This year has given us the invitation to respawn. This word tells of resilience through cyclical lives.

In the biome, eel and galaxiid species respawn year after year, making watery pilgrimages to their breeding grounds, whereas ferns and mushrooms spawn in place. Respawning is what happens when a player in a video game reincarnates, and when the destructive force of fire breaks the dormancy of certain seeds, renewing cycles of growth. 

Respawning requires great effort, continuing with fragile resilience alongside the boom and bust cycles of industry. Although it requires a great deal of determination to do this dance together, it is what keeps us alive.

We are a festival at the end of the world. But what will be born the day after? To find out, we are compelled to return to this shared ground, to Queenstown, to be part of a community that nurtures green shoots growing towards the light.

This year's festival celebrates the gentle power of cyclical renewal. It offers opportunities to come together in contemplation, in celebration, and in awe of the remarkable differences that define us as living creatures. You are invited to join this temporary ecosystem, to represent yourself in the continuum of creators, from past to future.