Functional and Phenomenal
All-in-one event solution with soul.
All-in-one event solution with soul.
Expert event management tailored to your needs.
Uplift audiences with a big presence, leading audio, performers, bubbles and ridiculous lights.
Communicate important social and environmental messages.
The Soul Defender is an urban artwork designed as a static stage, parade vehicle or crazy installation. It was a war machine (Army Mack R6x6 1984) converted to defend our souls with feel-good music, bubbles, fun lighting, banners and uplifting performances.
The truck is owned and operated by Dionysus, an events and placemaking firm in Canberra with relevant insurances and licences, including multiple staff with Heavy Rigid (non-synchromesh) truck licences and heart-shaped sunnies.
Sample projects are below, and a deeper look at the truck is here.
Art, Not Apart 2019
Main stage of the festival, hosting an array of soulful music and dance.
16 March 2019
Festival main festival stage
15,000 approx.
City Renewal Authority and King O'Malley's
Forum for ACT senate candidates to give their view on election issues for the Canberra region. Candidates and performers were staged on the Soul Defender facing audiences sitting in both City Walk and the King O Malley's beer garden. Supported by the CCMIL’s City Grants program.
17 May 2019
Event design and delivery
350
MusicACT
MusicACT mounted a 700+ person protest in Garema Place which directly resulted in the ACT Government releasing the Entertainment Action Plan. This plan gathers dust while apartments are approved, forcing us closer to a silent city, like the nine previous reports. Satire videos here: www.musicact.com.au
21 June 2019
Stage and production provision, compliance.
700
Yes Fest
Canberra’s annual equality street festival to celebrate the YES marriage equality vote in November 2017.
16 November 2019
Production team operating the main day-time event stage, consisting of event managers, sound engineer, stage manager, and event installation crew.
1,000 approx.
Australian Dance Party ‘Soul Defenders’ involves five dancers donned in pink 60’s shagadelic costumes with yellow water pistols roving beside The Soul Defender. ADP’s Soul Defenders disguise peculiar army drills, combining spontaneous body movements and soulful grooves to create an uplifting experiences for spectators of all ages to enjoy.
(all money goes to the dancers, which includes a site specific rehearsal to make it shmick)
The Soul Defender was the visual & sonic highlight of the YES!Fest 2019 day stage. Parked alongside Lonsdale Street’s Rainbow Roundabout, which acted as our daytime dancefloor, the Defender presented a totally unique stage & sound system bursting with retro magic.\ \ We are so lucky to have such an incredible vehicle available for events right here in Canberra and all of our interstate performers were blown away by it!
The Soul Defender has fast become an icon of the ACT. We hired The Soul Defender multiple times during Haig Park Experiments because it generates such a warm and positive ambience at our events, significantly enhancing the community’s experience.\ \ Everyone from kids to seniors loves The Soul Defender!
”If you scratch the surface of this city what you will find is a soul both waiting to be born and under attack. What does it consist of, this stringing together of moments that makes up its substance? Who or what are its enemies? At the border zone between the living and the dead The Soul Defender carries out its mission, its appearance as startling as a flame leaping up in a dark room, lurid flares that give light to the soul’s material. The Soul Defender’s mission is political, ethical, environmental and artistic – it travels in the middle ground where the mind strikes the world, a rainbow’s edge where beauty comes into being, where surfaces mingle and provide access to a space where art and life coexist, a striking of pure otherness creating something sublime…”
Provide details of your ideal event below and Dionysus will be in touch.
A variety of events: it can host panel talks, performances and parties; it can be used to activate spaces or market certain (positive) brands, or parade like at mardi gras.
Protests: as the name suggests, the truck defends the soul by supporting causes that promote a better world. The Soul Defender is a vehicle for change and we demand federal action to be taken on climate change, caring for our fragile country and changes to ancient sound laws preventing cultural development in Canberra.
Yes, if the road is closed or it's on private property (assuming compliance to our risk plans).
But if the road is not closed, only one passenger and the driver can be in the cab and no-one on stage. But bubbles and music can still pump out of the stage on normal roads.
A Diesel Oxidation Catalyst and Particle Oxidation Catalyst (big filter) was lovingly installed in the truck's exhaust system to remove over 99%+ of Carbon Monoxide, 95%+ of Hydrocarbons and 60%+ of Diesel Particulate Matter.
Green Fleet also plant trees to offset the truck's carbon emissions.
It's not perfect, but leagues better than most trucks that deliver equipment to events.
Until the military and mining stop using obscene amounts of fossil fuels, using minor amounts with offsets to defend and uplift the soul is only a good thing.