Melbourne city was recently turned into a Monopoly board which was very cool, so it seems only natural that the next phase of Melbourne gaming will see the city play host to more than 7000 giant dominoes stacked across 2km. YES a giant game of Dominoes!
A normal game of dominoes has 28 pieces and 2.5”x1.5”x.5” – so you could say that is the game is being super sized.
On the first weekend in February, the Arts Centre Melbourne’s Dominoes arts project will bring the game to life throughout Melbourne’s laneways, buildings, square, promenades and icons.
It’s the first time these jumbo gaming pieces have travelled outside of Europe. They’ve been set up and played in 10 European cities including Copenhagen, Marseille, Helsinki and Ljubljana. (I half imagine they travel around in a plastic big red choo choo train.)
We know you’re like us and never read the rules so we’ll give you the short version of how it works.
Thousands of breezeblocks are used to create a moving sculpture, which runs through the city, unfolding over the course of the day. Occasionally disappearing from sight and then resurfacing, sometimes pausing for sculptural performances, the line of dominoes will thread its way through historic and everyday parts of Melbourne.
The Arts Centre Melbourne will be needing more than 300 volunteers to help stack the blocks (count us in!!) and to guard them too.
Some of the ‘falls’ will be large scale and some will be little mini ‘falls’ in diverse locations. Local film teams will be capturing the small and large ‘falls’ and stitching it all together to create a complete picture of the day.
We can high 5 the Betty Amsden Participation Program and international renowned UK performance company Station House Opera for bringing the game to life.
While I’m curious to see where the blocks will be positioned throughout the city, I’m more curious as to who will get to do the first big Domino push?
To express your interest in volunteering or for details about what is involved email dominoes@artscentremelbourne.com.au or visit www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/dominoes
