The inspiration behind the Opening Ceremony GC2018
By Fiona Self
GOLD COAST, April 4 (NsNewsWire) — Ceremonies have taken GC2018 Project and Artistic Director David Zolkwer to all parts of the world, but no city has affected him quite like his experience here on the Gold Coast, setting the scene for Opening and Closing spectaculars with a unique difference.
Zolkwer has been creating ceremonies that celebrate the places and the people that make them extraordinary for two decades and tonight the world is set for a show like no other.
He has worked on the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, as well as the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and he was the Creative Director for the Celebration Sites for The Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton too.
You’d think he’d have seen it all, but living and working on the Gold Coast has been different for Zolkwer.
He’s felt at home.
“Although I’ve done a good number of shows and ceremonies in the past, it’s always been a sense of I’m visiting, I’m there to do a job,” Zolkwer told GC2018.com.
“I think this is the first time I felt like I was actually living here, because the Gold Coast demands that you live here.”
When planning for the ceremonies started in early 2016, Zolkwer, along with a team of local creative collaborators, travelled all over the state, meeting groups and communities to get a feel for what it meant to be a Gold Coaster, Queenslander and an Australian.
According to Zolkwer, it’s an important part of designing a ceremony that will embody the spirit, culture, attitudes and outlook of a place.
But the Gold Coast was different.
“[With a ceremony] the starting point might be, ‘we’re coming to the Gold Coast so we’ll tell stories about the Gold Coast and it will all be about surfing and the hinterland,’” he explained.
“Actually, the Gold Coast is uniquely qualified to not play the usual ceremonies game, with looking inwards and backwards.
“It’s a fantastic place to look forwards and outwards.
“Instead of inviting the world into the Gold Coast to tell the world how great we are, actually, we can invite the world into the Gold Coast to share and celebrate and connect with the rest of the world.
“The attitude and the outlook will be Gold Coast-ian and Queensland-ish and Australian, Aussie-fied. But it doesn’t mean it can’t be about all of us.
“And often despite their outward manifestation, ceremonies are actually about different we are, because they’re perceived as a means of showcasing the host city and telling everyone how great they are, and all the things they’ve achieved.