Mapping Melbourne

With the current backdrop of the Melbourne Now exhibition, Melbourne’s urban landscape and underground artists are continuing to creep their way into our conception of what constitutes contemporary art. Art has always been a potent forum for challenging societal boundaries, and this movement towards graffiti as street art, hip hop crews as professional ensembles, and the subterranean rag trade as the source of fashion’s elite, merely highlights the creative dynamic of this space.

Mapping Melbourne is a four-day festival that not only sheds light on this facet of contemporary art, but also on more established artists and sources of inspiration in cross-cultural interactions.  Produced and presented by Multicultural Arts Victoria, Mapping Melbourne sees a flight of independent Asian and Asian-influenced artists dispersed across the city’s centre to exhibit, perform, read, discuss, showcase their work.  Think breakdancing, light shows, fashion runways – all for free.

Today, the program will transform the State Library forecourt into a fashion show collaboration between Jakarta street artist Darbotz and Melbourne-based Fame Agenda.

Tomorrow, a pop-up dance festival at the Melbourne Museum Forecourt will allow you to navigate four sites over four hours with local and international artists from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan and Mongolia, culminating in a Javanese spectacle of dance, robotics, lights and shadows at the Royal Exhibition Building.

Also on Saturday, 1000£ Bend will play host to a ‘dance off’ of sorts between three local crews and Jakarta’s Bboy Kreate, with innovative DJs and VJs partying long into the night.  The Sunday program then involves artist talks, a master class, and discussions of faith and literature at the Wheeler Centre and MiFA Gallery.

As the fickle Melbourne weather remembers that it is in fact summer, this weekend is a great opportunity to explore the creative melting pot of cultural collisions and street level ingenuity.

Visit www.multiculturalarts.com.au for more information.