No one does transcendental art performances quite like Now or Never. Better yet, a lot of the arts events are free to attend. Read on to find out more about some of the other-worldly performances that are taking over this city in August.
Now or Never’s 2024 festival
Constellations
- Thursday 22 August to Saturday 24 August, 6pm to 11pm
- Sunday 25 August, 6pm to 10pm
- Thursday 29 August to Saturday 31 August, 6pm to 11pm
- Southbank Promenade
- More info here
A very special takeover of the Yarra River/Birrrarung, Constellations promises the spectacular. Free to attend, this celestial formation by Studio Lemercier is an audiovisual installation that will see the surface of the river come alive after dark as it envisages the ever-expanding supernatural scope of the universe, right here in Naarm.
DESASTRES
- Friday 30 August to Saturday 31 August, 4pm to 10pm
- NantStudios, Docklands
- Tickets here
After premiering at the 2022 Venice Biennale, DESATRES is making its hotly anticipated Australian debut as part of Now or Never’s Melbourne program. A visceral noise-guitar work of experimentation, Marco Fusinato’s performance will consist of an improvised electronic guitar piece that brings alive imagery spanning across the world’s biggest LED volume screen.
kajoo yannaga
- Thursday 22 August to Sunday 25 August, 10am to 9pm
- Monday 26 August to Saturday 31 August, 10am to 5pm
- ACMI, Swinburne Studio
- More info here
kajoo yannaga, or come on let’s walk together, by Wiradjuri-Scottish artist April Phillips, is a visceral reimagination of a virtual walk on Country, led by the Companion Sky Spirit. A technological feat that combines First Nations knowledges with real-time motion tracking that maps body movement, this free immersive two-channel projection is an innovative and thoughtful digital exploration of our place on Country.
Plagiary
- Wednesday 28 August to Friday 30 August, 7.30pm to 8.30pm
- Saturday 31 August, 2pm to 3pm, 7.30pm to 8.30pm
- Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio
- Tickets here
AI is the director and you are its willing audience in this innovative experimental dance performance by dance technologist and choreographer Alisdair Macindoe. Choregraphed by artificial intelligence, Plagiary is an algorithmically directed dance piece that explores questions surrounding AI’s role in artistic creation.
Present Shock II
- Thursday 22 August to Sunday 1 September
- Melbourne Town Hall, Forecourt
- More info here
Created by United Visual Artists in collaboration with Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja, Present Shock II is the kind of art piece that once you see it, you’ll want to visit it again, and again and again. Consisting of a wall of statistical clocks and live news feeds in a glass box outside the Town Hall, this installation is both free and open all day, every day over the course of the festival.
Silent Symphony
- Thursday 22 August, 7pm to 10pm
- Friday 23 August to Saturday 24 August, 12pm to 10pm
- Sunday 25 August, 12pm to 8pm
- Melbourne Town Hall, Main Hall
- More info here
A sonic exploration of the universe and its musical capabilities, Silent Symphony is a free art installation by United Visual Artists that experiments with the idea of musica universalis – that the universe produces an inaudible type of music. The eight sculptural pieces rotate in formations that never repeat, meaning that your experience of the work will be different every time.
Slow Walker
- Thursday 22 August to Saturday 31 August
- Melbourne Museum, Plaza
- More info here
A collision of art, performance, music and AI, Slow Walker is the experimental brainchild of writer and director Peder Bjurman. Accompanied by a soundtrack designed by Abdul Mogard and with AI-generated narration underscoring the imagery, Slow Walker reimagines the microscopic organisms tardigrades, as colossal beasts that float over our city.
SOFT CENTRE / SUPERMODEL
- Saturday 31 August, 10pm until late
- State Library Victoria
- Tickets here
Eora-based art collective SOFT CENTRE is bringing the heat to Naarm with a three-day debut at Now or Never that covers everything from late night music to workshops to deep-dive discourses. For a very special night at the State Library, they’ll be taking over the reading rooms and bookshelves for a late night extravaganza of performances and live art pieces.
Check out the full Now or Never program here.
Beat is an official media partner of Now or Never.
