Brisbane / Meanjin Paste Up Festival

  • Date:
    Saturday 10 May & Sunday 11 May | 9am – 5pm
  • Location:
    Superordinary
    175 MacArthur Avenue, Northshore

What?

Brisbane / Meanjin Paste Up Festival (BMPUF) is being run for the first time in Brisbane / Meanjin, as a component of the BSAF and Meeting of Styles in May 2025. Inspired by similar events in Argentina and London, BMPUF offers artists from around the world the chance to travel to Brisbane / Meanjin vicariously through their art.

Why?

Hoping to raise the profile and appreciation of paste-up – a form of street art that, despite its rich and important role in history, tends to fly under the radar. Paste up is arguably the most democratic form of art because it can be done by anyone with no need for qualifications or approval from the establishment. The safer process makes it more equitable – it allows the artist to create their art from a safe place (e.g. home, the library, etc.) and to spend only a very short time in the public realm doing the actual pasting. 

Paste-ups typically involve paper-based artworks adhered to walls or other public surfaces using an adhesive paste. The method itself is quick and easy to execute. Paste-ups can be anything from simple text-based posters to complex, multi-layered images and collages. While graffiti and murals tend to dominate the street art scene, paste-ups are transient and often layered intentional or unintentional collaborations between multiple artists. “Artists know that their work might vanish overnight under a new layer of urban life.”