2022
White Night is an annual arts festival in the City of Melbourne (also happens in a few other places around the world) where much of the CBD is closed to traffic from 7pm through 7am on Saturday 17th of February. The festival is enormous and each year attracts a bigger crowd. The festival has spread further and further throughout the city to try and deal with the growing popularity. Last year over one million people went in for all or some of the night including me and my intrepid photo walkers. I don't do an official Meetup for this event because any more than two or three people together is impossible. Even then we lose each other repeatedly and only sharing location and messages get us back together. Tip 1: Stay in contact with your friends.
Tip 2: Minimise your physical size to get through the crowd, don't take a big bag or a big camera tripod - if you've got kids leave the pusher or pram at home. You're not going anywhere if you're taking up lots of space.
This time in February is generally hot and Melbourne usually delivers on this summer weather for White Night but being typical of Melbourne it will be hot, cold, dry and wet in any order probably repeatedly. Our unique wind patterns allow Melbourne to heat up at night when the sun is busy annoying the Northern Hemisphere by taking hot air from Australias red centre and blowing it all over us. Because of the likely four seasons you need to be prepared with rain wear and thermal layers that you can put on and take off. Take a water bottle. Water refill spots are plentiful and most of the more central cafes and food places will be open all night. Tip 3: Dress in layers and drink plenty of water.
Public transport runs all night and it is highly advisable to either get a train or stay in a hotel on Sunday to recover as driving home after being awake all night and walking 15 to 20km to see everything possible will likely have you wrapped around a tree half way home. Tip 4: Utilise the free public transport instead of driving.
Melbourne is a big city and like any city has its share of dickheads, thieves and just general trouble makers. Staying in the crowd is useful but watch the pick pockets - they love crowds. I've never had a problem wandering the streets of Melbourne at night but I've got a good leave me alone face that I wear at night. Tip 5: Stay in the event areas, stay with the crowd or at least your friends.
The arts that you'll see range through
- music
- theatre
- street performers
- building projections
- fire and light based sculpture
- audio and light experiences
- art workshops
- nude art
- confronting topics
You'll see a bit of everything at White Night. Leave your prude at home if you've got one. Everything is mostly family friendly but some art is designed to confront and challenge you. Melbourne is a city of art (well, actually its a city of coffee, but art comes a close second) and you can expect to see works from local and international artists. The remainder of this article will be photos which will give you some idea of what to expect.
