Take a speculative dip into our shared futures on Cardigan street.

On Saturday 5 October RMIT will launch its City North Fest activation program transforming Cardigan Street into a hub of future-focused activities to explore futures that are diverse, sustainable, equitable and inspiring.

What does Melbourne's future look like to you?

Explore entrepreneurial ideas that might change the way we live tomorrow, or try zero waste food - the food of the future! You can also experience immersive digital landscapes of the past with RMIT’s Centre of Digital Ecosystems, watch short speculative films and join an experiment in shared world building through live action role-play. Set in 2050 as Naarm Melbourne becomes a megacity during a global climate emergency, the Future Play Lab's interactive game explores competing visions for the future as resources are scarcer than ever.

The day is also a chance to celebrate change with performances by Fringe Artists. Head First Acrobats merge the future with the past in GodZ, an acrobatic performance exploring the timeless mythology of Ancient Greece. Catherine Magill’s VOW Crate Women explores the expectations and realities of age through visible older women, while The Hopefuls, a comical pair of puppets, wander through the urban environment to examine the quirks of our community.

City North Fest will culminate in a speculative fiction finale with the Arcade Publications launch of Composite City from 4-6pm. At this launch hear newly unearthed site-specific stories of Melbourne from the grid to the drift, oysters to air, via subterranean sewers and bohemian hangouts. New technologies and traditional publishing practices come together to storify the city. Hear speculative insights on topics ranging from food to fine art as six authors in search of a city mine Melbourne’s Hidden histories.

And from sunset each evening until October 7, Yandell Walton's Ecological Encroachment projection installation, which presents a speculative future where plants dominate and human life forms crumble, can be viewed at the intersection of Cardigan and Earl Streets.

City North Fest – The Shared Futures Series
Cardigan Street (near Victoria Street)
11am - 4pm

Arcade Launch
4-6pm, RMIT Building 78 (corner of Cardigan and Earl St)

Future PlayLab's Climate action game- Reworlding: Cardigan Commons

10am-6pm, Cardigan Street (near Victoria Street)

Bookings for Reworlding: Cardigan Commons- can be made here!

Presented in partnership with Environmental Film Festival, supported by Melbourne Fringe Festival and Melbourne International Games Week.

Featuring
- Book Launch: Composite City, by RMIT School of Media & Communication Arcade Publications. Supported by RMIT’s Bowen St Press.
-‘Boneless Appétit’ - Future Foods by Dr Helen Addison-Smith, chef, author and researcher of food waste within RMIT University’s Fight Food Waste Collaborative Research Centre
- Coffees and pastries by Little Bang Espresso
- Dynamic Forest, by RMIT Centre of Digital Ecosystems (CODE)
- Ecological Encroachment, projection installation by Yandell Walton
- EcoQuest: Melbourne, by RMIT Communication Design student – Wei Wang, supported by RMIT Senior Lecturer Noel Waite
- Future Film Program, in partnership with the Environmental Film Festival
- GODz, by Head First acrobats, appearing in Melbourne Fringe 2024
- The Hopefuls, by Bonkel Theatre’s Katrina Gaskell and Enio Pozzebon.
- Midday Munch Hub by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and Soul Origin
- Pepper Robot, SoftBank’s innovative humanoid robot
- Playful Parklet, Presented by RMIT future play lab, Troy Innocent, Quentin Stevens, Ha Thai, Carlo Tolentino
- Reworlding: Cardigan Commons, by Troy Innocent and supported by the RMIT future play lab research team, including Carlo Tolentino (Creative Producer), Nattha Dhamabutra (architectural design), and Ben Kolaitis (community lead). Presented in collaboration with Regen Melbourne and supported by Melbourne International Games Week 2024.
- The Rubbish Collective, created by Clara MY Chan.
- Trashion! Workshop led by Bethany MacDonald and supported by RMIT Fashion & Textiles (Sustainable Innovation) students
- Taco Truck, by Raph Rashid’s fleet of legendary food trucks; Beatbox Kitchen, Juanita Peaches and All-Day Donuts
- VOW: Visible Older Women, Crate Women, Conceived by RMIT Masters for Art in Public Space student Catherine Magill. VOW: Crate Women also appears in Melbourne Fringe Festival 2024.