RISING Announces Continuation of Sidney Myer Music Bowl Takeover

Due to unprecedented demand, RISING has today announced the extension of The Wilds, with their unprecedented takeover of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl set to run for an extra week until June 19. Tickets are on sale now (Adult: $22; Concession: $17; Child: $12). RISING takes place Wed 1 June-Sun 12 June 2022. The Wilds will take over Sidney Myer Music Bowl from Wed 1 June -Sun 19 June 2022 (no Mondays).

In a coup for art aficionados, food lovers, urban explorers and thrill seekers, the season extension gives visitors more opportunities to roll-up and explore the centrepiece of the festival program and experience the Bowl like never before.

RISING's night garden of stimulation, The Wilds brings together the best of Melbourne, in a fluoro fantasy of art, food, performance and participation that will lead audiences on a sensory adventure through the entire iconic venue - from its luscious outdoor gardens, through its rarely seen backstage spaces, and even across the fabled stage itself.

They'll encounter voluminous inflatable sculptures, towering projections, mind- expanding soundscapes and eccentric performances, while cult snacks from some of the city's most revered restaurants will provide the fuel at pop-up kitchens and a glowing glass bistro overlooking it all.

Rounding out the experience, is a throwback to a Melbourne tradition that's been on hiatus for two decades, as the much loved ice-skating rink reinstated on the stage, allowing skaters of all skill levels to glide around the ice while a caterwauling choir belts out reconstructed '80s and '90s hits.

"The Wilds is an art park reflecting an unbridled creative energy. It brings together the things we love most about Melbourne - art, design, food and music in a sensory experience for all ages," said RISING Co-Artistic Director Hannah Fox.

"After all our city has been through, we do not take for granted the freedom to come together. We hope that by extending The Wilds season, more people can experience this new winter tradition for Melbourne."

An entirely new audience experience for Melbourne, The Wilds is a celebration of the city in winter, drawing all that the night time scene is famous for, to create a night out like no other.

ART

Manipulating nature, technology and colour, the New York City-based Australian technologist artists Tin & Ed have nurtured a glowing biosphere driven by their deep curiosity in the natural world. Playful, technicolour bursts of previously unimagined life forms inhabit a new dimension built from giant inflatable 3D sculptures and gaming technology.

Meanwhile, mythic architectural organisms will populate The Wilds care of the Filipino contemporary fine artist Leeroy New. Using the recycled bamboo bones of The Wilds 2021, New has constructed sprawling structures across the verdant amphitheatre. It's a tangled, abundant landscape blurring the lines between the organic and constructed.

And utilising multiple speaker arrays across four sites at The Bowl, sound artists Mark Mitchell and Pascal Barbare will use physics-based algorithms and condense natural energy to create a haunting and enveloping audio work - Decon Mass.

FOOD

Floating above thea??The Wildsa??biosphere is the sparkling glasshouse bistro,a??The Lighthouse-an intimate, plant-filled, 70-seat dining room celebrating the sustenance the earth, fields and oceans provide.

The Lighthousea??is RISING's headline fine-dining experience, led by acclaimed chefa??David Moyle-known for Franklin and Longsong (and as The Saturday Paper food editor). This year he's joined bya??Jo Barretta??anda??Matt Stonea??(futurefoodsystem, formerly Oakridge Wines), whose cooking mission is to find a viable future for the land's bounty. Rolling down the grass from The Lighthouse the trio have also collaborated to created the hyper-seasonal snack shack, The Nighthouse.

Melbourne's rock and roll vege boss, Shannon Martinez, brings her celebrated, plant-based, Fitzroy diner Smith & Daughters to the Bowl, with new twists on Smith & Daughters' greatest hits and beloved B-Sides. Barrelling in from Thornbury is 1800 Lasagne's Joey Kellock-the big-hearted host with the most, responsible for the best slab of lasagne in town. Kellock will bring his irrepressible party spirit, rich ragu, migliori melanzane and his crew of 1800 DJs.

Then there's the elemental forces of fire and ice. Smoke and spice waft from Hoy Pinoy's charcoal-fired skewers-Filipino barbeque handed down through generations, to Culinary Curator and Chef power couple Regina and James Meehan.

Also keeping the fires roaring is Melbourne's reigning masters of Argentinian barbeque, The San Telmo Group. Their team have exceptional cuts of meat and in-season vegetables flying off their woodfired grill. And to cool you down when things heat up, Piccolina Gelateria's scoop saviour Sandra Foti has three dessert collaborations with Smith & Daughters, 1800 Lasagne and The Nighthouse.

PERFORMANCE Chaos reigns in The Wilds' performance petri dish. Gleaning, preening and convening amongst makeshift habitats, meandering mascots Discordia will keep things weird, as they artfully engage in acts of mindful mindlessness. Beached on the shores of our primordial swamp are Melbourne's least professional water ballerinas, The Clams. Lured from the shallows of suburban pools, they've emerged from their shells as The Siphonophores-a deeper, darker and drier evolutionary state. A shapeshifting bioluminescent collective drifting through the Bowl's dank bayou. Rising above it all like bats in flight is the screeching RISING Night Chorus-a nocturnal choir, belting out reconstructed '80s and '90s hits over the ice of Rinky Dink. Big voices and even bigger hearts, rising into the night when the moment takes them.

For more information, visit www.rising.melbourne.

Photo Credits: Leeroy New

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