The South Side Festival – Frankston Generator will be presented by Frankston City Council, supported by Eastlink from May 6 – 8, May 12 – 15 from 5pm – 10pm, and May 14 from 3pm-4pm
Visitors will go underground to be immersed in 1000 lights and be surrounded by a pulsating soundscape.
In an Australian first, Mandylights have transformed an old car park into a series of 10 new light-based installations that explore themes of power generation and energy transfers – on a grand scale.
Enter the carpark lift and descend into the depths with a transformative lighting and audio experience. From the lift, be drawn into the turbine; a swirling, all-encompassing vortex of animated light.
Emerging into the field, participants become part of a humming, radiating electric field of energy that covers hundreds of square metres.
Audience movements are generated in real time, as their kinetic movement is converted to light on floor-to-ceiling video screens.
The water-themed Hydro offers a series of hanging meshes covered with animated projections of rippling water in relaxing blue and cyan tones.
Moving forwards, wander through a subterranean, alien-like natural landscape called Geotherma that sees a thousand handmade flowers mimic flows of lava as red and yellow lights ripple down the walls and across the floor on both sides of the pathway.
The pulsing reactor pushes out flashes of intense neon colour, while guests peer inside into a stunning infinity cube of light. Moving up the ramp, a blast of air as the solar winds see theatrical fog thunder down a sixty-metre expanse, with the walk flanked by 50 searchlights that create geometric patterns through the air.
At the end of the walk, the ventus sculptures turn gently in the wind; creating ever-changing shadows on the walls and beams through the air.
In the final installation, visitors will be immersed in a towering star field of rainbow neon colours, between a dozen tetra stars.
These mammoth illuminated forms pass through a series of beautiful rainbow colour sequences.
The Frankston Generator is an all-new immersive experience created by Mandylights for the inaugural Frankston South Side Festival May 6-15. www.southsidefestival.com.au

• Cheryl Threadgold .