The inaugural SummerSalt Festival is just around the corner and some of Melbourne’s leading arts organisations are getting ready to take over Southbank.
From 23 January to 21 February, the streets of the Melbourne Arts Precinct will be filled with music, dance, circus, theatre and art from organisations including Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Arts Centre Melbourne, Australian Centre for Contemporary Arts, Chunky Move, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Theatre Company, National Gallery of Victoria, The Australian Ballet and Victorian College of the Arts.
During the day, families can explore fun, free and low cost events such as interactive theatre, puppetry, storytelling, giant art installations and hands-on workshops.In the evenings, Southbank will come alive with exciting outdoor concerts, street-art, theatre and cinema until late.
With some much to choose from, the team at SummerSalt Festival have selected some highlights to help you plan your summer adventure.
Everybody
13 – 15 Feb, Festival Hub, Dodds St
Everybody is an interactive installation and roaming puppet performance that will surprise and delight unsuspecting audiences, liberating people from the ordinary and mundane. Onlookers will be encouraged to interact with, and even sit on the body while performers/puppeteers activate the huge living puppet at regular intervals, performing in and around it in a multitude of giant human body part and organ puppets.
Exxopolis
23 Jan – 1 Feb, ACCA Forecourt
Exxopolis is a dazzling maze of winding paths and soaring domes, a monumental inflatable structure designed to generate a sense of wonder at the beauty of light and colour.
Pixel Mountain
18 – 21 Feb, Dodds St Stage
Pixel Mountain is best described as an aerial and interactive projection work performed on iconic buildings. As highly skilled aerialists dance on the side of walls, real-time interactive projections respond to the dancers’ every move.
Scotch + Soda
11 Feb – 15 Feb, Dodds St Stage
Some of Australia’s finest acrobats and music-makers butt heads to create Scotch + Soda, a whiskey-soaked evening of raucous dance and dexterous feats – where the band holds center stage.
Sour Times
23 Jan – 21 Feb, Tour begins from the corner of Southbank Boulevard and Dodds St. Download Sour Times free from the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android).
Adventurers on this interactive experience will take an irreverent journey through the Southbank precinct, using a unique smartphone application with the newest location aware technology, which interacts with a street-art adorned path. Participants will attempt to follow the misadventures of one of three different characters as they retrace their steps taken on an evening of misperceptions and mix ups that they’d rather forget.
You can view the full SummerSalt Festival program at summersaltfestival.com.au
Published on 7 January 2015
