The Glow Winter Arts Festival returns for its 10th anniversary, taking over Central Park in Malvern East to light up each night from 18-21 July 2024. Each night during the festival, the historic park will be transformed into a breathtaking wonderland, offering a free program of mesmerising outdoor light and sound installations that ignite the imagination.
Melbourning was invited to take a sneak peek of this year’s immersive installations the night before they officially open to the public.
I took a 17 year old and a 12 year old along for the ride. We braved the freezing cold and at times the rain, but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for the impressive light displays.
Hands down, our favourite installation was The Ephemeral Collection by Atelier Sisu – a stunning array of gigantic bubble clusters with some spanning 16 metres.
The work was inspired by 2020 when the world stopped, and everything we took for granted started to disappear. Atelier Sisu endeavoured to communicate this feeling of transient beauty and the need to live in the moment.
Another sculpture we enjoyed was called Choosing Paradise – a wake up call about creating the future world that we want.
Delicate Deliberations by Skunk Control is a glistening bed of over 1,000 flowers celebrating the grand old tree above them.
The flowers are comprised of optical filters that reflect and transmit light and colour. Constructed with technology that mimics nature, the materials create colour changes; resulting in highly visceral light and colour effects. It reminded me of being a kid who actually believed in fairies at the bottom of the garden.
All up there are six main installations at this year’s Glow Arts Festival to explore, admire and enjoy. You can find out about each one here.
There’s food and drink to be enjoyed at the festival to keep you going as you walk around the park. On the evening we went the Big Shot Cafe & Bar was serving up coffees and alcoholic drinks and a range of pastries from their charming 1969 Citroën HY van.
Normally on a cold winter outing I’m a sucker for a mulled wine to warm me up and keep me going, but I couldn’t go past the spiked drinks Big Shot were serving up and opted for a Fireball chai latte which I had never tried before. Honestly, it hit the spot and warmed me up from the inside.
The Glow Winter Arts Festival is presented by the City of Stonnington and is free to attend. It’s a great night out to enjoy with the family or with friends, and in these budget conscious times is a great option if you’re looking for something to do without spending a fortune.
The Glow Winter Arts Festival at Central Park, 148 Burke Rd, Malvern East runs fromThursday 18 July to Sunday 21 July, from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm (Friday and Saturday until 11:00 pm).
