White Night Melbourne 2017

Last night through this morning was the fifth year of White Night Melbourne, which runs from 7pm to 7am around the CBD and surrounds. This year featured some interesting pieces and light projections spread across the various precincts in the city. I began my evening/early morning at the NGV where they had the special projections Viktor&Rolf - Inside Out by the Electric Canvas on the facade in honor of the current Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Artists exhibition.

My next stop was the Alexandra Gardens, which had some fantastic installations, including Love This Way by Carla O'Brien, and the whimsical garden wonderland with giant white inflatable rabbits called Intrude by Amanda Parer, along with the plants Peony and Herbum Follus by Tilt.

Also located in the Alexandra Gardens and other locations around the CBD was a fantastic series called The Secret Life Of Statues by Mitch Gow and Eloise Kent, where Melbourne's famous statues such as the Pathfinder, Matthew Flinders, the Three Businessmen and Francis Ormond revealed different sides of their personalities.

This year saw the welcome return of the light projections along Flinders Street. More Than 1 Nation, a collaboration between The Electric Canvas and Pitcha Makin Fellas, had projections on Flinders Street Train Station about the many nations of Indigenous Australia and the impact of colonisation.

The buildings along Flinders Street across from Federation Square were lit up by projections by The Electric Canvas which told various Fractured Fairytales in a comic strip style.

Up at the State Library they once again had projections outside and inside the building. On the exterior was The Night Garden by Lisa Greenaway, Nick Azidis and Rose Staff, with projections inspired by the medieval poem "The Romance Of The Rose" by Guillaume de Loris.

Inside the dome of the La Trobe Reading Room was Seadragon's Lair by Sheree Marris, Lisa Greenway and John Power, which showcased what lives underwater in Port Phillip Bay.

The Carlton Gardens site was expanded this year and had quite a few interesting pieces. Pixel Fruit by Tim Newman had LED lanterns hanging from the branches of a large tree. The Sonic Light Bubble by Eness was an interactive piece that responded to touch. The mesmerising Nebulous by Alex Sanson was a kinetic sculpture that slowly expanded and contracted.

The large expanse of the Royal Exhibition Building was once again utilised to great effect with the projection Rhythms Of The Night by Artists in Motion, which explored the four stages of sleep.

The final piece I checked out was the 5:30 am performance of The Pyrophone Juggernaut by Hubbub Music in association with Strut and Fret. The ship-shaped structure is the largest hand-operated, multi-octive fire organ in the world and it was amazing to watch the group of musicians play the pipes by lighting the gas flowing through the pipes with blow torches. It was an unique way to end my White Night experience for 2017.

JLT Community Series- Essendon v Collingwood

It's hard to believe but we have reached the start of the AFL pre-season, this year represented by the JLT Community Series over the next few weeks around Australia. Tonight Belinda and I headed to Etihad Stadium to watch the first game of 2017 between arch-rivals Essendon and Collingwood. There was a large turn out of Essendon supporters to welcome back our players who were suspended by WADA last year over the 2012 supplements scandal.

It was great to have new captain Dyson Heppell playing again, along with former captain Jobe Watson, Michael Hurley, Ben Howlett, Travis Colyer and David Myers. We also had the debut of our number one draft pick Andrew McGrath tonight. The game itself was quite enjoyable and free flowing at times, and Essendon led for the majority of the match. We had quite a few goal kickers, which was an encouraging sign considering last year's scoring issues. The moment of the night for me was in the second quarter when Jobe took a mark and had a shot at goal and the crowd erupted in cheers for him (unfortunately he only kicked a behind).

We went into the fourth quarter with a 23 point lead, but a combination of our veteran players coming off the ground for the night and two super goals by Collingwood sparked the Magpies to make a comeback and ultimately win the game. Although I didn't get my birthday wish of a win, there were a lot of positives to take out of the match for the Bombers, including the fact we played competitively and everyone got through the first match injury free.

Final Score
Essendon: 0.14.10 (94)
Collingwood: 2.13.9 (105)

Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Artists

The latest international fashion exhibition at the NGV is Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Artists. It features the avant-garde creations of the famous Dutch designers, showcasing over 40 pieces from their haute couture and ready-to-wear collections, as well as videos of their runway shows over the years. In addition, the exhibition contains 21 handmade porcelain dolls that are dressed in a miniature key piece to represent each of their major collections since 2008.

Viktor&Rolf are known for the sculptural elements of their designs, with pieces from some of their key collections such as Cutting Edge Couture, The Fashion Show, Wearable Art and Performance of Sculptures on display in the exhibition.

For Viktor&Rolf the theater of the fashion shows can be just as important as the clothes themselves. Two examples of this were one of their first shows, Russian Doll, where model Maggie Rizer was on a rotating platform as they kept adding layers of clothing one on top of another until she was wearing all nine outfits at once. Another key show was Flowerbomb, where the first part of the collection was all in black, and then the stage rotated to reveal another group of models all in pink (this show also went along with the launch of the Flowerbomb perfume, which is one of my favorites).

The exhibition is an amazing opportunity to get to see the construction of these complex designs up close. It runs until 26 February 2017 at the NGV.

NGV Friday Nights- David Hockney and Olympia

NGV Friday Nights is on again for the summer bringing together current exhibitions at the NGV with performances by Australian and international music acts in the Great Hall. Tonight I checked out the David Hockney: Current exhibition, which featured over 1,200 paintings, drawings and video works from the past ten years of his career. Having seen a Hockney exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco in 2013, quite a few of these works were already familiar to me. He has continued to utilise iPhones and iPads to create his drawings, with prints as well as screens displaying the drawing of the pieces throughout each room.

The exhibitions also displayed 80 of his portrait paintings in a long room, which was amazing to walk through and see them all hanging one after the other in the same space.

The landscapes were the highlight of the exhibition for me, with his "Bigger Trees Near Water" paintings covering entire walls of one room, and a series of prints of iPad drawings from Yosemite National Park which were quite beautiful.

The exhibition also features Hockney's fantastic video work "The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods" but unfortunately it was displayed on screens in a room that wasn't square and therefore lost the power of engulfing you in piece that I felt when I saw it in San Francisco.

After the exhibition I headed to the Great Hall to catch this week's musical act, Melbourne singer-songwriter Olympia (aka Olivia Bartley) and her band. Her debut album Self Talk is on the short list for the 12th Australian Music Prize, and its songs featured throughout her hour long set. Starting with "Honey," highlights included "Different Cities," "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" and "Somewhere To Disappear." It was great to see some kids sitting captivated at the front of the stage as they watched her absolutely shred on guitar. On a night that saw the launch of the AFL Women's League, it would be great if some of those little girls were equally inspired to pick up an instrument just from watching the gig. The evening closed with "Smoke Signals" (my favorite track off the album), which got a good response from the crowd in the room.

Le Ride

The 1928 Tour de France still stands as the toughest race in its history, with only 41 of the 161 racers who started the race finishing it. It was also the first Tour de France to feature an English speaking team with Australians Hubert Opperman, Ernie Bainbridge and Percy Osborne, and New Zealander Harry Watson making the long six week journey via ship to France to participate.

The story of this Australasian team is not very well known, which is why Phil Keoghan (host of The Amazing Race) and his friend Ben Cornell decided to retrace the route of the 1928 Tour de France and film their adventure. Le Ride documents their insane journey riding around France on those heavy, steel 1928 bikes that don't shift gears or have strong brakes. The film also shows footage of the underdog Australasian team and what they endured on each stage of that gruelling 1928 race competing against 10 man European teams on unpaved roads and riding for hours on end almost every day.

Phil and Ben gained a lot of respect for these riders and what they went through as they rode the route (although at least they had paved roads). The mountain stages in the Pyrenees and the Alps were particularly brutal, with the 225 miles of Stage 9 taking them 23 hours to complete. I really enjoyed the film as I'm a long time fan of Phil (since his mid-1990s Fox After Breakfast days) and I admired his optimism in tackling an adventure everyone else was telling him would not be successful. The film also showcased the beautiful scenery of France and you got to learn some Tour de France history along the way.

We were fortunate enough to have Phil in town to do a Q&A with Lee Turner from the St Kilda Cycling Club after the screening. Phil discussed what it was like to do the ride in 2013 at the age of 46, especially on those 1928 bikes (he did allow himself a modern ergonomic bike seat though). He discussed the physical toll it took on their bodies, which included hip pain for him for over a year. Since they were riding for so long every day it was impossible to eat enough to match the calories they were burning (hitting up French bakeries and eating quiches seemed to be one solution). They drank a magic concoction each night which seemed to help their recovery and prevent muscle cramping. They were also very fortunate to not have any punctures throughout the whole race (unlike the 1928 riders who faced multiple punctures in each stage), although Phil's handlebar frame cracked on the first day and had to be welded back together.

If you love the Tour de France or are a fan of Phil's you should definite check out Le Ride. It is screening at ACMI through 12 February and will have a showing at SXSW in Austin in March 2017.