Power burst: Louise Bezzina dares to blur the boundaries between play and art
Louise Bezzina was a ground-breaking artistic director at Brisbane Festival and now she’s taking a swing at running the iconic Brisbane Powerhouse.
Mini golf. I really didn’t imagine that would be Louise Bezzina’s opening gambit as the new CEO and artistic director at Brisbane Powerhouse. I mean, who doesn’t love putting though, right? But what has that got to do with art?
As we sit down to have coffee and chat about her new gig, she tells me about Swingers – The Art of Mini Golf .
“Swingers?” I say. “I hope nobody gets the wrong idea.” But Bezzina presses on and I overcome my scepticism.
“Swingers perfectly embodies what I want to champion at Brisbane Powerhouse, experiences that are daring, participatory and deeply creative,” she says. “It blurs the boundaries between play and art, offering audiences something truly unexpected. What better way to begin a new chapter than by inviting everyone to take a swing?”
Swingers – The Art of Mini Golf will transform the iconic arts precinct by the Brisbane River at New Farm into a surreal “hole new world” of playable art – a nine-hole course of rebellion and play designed by visionary female artists.
From January 10 to March 1 audiences can putt their way through an unforgettable collision of creativity and fun, with works by Miranda July (US), Kaylene Whiskey (Australia), Saeborg (Japan), Nabilah Nordin (Australia), Delaine Le Bas (UK) and Natasha Tontey (Indonesia).
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Equal parts absurd, joyful and thought-provoking, Swingers reimagines mini golf as an interactive, hands-on art experience. Expect latex animal tails for putters, square balls, speculative mythologies and candy-coloured sculptures, all crafted into an imaginative course that invites audiences to play, ponder and laugh along the way.
There is a back story to this that Bezzina likes.
‘I said, ‘I like this, hint hint’, and the next thing I know the incredible team here made it happen’
“Women were once not allowed on the golf courses in Scotland, so mini golf was invented and that’s where this project came from,” she says. “It was something I knew about and I loved the idea of putting through all this incredible visual art. I came across it in Melbourne when I went there for my son’s footy trip.
“I mentioned it to Phoebe Meredith, director of programming here, before I started here. I said, ‘I like this, hint hint’, and the next thing I know the incredible team here made it happen. It takes over the whole building from January to March.”
The history will be unknown to most people. Mini golf was invented in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a more accessible alternative to traditional golf, with early versions in Scotland for women. Early courses were simple putting greens, but the game evolved in the 1920s with the addition of obstacles like ramps and tunnels. Later the brand Putt-Putt was created by Don Clayton in 1953.
Originally developed by Melbourne’s RISING festival, Swingers draws on the radical femme roots of mini golf. Now it all makes sense!
It will be fun, Bezzina assures me, as we sip coffee at Mary Mae’s Bar & Kitchen downstairs by the river at Brisbane Powerhouse. It’s a gorgeous Brisbane summer morning, not too hot yet. The river just beyond the terrace is glassy, unruffled by any breeze and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.
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“Every now and then, when I come outside here, I get goose bumps,” Bezzina says. “It’s so beautiful.”
She seems relaxed, but not too relaxed, as she tells me. She’s up at 4.30am most mornings, having school-aged kids. She tries to get some work done early before school.
Then it’s off to Brisbane Powerhouse, which is not far from where she used to work at Festival House in Fortitude Valley. She spent six years there as artistic director of Brisbane Festival, her second stint with that festival. (She worked there earlier in her career when Lyndon Terracini was artistic director.)
She takes over at Brisbane Powerhouse from Kate Gould and vows to continue the good work Gould began with her own embellishments, including making the venue more of a destination for visual artists and other creatives.
“I’ve signed up for five years, which is good, because it takes time to establish yourself,” she says. “It’s an incredible time in Brisbane and the thing I’m loving is that every day here is like a festival. It’s an exciting next phase of my career. Brisbane Festival will always be in my heart, but I was ready for a new challenge.”
Running Brisbane Powerhouse is something of a full circle moment for Bezzina.
“I was first here as a theatre student when it opened 25 years ago,” she recalls. “I started out as a performing artist and I had this little show about these rejected dolls. It was experimental and we had extraordinary costumes. But not long after that show I realised I was not going to be an actor. I went on to production. Over the years I have had a lot to do with Brisbane Powerhouse and I have known all the people running it and have had lots of experiences here.”
Just before finishing up at Brisbane Festival in October, Bezzina delivered a show at her new venue. Bad Nature was a collaboration between Australasian Dance Collective and Club Guy & Roni and Studio Boris Acket, both out of The Netherlands. It was a triumph and Bezzina says it was “one of the festival highlights and it was here at the Brisbane Powerhouse”.
“In fact, it then went on to tour 35 venues throughout Europe,” she says.
There are staples at the venue such as Brisbane Comedy Festival, Night Feast, Melt Festival and a new addition, Brisbane Writers Festival, among others. These will remain fixtures, although Bezzina is looking to add her own flourishes. She has at least five years to do that. Over six years she transformed Brisbane Festival, so it will be interesting to see how she goes. No pressure.