Sunday Arts Magazine

20 Mar 2023

Rising

Art Exhibition, Arts, Arts Festival, Sunday Arts Magazine

A festival that you do in the city that does it best—art, culture, food and music under moonlight: RISING today unveils its expansive 2023 program of 185 events featuring more than 400 artists including 35 commissions and 12 world premieres, set to ignite the heart of Melbourne from 7—18 June. Over 12 nights of powerful theatre, exhilarating dance, music that traverses the globe, large scale installation, public performance, free and low cost experiences, and outdoor works of mass participation, RISING will invite audiences to join a 10,000 strong kazoo orchestra, to slice up the ice, and to reflect, reckon, rave and revel in Melbourne’s night-time buzz. Spilling out across the city’s streets, carparks, churches, theaters, train stations, town squares, and on the banks of the Birrarung, RISING returns this winter to take the city as its stage, bringing the best premiere art and performance from around the world and across Australia. “RISING is a mass celebration of Melbourne’s unique culture in the heart of the city.” said RISING co-artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek. “The 2023 program is a rallying call to get involved, experience the new and be a part of a festival that couldn’t happen anywhere else.” Echoing the excitement, Minister for Creative Industries and Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos said “Creativity, culture, music, food, fun – RISING brings together everything we love about Melbourne for 12 action-packed days and nights to deliver an amazing event and boost our city businesses.” THE CITY AS A STAGE A festival that embraces Melbourne’s distinctness  — from its  hidden spaces to its landmarks reimagined, RISING in 2023 will be a chance for Victorians and visitors alike to discover the city anew. The long abandoned upper level of the city’s iconic Flinders Street Station, now one of the nation’s most unique arts spaces, will become home to Shadow Spirit, a new dimension of First Nations art, and the largest commissioned exhibition of contemporary First Peoples art in Victoria’s history. Curated by leading Yorta Yorta writer and curator Kimberley Moulton and presented with Metro Trains Melbourne, this landmark exhibition of national significance will see thirty of the most exciting First Peoples artists and collectives from across Australia invite visitors to traverse time and Ancestral spirit worlds, reflect on the shadows of Australia’s history and be immersed in deep systems of knowledge. The fifteen major works, including fourteen new commissions, will bring together artists from right across Australia including Brian Robertson (Maluyligal/ Wuthathi), Dylan Mooney (Yuwi, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander), Hayley Millar Baker (Gunditjmara ), John Prince Siddon  (Walmajarri ), Judy Watson(Waanyi), Julie Gough (Trawlwoolway), Karla Dickens (Wiradjuri), Paola Balla (Wemba Wemba / Gunditjmara)​, Rene Wanuny  Kulitja (Pitjantjatjara)   Tiger Yaltangki (Yankunytjatjara) with Jeremy Whiskey (Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara), Vicki Couzens (Keerray Wooroong / Gunditjmara), Warwick Thornton (Kaytej), Aunty Zeta Thomson  (Wurundjeri/Yorta Yorta), Maningrida Arts & Culture artists Anniebell Marrngamarrnga, Dorothy Bunibuni, Paul Nabulumo Namarinjmak, Ken Ngindjalakku Djungkidj (Kuninjku) and The Mulka Project with the late Mrs Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda (Yolŋu). Opening on the first day of RISING and extending for an eight week season until July 30, Shadow Spirit sits at RISING’s spiritual and physical centre. A festival of place and time, the 2023 program will reflect this significant moment in our history, bringing First People’s work, stories and culture to the fore with 31  powerful and diverse First Peoples-led projects, spanning theatre, dance, visual art, music, food, music and more. “Shadow Spirit honours the interwoven connections First Peoples hold to the spirit world and the expansive networks of knowledge that link place, people and Country.” said curator and RISING artistic associate, Kimberley Moulton, “Curating works of esteemed Elders and established practitioners alongside the next generation of First Peoples artists  will give audiences a deeply layered experience of our cultures. This is an ambitious national show that will amplify the exceptional contemporary creativity of First Peoples art in this country and take it to the people of Melbourne and the world.”

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