Strange Fruit: Ringing the Changes

Last Friday, while the sun disappeared below the horizon...


... a large group of spectators gathered around the base of the Birrarung Marr.


A group of men and women in blue overalls and orange shirts started climbing some sticks...


.. and swayed gently in the wind like flowers...


The magic started once they started to hit the bells according to their music scores in those little black booklets.


How did it go? Well, I can basically say I loved the whole performance!


There was even a conductor. I'm not sure how they could notice him while they were striking the bells~



A moment of contemplation








I tried some long exposure shots too with the 7-14.


Its almost like pastels of colour being boldly applied to the whole canvas.






Thats about it folks. There concludes my coverage on the Melbourne Arts Festival Launch. Hope you like it!

Transe Express : Mischievous Bells

Melbourne was treated to a rare display of the arts last weekend with this show:

"at 9pm, just across the river at Alexandra Gardens, France's Transe Express takes Melburnians on a magical journey, 130 feet in the air as an orchestra of bell ringers is lifted skywards: a celestial carillon above the city."

Crowds gather around the superstructure as the performers begin the show.


After attaching themselves to the structure in their safety belts, stay start playing their instruments as they ascend to the heavens.


It looks exactly like an alien mothership from the heavens. Unfortunately, they didn't have the right sound effects to go with it! Otherwise I think it would look pretty awesome.




It must take a lot of nerves to play musical instruments from a place that high. I just wish I could get a view from the top of the crane of the whole performance!


Dots in the sky.


They used mostly bells for the melody, and percussions for the rhythm.




I had to visit the event twice to get some long exposure shots.


And I must say, it looks pretty cool ~



A closeup of the drummer.


The end of the show is marked by a fiery burst of red flares.




On the second night, a whole host of flares lit up Alexandria gardens after the ''space craft'' descended.

An absolutely wonderful performance. To those who also attended it, what are your thoughts about it? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Cheers.