Frankston’s annual South Side Festival returns this week, delivering a captivating 10-day program showcasing performances, immersive installations, exhibitions and community events, with the much-loved Neon Fields to take centre stage. Australian Arts Review takes a look at 12 events worth checking out!
Neon Fields
Beauty Park: 8 – 10 May 2026
Experience Beauty Park transformed into a wonderland of light and adventure where you can discover secret gardens and strike a pose with iconic installations. This year there will be brand new features including the epic Stargate monolith and neons plus the fan faves. And on Friday and Saturday night there will be snacky savoury and sweet food trucks plus the licensed Soundlounge bar zone, making Neon Fields the place to be! Free event!
HERE & NOW: Live Cinema
Cube 37 – Frankston Arts Centre: Friday 8 May
Michael Beets and the award-winning team at HERE & NOW transforms Cube 37 into a high-tech pop-up studio where a cast and crew of local Frankston youth – mentored by industry professionals – shoot, edit, score, and project a feature film in real-time. Guided by the strict ‘Dogma of Live Cinema’ there are no pre-recorded shots and no second takes. Every cut, camera move, and musical note happens in the moment. This is cinema stripped of its safety net—a high-wire act of storytelling that bridges theatre, film, and broadcast.
One Fell Swoop Circus: In Common
Frankston Arts Centre: Saturday 9 May (1.00pm / 7.30pm)
A thrilling new work by One Fell Swoop Circus, In Common combines circus and sculpture as eight acrobats build a unique rigging apparatus on stage and perform breathtaking acrobatics on and around it. Virtuosic acrobatics and intricate choreography guide audiences through a visceral understanding of the care we owe others in our community and the safety nets we collectively weave. An exploration of tension both structural and relational, In Common lets you experience the joy of throwing yourself into someone’s arms and the warm weight of bearing them.
Natalie Finney: Second Nature
Cube 37 – Frankston Arts Centre: 9 May – 27 June
Second Nature by Natalie Finney is an immersive investigation into the blurred threshold between the natural and the manufactured. Across miniature constructed gardens, paired floral studies, real and artificial butterfly specimens, and still life works inspired by seventeenth century Dutch painting, this photographic exhibition invites viewers to question what they trust, recognise and desire. Lush compositions and delicate details create an atmosphere of whimsy and contemplation that gently masks the tension between authenticity and artifice.
A Wearable Canvas
Mezzanine Gallery – Frankston Arts Centre: 9 May – 13 June
A Wearable Canvas brings the extraordinary world of wearable art into the gallery, offering audiences a rare opportunity to experience these remarkable works up close. Spanning categories including Trashion, Sustainable Nature, Avant Garde and Abstract Form, A Wearable Canvas highlights the diversity and creative ambition of contemporary wearable art practice. This exhibition celebrates artists who push boundaries, transform unexpected materials and tell powerful stories through form, texture and design.
Rennie Ellis: Good Times
Curved Wall Gallery – Frankston Arts Centre: 9 May – 1 August
Rennie Ellis was a photographer known for his candid, documentary-style images capturing the essence of contemporary Australia, the good times of social events like music festivals, fashion and nightclubs, as well as the gritty side of the urban world. Ellis’s photographs are celebrated for their warmth, non-judgmental approach, and focus on human interaction and remain an enduring affirmation of his times. Good Times features a selection of iconic imagery and celebratory photographs of everyday people enjoying life from one of Australia’s greatest storytellers.
Street Art Walking Tours
Frankston Library Forecourt: Saturday 9 May & Saturday 16 May
Book a street art tour through Frankston’s iconic murals, uncovering stories and artists along the way, and finish at the new Street Art Studio for behind-the-scenes insight and a chance to bid on an original artwork.
The Shitthropocene: Film Screening
Cube 37 – Frankston Arts Centre: Wednesday 13 May
How did we end up in a world where things are designed to be thrown away rather than repaired? The Shitthropocene takes a hard look at our throwaway culture and asks tough questions about our consumer habits. Through producer Patagonia’s journey toward repair and circular design, this film shows how rethinking what we buy, extending the life of our belongings, and embracing reuse can reshape society and promote a sustainable, circular economy.
山高水长 (Shan Gao Shui Chang)
Cube 37 – Frankston Arts Centre: Thursday 14 May
A dancer, visual artist, and musician transform movement into a sonic and visual landscape evoking their shared experience of diaspora and migration. Ancient techniques of Chinese water painting and tea ceremony combine with contemporary dance, cutting-edge machine learning and interactive technology using the body’s natural conductivity and everyday objects to offer a visceral experience that embodies the body’s metabolism and its deep connection to nature, culture, and society. Each performance is one-off, creating a unique and ephemeral visual artefact and soundscape.
Human Love Quest
Cube 37 – Frankston Arts Centre: Friday 15 May
This is the comedy dating show you have been waiting for. Human Love Quest (HLQ) brings the golden age of live television dating shows into the future! The future being now! The antithesis of dating apps, HLQ uses the classic trope of three hopefuls vying for the attention of one solo contestant. It is all-inclusive and anyone from the audience is encouraged to play, regardless of how someone identifies, their age group, or what they’re looking for out of an encounter.
Kiki & Zuki
Cube 37 – Frankston Arts Centre: Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 May
Step into a world of shadows and light where two unlikely friends embark on a journey of discovery. Kiki and Zuki will take you on a magical adventure of friendship, understanding, and finding connection through a captivating blend of puppetry, overhead projector shadow work, and performative storytelling. Join this beautiful performance that inspires curiosity, imagination, and embracing our differences.
Lose to Win
Frankston Arts Centre: Saturday 16 May
From South Sudan to Egypt to our stage, this is the extraordinary journey of Mandela Mathia. Fleeing his war-town home as a child, Mandela spent many years journeying, searching, and eventually finding his way to our stage. This is a joyful, poignant solo show, straight from the man who lived it. A celebration of the South Sudanese community, of resilience, and the power of imagination, Lose to Win is an astonishing modern Australian story.
The 2026 South Side Festival takes place across Frankston from 8 – 17 May. For more information and full program, visit: www.southsidefestival.com.au for details.
Image: Stargate – photo courtesy of Enlighten Festival (Events ACT)