Messina to Return to Sydney Festival Village in Hyde Park

This article is sponsored by our partners, Sydney Festival.

Having excelled at keeping revellers cool and sweetened-up at the 2014 Festival Village, the whizzes at Gelato Messina are set to return in 2015. As anyone who’s experienced last year's Messina incarnation at Sydney Festival would know, this doesn’t involve merely turning up with a cart and doling out the goods, Mr Whippy-style. When Messina hits the village, they bring an entire ice-cream carnival with them.

The 2015 menu is still under wraps. But after bouncing around Stonehenge last summer on a sugar-rush fuelled by the fairground treats of Gelatoffee Apples, Eyescream Lollipops, Messinawieners and Yeeeah Dogs, our expectations are high.

While availing yourself of Messina’s custom-built creations, you’ll be able to wander around a reimagined Hyde Park consuming an array of other sensory delights. Taking the mantle of Thing Everyone Instagrams This Year from Jeremy Deller’s inflatable Stonehenge (aka Sacrilege) will be Irish artist Maser with his work Higher Ground. He’s taken on the influence of MC Escher’s vertigo-inducing art and concocted a part-installation, part-playground that’s two storeys high. What’s especially exciting is that Sydney will be the first city in the world to experience it.

In between shaking up your notions of what space, geometry, colour and gelato are capable of, there’ll be ample opportunities to challenge your perceptions of human anatomy by checking out some circus, cabaret and circus-cabaret. Alternatively, give yourself a breather with some chilled-out tunes. Not one but two Spiegeltents are being magicked up this year: The Aurora and The Famous Spiegeltent. Theatrical performances on the program include the return of Limbo, local acrobats A Simple Space and Between the Cracks burlesque.

As for music, SydFest has diversified to the tune of 200 percent on 2014. Back-to-back nights of exclusive and one-night-only Australian and international shows will run for three solid weeks, with the schedule split into early and late. To help you shake off your workaday grit and grime, relaxing sessions will be happening from 5.15pm most evenings, featuring performers from the US, New Zealand, Japan, Reunion and home. These include the hypnotic, percussion-driven ceremonial rhythms of Christine Salem; the country-soul and airy vocals of Tiny Ruins; and the squalling guitars and avant-noise of Body/Head (aka Kim Gordon and Bill Nace).

On a selection of nights, live acts and DJs will be turning The Aurora into a dance floor from 11.45pm onwards. There won’t be a moment to pine for Hot Dub Time Machine. Head night owls include Brazilian hip-hop queen Karol Conka, idiosyncratic mixer Oneman (UK) and garage punk swaggerers Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds.