Federation Square lights up Melbourne's winter

As Melbourne edges towards mid-winter, the city has switched on its ‘Light in Winter’ celebration.

Now in its eighth edition, under the direction of leading cultural identity arts superstar Robyn Archer, this annual celebration of illuminating idea takes ‘the circle of life’ as its 2014 theme and explores the unrelenting cycles of existence across a diversity of free events, performances and exhibitions at Melbourne's Federation Square.

Archer, who has drawn together a range of local and international arts talent, assembling a program that leads with the world premiere of Radiant Lines, an interactive light installation by young UK architect Asif Khan - the brains behind the ‘Mega Faces’ pavilion that famously transformed visitor ‘selfies’ into giant 3D portraits during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Adapting the brilliance of this LED-activated installation into a piece for Federation Square, Khan has created a sculpture of 40 raw aluminium rings (seemingly floating in space) that switch from cold inertia into captivating circles of pulsating bioluminescence (embedded LED lights mimicking the rhythms of nature) when the sun sets.

Winter feasts, solstice celebrations and live performances will feature throughout the event, which runs until 22nd June, including Anachron, an installation that will see Indonesia’s Papermoon Puppet Theatre join forces with Melbourne’s Cake Industries to construct whimsical shrines from past, present and future.

Each year the Light in Winter program seeks to enlighten audiences through artistic interpretations of a central theme. 

At the heart of The Light in Winter is the participation from over 20 local artistic and cultural groups. Discussions with these diverse groups about the cycles of life, naturally led to the role shrines play both in memorialising the past and expressing hope and prayers for the future. Shrines are common to almost all cultures, and they will be many and varied during The Light in Winter.

Record your own ideas about shrines by submitting a story to Fed Square’s digital time capsule, Federation Story or step inside the custom-built video booth, DIY Shrine to share your shrine design. 

Click here for more information.

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