Fete of the World

Carnivals are the epitome of distraction and desire: spoiled for choice, we wander through, playing games, making split-second decisions, tosses, guesses, and choices, and enjoying our spoils. But unlike a normal carnival, at Fete of the world, there’s more to the harmless games than meets the eye. When you look a little harder, under the surface, those split-second decisions have an impact. Serious impact. Impact that drains your face of colour when you learn you’ve been buying clothes from companies that support child labour, or that you’re supporting a company that is contributing to overfishing the earth’s supply of salmon.

This playful pop-up created by to Australian Ethical super fund, encouraged attendees to play the laughing clowns, go fishing plastic fish and toss rings – and their performance (and some luck) would determine the outcome of the moral scenario they were presented with in their prize. Players could choose to play the stalls, or alternatively play via a Facebook messenger bot experience. Fete of the World is about taking off our rose-tinted glasses and seeing things as they really are, with the environment, choices and messaging all contributing to an experience that leads visitors to question their choices and reconsider the impact that their choices have on the planet. All whilst having some good clean fun in the process!

The experience was held at The Festival of Dangerous Ideas conference, an annual event hosted by Sydney Opera House that brings leading thinkers and culture creators from around Australia and the world to discuss and debate some of the most important issues of our time.