Must-See Events at Asia Topa, According to Creative Director Jeff Khan

Making its long-awaited return after five years, Asia Topa is Australia’s major triennial of Asia-Pacific performance. Bringing the best of the region’s culture, arts, ideas and cuisine, the three-week program features visionary artists from across the globe.

“I’m feeling super pumped and excited about this festival that has been three years in the making – and a festival that we haven’t seen for five years, coming back,” says new creative director Jeff Khan. “It’s a lot of big feelings, a lot of anticipation, a lot of excitement.”

With a packed calendar of dance, theatre, music, visual art and more, there’s almost too many incredible events to choose from. We sat down with Khan to find out the top 6 you don’t want to miss.

Club 8

Located on the eighth floor of Arts Centre Melbourne, this electrifying new nightclub has been created in collaboration with design collective Additive. During the triennial, Club 8 will host nine special nights, each one organised by a different guest curator deeply connected to the Asia-Pacific’s diverse nightlife communities.

Celebrating everything from hip-hop to ballroom and voguing, the program features an ever-changing line-up of DJs, live performers and immersive installations.

“As a curator, I’ve been really interested in this kind of meeting of club and party culture with contemporary art,” says Khan. “So as well as dance floors, DJs and amazing electronic music, there’s going to be a lot of pop-up performances by incredible artists from across the Asia Pacific.”

If you need a refreshment between dancing, there’ll also be a specially curated list of drinks and snacks, plus an ice-cream cart with limited-edition flavours from Japanese-inspired scoop shop Kori.

Home Bound

Over 15 days, craft specialists and community groups will come together for Home Bound, a giant rope installation at the main forecourt of Arts Centre Melbourne. Weaving together materials, skills and stories, this series of workshops and activities will platform diverse communities, break cultural and economic barriers, and build community pride.

“Luke George and Daniel Kok, the lead artists, have brought together a bunch of different weaving communities that don’t usually share the same space,” says Khan. “And each day, a different group of weavers will be on-site creating a piece of woven sculpture for the installation.” Visitors are invited to participate, too – either by donating materials, watching the creation process, or joining the workshops.

The Female Pope and Sonik Ekologies at Arts Centre Melbourne

“One of the things I love doing in a festival is opening up unusual spaces and inviting people in to see spaces that they never would have before,” says Khan. “So there are a number of free curated performances at the Arts Centre, particularly over the middle weekend, where they’ve taken over all of these interesting nooks and crannies.”

One of those special performances is Rakini Devi’s transformation into The Female Pope, inspired by legends of Pope Joan from the 10th century and Hindu goddess Kali. Taking place in the Smorgon Family Plaza, the three-hour interactive performance challenges traditional gender roles in religion and society.

There’s also Sonik Ekologies, an intimate listening experience curated by sound art organisation Liquid Architecture and held in the Hugh Williamson Room. A 30-minute auditory journey that occurs on the hour, it invites guests to take off their shoes, sip a traditional herbal drink, and listen to new sound works by distinguished composers from Southeast Asia.

Kagami

Created by the late Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakomoto in collaboration with Tin Drum, the groundbreaking and emotional performance Kagami blurs the lines between artist, audience and reality.

“You’re given a set of mixed reality goggles, and a life-sized, virtual avatar of Sakamoto appears in the middle of the space and performs this recital,” says Khan. “And it’s so beautiful and intimate, and you can walk right up to him and look over his shoulder and watch his fingers playing the keys … he deliberately made this work to outlive him.”

Chunky Move’s U>N>I>T>E>D

Continuing to upend expectations, this exhilarating dance performance from Chunky Move invites audiences onto an iconic Melbourne stage. “In the spirit of opening up interesting spaces, for U>N>I>T>E>D the audience are actually on stage with the dancers at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl,” says Khan. “[It’s] a kind of experience of that space that you also you never get to have, so it’s going to be absolutely spectacular, just that experience of sharing the stage with the performers.”

Set to gamelan-infused, Javanese-inspired techno, the show stars six dancers in motocross-inspired exoskeletons, who transform into post-human, mythical beings. An international collaboration with Javanese musicians Gabber Modus Operandi, Balinese streetwear label Future Laundry and world-leading animatronic designers, it’s an ambitious and otherworldly experience.

Ane Ta Abia

This awe-inspiring concert brings together a 12-member choir from the Papua New Guinea village of Tatana and members of the Australian Art Orchestra, paired with a series of short films. A one-off event at the Playhouse Theatre, it celebrates the Motuan (PNG) style of music peroveta – rarely heard outside of these communities.

“This is a work that’s incredibly gentle and beautiful, and it’s led by Aaron Choulai, who’s the artistic director of the Australian Art Orchestra, and who is Papua New Guinea and Australian,” says Khan. “[He’s] composed this incredible kind of fusion of peroveta harmonies and contemporary Australian jazz, and it’s underscored by a series of episodic film vignettes which portray contemporary life in the Tatana village. The choral music is just so beautiful.”

Broadsheet is a proud media partner of Asia Topa. Asia Topa runs from February 20 to March 10, 2025. Don’t miss introspective performance piece Lapse on March 6, 7 and 8. Free events still taking place before Asia Topa ends include Home Bound at Arts Centre Melbourne; Bread, Circuses and Home and Shadows in Twin Cities at Fed Square; Sci-Fi: Mythologies Transformed at Science Gallery Melbourne; and Middle of a Moment at The Substation.