WinterLive returns to Abbotsford Convent with a killer lineup of experimental artists
The Abbotsford Convent is flipping the script on winter this year, transforming its atmospheric heritage buildings and grounds into a nocturnal playground for sound, performance, installation and film.
WinterLive is back for another season, running across June and July with a genuinely stacked lineup that ranges from experimental electronics to vocal gatherings and genre-defying ensemble works.
WinterLive kicks off 20 June, drawing together a mix of international heavy-hitters and local talent working across some of the most interesting edges of contemporary practice.
WinterLive at Abbotsford Convent
- Dates: 20 June–18 July 2026
- Venue: Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford
- Tickets here
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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Who’s performing?
Colombian composer Lucrecia Dalt headlines following the release of her 2025 album A Danger to Ourselves, bringing surreal electronics and emotionally charged storytelling to a rare Melbourne performance.
Japanese sound pioneer Akio Suzuki and multidisciplinary artist Hiromi Miyakita also feature, with Suzuki’s site-responsive residency project Oto Date unfolding across the precinct as a series of sound walks. First Nations artists J.WLSN, Liam Keenan and Amby Downs round out a diverse program that spans ambient minimalism, post-rock and de/anti-colonial sound work.
At the heart of the program is Laundry Sessions, a multi-performance journey staged throughout the Convent’s Magdalen Laundry, where audiences move through immersive works and live performances across sound art, installation and film.
International collective Blame the Shadows presents The Sky After Rain, a three-channel installation drawing on displacement and queerness through poetry, choreography and recorded testimony from the Iranian diaspora. Projection artist Yandell Walton’s Ecological Adaptation imagines speculative ecosystems through motion, sound and immersive digital projection.
The program also stretches into ensemble and communal territory.
Nigerian-Dutch artist Kasinda brings Agaracha Orchestra with Birth of the Black Baroque, fusing Nigerian and Dutch rhythmic traditions through an ensemble of Melbourne musicians.
The season wraps with Wildflower, a vocal gathering featuring Queenie, WILSN and Nkechi Anele across soul, jazz, r&b and contemporary experimental music.
On the eve of the Winter Solstice, Los Angeles-based artist Odeya Nini leads a sound bath exploring the transformative possibilities of the human voice, which honestly sounds like exactly the kind of thing you didn’t know you needed until now.
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Abbotsford Convent.
