme Park'' (1996), ''2020'' (2000) and ''Frequencies Will Move Together'' ...

, The Herd, Hrvatski,

Thomas Frank Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the ...

John Safran , citizenship = , education = , occupation = DocumentarianJournalist Radio presenterAuthor , years_active = 1997 – present , known_for = ''John Safran's Music Jamboree'' ''John Safran vs God'' '' Rac ...

, Stephen Mayne, Margo Kingston,

Nasenbluten Nasenbluten were an Australian electronic music group, formed in Newcastle in 1992. The group was made up of Aaron Lubinski, David Melo, and Mark Newlands, and released six studio albums before disbanding in 2001. They have been described as a s ...

Marieke Hardy Marieke Josephine Hardy (born 26 May 1976) is an Australian writer, radio and television presenter, television producer and screenwriter and former television actress. Early life and family Hardy is the granddaughter of Frank Hardy, author of ...

, DJ Scotch Egg, Leaf Cutter John, Tim Hecker and many more.

References

{{Reflist

External links