RISING: Euphoria

Julian Rosefeldt, the master artist-filmmaker who gave the chameleonic Cate Blanchett with Manifesto, transforms Melbourne Town Hall into an arena swallowed by screens for RISING 2023.

A life-sized choir encircles you at ground level while jazz drummers duel from above. Acclaimed actors like Giancarlo Esposito and Virginia Newcombe narrate a surreal epic —delivering musings from some of history’s most influential economists, writers and thinkers from Snoop Dogg, Warren Buffett and Ayn Rand to Angela Davis and Mark Fisher. Homeless men discuss economics and executives do acrobatics in a bank lobby. Cate’s back too. This time she’s a tiger stalking the supermarket aisles.

It’s a vision that pummels capitalism with the excess it asks for, then waits for the dust to settle. Wander in and feel the rumble.