Overview
Auckland Arts Festival (AAF) will take over the inner city from 8-25 March, exhibiting Vietnamese circus, art-opera, chicken theatre and a concert designed to be heard while asleep. Providing sustenance to get you through and help avoid embarrassing mid-show stomach gurgles will be two pop-up dining and socialising spaces.
The idea for both pre-show experiences is to move beyond the standard 'dinner and a show' format. Silo Park will be home to Festival Playground, the official AAF hub designed by award-winning artist Angus Muir and Fresh Concept head honcho Simon van Praag.
The Super Taste Canteen will see a menu and concept by Joe Williams-Peters (formerly of Depot) that champions the classic Kiwi barbecue. It will be hard to miss the smoky pop-up with cooking taking place over hardwood and charcoal. Dishes will be served as small and large plates, and visitors can expect rotisserie ready to be sliced and grilled vegetables and salads.
There will be three bars in the Festival Playground for pre-show imbibing, including the Rogue Society Sundowner Bar overlooking the Harbour Bridge. The Festival Playground will be christened by Eru Dangerspiel on Thursday 8 March.
Aotea Centre's BOX Café and Bar will get a makeover for AAF, transforming into the Festival Club. The '70s kitsch-inspired pop-up has also been designed by Muir, with collaboration from Auckland Live, Kayla Jurlina and the team behind the art and food mashup ArtDego — Courteney Peters and Rebecca Smidt.
The set menu, named Theatre Dining by Culprit, has been designed by Kyle Street and Jordan MacDonald of contemporary yum-cha restaurant, Culprit. The experience will offer an express, 45-minute menu with a choice of two or four courses.
The space will also feature a food alley managed by contemporary Chinese eatery Judge Bao, and a lineup of ArtDego's favourite street food vendors. Golden Dawn mixologist Laura Lopez has created a cocktail menu to complement the vibe of the space and menu.
Festival Club will be open from Thursday 1 March, signalling the opening night of Akram Khan's Giselle by the English National Ballet.
For more information, visit the Auckland Arts Festival website.
Image: Emily Raftery, streetARTdego.