Broadsheet is giving away five double passes to Now or Never, Melbourne’s festival of art, music, technology and ideas, which runs from August 19 to 30. Each pass opens the programs at either the Royal Exhibition Building or Melbourne Town Hall.
The festival is in its fourth year. This edition takes “A Whole New World” as its theme and lists more than 150 events over 12 nights, with installations, performances and talks spread across the city. The Concrete Playground guide says the theme looks at cultural shifts brought on by immersive technologies, AI and digital storytelling.
Royal Exhibition Building
The overnight draw is Somnia, an ambient piece by William Basinski performed beneath the building’s dome. Concrete Playground lists it as a sleep concert, with guests in individual beds from 10pm on Saturday, August 22 until 8.30am the next morning. Basinski’s four Disintegration Loops albums play through in one sitting, and Norwegian saxophonist Bendik Giske joins him.
A Philip Glass program pairs Orchestra Victoria playing In the Upper Room with pianist Maki Namekawa’s recital of the composer’s Piano Etudes. Namekawa’s performance is on Friday, August 21.
The Breath Haus x Now or Never takes the slower route: live music, meditation and a sound bath, on Saturday, August 22 from 4.30pm to 7pm. It opens with 90 minutes of guided breathwork. Yolnu songmen Daniel and David Wilfred of Hand to Earth then play alongside musicians Bhairavi Raman, Peter Knight and Helen Svoboda.
Melbourne Town Hall
Chunky Move gives its dance work Time Remaining its world premiere here. Down the hall is Revivification, an exhibition on the legacy of experimental composer Alvin Lucier through sound, sculpture and biological material. Concrete Playground says Lucier died in 2021 at age 90 after donating his body to science and art, and that the installation turns his cells into cerebral organoids that produce neural activity. It runs from August 21 to 30.
Three music nights close out the final weekend.
On Friday, August 28, Club Chuleo brings Latinx dancefloor energy with A.Chal, Slim Soledad, LIZZ, Dinamarca and Zalina. Finding Figaro runs an all-night electronic journey the next evening, Saturday, August 29, with Octave One, Sleep D x Hybrid Man, JNETT and Baby G. The Sunday, August 30 closing party puts industrial force against rhythmic intensity, with Robin Fox, MY DISCO, and Jeho Yun with Kyoungjin So.
The Town Hall also hosts two works made with Arts Korea Lab that mix kinetic sculpture and digital installation, plus Fox’s laser-and-sound installation PRESENCE. Both are free to attend. Terms and conditions apply to the giveaway, and the full program is on the festival’s website.
Sources
- Melbourne’s Winter Festival of Music, Tech and Ideas Is Back – and We’re Giving Away Free Tickets
- Now or Never Festival Melbourne
