Luminous Chambers and Blush-Pink Inflatables: The Best Free Events To Catch at Now or Never 2025

Art has always been shaped by technology, but in 2025 AI and engineering present a cascade of mind-bending possibilities. This is the idea behind Now or Never, a festival that explores the evolving relationship between modern technology and creativity, with a roster of forward-looking performances, art installations, talks and live music set to take over Melbourne from August 21 to 31.

The program this year is headlined by ticketed events like experimental producer Laurel Halo’s collaboration with composer and cellist Leila Bordreuil; a Melbourne Town Hall takeover by reggaeton and avant-dembow producer DJ Python; and Rashaad Newsome’s genre-bending film Assembly, a hybrid of documentary and performance.

But beyond the ticketed shows, Now or Never 2025 features plenty of free events and public installations. Check out the full program for an exhaustive list – but, to get your festival itinerary rolling, here are five free events not to miss this August.

MATRIA

The Royal Exhibition Building is getting a makeover for Now or Never 2025, thanks to Barcelona collective Penique Productions. With MATRIA (which means “motherland”), Penique Productions will transform the interior of the World Heritage-listed building into a living, breathing pink bubble, using a giant inflatable pink membrane to simulate the warmth and safety of a womb. The inflatable bubble itself will breathe in time to a rhythmic violin soundtrack, with dancers populating the space. Consider MATRIA an opportunity to escape the outside world for a much-needed breather.

Alcove LTD

Melbourne Town Hall is one of the hubs for Now or Never 2025, playing host to a good slice of the ticketed music program (including DJ Python and legendary AV artist Ryoji Ikeda) and some special one-offs, like the culinary collab between Boris Acket, a Dutch artist who works with sound, light and motion, and Julia Busuttil Nishimura. In the Melbourne Town Hall forecourt, you’ll find a free, festival-long installation from Switzerland’s Encor Studio called Alcove LTD.

The installation centres around a “luminous chamber” of liquid crystals refracting pulsated light, and 360-degree soundscapes. The result is like a reimagined funhouse mirror room designed to alter our perceptions of ourselves and the world around us. And while Now or Never doesn’t kick off until August 21, Alcove LTD is lighting up from August 14, so you’ll have an extra week to immerse yourself.

Burdi Burdi

Linking the two sides of the Yarra from Southbank to the city, the Evan Walker Bridge is usually just a way to get somewhere else – but not during Now or Never. For the festival’s duration Burdi Burdi will transform the footbridge from 6pm until 11pm each night with a sonic installation to inspire quiet reflection. Burdi Burdi (which translates as “fire fire” in Bidjara language) is an adaptation of a previous work by Dr Christian Thompson, a collaboration with his grandmother Harriet Woods, based on their shared southern Chinese-Australian heritage and Thompson’s Bidjara background.

DELIRI

Taking over the exterior of the State Library Victoria for the whole festival is DELIRI, an algorithmic projection by Barcelona-based collective Hamill Industries. Thanks to AI and some complex camera techniques, the installation is designed to morph and evolve over time, creating a dreamlike world that deconstructs reality as we know it. Alongside the metamorphosing projections will be a symbiotic soundscape by experimental Spanish duo Desert that shifts and changes with the visuals.

DISTRACTION

DISTRACTION is a series of experimental projects, cooked up by local and international artists to process one of life’s big questions: how do we make sense of the chaotic stream of content all around us? Instead of fighting the noise, DISTRACTION leans into it, asking us to find some meaning in this increasingly distracting world. You’ll find DISTRACTION (and maybe distraction) from 11am to 5pm at the Science Gallery Melbourne for the duration of Now or Never.

Broadsheet is a proud media partner of Now or Never.