City North Fest! The Shared Futures Series: Cardigan Street Takeover

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

On Saturday 5 October RMIT University, Melbourne International Games Week and Melbourne Fringe Festival will intersect, to create a spectacular collision of creativity, imagination, and possibilities.

As part of this exciting crossover, 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?

Find out about the latest speculative fiction at our pop-up library with on-the-spot loans, 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 Engagement, 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(d) explores the expectations and realities of age through visible older women (dancing) 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.

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)

Bookings for Future PlayLab’s Reworlding the City interactive augmented reality game can be made here