On Saturday February 18, the whole Melbourne city CBD will transform into a grand slumberless paradise for the 2017 edition of White Night. White Night is like one of those summer nights where you can’t fall asleep, but instead of drenching you in sweat and mosquito bites you’re rinsed in surreal light and installation exhibitions, and instead of that warm rush of wind through your partially open window you get swept up in a breeze of local and international street performers and musicians. The entire Melbourne CBD will shut down for 12 hours from 7pm with a large portion of the action centred around Federation Square and Carlton Gardens, spreading out as far as RMIT University and the State Library. There’s a whole buzz of live music including Firefly, Suzi Quatro, The New Savages and Yvette Johansson. There is so much on, check out the comprehensive program guide for the longest night of the year on White Night Melbourne’s website.
Talking about free weekend gigs, PBS and Multicultural Arts Victoria are presenting the Fairfield Summer Series which is running for two more weeks and bringing the heat to the Fairfield Amphitheatre every Sunday in February. Showcasing budding homegrown talent in a neat little concrete pot. This Sunday is Let’s Dance with Melbourne salad days soul outfit Do Yo Thangs, Latin powerhouse San Larazo, fresh folk father Neil Morris and Triple R’s DJ Chris Gill. Grooving from 5pm–7.30pm, on air and in the open air, it’s a perfectly organic way to spend your Sunday evening.
Starting from this week if you’ve ever wanted to learn how to make professional collages from a professional collage maker (collager?) then you’re in luck because from Saturday February 18 until the Saturday June 24, Signal are running Collage Club. Hosted and guided by contemporary artist Minna Gilligan, Collage Club is a series of monthly workshops that focus on the creation of intricate collages through the use of printed media discarded from magazine racks. Every single Collage Club is free and runs for a few hours on a Saturday roughly every month, however there are limited spaces so booking is essential on Signal’s website. Maybe you can even put this column in your collage.
