Scenes from White Night Melbourne 2013

On Saturday night, Melbourne became the first Australian city to join in the all-night global celebration of art in public spaces. White Night Melbourne drew over 300,000 people to the city center between 7pm and 7am and featured over 80 events in music, film, performance, light and sounds, art, and food.

The White Night Festival was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, but it really took off in Paris, and now it’s arrived in Melbourne. There was so much to do. We walked about and saw several art installations, went to Fed Square for the Swing dancing hour, and saw lots and lots of people. I would have liked to visit the State Library, gone on a ghost tour, and seen 101 Zombie Kills and the Warhol film, but there’s just so much to do and, while there’s plenty of time to do it, us old fogies were pretty tired by about 10:30pm. Alas, there’s always next year.

Paparazzi Dogs, Fed Square.

The bells of St. Patrick’s Cathedral ring at 7pm and 7am to open and close the event.

Live music outside the Arts Centre.

Many beautiful bikes parked everywhere.

Police on the lookout, Prince Bridge.

Classic Screen Test at ACMI, where people get dressed up and deliver classic one-liners from favorite films.

ACMI, Fed Square.

Outside of ArtPlay.

Outside of ArtPlay.

I Could Have Danced All Night, a different type of dancing every hour in Fed Square. This was the Swing hour.

Wonderland projection project.

Wonderland projection project.

Wonderland projection project, Flinders Street Station, and a huge crowd.

Wonderland projection project, Flinders Street Station, and a huge crowd.

Another shot of the beautiful Flinders Street Station.

Here’s a great video from Tourism Victoria that highlights some of White Night’s terrific events.

Did you go to White Night Melbourne? Have you ever attended a White Night festival in another city? What did you think?

About the featured image: A Delineation, the big, white illuminated letters along Princes Bridge welcoming the crowd to White Night. This photo was taken by Theo. You can see other photos of White Night Melbourne at my Flickr.