Melbourne Music Week’s Venue ‘Where?House’ In Abandoned Argus Building

Melbourne Music Week will see the dilapidated and disused Argus building transformed into a hub for live music, reopening under the name of Where?House from November 16-24 for a 10-day programme that will showcase independent and electronic artists.

The location of Where?House was meant to remain a secret until November 16, but instead was revealed by The Age earlier today. The 86-year-old-Argus is located on the corner of Elizabeth and Latrobe Street in Melbourne and is under consideration for heritage listing.

The neglected building has been partly transformed to house DJs, bands, vintage clothing stalls, food stalls, film screenings and more during Music Week by Marksthespot entrepreneurs Kevin Karlberg and Starr Guzman in conjunction with the City of Melbourne.

Although much of The Argus remains off limits, the two lower floors have been renovated to allow 400 people upstairs and 800 people downstairs in the temporary concert hall, which will host both local and international acts. The venue will be free to enter from 11am until 8pm each day during Melbourne Music Week. After 8pm is when the concerts begin.

“Our main theme is reclamation,” said Ms Guzman of the Argus reopening, “We become a living organism in something that has decayed and we bring out the beauty in it.”

“The building has really dictated what we can and can’t do at every turn,” Ms Guzman added, “Projects like this are the kind of thing you read about online that are happening in Europe and America all the time.”

Guzman and Karlberg had hoped to keep up the secrecy surrounding Where?House, but pressure from international acts and colleagues coupled with suspicion from local retailers meant that the two innovators were forced to make public the location ahead of schedule.

Watch: Where?House – Melbourne Music Week Trailer

Must Read