White Night is an international phenomenon. Originating in Paris in 2002, the first ‘Nuit Blanche’ set the concept: an all-night, citywide art festival during which galleries and museums opened their doors to everyone for free and art installations appeared on the streets. Artistic visions unleashed overnight: it’s as if an entire city is dreaming.
Melbourne first staged White Night in 2013 and it was instantly embraced with over 300,000 people taking part. It has also been held in Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong. There has been a two-year break because of Covid, but in 2022, White Night arrives triumphantly for the first time in Shepparton on Yorta Yorta Country, a two-hour drive north of Melbourne, and will light up the city on Saturday June 25 from 6pm to midnight.
Artistic director Andrew Walsh has masterminded a celebration of art and culture to showcase Shepparton’s history, with experiences that pay respect to the past and present. The brand new Shepparton Art Museum (SAM), which opened last November on the shore of Victoria Park Lake, will be the focal point for the night’s adventures.
Colourful projections will light up the sides of the SAM by artists Mimi Leung and Lowell Hunter. Michel Blazy’s soap bubble sculpture, a favourite of the first White Night in Melbourne in 2013, will cascade foam slowly inside the SAM. Kenny Pittock’s installation in the museum’s loading dock, ‘The World’s Gone Pear Shaped’, is sure to be a favourite too.
Victoria Park Lake will come alive with larger-than-life turtles and giant lotus flowers – watch for the vast ‘Crepuscular Beam’ emanating from the lake’s west side that will reach for kilometres into the sky.
The skate park will groove to infectious beats with live music from Quivers, Ausecuma Beats and a community skate off. The side of the tennis centre will feature a huge tennis-themed projection, and Monash Park will be the scene of ‘The Bells’, a relentless live action performance. And that’s only a glimpse of what’s in store.
If you’re planning on staying in Shepparton for the event, Visit Victoria is making it easy with accommodation and local food and drink info all available here. Information on all the nearby towns and villages as well as other local attractions is all there too.