I can’t imagine that anybody’s 2020 is unfolding in quite the way they had imagined. At some point I hope to have the headspace for reflection and clarity and calls to action (assuming we ever get to a post-COVID world…) but the temporary shuttering of the MCA has meant the cancellation of all my scheduled programs this year, including GENEXT.
Over the last few months I’ve been supporting the MCA Youth Committee and Young Guides, experimenting with new forms of digital communication, art-making, activism, wellbeing and youth-led public programming, to re-imagine GENEXT for an online audience, taking inspiration from the 22nd Biennale of Sydney and this strange, exhausting, uncertain time we’re now living in.
On Sunday 31 May 2020 we launched GENEXT Goes Online, which included live-streamed performances and panel talks, all MC’d by the Youth Committee, as well as a (frankly phenomenal) collection of digital content including zines, quizzes, artist interviews and guided making activities, VR exhibition spotlight talks, an Auslan visual storytelling workshop, interactive creative prompts and a live dance class.
At some stage I will find the time to come back to this post and reflect more thoughtfully on what I’ve learned from this experience but for now, I’d just encourage you to take a digital wander through the program here.
