Bass Coast 2024: A Celebration of Art and Community
Bass Coast made a triumphant return to Merritt, B.C., for its 16th edition, attracting 6,500 attendees over the weekend of July 12-15. The annual electronic music and arts festival featured over 50 new interactive art installations this year, inviting attendees to engage in thoughtful exploration and inquiry.
“The Bass Coast exhibit is an experience of discovery,” says co-founder and artistic director, Liz Thompson. “Using technology, humour, design and creativity, each installation in the show has a unique element that interacts with the viewer. This year, artists have risen to the challenge of creating impressive large-scale art with hidden games, deeper meanings and attention-to-detail.”
During the press conference at the festival, Bass Coast founders Andrea Graham and Liz Thompson emphasized their commitment to community and support for emerging artists.
“There often isn’t exhibit space for people who are at the beginning of their career and that’s something that we’ve been able to provide at Bass Coast,” says Thompson. “In art grants, we reserve a lot of funding for new first-time installation artists who are innovating and thinking outside-the-box.”
Andrea Graham, better known by her DJ stage name The Librarian, said “we have a lot of local programming and they might not be internationally recognized, but they are excellent artists and pillars in their own communities. So it’s also about nurturing talent from what we call the local sort of Pacific Northwest.”
Bass Coast’s Art Grant program, established in 2008, has supported the creation of over 1,000 art installations, positioning it as the largest initiative of its kind in Canada. Scott Phelan, the program’s art grant manager, highlights that this program offers a unique platform for artists to present daring concepts to an extensive and highly involved audience at a premier event. Over the years, it has evolved into a significant hub for artistic expression and innovation in British Columbia.
Thompson acknowledged the application process to exhibit at Bass Coast can feel intense, but noted that completing it offers a valuable learning experience and a strategic plan that many artists might not have had before. She also offered advice for artists seeking success within and beyond Bass Coast.
“Art grants aren’t built on individuals; they are built by teams, especially large-scale interactive art, which is the focus of this exhibit. One person needs to understand engineering and structure, and another might need to understand colour theory and palettes. “That’s just part of your journey, going from being a person with a dream to becoming an exhibiting artist in a public space.”
When asked by local media why the festival continues to return to Merritt, Andrea Graham explained, “it looks like an industrial town, but at its core, there’s a beautiful creative community. There are so many art galleries that focus on local artists. The community has been very welcoming to us. I also think it’s incredibly beautiful in this area. The surroundings are unique, like the hoodoos and the border, which are so rare. The natural and stunning setting creates a perfect container for this festival.”
Thompson added, “It’s the people. When we go to council meetings, everyone walks up to us and says welcome home, and that just summarizes the spirit of the people here and how inviting and welcoming they are.”
This year, Bass Coast asked festival-goers to reimagine their relationship with expression, consumption, and the environment with the theme and guiding principle “REFLECTION (REUse, REPurpose, REflect).”
Applications to exhibit at the next Bass Coast open up in late 2024 and early in 2025. Artists are encouraged to follow @basscoastfest and visit www.basscoast.ca to keep in the loop about future opportunities.
Here are five standout art installations from Bass Coast 2024:
Photo Credit: 403 ABC
UNDERGROUND CIRCUS GIANT MARIONETTE
By Peter Boulanger
Puppetry has fascinated Peter Boulanger for many years because of what it teaches about body language. Giant puppets create their own challenges and magnify the details of movement. Allowing the audience to become part of the installation lets them create their own experience in exploring body movement.
Photo Credit: Captured By Quinn
BOOMBOX BOOMBOT ROBOT
The Boombot Robot is a collective formed last year for the Bass Coast 2023 art installations which created the first version of the BOOMBOT ROBOT. While the figurehead of the group is Ben Lee aka Howeaerthly, a whole group of artists came together to build the BOOMBOT. We are inspired by our collective love of music, of both visual and auditory art, and the nexus of where these meet. Our conceptual framework is to inspire the same love of these disciplines in those who interact with our work.
Photo Credit: Auudrey A.
THE SOUL STAR
By Elektric Collective, The Underground Circus, and nLiten
The Soul Star is a vehicle of ascension belonging to otherworldly beings. It was lost while traveling across dimensions and is resting suspended just above the earth to conserve energy, calling out to its soul family by sending light signals into the universe. Activate and illuminate The Soul Star by adjusting its settings to help it find its way home.
Photo Credit: Banana Cam
LATE NIGHT NOODS
By Oscar, Kerstyn, Aaron and Sean
Late Night Noods features wholesome noodity: send noods! The public gallery offers provocative images of noodle enthusiasts that inspire and invoke body positivity, self-love, and authentic expression. This container serves to nourish the whole person – enter, observe, dance, and share.
Photo Credit: 403 ABC
PIN’D
By Alejo, Brandon, and Dayana
PIN’D is a life-sized pin art board, serving as a tactile 3D canvas during the day, and a multi-sensory joining of touch and light at night. All are invited to come play with the countless pins and indulge in tactile satisfaction. As the sun sets, the installation transforms projected visual dances on your creations, infusing them with life.
