Wonderland by The Electric Canvas; White Night Festival 2014 – the Forum and Rapallo Cinemas, Corner Flinders Street and Russell Street, Melbourne
Created by The Electric Canvas, Wonderland was celebrated feature of the inaugural Melbourne White Night Festival. The 2014 Wonderland consists of projections that transformed the buildings of Flinders Street once the sun set; turning the brick and concrete facades of early Twentieth Century buildings such as Flinders Street Station, the Metropolitan Gas Company building, the former Commercial Travellers Club building, the former Ball and Welch Department Store, the Masonic Club building and the former Forum and Rapallo Cinemas into brilliantly coloured canvases that showed off images of magic, carnivals, amusement parks and circuses.
The White Night Festival in Melbourne is a State Government of Victoria initiative created by the Victorian Major Events Company. Originally conceived in Paris in 2002, to make vibrant and dynamic art and culture accessible to large audiences in public spaces, Paris’ Nuit Blanche (White Night) has inspired an international network of similar programmes in over twenty cities globally, including Melbourne.
In 2013 Melbourne became the first Australian city to create its own White Night Festival, producing an all night event of light, colour and artistry. The White Night Festival, now in its second year, is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Melbourne as Australia’s international city of artistic innovation, and celebrate the city’s commitment to modern and interpretive art, music and culture.
The Forum and Rapallo Cinemas, formerly the State Theatre, were designed by the American cinema architect John Eberson in association with the prominent Melbourne architects Bohringer, Taylor and Johnson in 1928. It was built at the climax of the boom years in cinema construction, and was operated by Union Theatres. It had the largest capacity of any cinema in the country with 3371 seats. Unlike most picture palaces, this form of cinema design attempted to create the illusion of an exotic walled garden in the auditorium, complete with appropriate statuary, a blue ceiling, twinkling stars and projected clouds. The interior incorporates elements of Italian medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Spanish Mission styles combined with bold classical Roman and Renaissance architectural forms to create a lush, impossibly exotic atmosphere. Externally the building is a Moorish fantasy with a jewelled clock tower with a copper clad Saracenic dome, minarets and barley sugar columns and rich pressed cement decoration. Construction is steel frame and brick.
Wonderland by The Electric Canvas; White Night Festival 2014 – the Forum and Rapallo Cinemas, Corner Flinders Street and Russell Street, Melbourne
Created by The Electric Canvas, Wonderland was celebrated feature of the inaugural Melbourne White Night Festival. The 2014 Wonderland consists of projections that transformed the buildings of Flinders Street once the sun set; turning the brick and concrete facades of early Twentieth Century buildings such as Flinders Street Station, the Metropolitan Gas Company building, the former Commercial Travellers Club building, the former Ball and Welch Department Store, the Masonic Club building and the former Forum and Rapallo Cinemas into brilliantly coloured canvases that showed off images of magic, carnivals, amusement parks and circuses.
The White Night Festival in Melbourne is a State Government of Victoria initiative created by the Victorian Major Events Company. Originally conceived in Paris in 2002, to make vibrant and dynamic art and culture accessible to large audiences in public spaces, Paris’ Nuit Blanche (White Night) has inspired an international network of similar programmes in over twenty cities globally, including Melbourne.
In 2013 Melbourne became the first Australian city to create its own White Night Festival, producing an all night event of light, colour and artistry. The White Night Festival, now in its second year, is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Melbourne as Australia’s international city of artistic innovation, and celebrate the city’s commitment to modern and interpretive art, music and culture.
The Forum and Rapallo Cinemas, formerly the State Theatre, were designed by the American cinema architect John Eberson in association with the prominent Melbourne architects Bohringer, Taylor and Johnson in 1928. It was built at the climax of the boom years in cinema construction, and was operated by Union Theatres. It had the largest capacity of any cinema in the country with 3371 seats. Unlike most picture palaces, this form of cinema design attempted to create the illusion of an exotic walled garden in the auditorium, complete with appropriate statuary, a blue ceiling, twinkling stars and projected clouds. The interior incorporates elements of Italian medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Spanish Mission styles combined with bold classical Roman and Renaissance architectural forms to create a lush, impossibly exotic atmosphere. Externally the building is a Moorish fantasy with a jewelled clock tower with a copper clad Saracenic dome, minarets and barley sugar columns and rich pressed cement decoration. Construction is steel frame and brick.