Up Close & Personal with Michael Zavros, newly appointed Guest Artistic Director for Bleach Festival (Bleach*) in 2025

Michael Zavros

Congratulations on your appointment as Artistic Director for Bleach*! Tell us what inspired you to take up this role and what you are most looking forward to.  

Thank you. I’m very excited about the role. I love a challenge and directing a festival like Bleach is a new one for me. And I seem to be adding to that challenge constantly as we get into the programming. There are some very big Pie In The Sky ideas that will be exciting to see come to life.

What were your early years as a visual artist like and how has your practice evolved over time?   

My practice has largely been painting but over the years I’ve moved away from the easel, making sculpture, film, photography, even performance. In some respects, my practice as a visual artist has moved more towards the Artistic director of a studio, collaborating with other artists/technicians or assistants to realise my work.  

We’re excited to see what you will bring to the HOTA precinct as well as their gallery – could you give us a flavour of what we could expect at Bleach* 2025? 

There will obviously be a strong Visual Arts component and I’m excited to be bringing some of the world’s biggest artists to Bleach 2025.  I’m also inspired by my formative years on the Gold Coast, looking back at the 1990s and also Greek culture on the Gold Coast. Interspersed with this are some exciting local and national dance, theatre and music acts. 

Bleach* is known to transform the city of Gold Coast with innovative and boundary-pushing work – what impact do you think the festival has on both its local and visiting communities?  

I think it serves as a reminder that the Gold Coast is a big, diverse, multicultural city. It embraces its past as a surfing and leisure destination as much as it looks to a future as a modern progressive city. 

What would people be surprised to learn about you? 

I have twelve Chinese geese