The Kind of Festival I Wanted to See: Michael Zavros on BLEACH* 2025
Image credit: Jeff Koons being interviewed by Editor in Chief of VAULT, Alison Kubler at BLEACH* 2025. Images owned and provided by Experience Gold Coast.
Under the bold artistic direction of Michael Zavros, BLEACH* 2025 reimagined what an arts and culture festival on the Gold Coast could be. Over 11 days of art, music, and performance, the city came alive with moments of wonder and spectacle, from Patricia Piccinini’s Skywhales drifting over the skyline at dawn to the breathtaking equestrian opera Cavalcade closing the festival at sunset. Guided by Zavros’ vision to create “the kind of festival I wanted to see,” BLEACH* 2025 balanced international prestige with a deep celebration of local talent, community, and place. Highlights included a rare In Conversation with Jeff Koons, Kirsha Kaechele’s provocative Ladies Lounge, SELVE’s orchestral world premiere Breaking Into Heaven, and Drum As You Are, a 22-drummer tribute to the Gold Coast’s live music legacy. The result was a festival that not only looked skywards, as Zavros intended, but also reflected the vibrancy, audacity, and evolving cultural confidence of the coast itself.
Looking back on the 11 days of BLEACH* 2025, what are you most proud of achieving as Artistic Director?
There’s so much about BLEACH* I’m proud of. I think back to those manic, exhausting days with such fondness and pride, but also with a sense of relief too. I’d set out to create the kind of festival I wanted to see, and despite having an incredible line-up of programs, in the final months leading up to the festival, all I could think about was the audiences. Will they come? Will they love it? How are ticket sales looking? It was such a wonderful feeling to see big crowds and strong responses at each event. There was this wonderful buzz that carried me and the tired BLEACH* crew through the festival.
How did you approach shaping the artistic vision for this year’s festival, and what themes or ideas guided your curation?
As a guest artist in the role of Artistic Director, there was an expectation from my bosses and also audiences that I’d be delivering my version of what a festival could be—my passions, ideas, and my history of the Gold Coast. That’s definitely what I tried to do. I didn’t just curate programs; I created half of the festival. Obviously, BLEACH* 2025 had a strong visual art component, and I worked closely with HOTA to deliver this. Our Drum As You Are 90’s Nirvana tribute, OPA—our big Greek Panyiri (party)—and our finale Cavalcade, which combined horses and opera on the beach, all stemmed from my history and connections to the Gold Coast.
What did it mean for the festival, and for you personally, to host a rare In Conversation with Jeff Koons on the Gold Coast? And what was your favourite gem to come out of the conversation?
When we secured the In Conversation with Koons, everything changed. We’d spent months approaching major galleries like QAGOMA and NGV to borrow major works for the festival, but to no avail, and I was feeling quite despondent. But when Nick Mitzevich, the director of the NGA, offered to partner with BLEACH* to bring Koons to Australia, we had a big act. It almost didn’t matter what happened after that, we had the biggest artist in the world headlining. But it completely transformed the program. It wasn’t just a big name that attracted other big names; it was a certain momentum, an excited buzz about the festival, and everyone wanted in.
I’m a huge Jeff Koons fan, and they say you shouldn’t meet your heroes, but it was truly life-changing. He came out with his wife, Justene, and five of their six children. They all came to our place for dinner on Wednesday night, then he was interviewed on Thursday night, followed by a special ticketed dinner at HOTA’s Palette restaurant. I’d often read about his boundless generosity and that he’s always ‘the nicest guy in the room,’ and truly he was.
Image credit: Unveiling Cavalcade: A Night of Artistry and Elegance on Kurrawa Beach at BLEACH* 2025. Photo: novasoma Photography. Courtesy of Experience Gold Coast.
The program featured provocative and diverse works, from Kirsha Kaechele’s Ladies Lounge to Selve’s Breaking Into Heaven. How did you balance international prestige with fostering local talent?
Bringing Ladies Lounge to the Gold Coast for its own mini festival over the duration of BLEACH* was perhaps the biggest undertaking of the festival. With a whole container of existing art or furnishings coming up from MONA or the bespoke new build and over 100 new performances, the Lounge was a massive production for HOTA.
Selve is a local GC band at a pivotal point in their career, and the live gig alongside the Australian Session Orchestra and Karul dancers was one of those hybrid arts events that was just so special. I had some great producers working with me on BLEACH* who introduced me to Selve and other emerging local talent. I’m so grateful for that help. I think that’s the best thing you can do as a director of anything is to know your limitations and surround yourself with talent and support.
BLEACH* has always been about celebrating place and community. How did the 2025 program reflect or reimagine the unique character of the Gold Coast?
I kept thinking back to the Gold Coast I knew from the 80’s and 90’s and celebrating that history, a time when I was growing up and so was this place. I searched out oddities like a seven-metre hand-carved marble replica of Michelangelo’s David that was once the centrepiece of Broadbeach’s Raptis Plaza, now living in an equally peculiar setting at Emerald Lakes, leading drawing classes. My daughter Olympia is a keen drummer, and together we came up with an event to pay homage to the famous Fisherman’s Wharf Sunday Session, where, in 1992, a young touring Nirvana played in support of the Violent Femmes. They had just dropped Nevermind, the follow-up to their first album, BLEACH* (and at that moment became the biggest band in the world. Drum As You Are brought together 22 community drummers of all ages, rehearsing every weekend to smash out six Nirvana hits in perfect unison. It became the viral hit of the festival.
Image credit: Sneak peak of the Ladies Lounge at BLEACH* 2025. Photo: novasoma Photography. Courtesy of Experience Gold Coast.
Which work or moment during the festival surprised or moved you the most? And which made you the most proud?
I was moved and a bit overcome by events four times during the festival, but what I keep thinking about are the individual responses to the Ladies Lounge. We were all excited to bring the famed Lounge and its provocative queen to the GC, but I didn’t expect the profound, emotional response that so many women had to being in that space. And I made sure to do the work; I turned up, did my butler training, and did what I was told. It was quite surreal to be in there at the same time as David Walsh as butlers in the corner doing our duty.
Festivals often involve risk-taking. Was there a creative risk you took this year that you feel really paid off?
I felt like the whole thing was a risk. But it's all calculated risk, and apart from the weather, most of it can be mitigated. When you work with an artist like Kirsha Kaechele, obviously, you take a risk. She’s demanding and disruptive, but that’s where good art comes from, and I felt my job was to embrace those risks and effectively platform them.
The finale, Cavalcade, was incredibly difficult to pull together. Working with teams of horses, a live orchestra, and four opera singers at the beach, open air on two stormy winter nights, was ambitious and certainly full of risk. And I left rehearsals the day before, thinking this just isn’t working. Then, magically, it all came together on the night.
How has working on BLEACH* 2025 influenced your own artistic practice or perspective as a creative?
It reminded me how important it is to step outside my comfort zone and that great things happen when I’m prepared to do so. The festival introduced a new level of problem-solving and collaboration —things artists do all the time. I’m also reminded how vital it is to dream big and to constantly tackle the hard stuff. For me, that’s where the best art comes from.
What legacy do you hope your directorship leaves for future editions of BLEACH*?
Inviting an artist with no experience to take on the role of artistic director is effectively an invitation to rethink what an arts and culture festival could be, and I believe I achieved that. There’s no reason this can’t happen every year!
