Cementa_13 makes contemporary art in Kandos

The oblique title for this festival of contemporary art makes a lot more sense if you know something about the town where it was held and the work was dedicated. Called Cementa_13, the inaugural biennial contemporary arts festival was held in Kandos over the first four days of February. Lying between Lithgow and Mudgee some three and a half hours drive from Sydney, Kandos was founded to house the workforce at the Kandos Cement Works nigh on a century ago. Cement from Kandos was poured to make the Harbour Bridge and much of inner city Sydney. When the cement works closed in September 2011, the town was left without an industry to define and support it. A collective of artists spotted the opportunity to explore the artistic transformations they could make of the paradox of a post-industrial town in the rural heartland of central NSW.