Everflow: Birrarung Riverfest Closing Event

18 Oct 2026
06:00pm - 09:00pm
$10.00 - $20.00 + $1.97 fee
Collingwood Children's Farm

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Join the closing event of Birrarung Riverfest 2026 for an immersive evening of Deep Listening, music, sound-sculptural installation and projection art.

Developed in alignment with Deep Listening as a way to embody the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung philosophy of burndap Birrarung burndap umarkoo (what's good for the Birrarung is good for all), Everflow explores the interconnectedness of community, care for Country and collaboration. Weaving both creative and environmental elements, the program welcomes audiences into stillness, reflection and deep connection with Birrarung as we understand our place within its ancient story.

Deep Listening is a way to practice awareness for the more-than-visible, more-than-audible and more-than-human, expanding conscious attention towards deeper layers. In this way we begin to hear the rhythm that runs beneath the noise, the rhythm of the Birrarung. Our practice of Deep Listening involves compassionate listening/sharing circles, musical listening sessions and guided meditations, as we learn to listen with our whole being.

Everflow is the intersection of artist-producers and RMIT alumni Alex “Pug” Williams and Evie Juliet’s individual creative practices, collaboratively merged through reciprocal, repeated visits with Birrarung, meditative experimentation and Deep Listening.

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Dr Maya Ward will facilitate a Deep Listening workshop on the banks of the Birrarung, with whom she embarked on a walking pilgrimage from Sea to Source, in 2003, following sacred Wurundjeri songlines which had been blocked off by private ownership and industry for the last 100 years.

Dr Maya Ward is an independent artist, designer and researcher, collaborating with Melbourne University on addressing climate anxiety through nature contemplation, and with the Gay’wu group of women on the cross-cultural experience of speaking with the world. Maya’s intimate communion with the intelligence of life is profoundly influenced by her longstanding dance and embodiment practices, and practices of earth celebration, communion, and repair – co-creating community rituals, teaching, food growing, tree planting and activism.

Practice Deep Listening, paddling on water. Hosted by Up the Creek, you'll experience the river from a new perspective; a place to slow down, immerse yourself in nature, and reflect on the relationship between city and landscape. As we paddle, we focus on how we collaborate with the water itself, tuning into our senses, noticing the river's effect on our bodies as we move across it, and imagining new ways for people and the river to collaborate differently. This tour is designed to be suitable for all ages, and flows in alignment with our event sponsor, RMIT’s Regenerative Futures Institute. Children are encouraged to come along and share their voices. A diverse cohort of all ages can help us all imagine better!

Everflow Paddles are to be separately booked at https://upthecreek.co/experience/everflow-rmit-x-yrka-x-utc-paddle

Everflow is the physical manifestation of Pug and Evie’s complementary collaborative research. Evie creates text projections that blur the lines between personal and ecological mythology, while Pug constructs resonant sound-sculptural installations from waste polystyrene and steel. Much of the polystyrene used in this artwork has been pulled directly from Birrarung, or their connected tributaries, Merri Merri and Maribyrnong. Through relations with people and place, to the tension of rivers with waste, Evie and Pug present an immersive assemblage of sound, sculpture and light designed to reconcile the stories held within bodies of self and water.

Everflow presents a brand new place-based musical collaboration between interdisciplinary artist Genevieve Fry and writer and performer Genevieve Callaghan.

Drawing inspiration from the natural world, their harp, voice and multi-instrumental soundscapes encourage an inward journey touching on deep time, memory and sense of place.

Driftwood is the duo project of Naarm-based experimental musicians Nick Ashwood and Aviva Endean. They have released two albums on experimental music label ROOM40

Performing face to face, with back to back organs, Driftwood meets in a microtonal, buzzing, blurring landscape. Their unique instrumental line up features two re-tuned antique pump organs, which create a resonant backdrop for their primary instruments of clarinets (Aviva) and guitars (Nick), complemented by modular synths and electronics. Their slowly evolving music draws influence from minimalist, drone and folk traditions to create a generous and shimmering sound, inspiring a hypnotic and transformational quality of listening in their audiences, who are momentarily immersed in this harmonic expanse.line up features two re-tuned antique pump organs, which create a resonant backdrop for their primary instruments of clarinets (Aviva) and guitars (Nick), complemented by modular synths and electronics. Their slowly evolving music draws influence from minimalist, drone and folk traditions to create a generous and shimmering sound, inspiring a hypnotic and transformational quality of listening in their audiences, who are momentarily immersed in this harmonic expanse.

The RMIT Regenerative Futures Institute is proud to support Everflow as part of the Energy Futures events season. The event is presented by the Yarra Riverkeeper Association as the closing celebration of Birrarung Riverfest 2026, and hosted by Up the Creek.

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

Learn more about our commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Everflow: Birrarung Riverfest Closing Event