RISING: Euphoria

Melbourne has come alive once again this winter with the return of the revolutionary, raucous revelry of RISING – a celebration of music, food, art and culture under moonlight and in the heart of Naarm. This year’s program invites punters to catch a gig, ice skate in Birrarung Marr and become entangled in thought-provoking, provocative art. Euphoria by Julian Rosefeldt is a poetic contemplation of capitalism, colonialism and capital with a neoliberal lens.

You may recognise the name Julian Rosefeldt from the opulent video installation Manifesto in 2015, featuring Australia’s darling Cate Blanchett. The German artist and filmmaker is back with Euphoria, an intelligent and informed video installation that transforms the Melbourne Town Hall into an arena swallowed by screens, jazz drummers, a life-sized choir and a cinematic masterpiece. The experience is pieced together featuring profound historical musings by the upper echelons of philosophy – Prato, Marquis de Sade, to name a couple – and a diverse range of thinkers – including Snoop Dogg, Warren Buffett and Angela Davis, and stars Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito, Virginia Newcomb and Ayesha Jordan.

Clever vignettes within the 117-minute experience include a taxi driver weaving through the streets of New York City driving a mysterious person in the back; a group of homeless men exploring the nuances of economics, social capital and wealth distribution; a trio of women working at a US postal service warehouse, processing an endless chain of parcels; a young group of ruffians contemplate the self and the construct of time in an abandoned bus lot; a lone tiger stalks supermarket aisles; and slick executives morph into an acrobatic troupe at an upscale bank. Transitions between scenes are punctuated by the band, each musician occupying a large-scale screen above, while the choir is featured on the lower ring of the main room.

RISING’s Euphoria is vast in scope, immersive, and truly breathtaking.

RISING: Euphoria
Melbourne Town Hall
90–130 Swanston Street, Melbourne, 3000
Runs until Sunday 18 June 2023