The Ten Best Things to Do in Melbourne's CBD This Month
You don't have to venture further than the confines of the city to find the good stuff this October.
The Ten Best Things to Do in Melbourne's CBD This Month
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You don't have to venture further than the confines of the city to find the good stuff this October.
October. It's the month where the weather starts to warm up (well, fingers crossed), spring fashion sweeps through the city and we finally get that glorious hour of sunlight to fuel our after-work adventures. So what better time to start splorin' the CBD? Melbourne Festival is on and is taking over the city with a cavalcade of art and red webbing, there's a bunch of exhibitions (showing everything from Banksy's work to that of designers Viktor&Rolf) and a festival dedicated entirely to our preferred drink for this time of year: the G&T. Get amongst it.
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When it comes to street art exhibitions, it really doesn’t get any bigger than this. A retrospective of Banksy‘s work is making its way to Australia, featuring more than 80 of the artist’s off-street masterpieces.
From October 7 to January 22, The Paddock in Melbourne’s Federation Square will play host to The Art of Banksy, a massive collection of pieces by the art world’s chief enigma — including the darkly satirical, overtly political work that has turned the stencil-loving artist into such an infamous icon. Endeavouring to take audiences on a journey through Banksy’s output and mindset, the exhibition will include the well-known Girl with Balloon, Flag Wall and Laugh Now pieces, as well as three efforts that have never before been displayed to the public.
If it sounds epic, that’s because it is. The art featured has been sourced from over 40 different private collectors around the world, and comprises the largest showcase of Banksy pieces to ever make its way to our shores. As curated by the artist’s former manager Steve Lazarides, the exhibition is also a little controversial. While every piece is original, unique and authentic, The Art of Banksy proudly boasts that the entire show is 100% unauthorised. No, Banksy hasn’t signed off on the event.
As well as displaying Banksy’s work in a custom-built enclosure, The Art of Banksy will also shine a light on a range of pieces by well-known and emerging local street artists. Expect to find them on the surrounding external surfaces and the inside walls of the exhibition’s own Circle Bar, which will serve craft beers and cocktails. Outside, the Welcome to Thornbury team will corral a heap of food trucks into an area called ‘The Railyard’. Plus, on Friday nights and Saturday arvos, DJs will also provide appropriate tunes to suit the occasion.
Of course, Melburnians will know that this isn’t the mysterious figure’s first dalliance with the city. The artist’s stencils have popped up around the city previously courtesy of a visit in 2003, though many have been destroyed and damaged in the years since.
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Melbourne Festival is back in all its singing, dancing and performative glory for another year. As always, Melb Fest is delivering a lineup slammed with gigs, theatrical pieces, interactive installations, dances and so much more that defies classification. Over October 6-23 you can catch Singapore-born pianist Melvyn Tan’s orchestral retelling of La Belle et la Bête (known to all of us as Beauty and the Beast), or a showing of the internationally acclaimed animated film The Triplets of Belleville. Paul Kelly is teaming up Camille O’Sullivan and Feargal Murray in their show Ancient Rain, a musical show based around the rhythmic poetry of W.B. Yeats. Or — and this is the one you won’t want to miss — there’s also a huge Melbourne Symphony Orchestra-backed David Bowie tribute show named David Bowie: Nothing Has Changed (*cries just a little bit*).
The theatrical shows are going to be tough to choose between — there’s far too many to name individually but here’s a wrap: a fluid stage production informed by the talents of Tourette’s syndrome, a chilling, ambiguous play about the cultural significance of funerals, an interactive play, with money on the line, exploring altruism and greed, the story of two Chinese country boys moving to the big smoke…we could go but you might just have to read the full program.
For those who’re tightening the purse strings, Melb Fest have also scheduled some fantastic free shows. As well as the art trams you can catch trundling through the city, you can catch Tanderrum, an Indigenous dance ceremony that’s part of the commencement address in Federation Square (October 5, 6.30pm) and Les Tambours De Feu, a display that’s best described as ‘drumming and fiery explosions’ by Basque company Deabru Beltzak (October 6-8, also in Federation Square). Chiharu Shiota’s The Home Within, a complex installation of red webbing, is also free to explore as it moves across various locations in the city. Or you can have your hair cut by an unsupervised child at Haircuts by Children (a risky comment on empowering youth) if you dare. Either way, it’s going to be a big month.
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Melbourne is getting a gin festival. Or should we say: Melbourne is getting another gin festival. In a turn of events that could only be a problem in our fine city, Melbourne is all of the sudden faced with the happy problem of having not one, but two gin festivals on the cards for this year. You might remember the hugely successful Juniperlooza, a locally-organised festival which was held in November last year. Well, this new festival — confusingly called Junipalooza (yes, that’s an ‘a’ instead of an ‘er’) — is coming to Melbourne by way of the UK, and will unsurprisingly be dedicated entirely to gin.
The Melbourne version of the festival (the first to be held outside of the UK) will be a twin event to Junipalooza London, which started back in 2013. The event will be held over two days this October at North Melbourne’s Meat Market. It’ll be hosted by founders of the UK’s Gin Foundry, Olivier and Emile Ward — so you know you’re in good gin-pouring hands. The award-winning brothers live, breathe and drink gin, compiling all their knowledge onto their comprehensive online gin directory. It makes sense then that the pair have teamed up with local gin expert, The Gin Queen (aka Caroline Childerley) and gin makers Four Pillars, Archie Rose and Poor Toms Gin (just to name just a few) to celebrate the noble spirit in Melbourne.
Junipalooza will feature sampling stations, cocktails and gin masterclasses with some of the world’s best distillers. Over 26 distillers from around the globe will be in attendance, giving punters the chance to take a bottle or two of their favourite gin home. Tonic water specialists Capi will be on-hand as well to bring the T to your G&T.
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Open the cinema doors, HAL, because a new film festival is heading to Australian screens. You won’t need someone to strap you to a chair and force your eyes open with a specula to get you to watch this fantastic movie lineup — and you won’t have to wander around a maze-like haunted hotel to get there either.
Hot on the heels of the Alfred Hitchcock Film Festival, Melbourne’s Cinema Nova are turning their attention to celebrating another movie master. This time, the one and only Stanley Kubrick is in the spotlight. From October 6-19, the two cinemas will unleash all 13 of the British filmmaker’s full-length features upon eager cinephiles.
That means everything from his under-seen anti-war debut Fear and Desire to the controversial Lolita to his final completed effort, the Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise-starring erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut. Discover why “I am Spartacus!” became such a famous cinema phrase, find out how Dr Strangelove learned to stop worrying and love the bomb, and plunge into the horrors of the Vietnam War with Full Metal Jacket— and even catch special screenings of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, which Kubrick started developing in the ’70s before handing the project over to Steven Spielberg in the ’90s.
Sure, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining pop up in retrospective programs around the country quite often, but there’s never a bad time to see these classics the way they were meant to be seen. Plus, catching every one of Kubrick’s features in one lineup is quite rare. So rare, in fact, that the fest is calling itself a world premiere.
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Get in the spring spirit and shimmy your way over to the annual Meyers Place Latin Fiesta. A vibrant street party organised by the traders of Meyers Place, this much-loved Melbourne event will become a temporary home to all things Latin American for one afternoon this October.
From dynamic live music to some of the best street food in the city, a visit to the Meyers Place Latin Fiesta is a must. Enjoy an emporium of Latin cuisine with empanadas from San Telmo, cocktails from Lily Blacks and Loop Roof, as well as ‘Latin-inspired’ cheesy slices from Pizza Pizza Pizza.
Latin crafts, dances classes and a live Latin music and performance will be taking place in the CBD laneway from 11am until 6pm. For the first time, they’ll be charging an entrance fee — either $6 online or $5 on the door (if it’s not full already).
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It’s not hard to understand why The Wheeler Centre named their upcoming feminist lecture series Hey Girl. It’s a phrase that’s layered with fluid meaning, from street harassment and solidarity to glowing approval and murky gender identity. These topics and more are under the microscope at Hey Girl, a lecture series running from October 10-14 at the CBD literary hub.
The collection of talks explores the common threads of womanhood, like sexuality, race, sisterhood, empathy and fighting the feminist fight. Plus, the series will also make space for stories less commonly heard from the LGBTIQ community.
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An upcoming exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria will bring together the realms of high fashion and high art. Celebrating the extraordinary work of Dutch designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Artists will showcase some of the luxury fashion house’s most iconic haute couture pieces, as it celebrates one of the most remarkable partnerships in the world of modern fashion.
Running from October 21 through to February 26, 2017, the world-first exhibition has been developed by the NGV in partnership with Viktor&Rolf, under the curatorship of international guest curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot. In addition to the more than 35 original items, the exhibition will also feature the duo’s upcoming work Dolls, a collection of antique dolls dressed in some of the pair’s most memorable designs.
Collaborating for the first time in 1992, Horsting and Snoeren have long been renowned for their boundary pushing designs and experimental runway shows. Perhaps their most memorable showing was in 2003, when they teamed up with actress Tilda Swinton (of course) along with an army of Tilda lookalikes for their One Woman Show autumn/winter collection.
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This is a public service announcement for anyone who bakes, eats or lives and breathes cake. One of the biggest dessert shows in the country returns to Melbourne this October, featuring everything and anything in the world of baking and cake decorating.
Running for three days from October 21-23 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, the event will include live demonstrations across a number of theatres, as well as shopping, challenges and — of course — lots and lots of epic, out-of-this-world cakes. From MasterChef 2016 winner Elena Duggan to international cake artist Danielle Gotheridge to Movida’s Frank Camorra, the 2016 Cake Bake & Sweets Show will host a huge lineup of expert bakers. International chocolate sculptor Paul Joachim (known for his huge chocolate pieces, including a huge Harry Potter sculpture he made for J.K. Rowling’s birthday) will be there too, teaching punters how to carve 15-kilogram blocks of chocolate into works of art.
The show will run from 10am until 5pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets start from $28 for single-day general admission.
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It’s only taken a few short years for the British Film Festival to become a highlight of Australia’s busy festival calendar, and their first titles for their fourth year demonstrate why. Fancy seeing this year’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner? Or a host of high-profile titles direct from their premieres at the Venice and Toronto film festivals? Or a restored version of the David Bowie-starring sci-fi classic The Man Who Fell to Earth? Well, they’re all on the bill when the festival returns to Melbourne’s Palace Cinema Como, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay and The Astor from October 26 to November 16.
Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake — which took top honours in Cannes back in May — takes a look at the British welfare system through the filmmaker’s usual social realist lens, and ranks among the most highly anticipated of the bunch. It’s joined by the high-profile likes of opening night’s A United Kingdom and closing night’s A Monster Calls. And because all good film fests don’t just look forward to future hits but also peer back to the greats of years gone by, this year’s British Film Festival has curated a ten-movie tribute to some of the country’s enduring cinematic heroes. As well as Bowie proving his out-of-this-world acting abilities, catch Gary Oldman getting his punk on in Sid and Nancy and feast on the epic action adventure that is Highlander.
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It’s the news architecture and design fans — and just all-round creative folks in general — have been waiting for. MPavilion has revealed the highlights of its 2016/17 lineup and hooo boy, it’s a long list.
The program runs from October 5 to February 18, and includes over 400 free public events. Basically, prepare for your entertainment budget to drop significantly, C/O MPavilion. They’re a part of the Melbourne Festival and Confluence: Festival of India, which also includes White Night and Melbourne Music Week.
This year’s highlights include a talk series dedicated to design and science, free yoga sessions courtesy of Happy Melon Mindful Yoga, and an exploration of the history of Bauhaus in Australia from the pros at Monash University and the University of Melbourne. You can also attend the launch of issue six of Assemble Papers, ‘Future Local’; check out performances by the Australian Youth Orchestra, Australian National Academy of Music and Australian String Quartet; and head along to some amazing free music events as part of MMusic, including shows curated by Chapter Music, Bedroom Suck Records, Smooch Records, Conrad Standish, Sovereign Trax, Spike Fu*k and Miles Davis.
Top image: Fabian Mardi.
Make the most of these CBD adventures by taking a staycation at Melbourne’s newest city hotel, QT Melbourne. Inspired by the city itself and the 1920s ‘Paris end’ rag traders, QT Melbourne houses three brand new venues: Pascale Bar & Grill, The Cake Shop, Hot Sauce Laneway Bar and Rooftop at QT. Find out more here.
