Winter festival RISING is coming back this year, and there’s a whopping 105 events to look forward to across sixteen nights. The festival will feature large scale installations, free public events, art exhibitions, theatre performances, music and more from over 480 artists. It will take over the city, from iconic venues like Fed Square and Melbourne Town Hall, to historic arcades and back alleys. RISING will run from Saturday June 1 to Sunday June 16.
RISING festival
Earlier this year, RISING revealed a few sneak peaks into their festival program. Join SHOUSE for a special night of free music-making with over a thousand participants at St Paul’s Cathedral on June 15. Then, see the award-winning saga, Counting and Cracking, on stage from May 31 to June 23.
“RISING 2024 is a festival that belongs to Naarm, Melbourne,” said RISING co-artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek. “Some of the most exciting voices in art, music and performance offer moments of catharsis and reflection with mass music making in a church or summoning the cosmos in our town square. The most important part is coming together to be thrilled, bemused, shaken or delighted.”
Highlights include:
1. The Blak Infinite
Head to Fed Square and dive into a forum of First Peoples’ art, politics and cosmic connections with The Blak Infinite. Presented in partnership with MAPCO, and curated by Kimberley Moulton (Yorta Yorta) and Kate ten Buuren (Taungurung), The Blak Infinite is a free exhibition and public program.
See Richard Bell’s installation, EMBASSY, inspired by the original Aboriginal Tent Embassy that was pitched on the grounds of Parliament House in 1972. The installation will feature daily film screenings, as well as a program of talks each Saturday of the festival.
Each evening, Fed Square will light up with projections sharing stories of Sky Country and the cosmos. Explore Tony Albert’s large-scale artwork BEAM ME UP The Art of Abduction, which discusses themes of alienation, belonging and place. On the big screen, see speculative fiction from First Peoples writer Ellen Van Neerven. Then, check out a collage of souvenirs by Kait James.
2. The Rivers Sing
The Rivers Sing will return to RISING and span out along the Birrarung. Listen to the work of First Nations soprano and composer, Deborah Cheetham AO, and audio artists Byron Scullin and Thomas Supple. In this celebration of nature’s voice, hear a blend of field recordings and human voices that echo waterway singing traditions. Hear it at dusk on each night of the festival.
3. Night Trade
RISING’s hub and social club, Night Trade, will return. It will take over a network of laneways underneath the Capitol Theatre and connect through to Howey Place. As you explore, discover installations, exhibitions, micro-bars, dumplings, interactive art, music and dance.
4. Pay the Rent
Take a stroll past State Library Victoria and look up. You’ll find a digital sign with rapidly accumulating numbers. This piece, Pay the Rent by Richard Bell, first debuted in Melbourne in 2013, and has since travelled to New York, London, Venice and more. It represents the calculated debt owed to First Nations people by the Australian Government since Federation in 1901.
5. Day Tripper
Party at Melbourne Town Hall, Capitol Theatre and Max Watt’s with one ticket at Day Tripper. Co-presented with Triple R, this exciting event features live music, performance, art and film within multiple rooms of these Melbourne venues. Look forward to performances from Yasiin Bey, JLIN, Memorials and more. Check it out on Saturday June 8.
6. Yasiin Bey
You might remember him as Mos Def. Now known as Yasiin Bey, this iconic rapper is taking over PICA to perform his 2009 masterpiece, The Ecstatic. This album was a critical success, but Yasiin moved out of the spotlight shortly after, and today, you can’t even hear the album on streaming services. Listen to it live at Yasiin Bey: The Ecstatic Anniversary on Sunday June 9.
7. Acid Brass
UK artist Jeremy Deller is collaborating with Victorian Brass Bands to create Acid Brass. Listen to musicians perform acid house anthems in a series of free public concerts around the CBD.
8. ONE SONG HISTOIRE(S) DU THÉÂTRE IV
Feel utterly impressed as you watch musicians perform one song, over and over, as they run an obstacle course of balance beams, treadmills and trampolines. As they perform this rock concert, they’ll mix it up, speeding it up and breaking it down. See it from June 13 to 15 at Melbourne Town Hall.
9. Cadela Força Trilogy Chapter 1
Direct from Europe, Brazilian artist and director Carolina Bianchi presents the first chapter of the Cadela Força Trilogy: The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella. In this gripping performance-lecture, Bianchi is shaken by the death of Italian artist Pippa Bacca, who was sexually assaulted and murdered while doing a travelling show. She looks at the spectre of sexual violence that runs through the history of art, until she reaches an impasse and things go dark. See it make its Australian premier at Malthouse Theatre.
10. Melbourne Out Loud
See Melbourne Out Loud, a free exhibition in partnership with State Library Victoria. Check out the complete archive of late Australian photographer, Rennie Ellis, who captured celebrities, nightclubs and Australian life over a thirty year period.
For the full RISING program and more details, click here.