Melbourne's most ambitious arts and technology festival Now or Never returns for 11 days of pure creative chaos.
Now or Never 2025 promises to be bigger and bolder than ever, transforming iconic Melbourne venues into playgrounds for cutting-edge art, music and ideas. With 285 local and international creatives taking over the city, this year’s festival delivers 140 free and ticketed events that’ll blow your mind and challenge everything you thought you knew about contemporary culture.
Festival highlights span from techno-pop icon Marie Davidson and Japanese visual artist Ryoji Ikeda taking over Melbourne Town Hall, to a massive inflatable installation filling the Royal Exhibition Building. Barcelona’s Studio Penique brings MATRIA, a towering pink recycled inflatable that’ll transform the UNESCO World Heritage-listed space into something completely otherworldly.
Now or Never
- When: Thursday 21 August to Sunday 31 August
- Where: Various venues across Melbourne including Fed Square, Melbourne Town Hall, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne Recital Centre, State Library Victoria
- Tickets: Mix of free and ticketed events
Check out our gig guide here.
From raves to radical possibilities
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Electronic music fans are in for a treat with Melbourne Town Hall hosting four nights of large-scale performances. Beyond Marie Davidson and Ryoji Ikeda’s Australian premiere of ultratronics, the lineup features New York’s DJ Python, Berlin-based Logic1000, Amsterdam’s Young Marco, and rising Murri star Yarra.
Visual spectacles abound throughout the program. Dutch artist Boris Acket unveils Einder, a 20-metre kinetic light and sound installation featuring flowing textiles that’ll dialogue with Melbourne Town Hall’s Grand Organ. Meanwhile, Dr Christian Thompson AO reimagines Evan Walker Bridge with Burdi Burdi (Fire Fire), his largest outdoor sonic installation to date.
State Library Victoria gets the projection treatment with Hamill Industries’ DELIRI, a captivating façade mapping that incorporates artificial intelligence and image distortion to deconstruct reality itself. Over at Melbourne Recital Centre, legendary electronic producer Moritz von Oswald performs his acclaimed album Silencio with a 16-person choir.
Beyond the music and visuals, Now or Never dives deep into big ideas. Australia’s first astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg joins conversations about space exploration, while neuroscientist Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston explores the radical possibilities of brain preservation in How to Live Forever.
For more information, head here.
Beat is a proud media partner of Now or Never.
