HOTA ANNOUNCES 10 DAYS OF WONDER THIS SPRING

The feature piece of the 10-day program is a world exclusive and brand-new outdoor work by Melbourne-based art studio ENESS – Lost Dogs Disco – featuring 16 large scale inflatable and interactive dog characters. 

From the brilliant creative team behind the Airship Orchestra installation at the Brisbane Festival 2021, these characters, some up to 4.6 meters tall, will come to life with a burst of colour during a multi-sensory experience and installation setup on the forecourt of HOTA’s Outdoor Stage.

Free to the public, audiences are encouraged to walk and play amongst the individually named dog characters, as they light up with proximity sensors, LED lights and built-in audio, greeting visitors through a disco of electronic music, howls, barks and growls.

The work will play backdrop to Neon Remix on November 6, supported by City of Gold Coast and Southern Cross University. The ticketed music concert rounding out WONDER, will throw back to a time where disco died, and post-punk of pop collided with new wave sounds to deliver a soundtrack to the 80s.

Fusing together art and music, the concert will deliver a line up of the Gold Coast’s brightest neon infused musos in a supergroup of contemporary New Wave Synth Classics under the creative mastermind of Blair Condon (Miss Lucy). Featuring artists Mackenzie Brown (Miss Lucy), Matt McGuffie (Ivey), Ondre Davis (The Yams) and special guests, Millie Perks (Ivey), Tanisha Cook and Gemma Owens (The Oogars) and DENNIS.

Audiences can lounge out on the lawn with a picnic from one of the food and drink bars, relax, dance, and experience the luminescent artwork glowing against the Surfers Paradise skyline.

The WONDER program also includes Let’s Be Friends Furever on October 29 to 30. Described as one part dog show, two parts TED talk and three parts family photo album – this show melds documentary with video in a theatre-turned-dog-park performance with real dogs taking the stage.

Fridays on the Lawn: Doggy Edition just got better, with all furry friends welcome on October 29 and November 5. Pick a patch of grass for this weekly wind down staple and enjoy live local music and beverages from HOTA’s Lawn Bar.

HOTA CEO Criena Gehrke said WONDER is the perfect opportunity for some socially distanced fun in the outdoors, and a celebration of our furry friends. 

“This year, WONDER at HOTA is back and its bigger and bolder than before, with larger-than-life art in the outdoors and an explosion of colour and sound, with a program fully dedicated to a dog’s life,” she said. 

“We invite everyone to come and experience the wonder of Lost Dogs Disco by the incredible ENESS team, day or night, from October 29 to November 7 at 10am to 7pm.”

For more information on WONDER at HOTA, visit: www.hota.com.au/wonder 

-ENDS-

FOR ALL MEDIA ENQUIRIES: 

Amy Stalinescu | M10 Collective | E: amy@m10.com.au | M: 0411 789 195

IMAGES: Images available for download HERE

ABOUT THE STORY OF THE LOST DOGS DISCO

Sometimes in the dead of night, when houses rattle and hum with the snoring dark and a dog is no longer a puppy but not quite a dog they will hear the call of ancestors and embark upon a secret journey to the Lost Dogs Disco – a place of learning, revelry, insight and discovery where dogs are gifted their deep human insight – the gentleness that understands and heals all human hearts. It’s the place where they learn to love doggedly, dance biggedly and be free to their hearts’ content.

The only time that dogs go back to the Lost Dogs Disco is when they lose their way: when shut out of warm houses, when the snacks run forever dry, when their owners suddenly disappear. It’s then that they return to the Lost Dogs Disco. Here, their understanding for all lost souls deepens in their little doggy hearts and they know that everyone feels lost at times. When you are a lost dog, our dogs say come to the disco where dance, togetherness and being true, gets you through. If you feel like a lost dog, just go disco.