Somewhat of a younger sister to Hobart’s Dark Mofo, Rising is Melbourne’s annual winter festival of new art, music, and performance—and it all kicked off yesterday. This year, more than 300 artists will work across 65 events, showcasing the city in all its moonlit glory over two epic weekends.
Over 12 nights (until 15 June), stumble your way into newly uncovered corners of the city (laneways, arcades, and underground basements) to bare witness to a lineup of world-class international and local artists. From visual art, performance and public art installations to live music and parties, there is a host of experiences for all to enjoy (no matter what you’re into).
Not sure where to start? Not Safe For Queers has got ya! Read on to discover our top 5 queer (and queer-friendly) parties, plays and performances at this year’s Rising festival.
Nyege Nyege Day Party (7 June)
Founded in 2014, the annual Nyege Nyege Festival, held in Jinja, Uganda has become a seminal space for afro-galactic electronic music and queer expression. This year, they’re coordinating with Day Tripper to put on a free day party in Howey Place.
Artists include Old Plates DJs, Kampire, Lady Hash, DJ Travella, and MC Yallah.
The Act (11 – 14 June)
The body is a vehicle for desire and for expression. The art of sex work. The seductive pull of dance. The possibility that, when lost in the act, or when observing moments of irreverence or desire, we can forget the transactions or transgressions that have led us there.
Amrita Hepi, a Bunjalung Ngapuhi artist is one of Naarm/Melbourne’s pre-eminent voices in contemporary dance. Tilly Lawless is a writer and sex worker who shares sharp and heartfelt insights into queer romance and the stigma faced by sex workers.
The two developed The Act, with co-writer and director Mish Grigor, after Hepi reached out to Lawless to tell her she was a fan. Over several years they’ve built an absorbing and original performance language that explores the hidden parallels between their worlds. Through movement and intimate dialogue, they interrogate the delicate balance between personal expression and professional service, between artistic integrity and market demands
Ecstacy (11 – 14 June)
Live, loud, visceral and taking place in the round, Ecstasy invites us to stretch into this seductive void. To shake free and become enraptured, inside the unknowable.
Ecstasy expands the artists’ 2024 album to an operatic scale, placing body and voice into a ritualistic communing with light and sound from above and below. A choreographic investigation into the reckless abandonment of the rave—a reach into the place where dancefloor heat goes beyond the beyond.
Musically, Whale’s production builds on cascading sub-bass and choral drone to stretch the conventions of electronic music and the human voice past their usual breaking points. Inspired by Saint Teresa of Avila’s violent rapture with angels, Whale enmeshes modes of queer performance with mystical pageantries. Tethering to baroque elation, he sends himself headfirst into a point of ekstasis—a state of being ‘outside oneself’.
The closing night of Ecstasy will see The Substation transformed into CLUB ECSTASY, a club-night of live performance and music curated by Marcus Whale. More info…
Library Up Late x Make Believe (12 June)
Enjoy exclusive after-hours access to the Library’s newest exhibition, Make Believe, Encounters with Misinformation. Wander under the iconic Dome for performances from neo-soul powerhouse, PA777IENCE as well as Scotty So and House of Silky. Then dance to some of Melbourne’s best DJs including C.FRIM, Mirasia and Adriana.
Arrive early for a deep dive into misinformation and disinformation with a talk show exposé hosted by comedian Sammy J. Their guests on the couch—including Sofi Basseghi, Anita Brown-Major, Scotty So and curator Georgia Goud—will take the ideas off Make Believe’s walls and bring them into the Ian Potter Queen’s Hall with an unmissable discussion.
Hedwig And The Angry Itch (13 – 29 June)
It’s the Broadway smash that took the ‘rock musical’ on a glam-punk bender. Now, Hedwig and the Angry Inch struts into RISING, fresh from a 5-star run at the Adelaide Festival, in a daring new Australian production that channels the raw, anarchic spirit of the original.
With a battered mic in one hand and a dream in the other, Hedwig, an escapee from East Berlin who dreams of rock ‘n roll glory, finds herself betrayed and abandoned in a Kansas trailer park. Poised on the cusp of heartbreak, she takes to the stage wrapped in fury, fishnets and razor-sharp humour along with a blistering live band (The Angry Inch), and lets it rip.
A performance that’s as hilarious as it is heart-wrenching, Hedwig is an unmissable theatrical event.
Rising: Melbourne runs until 15 June. Tickets on sale now.