Colorful tree houses, a mirrored hot-air balloon, a disco madhouse and daily invasions of Soundsuits are some of the many things you can see and experience at the FORMAT — "For Music + Art + Technology" — Festival from Friday-Monday on the private Sugar Creek Airstrip.
The 250 acres of forest-enclosed green space, just a six-minute drive from downtown Bentonville, will be the site of this brand new festival in Northwest Arkansas, created by a partnership among OZ Brands, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary.
Visual arts will play a strong role in FORMAT with installations, integrated performances and art experiences by several well-known artists, including Jacolby Satterwhite, Pia Camil and Marinella Senatore.
FORMAT Festival
What: A weekend of curated curiosity — from forest enclaves, disco barns and speak-easys, curated food vendors and impromptu dance processions, to experimental soundscapes and light shows, alongside therapeutic workshops and uniquely integrated technology activations.
Where: Sugar Creek Airstrip, 3100 Price Coffee Road, Bentonville
When: Friday-Monday
Admission: From $75 to $2,500. Buy online at format-festival.com/tickets.
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2022/sep/22/the-weird-and-the-wonderful/?features
Over four nights and three days, upwards of 10,000 visitors flowed through Bentonville, Arkansas to attend the inaugural edition of FORMAT. Event producers describe the flashy new affair as a blend of “art, music, and technology.” Home to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville has, over the last decade, gained momentum as a site of interest on the art world’s radar. Each of the participating visual artists engaged the space with their signature approaches. Jacolby Satterwhite chose the occasion to debut PAT, a new performance piece developed in partnership with Performa. He remarked that the event’s production quality was of the highest quality. “I was attracted to the lineup,” Satterwhite admitted to Artnet News, adding that FORMAT also provided a good testing ground for the new “tone” of his work.
