Radical Fields takes new work to Cementa26 with Regional Arts Fund support.
Three local artists are preparing to take a distinctly unusual project across the border to Kandos, New South Wales, for Cementa26, one of Australia’s leading regional contemporary arts festivals. Radical Fields’ team of artists — Ryan Kennedy – Glenlyon, Anthony Sawrey – Musk and Gav Barbey – Daylesford — will present Paradactic; or: Yak Yak Yak, Art Attack in Paul’s Paddock during the four-day festival, running from 17–20 September.
The project will transform the vacant block in the middle of town into what the artists describe as a temporary situation of “misguided paths, didactic distractions, fake discourses, shoddy concepts and off-tangent philosophy”.
In short: expect a few questionable ideas.
The work will be installed throughout the festival, with visitors encouraged to wander through the paddock, follow trails, encounter signs and temporary installations and make their own connections along the way. A larger collective performance and activation will take place on Saturday 19 September from 12–2pm and is certain to be a spectacle.
The project grew from an ongoing relationship between Radical Radical Fields’ and Cementa going back several years, with the team of artists first travelling to Kandos for a residency in 2025. Both organisations share an approach that values artists and organisations connecting with people and place before a work is developed. While they have grown independently, Cementa and Radical Fields share a commitment to bringing experimental and socially engaged contemporary art into regional communities.
“It was important to take part in this residency before committing to the festival in 2026,” says Anthony. “We were able to develop ideas influenced by the community and its environment that have directly informed the final project we are presenting in September.
Since then, the project has taken on a life of its own. Among the ideas currently being developed are an aesthetic graveyard, where visitors will be invited to consider which artistic styles might deserve resurrection; a Frankenstein-like potato power plant; a roaming “carbon offset” being transported around the site; and an improvised time capsule with signage scattering birdsongs and YAK YAK YAK. A framework inspired from French philosopher Jacques Rancière’s book The Ignorant Schoolmaster.
“What one doesn’t know permits teaching by playing with what one knows,” says Ryan. “this framework of theory and form will be activated by the festival goers their improvisations, stories, compositions, verifications and repetitions giving us a better understanding of what all this ‘YAK YAK YAK’ is about”
The project has received support through the Regional Art Victoria’s Quick Response Grant program. This funding has helped make it possible for Radical Fields to develop and deliver the new work for Cementa26. The Kandos presentation will not be the end of the project. Following Cementa, Paradactic; or: Yak Yak Yak, Art Attack will be adapted and re-presented as part of Radical Fields’ Harvest Arts Festival 2027. That return journey is an important part of the project. While Kandos and Glenlyon are separated by hundreds of kilometres and a state border, the artists see connections between the two regional communities — including agricultural identities, loss of industry, changing tourism, sustainability and a growing appetite for contemporary art beyond the traditional gallery setting.
“Cementa and Radical Fields have developed independently, but there is a real affinity in the way both organisations approach contemporary art: working from regional places, taking risks and creating opportunities for artists and communities to encounter new ideas.” says Alex Wisser, Cementa Director, “Radical Fields’ presentation at Cementa26 is part of an ongoing conversation between our organisations, and we’re excited that the work will continue its journey to Harvest in Glenlyon next year.”
For now, however, there is the small matter of getting three artists, a collection of shoddy concepts and possibly a few potatoes to New South Wales.
Cementa26 runs from 17–20 September in Kandos, NSW. Radical Fields will present Paradactic; or: Yak Yak Yak, Art Attack throughout the festival, with a major public activation on Saturday 19 September.
***This article was originally published in the Glenlyon District News Edition 395 Sep 26***
