softwash was an artist-led program of experimental, site-responsive live art presented on Bundjalung Country | Tweed Heads. Across three free events, softwash reimagined the public parklands at the Tweed Regional Museum Learning Site as a place for artists and community to gather, share and make meaning together.
Led by artist collective, PUBLIC PALACE (Laurie Oxenford, Grace Dewar and Merinda Davies), softwash supported 30 artists to make site responsive new work in public space. These commissions were presented over three informal gatherings featuring performance, visual arts, sound, writing, socially-engaged practice, workshops and reading club.
This program was assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, made possible with auspicing from The FARM, development support from City of Gold Coast, and venue support from Tweed Regional Museum and Arts Northern Rivers.
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softwash offered gentle parameters and provocations that encouraged risk-taking, collaboration, experimentation and community building, centring the oft-unseen social architecture surrounding creative work like friendship, shared meals and informal discussion. This intentional approach shaped each event as both a presentation of artistic work and a welcoming social space for gathering, sharing and making meaning together.
To support artists in developing work in response to place, softwash hosted a F(oam)IELD TRIP before program launch. This collective site visit introduced artists to the histories, situation, micro-ecologies and atmospheres of the riverside parklands, and to each other, establishing an interconnected foundation for the work that unfolded across the three events. softwash created meaningful opportunities for artists based across south east Queensland and northern New South Wales to connect, supporting a cohort of artists from the east coast working in experimental practice.
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softwash is a long-form project conceptualised in late 2022 and shaped over two years of conversations with artists and artist-run-initiatives (ARIs), site research, partnership building and (seemingly) endless grant writing. Contextually, The WALLS Art Space (2013–2021), the treasured home to experimental practice and community on the Gold Coast, had been closed for 12+ months, and the need for a regular place to gather and engage with live work felt increasingly urgent.
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Throughout the research and development stages, softwash imagined and tried on varying forms; from a two-bedroom caretakers apartment in Miami, to a roaming model across a constellation of sites – an active car wash, a council depot, a scout hall, a bathing pavilion, an art institution, a vacant swimming pool, a disused theatre, up and down Kombumerri and Bundjalung Country. These speculations revealed the project’s resistance to being fixed to conventional infrastructure and our collective desire not to pay landlords instead of artists. In 2024, softwash found a home in Tweed Heads West, with support from Tweed Regional Museum, embracing the Kennedy Drive Learning Site’s outdoor parklands as a flexible venue for pop-up events responsive to place and community.
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softwash is a new collaboration between Laurie Oxenford, Grace Dewar and Merinda Davies, tied to a shared time and place living on Kombumerri country.
The spirit of softwash, gathering and making meaning together, will be reshaped and reformed in future projects.
View the softwash archive on Substack and Instagram.
softwash design by Marilena Hewitt.
Film photography by Grace Dewar and Marilena Hewitt.
︎
![]()
Led by artist collective, PUBLIC PALACE (Laurie Oxenford, Grace Dewar and Merinda Davies), softwash supported 30 artists to make site responsive new work in public space. These commissions were presented over three informal gatherings featuring performance, visual arts, sound, writing, socially-engaged practice, workshops and reading club.
This program was assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, made possible with auspicing from The FARM, development support from City of Gold Coast, and venue support from Tweed Regional Museum and Arts Northern Rivers.
︎
softwash offered gentle parameters and provocations that encouraged risk-taking, collaboration, experimentation and community building, centring the oft-unseen social architecture surrounding creative work like friendship, shared meals and informal discussion. This intentional approach shaped each event as both a presentation of artistic work and a welcoming social space for gathering, sharing and making meaning together.
To support artists in developing work in response to place, softwash hosted a F(oam)IELD TRIP before program launch. This collective site visit introduced artists to the histories, situation, micro-ecologies and atmospheres of the riverside parklands, and to each other, establishing an interconnected foundation for the work that unfolded across the three events. softwash created meaningful opportunities for artists based across south east Queensland and northern New South Wales to connect, supporting a cohort of artists from the east coast working in experimental practice.
softwash is a long-form project conceptualised in late 2022 and shaped over two years of conversations with artists and artist-run-initiatives (ARIs), site research, partnership building and (seemingly) endless grant writing. Contextually, The WALLS Art Space (2013–2021), the treasured home to experimental practice and community on the Gold Coast, had been closed for 12+ months, and the need for a regular place to gather and engage with live work felt increasingly urgent.
Throughout the research and development stages, softwash imagined and tried on varying forms; from a two-bedroom caretakers apartment in Miami, to a roaming model across a constellation of sites – an active car wash, a council depot, a scout hall, a bathing pavilion, an art institution, a vacant swimming pool, a disused theatre, up and down Kombumerri and Bundjalung Country. These speculations revealed the project’s resistance to being fixed to conventional infrastructure and our collective desire not to pay landlords instead of artists. In 2024, softwash found a home in Tweed Heads West, with support from Tweed Regional Museum, embracing the Kennedy Drive Learning Site’s outdoor parklands as a flexible venue for pop-up events responsive to place and community.
softwash is a new collaboration between Laurie Oxenford, Grace Dewar and Merinda Davies, tied to a shared time and place living on Kombumerri country.
The spirit of softwash, gathering and making meaning together, will be reshaped and reformed in future projects.
View the softwash archive on Substack and Instagram.
softwash design by Marilena Hewitt.
Film photography by Grace Dewar and Marilena Hewitt.
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SW_001 Full Foam Rinse and Spin (30 August 2025)
The first happening introduced softwash as an artist-run anomaly shaped by temporary conditions, playful ideas and experimental live art. Full Foam Rinse and Spin embraced the project’s carwash-origin story through foamy, funfair-like activations along the creek’s muddy edges. Performances, installations, sound, writing and a BBQ Boat invited curiosity about public space, waterways and how we come together.
Featured artists: Mark Cora, Sarah Poulgrain, Artist Boardriders Club, Adrienne Kenafake Holiday Maker (Andrew Hodges & Sean McMeekin), Julie McLaren and Lewis.
READ MORE
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SW_002 Eating Together (27 September 2025)
The second event focused on rituals of gathering and the social systems that shape how we relate. Eating Together invited artists and audiences to consider the conditions of continued togetherness, using food, shared processes and participatory actions as frameworks for connection. Works explored borders between people, cultures and ways of being, offering moments of generosity, hospitality and intimate exchange.
Featured artists: Deidre Currie, Jason King, Home School Achiever (Betty Russ and Michael Donnelly), Kuweni Dias Mendis, Glenn Barry, Marilena Hewitt, Kyra Togo, Ellamay Fitzgerald and Toad Dell.
READ MORE
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SW_003 At the Water’s Edge (8 November 2025)
The final event drew audiences into the wet, liminal spaces of the river. Guided by queer ecological thinking, At the Water’s Edge encouraged participants to attune to multispecies relations and reflect on interdependence. Artists explored themes of sovereignty, non-dualism, language and care through performances, workshops and installations that invited visitors to listen differently and soften their edges.
Featured artists: Erica Eurell, Norton Fredericks, Tay Haggarty, Ruby Donohue, Anna Whitaker, Kinly Grey, Kim Stokes and Hannah Bronte.
READ MORE
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︎
The first happening introduced softwash as an artist-run anomaly shaped by temporary conditions, playful ideas and experimental live art. Full Foam Rinse and Spin embraced the project’s carwash-origin story through foamy, funfair-like activations along the creek’s muddy edges. Performances, installations, sound, writing and a BBQ Boat invited curiosity about public space, waterways and how we come together.
Featured artists: Mark Cora, Sarah Poulgrain, Artist Boardriders Club, Adrienne Kenafake Holiday Maker (Andrew Hodges & Sean McMeekin), Julie McLaren and Lewis.
READ MORE
︎
SW_002 Eating Together (27 September 2025)
The second event focused on rituals of gathering and the social systems that shape how we relate. Eating Together invited artists and audiences to consider the conditions of continued togetherness, using food, shared processes and participatory actions as frameworks for connection. Works explored borders between people, cultures and ways of being, offering moments of generosity, hospitality and intimate exchange.
Featured artists: Deidre Currie, Jason King, Home School Achiever (Betty Russ and Michael Donnelly), Kuweni Dias Mendis, Glenn Barry, Marilena Hewitt, Kyra Togo, Ellamay Fitzgerald and Toad Dell.
READ MORE
︎
SW_003 At the Water’s Edge (8 November 2025)
The final event drew audiences into the wet, liminal spaces of the river. Guided by queer ecological thinking, At the Water’s Edge encouraged participants to attune to multispecies relations and reflect on interdependence. Artists explored themes of sovereignty, non-dualism, language and care through performances, workshops and installations that invited visitors to listen differently and soften their edges.
Featured artists: Erica Eurell, Norton Fredericks, Tay Haggarty, Ruby Donohue, Anna Whitaker, Kinly Grey, Kim Stokes and Hannah Bronte.
READ MORE
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