Kaleidoscope

Overview

Thanks to Keith Courtney, Melburnians have already been able to walk through a huge house of mirrors in the past few years. And, with his help, moseying through an eerie and endless labyrinth of doors became a reality, too. The homegrown installation artist isn't done setting up massive mazes just yet, however — and his latest is designed to resemble a huge, human-sized kaleidoscope.

Fittingly called Kaleidoscope — and open daily from 12–10pm, with tickets costing $15 — this installation isn't small. It's a 700-square-metre expanse of glass, steel, mirrors and moving prisms that features a labyrinth of corridors decked out in a revolving showcase of lights and colours. Set up for this year's Rising Festival, but sticking around until Sunday, July 24, it's currently shimmering and luring Melburnians in the Art Centre Melbourne forecourt.

Both House of Mirrors and 1000 Doors have also graced the same space — and, like them both, this one has been crafted to be immersive as possible. Expect to have your senses disoriented while you're strolling through, including both motion and gravity. Expect to see plenty of shifting illusions among the ever-changing array of light and colour as well, and to be drawn in by the installation's soundscape in the process.

"No one will have the same experience in Kaleidoscope – this is a multi-sensory and at times physical experience where the visitor is completely submerged in sound and light – a vortex of serenity to somewhere or nowhere," explains Courtney.

In bringing the massive piece to life, the artist has teamed up with visual artist Ash Keating, composer Tamil Rogeon and artist Samantha Slicer, plus a team of highly skilled technicians.