Superposition is a new experimental arts festival conceived for the Blue Mountains that entangles artists and audiences with landscapes of profound natural and cultural significance. Drawing inspiration from quantum physics, where multiple states exist in chaos until observed; geological stratigraphy, where rock layers tell the story of the mountains' emergence; and wave superposition, where waves combine to create bold new forms - the festival creates meaningful intersections between art, music, nature and community.
Set in the UNESCO World Heritage listed Greater Blue Mountains, Superposition brings together local, national and international artists to create place-responsive works that thoughtfully engage with both the environment and contemporary issues. The festival exists in creative flux, building from the ground up, celebrating local artists and venues, fostering new connections across artistic disciplines. Through this phase shift in how we experience place, Superposition reveals the intricate connections between creative practice, ecological systems, and community knowledge.
Superposition acknowledges and pays deep respect to the Dharug and Gundungurra peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the sacred skies, ancient mountains, living waterways, and enduring geologies where our festival takes place. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, recognising that the Blue Mountains have been a place of ceremony, gathering, storytelling, and knowledge-sharing since the first sunrise.
The Space Between the Actual and the Possible
November 26th - 29th 2026
PROGRAM STREAMS
The Dawn program presents site-responsive works unfolding at first light. Artists engage the shifting conditions of morning across the escarpment, creating sound-based and sensory works that draw audiences into heightened attention and presence. Free commissions and guided experiences reframe familiar landscapes through subtle artistic intervention.
DAWN
Our day programming occupies both natural and built environments throughout the Blue Mountains, with commissioned installations, exhibitions and performances that explore the entanglement between creative practice and place as well as a series of exhibitions, walks and workshops.
DAY
As light fades, the Dusk program activates sites through works responding to shifting conditions. Performances, installations and soundscapes unfold across the threshold between day and night, exploring how perception alters as familiar landscapes transform.
DUSK
The Dark program brings together experimental works responding to the celestial landscape. Developed with the Dark Sky Initiative and Linden Observatory, it includes star knowledge experiences, parties, screenings, performances and gatherings under the night sky.
DARK
FESTIVAL DIRECTORS
Thom Smyth is the founder and director of Unfunded Empathy. Unfunded Empathy is a producing and marketing service for contemporary artists. The organisation seeks radical change; deep connection; sweaty moments of abandonment.
Thom is also a Producer with national creative producing company Performing Lines.
He was Director of arts marketing company Little Shout; was Marketing Manager at Proximity Festival – Australia’s only one-on-one performance platform; was Marketing & Communications Manager at The Blue Room Theatre; was Marketing Manager for Barefaced Stories.
Thom has worked as publicist for PICA, Chunky Move, Mobile States, Fringe World and more.
M: 0416 002 560
E: thom@unfundedempathy.com
THOM
Sam Watson-Wood is a curator and creative producer working across contemporary art, public programs and festival platforms.
She has held senior roles including Executive Producer & Artistic Adviser at Performance Space, Festival Director of Art Month Sydney, and Director of Programs and Partnerships at Sydney Contemporary, where she was part of the founding leadership team. Earlier in her career, she launched the award-winning Clerkenwell Design Week in London.
In 2022, Sam founded Friends with Strangers. Friends with Strangers creates multi-disciplinary art experiences that embrace risk, experimentation and joy. The organisation operates at the intersection of artistic excellence and social impact, using contemporary art as a vehicle for change. Through critical discourse and community building, it demonstrates how art can reimagine more equitable futures.
M: 0418 155 186
E: sam@friendswithstrangers.com.au
SAM