{"id":33487,"date":"2026-06-18T02:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/33487\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T02:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:23:07","slug":"now-or-never-2026-melbourne-festival-line-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/33487\/","title":{"rendered":"Now or Never 2026: Melbourne Festival Line-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne\u2019s festival of art, ideas, sound and technology returns this August, transforming the city into a playground of immersive installations, ambitious performances and future-focused conversations.<\/p>\n

For 12 winter days and nights, Now or Never will once again take over Melbourne with a program that brings together creativity, technology and culture. Returning from August 19 to 30, the City of Melbourne\u2019s multi-award-winning festival is back for its fourth year with a sprawling line-up of more than 150 events, experiences and installations spread across some of the city\u2019s most recognisable landmarks.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s theme, A Whole New World, explores the ways immersive technologies, artificial intelligence and digital storytelling are reshaping the way we experience art, knowledge and each other. Expect large-scale public artworks, cutting-edge audiovisual performances, thought-provoking talks and participatory experiences that blur the boundaries between technology and ritual, reality and imagination.<\/p>\n

Among the program highlights is Somnia: William Basinski \/ Bendik Giske, where Basinski plays the Disintegration Loops as part of an overnight sleep concert beneath the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building. The experience also features a solo from Norwegian musician, composer and saxophonist, Bendik Giske. The same historic venue will also host Japanese pianist Maki Namekawa performing Philip Glass\u2019s celebrated Etudes, as well as The Breath Haus x Now or Never, which combines live music, meditation and breathwork in a deeply immersive sensory experience. Elsewhere, free public installations will transform the Yarra River \/ Birrarung with projections, light works, mist interventions and interactive experiences.<\/p>\n

Melbourne Town Hall becomes a festival hub with Robin Fox\u2019s laser-and-sound spectacle Presence, Chunky Move\u2019s world-premiere dance work Time Remaining, and a three-night music program spanning club sounds, experimental electronics and audiovisual performance. Highlights include a Chuleo Club-curated night featuring A.Chal, Dinamarca, LIZZ, Slim Soledad and Zalina; a Finding Figaro showcase headlined by Detroit techno pioneers Octave One alongside Sleep D x Hybrid Man, DJ JNETT and Baby G; and a closing night led by Robin Fox, post-punk experimentalists My Disco, and Korean artists Jeho Yun and Kyoungjin So.<\/p>\n

The festival\u2019s talks program tackles everything from AI and digital culture to music criticism and the internet\u2019s hidden histories. Highlights include Derrick Gee\u2019s Radio Hour, a live edition of the beloved show hosted by the New York-based writer, DJ and cultural commentator. Returning favourites like Library Up Late and Queer Powerpoint round out the program.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s only the beginning. Browse the full program <\/a>and get your tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Broadsheet is a proud media partner of City of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Words by Broadsheet \u00b7 Published on 18 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

\"Broadsheet<\/a><\/p>\n

Broadsheet is a proud media partner of Now or Never.
Learn more<\/a> about partner content on Broadsheet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne\u2019s festival of art, ideas, sound and technology returns this August, transforming the city into a playground of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11270,255,925,1921,6909,260,29792,1620],"class_list":["post-33487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-activities","tag-broadsheet","tag-entertainment","tag-event","tag-events","tag-melbourne","tag-now-or-never-2026-melbourne-festival-line-up","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}