A night in the wild to be inspired by

Escaping into a wild extravaganza has never been easier thanks to the latest winter night-time festival to open in Melbourne.

A festival three years in the making, RISING has been much anticipated with 225 events spanning the city and showcasing 801 local and international artists.

The extensive program contains events for all ages in the realm of art, theatre, dance and live music, with the central drawcard of the festival being The Wilds at Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Running from June 1 to 19, RISING’s artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek said they were incredibly proud for audiences to experience the event.

“For RISING we wanted to create a large-scale cultural event that truly captured the essence of this city,” they said.

Equally inspired by the city and more specifically the location of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl is Filipino contemporary fine artist Leeroy New.

Specialising in large-scale immersive installations and landscape-inspired work, Leeroy New’s latest installations for RISING are made out of woven bamboo, various collected discards and surplus materials from a local recycling centre.

Located at The Wilds on various sites, Leeroy’s four sculptures capture the otherworldly aspect of the festival and transport audiences to an “alien-like landscape” with their sci-fi form.

“The landscape is a big inspiration and a lot of it has to do with us responding to the specific terrain, the environment and how the work can physically interact with what’s available and what’s already in the space,” he said.

“We tend to intuitively respond, and the work adapts and evolves according to the site.”

Also at The Wilds and showcasing an all-new technicolour world where nature, art and science coexist in the form of inflatable sculptures and digital art is New York based Australian artists Tin Nguyen and Edward Cutting (Tin & Ed).

While the wild terrain of the transformed Sidney Myer Music Bowl will have people captivated by sculptures, the festival event also has eccentric performances, a set-up DJ to get visitors dancing and pop-up kitchens to grab some late-night snacks.

The addition of the Rinky Dink ice-skating rink has also gained plenty of attention, with people seen skating around to reconstructed catchy pop tunes from the RISING Night Chorus.

A quadraphonic sound environment called Glass Paintings has been created by Nick Huggins and Ben Talbot Dunn in preparation for the festival and can also be heard at Rinky Dink at times.

For a true winter escape where all the senses will come alive, book tickets for the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and visit from 5pm on Tuesday through to Sunday.

RISING is funded by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and Visit Victoria, and The Wilds has been created in partnership with Arts Centre Melbourne. •

rising.melbourne/festival-program/the-wilds