Prohibition of festival where participants simulate refugees swimming from Manus Island in Australia

A festival that includes an event where participants simulate swimming from Manus Island to Australia provoked outrage.

An artist has organized an event at the Bleach festival on the Gold Coast that will see people traveling about 1,000 km – the distance between the Isle of Manus and Australia.

Participants will wear island-shaped hats as they head to the pool for an "endurance act".

But Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate criticized the event, funded in part by the local council.

People travel the distance between the Isle of Manus and Australia while wearing island-shaped hats (photo) during an act of endurance at the Bleach Festival on the Gold Coast

The bleach festival takes place along the coast with bars (pictured, two participants), music, art exhibitions and live performances from April 17 to 28 .

"Community facilities should never be used for political advertising," Cr Tate told Mail Mail.

"I asked the general manager to inquire about this event because I do not wish to see this type of activity reproduce in future cultural programs organized in our downtowns."

Australian artist Tanya Lee's Landing exhibition will take place April 24-28 at the Gold Coast Aquatic Center.

"The landing is a continuous relay in which the distance between the Isle of Manus and Australia is collectively swum," said Ms. Lee's website.

"Swimmers wear island-shaped hats to participate in the event, as forms of relief that climb the aisles.

"Landing audiences are asked to make physical distance an embodied experience, while contemplating the murky waters of past and present immigration policy."

The goal is to "make you account for a whole range of lived experiences about home, borders and hospitality".

Australian artist Tanya Lee (photo) stirred some feathers at the Gold Coast City Council with her exhibition entitled Landing, on the theme of refugees.

"Swimmers wear island-shaped hats to participate in the event, such as raised shapes that climb the aisles," says the description of the event.

Councilor Tate said the Bleach festival received $ 2 million from the council's budget in 2019.

Ms. Bezzina defended the festival and said that the landing is an artistic expression.

"We try to have a balanced program, but we have to let the artists become artists," she said.

"Landing encourages a greater conversation about our relationship with water and newcomers to Australia."

Landing has already made its debut at Victorian and Tasmanian festivals.

"We are trying to have a balanced program, but we have to let the artists become artists," said Louise Bezzina, director of Bleach