The City of Melbourne’s newest major festival, Now or Never, will return this August following a phenomenal debut last year.
From Thursday 22 to Sunday 31 August, the adventurous festival is set to make a stunning comeback with a vibrant program of over 100 free and ticketed events and sessions exploring art, ideas, sound and technology.
More than 250 local and international creatives, musicians, artists and thought leaders will take over iconic venues across Melbourne – presenting immersive digital art experiences, cutting-edge performances, groundbreaking music and captivating talks.
This year’s festival theme, ‘Look through the image’ invites audiences to interrogate what’s in front of them to explore deeper meanings and contemplate the layers of symbolism and hidden messages within.
Australian premiere of Peder Bjurman’s Slow Walker
A highlight of the festival will be the Australian premiere of Peder Bjurman’s Slow Walker, a fascinating Augmented Reality experience which allows users to see an ordinarily microscopic Tardigrade – an enduring organism also known as a ‘water bear’ – transformed into a colossal being hovering and interacting with its surrounds above the Melbourne Museum Plaza.
Tardigrades are living organisms capable of resisting extreme temperatures. They exist in space, can remain frozen for decades, resist vacuum and even radiation. What threatens this resilient species is climate change, as rising temperatures change the environment of their natural habitats.
Slow Walker by writer and director Peder Bjurman draws attention to the significance of these microscopic creatures by transforming them into a colossal being that hovers above our city, slowly moving and interacting with its surroundings. Using the screen of your mobile device pointed towards the sky, this fascinating, monumental creature comes to life through geo-located Augmented Reality technology. Watch this ephemeral being as it moves through the public space of the Melbourne Museum Plaza, accompanied by a soundtrack created by Abdul Mogard and AI-generated narration.
To experience Slow Walker audiences will need to download the free app available for Android and iPhone on site and use headphones to be fully immersed in the work.
More About Peder Bjurman
Peder Bjurman is an internationally-renowned Swedish artist, writer and director who combines imagery and music with strong abstract or narrative texts in performances that blend the tragic with the poetic or comic, often utilizing cutting-edge stage technology. His work has been shown in New York, Montreal, London, Paris, New Zealand, Mexico and across Scandinavia.
Interestingly, for over 20 years, he has collaborated with the Canadian director Robert Lepage (he was behind the original idea for Far Side of the Moon) and is an artistic consultant and advisor for companies and festivals, including Philip Glass’ latest opera Circus Days and Nights.
Bjurman started the European 360 network, production platform SITE, export office Loco Motion, and art installation company FMR Productions.
SLOW WALKER places microscopic tardigrades as gigantic 50×100, AR-objects in the Melbourne Museum Plaza, and makes them visually present using geo-fencing and smartphones – they move extremely slowly, graze and interact with the audience as they come closer.
More information on the event: nowornever.melbourne.vic.gov.au/event/slow-walker
