Melbourne's "White Night" for FREE: Top Picks

Three of Melbourne’s inner suburban parks light up with spectacle and sound for the seventh annual ‘White Night’, August 22nd – 24th.

Across Treasury, and Carlton, gardens, and Birrarung Marr, experience light and art installations, music and performance, and heaps of international street food in a carnivalesque atmosphere.

Treasury Gardens: Enter the Sensory Realm:

In the tripartite theme of this year’s White Night (three spaces, across three nights), start at Treasury Gardens before splitting off either down to the river or over to Carlton gardens.

Wander through lighting-clad scaffold transplanted straight from a warehouse rave that reacts to sound, past pods and domes with aural and electric, kinetic light installations, past a screen projection of a giant iris reflected in water.

Most intriguing though is British artist Michael Pinsky’s Pollution Pods which guides interactors through simulated rooms replicating air conditions of cities from London to Bejing and Sao Paolo to the clean, crisp air of the Norwegian island of Tautra. With infographic insights into the variable pollutant levels and screens which make you feel more exposed by the second and blasts of scented “polluted” air, not one for claustrophobics.

Birrarung Marr: Enter the Physical Realm:

Down by the river at Birrarung Marr, or from the top of the mound overlooking Globe being performed by Dutch circus and performance art troupe “Close-Act”. Expect acrobatics amidst the smoke from flares, with high-wire stunts towering over, and leaning down into the crowd.

Close-Act's "Globe"

Follow the LED clad This Girl Can silent disco conga-line over to…

Carlton Gardens: Enter the Spiritual Realm:

Clear the path for giant angelic and witchy figures controlled by puppeteers, hit the D-floor to the DJ Bove, or wander through the rainbow crystals round to the Melbourne Museum and Mad Max installation.

Who wouldn’t want to “WITNESS” Doof Warrior shred “Thunderstruck” atop a monster truck amid pyrotechnics and projections of Fury Road.

Across the city walkways between these events you’ll also be hard pressed to miss iconic Melburnian architecture, such as the Old Treasury building and the College of Surgeon’s, and you can wander safely knowing that police are cracking down on potential disruption to ensure the satellite events and the walks between them are family-friendly.

Check out the full White Night program here.