From 21 to 31 August, Now or Never celebrates its third edition with a Melbourne program exploring art, ideas, sound and technology. With over 140 free and ticketed events, the city-wide festival features more than 285 local and international artists and creatives and includes thirty new commissions making their Melbourne premiere.
Boris Acket, Einder. installation view, Now or Never 2025
Taking over iconic venues and public spaces, highlights include MATRIA, a monumental installation inside the Royal Exhibition Building by Barcelona-based Studio Penique. In partnership with Museums Victoria, the free interactive installation transforms the building’s grand interior into a living, breathing organism, with a towering, monochromatic recycled pink inflatable that reverberates with an accompanying soundscape.
Other highlights include Dutch artist and composer Boris Acket’s Einder at Melbourne Town Hall – a twenty-metre-long kinetic light and sound installation, which features flowing textiles in atmospheric dialogue with the building’s grandeur. Also at this site is Ostro x Einder, a one-night-only art-meets-dining event in the form of an opulent long-table feast beneath the Einder installation.
There is also Barcelona-based creative studio Hamill Industries’ large-scale façade projection, DELIRI. In partnership with State Library Victoria, its video mapping delves into the unknown, deconstructing our understanding of reality through artificial intelligence, image distortion and flowing reflections captured in-camera. Another highlight is Bidjara/Chinese-Australian artist Dr Christian Thompson AO with the sonic installation Burdi Burdi (Fire Fire); here, the Evan Walker Bridge is reimagined with Thompson’s largest outdoor installation to date – the pedestrian crossing transformed into a space for quiet reflection.
