Rising essentials: What to see at Melbourne’s new winter festival

Melbourne’s new arts and music festival is worth braving the cold for. From laser shows to mirror mazes, here’s what you should see at Rising.

Rising has risen.

Melbourne’s new winter arts and music festival, which 225 events across 12 nights, launched on Wednesday night.

“We are finally here,” Rising co-artistic director, Hannah Fox, said.

“The weather is grim, but it’s nothing unusual for Melbourne. We’ve got to harden up, rug up, and get into it.”

Monochord, audiovisual artist Robin Fox’s laser beams shooting up the Yarra River from Birrarung Marr and Sandridge Bridge, meeting at Princes Bridge, became Rising’s unofficial beacon to visitors.

Fox, who has done laser shows all over the world, said Melbourne’s density and busy flight paths overhead means he can’t shoot beams into the sky.

The glare distance for the lasers used by Fox is 160,000 km.

“I’m completely constrained to the horizontal axis,” Robin Fox said. “I can use the Princes Bridge as my target because lasers can’t go anywhere else. It’s an interesting limitation. But the way water interacts with laser light is so beautiful. It looks like a carpet of diamonds.”

Rising events will operate around major attractions including Monochord; Golden Square at Chinatown, hosting exhibitions, installation art and video projections; The Wilds at Myer Music Bowl, with giant sculptures, ice skating rink and eateries.

“The idea is to do more than one thing in a night,” Hannah Fox said.

“Rising is built to traverse the city, not just see a show and go home.”

In 2021, hours after launching its inaugural event, Rising was cruelly shut down by snap lockdowns.

Meanwhile, the 2022 event has something for everyone, including:

Families

Monochord: Audio-visual artist Robin Fox shoots a giant laser beam down the Yarra River. Best sites for the full sight and sound experience are Birrarung Marr, and the Southbank Pedestrian Bridge.

Free event.

Fun seekers and foodies

The Wilds at Myer Music Bowl: Inflatable sculptures, towering projections, a fine dining pop-up restaurant, The Lighthouse, helmed by acclaimed chefs David Moyle, Jo Barrett and Matt Stone, and oh, a giant ice skating rink, with a soundtrack of 1980s and 1990s hits performed by a live choir.

Ticketed event.

Inflatable sculpture at The Wilds. Picture: Rising

Rinky Dink ice skating rink at Rising. Picture: Rising

Art adventurers

Golden Square in Chinatown: Three levels of art, performance, parades and rooftop bars. IT features eye-popping works by Paul Yore, Su Hui Yu, Scotty So, Tabita Rezaire, Jason Phu and Atong Atem, and many more.

Ticketed event.

Rising artistic directors Gideon Obarzanek and Hannah Fox, with artist Paul Yore (centre) at Golden Square. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Sharers and carers

Single Channel Video at State Libary Victoria: A show and tell experience, where visitors present an item of personal significance to them.

Free event.

Keyboard warriors

Piano Transplants: A work where three irreparable upright pianos are set on fire (June 10, Birrarung Marr), drowned (June 11, Williamstown Botanic Gradens) and repurposed in a garden (June 3, 4, 10, 11, Kings Domain).

Free event.

Music minded

Oh so much, from electronica (Kelly Lee Owens), to jazz (Yussef Dayes), rock (Ed Kuepper and Jim White), playful pop (Chai), hip hop (Sahabazz Palaces), local queens (Tkay Maidza and Sampa The Great), party vibes (Harvey Sutherland), and heaps more.

Zimbabwean-Australian singer-songwriter and rapper Tkay Maidza. Picture: Supplied

Reflective types

Kaleidoscope at the Arts Centre: A mesmerising symphony of light, sound and joy, in the form of a mirror maze that allows audiences to step inside a constantly shifting illusion.

Ticketed event.

Kaleidoscope at Rising. Picture: Rising

Footy fans

Still Lives at the NGV: Artists Luke George and Daniel Kok recreate the magic of the mighty footy mark in a performance art piece that has the “players” capturing those moments in time while bound by rope.

Free event on June 5 only.

Still Lives, a performance art piece by Luke George and Daniel Kok, works with AFL players to capture a moment in time, bound by rope. Picture: Supplied

Theatre lovers

The Picture Of Dorian Gray at the Arts Centre: The mega-talented, multifaceted Eryn Jean Norville plays 26 characters in Oscar Wilde’s classically dark fable about making a soul-destroying deal in exchange for eternal beauty. Ticketed event.

Eryn Jean Norvill in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Picture: Daniel Boud

Tickets: rising.melbourne