Nowa Nowa: Open for Inspection

By Andrea Lane

Nowa Nowa, East Gippsland, had become (a little bit) famous for its seven years of Nowa Nowa Nudes. So it was a fairly brave decision to say 'no' to the Nudes in 2007 and deliver, in its stead, an entire year of exhausting, exhilarating, gobsmackingly good art in a completely different way.

The key to the year's work was Open for Inspection - an inspired plan to convert a derelict home into a work of art. Eh? Doesn't sound so special? Well. If there's one thing I've learned from my time on the Regional Arts Victoria (RAV) Board, it's that a good project generally has many layers of interest that make the whole idea … well … 'sing'. So of course, there was a lot more to it than what might, at first, sound like (ho-hum) a 'nice' idea.

You probably need to know that Nowa Nowa is often labelled as among the nation's 'poorest' (in $ terms). And yet, as a community/arts organisation we recognised that happiness and creativity - indeed lifestyle sustainability - is not measured by income and assets alone. And so we set about to reveal the many, many hidden pleasures - and satisfactions - of a more simple life - and, we hoped - show off this community's great talent in re-using, recycling, making-do.

And so the idea jelled into a clear and connected vision about employing our most exciting artists to work with the local community, to show off the value of quirkiness - in this increasingly bland, bland world - and beating our breasts about our (suddenly) fashionable (green) lifestyle.

The project evolved into 3 main elements:

1. The home. Open for Inspection - funded by the Regional Arts Fund via RAV - commissioned 15 of East Gippsland's best artists to re-create the house from locally found materials and memories.
2. The film. Precious Little, produced by Malcolm McKinnon, telling the stories of 6 local gleaners, was the focal point of the home (running on the telly, in the kitchen) and one of the community's favourite bits (funded by Arts Victoria) (and online at nowanowa.com).
3. And ultimately The Long Now. Our Weekend of Contentment - celebrating a life of consuming less - with music, Indigenous workshops and simple, low impact pleasures like petanque, walking, kayaking and eating! (funded by East Gippsland Arts Alliance & Destination Gippsland)

The Nowa Nowa Home is the pièce de résistance and the lasting legacy of a year's work. It's a truly surprising work of art, prominently positioned on the Princes Highway. Schools are now creating week-long school excursions to Nowa Nowa where they can camp in town, near the Gorge or on Lake Tyers, visit the 'art house', watch the movie about our local legends, see our Nudes sculpture walk, learn and play petanque, walk and cycle the East Gippsland Rail Trail. It really has provided a unique and arty Nowa Nowa experience.

And now. Nowa Nowa has a permanent Arts Home. And a new Arts Group to 'live' in it. (And we've made the Nowa Nowa Nudes biennial - to keep the rest of the town happy too.)

Please visit Regional Arts Victoria for more information about this project and other great arts stories.