What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1489212
January 1-7, 2023 What's up! 5 'Music+Art+Technology' Editor's Note: As we do every year, the What's Up! staff looked back to see what arts stories we published in 2022 that we expect will have a lasting impact on the culture of our community in 2023. This one is April Wallace's third selection. APRIL WALLACE NWA Democrat-Gazette I n its first year, the FORMAT — "For Music + Art + Technology" — festival Sept. 23-25 promised to fill 250 acres of forest-enclosed green space near Bentonville with some 80 musical acts performing live, including Australian band Rüfüs Du Sol, French indie pop band Phoenix, Beach House, The Flaming Lips, British electronic music project Jungle and The War on Drugs; nearly two dozen installations, integrated performances and art experiences by several well known artists, including Jacolby Satterwhite, Pia Camil and Marinella Senatore; and 14 of Nick Cave's iconic Soundsuits moving about the event inhabited by humans. Day One You can hear the pulsating beats of the music well before you arrive at Sugar Creek Airstrip, no matter how you get there — by shuttle, bike or foot. Once inside, you're hit with a zoo of light, sound and color. Festivalgoers are dressed in all manner of brilliantly colored and patterned things: shiny materials, neon swimsuits, an illuminated rainbow cape, a taxi cab driver's hat. Others have elaborately painted faces, arms wrapped in glow sticks or carry staffs, rockets and more kitschy accessories. Six stages are on festival grounds. North of Oz and South of Oz are the largest, most traditional of them all, where the biggest names play their sets. DJ sets, local musicians and others took smaller stages and nontraditional spaces at Drag Me To the Disco, The Cube, Smokey's — placed further into the woods — and Next Door. The options are plentiful. If you stay to the end of a set, you can look at it one of two ways: you're either late for something else you want to see, or you're never without a performance to watch. The War on Drugs played the South of Oz stage to a packed crowd that extended well past the general audience area. French indie pop band Phoenix took the North of Oz stage just after 9 p.m. with an ASL interpreter and played many of their well known hits as well as tracks from their upcoming album "Alpha Zulu." During an instrumental track by the band, a pack of drones took flight next to the North of Oz stage. The autonomously flying swarm of hundreds of drones, by pioneering drone artist Studio Drift, was based on a biological algorithm from more than 10 years of research into starlings' flight behavior. Day Two While returning to Sugar Creek Airstrip for the second day of FORMAT, you might notice distinctly blue and green streams of light shimmering into the night sky. Actually, it's hard to miss. The aurora borealis-like effect comes from a mirrored hot air balloon installation, "New Horizon" by Doug Aitken. Anchored at the furthest end of the festival grounds, the balloon's metallic, reflective brilliance, paired with seams of kinetic lighting and colorful projections draws crowds further into the surreal, artistic events FOrMat Festival something totally new After lots of dancing and walking, Domerx was a welcome stop for festivalgoers whose legs and minds needed a break. In Darren romanelli's 360 Immersive Dome, festivalgoers chose a bean bag to lay back and watch projections not unlike a laser light show while listening to techno and other music. (File photo/nWa Democrat-Gazette/april Wallace) Year-end Top 10 See FORMAT page 39