A glowing red immersive laser artwork will light up the spectacular architecture of The Capitol Theatre as part of Melbourne arts festival Rising.
Japanese artist Shohei Fujimoto’s installation intangible #form will create a walk-through moving field of laser beams that map out the theatre’s historic design features.
“I hope that people can experience this process of comprehending a space as a shape, and I would like to embody this process in slow-mo of when people are trying to comprehend something,” the artist said through an interpreter.
Fujimoto was part of the famed Tokyo international art collective TeamLAB, and his free installation will run each night of the festival during June, as part of a program featuring 65 events and 15 new commissions.
Rising festival has replaced the Melbourne International Arts Festival and the city’s popular White Night events, and last year attracted an audience of almost 700,000 people, according to organisers.
But no light has been shed on its future funding arrangements – the event, which is run independently, is not currently funded beyond 2025.
“We’re not able to make any announcements on behalf of government, and like all the major events any discussion around funding is commercial in confidence,” said co-artistic director Hannah Fox.
According to figures lodged with the charities regulator in January, Rising attracted $14.6 million in government funding, while sales revenue totalled $5.6 million for 2023/24.
As the costs of event production have increased, the festival has tried to keep ticket prices low, and offer free attractions such as Fujimoto’s laser light work.
Fox estimates that more than two-thirds of Rising’s audience engage with the free events on its program, while cheaper tickets have attracted a younger crowd.
“In comparison to the Melbourne Festival, our audience has got a lot younger and more diverse, with lot more of greater Melbourne participating, and I would put that down in large part to ticket price,” she said.
Highlights of the 2025 program include Britain’s Suki Waterhouse playing her first shows in Australia, with two performances in Melbourne, and Portishead’s Beth Gibbons also brings her solo debut LIVES OUTGROWN to Australia.
South Korean artist Woopsyang will stage a Space Out Competition in Melbourne – where participants compete to be the best at doing absolutely nothing.
At The City Baths, swimmers can participate in a listening experience by local sound artist Sara Retallick, where the sounds and music can only be heard underwater, while the cult rock musical Hedwig and The Angry Inch is back in a new Australian production at the Athenaeum Theatre.
Rising runs from June 4-15.