When Asia Topa kicks off in February, Melbourne will play host to the best of culture from across the Asia-Pacific region. For three weeks, a program of dance, theatre, music, visual art and other creative endeavours will play out across the city in venues like Arts Centre Melbourne, the NGV and Fed Square. The major triennial festival is making a high-octane comeback after a five-year hiatus with 33 events – including 18 world premieres and 18 new performance commissions by Asia Topa and Arts Centre Melbourne – showing off the newest, most innovative work from the region.
The festival is split into three programs: Performance, Knowledge and Nightlife. The Performance program headlines the festival, with a one-night-only performance of work by photographer William Yang set to a live score by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, as well as a free public installation from Delhi-based pair Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra. The line-up for conversation and workshop series Knowledge will be announced this month, and the festival’s inaugural Nightlife program will keep the party going till the wee hours, fusing dancefloors with performance and art.
The program is centred around – but not limited to – the purpose-built Club 8, on the eighth floor of Arts Centre Melbourne, which will host nine nights of art, music and community, chosen by curators with deep roots in the nightlife communities across the region.
We think you might like Access. For $12 a month, join our membership program to stay in the know.
SIGN UPHere are Broadsheet’s top picks of Asia Topa’s Nightlife line-up.
Opening Nightlife
Start your Asia Topa experience on a high and buy a ticket to Opening Nightlife, a kick-off party at Club 8 on February 20. Curated by Big Bao – known for putting together raucous underground gatherings – it’s a feast of music and performance from local and international artists. The heaving line-up includes musician and multidisciplinary artist Rainbow Chan; Sydney-based South Korean sound-maker AnSo, whose work speaks of diaspora communities and cultural loss; drag performer Scarlett So Hung Son (Scotty So); Thai-born dancer and choreographer Aurora Labeija; DJ kāmna; genre-blending Malaysian-Australian musician Yeo; and more.
Fed Square x Asia Topa Live
Everyone’s invited to a massive block party in Fed Square – open to all ages and entirely free, also on February 21. It promises to be a showcase of top talent from both Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific. Melbourne-based, Japan-born DJ and selector Shio will get the crowd moving with a jazz-infused setlist, followed by a performance from Tam Tam, a Tokyo-based powerhouse pop band famed for melding psych pop with jazz and soul. A yet-to-be-announced, big-name headliner will finish the party on a high note.
NGV Friday Nights
The NGV’s massive Yayoi Kusama exhibition will be the pumpkin-festooned, polka-dotted backdrop for an Asia Topa edition of the gallery’s Friday Nights series on February 21. Explore Kusama’s dazzling infinity rooms and other colourful installations, then scope out sets from DJs Zequenx – an artist based in Goa who creates moody psychedelic soundscapes – and Melbourne’s own Pacemakers, a collective fusing global sounds with poetry and video. The colourful evening will be capped off with a selection of food and drinks.
Inamo Kiki Ball
Start practising your walk: on February 21, Club 8 will host the Inamo Kiki Ball – a celebration of Asia-Pacific cultures and First Nations sovereignty. Curated by Kianna 007 Oricci (founding mother of the Melbourne Kiki scene and the Australian Mother of the International House of Nina Oricci) alongside Mirasia (the overall mother of the House of Silky collective, who will also be DJing on the night) – expect a joyful celebration of femme queer greatness. Dancer, choreographer and Southeast Asia father Aurora Lebeija, the founder of Kiki House of Sun (Thailand’s first Kiki house), will be judging; walking categories and entries will be announced in early 2025.
The B_B
On March 8, avant-garde Taiwanese artist Betty Apple and Sydney performance artist Betty Grumble come together to curate an evening of dance, music and performance at Club 8. The duo, who first connected online during the pandemic, will electrify the space with work spotlighting their shared interests in experimentation and protest, alongside artists from Taiwan and Melbourne. Expect work from Taipei-based photographer LinGia, whose art reflects on the LGBTQIA+ experience in Taiwan and is influenced by the ballroom and club scenes, and DJ HipHopHoe, who incorporates music from across genres, decades, moods and sounds in setlists that turn a spotlight on First Nations, LGBTQIA+ and African diaspora communities.
Broadsheet is a proud media partner of Asia Topa. Asia Topa runs from February 20 to March 10, 2025. Dive into the Nightlife line-up line-up and plan your evenings.