HillsceneLIVE 2026 …at a stretch

HillsceneLIVE in partnership with Burrinja Cultural Centre

HillsceneLIVE is a grassroots, artist-led festival celebrating experimental contemporary practice from across the Yarra Ranges

Audiences are invited to explore Burrinja Cultural Centre through a diverse program of live performance, immersive installations, sound art, projection, movement, visual arts and interdisciplinary works. Visitors are encouraged to move freely throughout the venue, discovering unique artistic experiences as they unfold. The festival supports emerging and established local artists while fostering collaboration, experimentation and creative risk-taking within the Yarra Ranges arts community.

This year's HillsceneLIVE presents eight original works by contemporary artists from across the Yarra Ranges and beyond. Audiences are invited to explore immersive installations, intimate performances, sound art, interactive experiences and site responsive works throughout Burrinja Cultural Centre.

Featured Artists

Jai Cameron — Dying For Applause
A playful and participatory outdoor performance that invites audiences to literally get their hands dirty. Blurring the line between performer and participant, Jai's work explores spectacle, audience expectation and our relationship with performance through an interactive experience about one's own mortality.

Louise Seymour — In the Blink of an Eye
An intimate solo performance exploring deeply personal themes through movement, storytelling and contemporary performance. Presented in a close audience setting, Louise's work offers a powerful and reflective theatrical experience.

Pauline Sherlock — The Book of the Baba
A multi-part immersive journey unfolding across several locations throughout Burrinja. Combining ritual, performance, audience interaction and theatrical storytelling, Pauline's ambitious work invites visitors into a contemporary myth that evolves throughout the afternoon.

Kat Renehan — Who Wants to Eat a Billionaire
Sharp, humorous and unapologetically bold, Kat's new performance combines satire and theatre to examine contemporary culture, power and privilege through an engaging live performance.

Michele Fountain — The Relationship of Unlike Objects
An evolving participatory installation where audiences contribute to the artwork throughout the festival. Sound, photography, handmade objects and personal encounters combine to create a living archive that grows through each visitor's interaction.

Sara Lydia Tuell
An immersive installation and live performance transforming an intimate backstage environment into a mysterious, atmospheric world. Visitors are invited into a deeply sensory experience where installation, sound and performance unfold together.

Rindi Harradine — RatKing
A striking outdoor performance inspired by urban mythology and hidden ecologies. Appearing throughout the afternoon, RatKing emerges unexpectedly within the landscape, offering audiences a surreal encounter between performance, environment and character.

Brigid Morgan — Reliquary, Darling
A durational installation performance exploring transformation, ritual and post-reproductive femininity. Visitors move freely through an immersive environment of sculptural objects, sound and performance, experiencing an artwork that continually evolves over the course of the festival.

What to expect

HillsceneLIVE isn't a traditional theatre event, it's an afternoon of discovery.

Your festival ticket gives you access to the entire venue, where performances, installations and artistic interventions unfold simultaneously across multiple spaces. Wander at your own pace, encounter unexpected moments, return to works as they evolve, and curate your own journey through a rich program of contemporary performance, immersive environments, sound art, installation, projection and interactive experiences.

Every visit to HillsceneLIVE is unique.