Rubber Duck you’re the one … leading the revelry at Melt
Dutch installation artist Florentijn Hofman’s giant pink Rubber Duck has become an instant icon and leaves us in no doubt that Melt Festival has kicked off in Brisbane.
Why is there a 15m-high pink rubber duck floating on the Brisbane River right now? Fair question. It’s a central feature of Brisbane Powerhouse’s Melt Festival.
Dutch installation artist Florentijn Hofman’s five-storey Rubber Duck is a global phenomenon – and it’s usually yellow.
Reimagined in Melt’s signature hot pink, the monumental artwork made its first appearance on the Brisbane River outside Brisbane Powerhouse on Wednesday and next will move to the city reaches before it joins the River Pride Parade on Saturday (October 24) before returning to Brisbane Powerhouse until the end of Melt Festival.
After captivating audiences in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Osaka, São Paulo and Pittsburgh, the artwork is set to become one of the defining images of Melt 2026.
Hofman is famous for monumental, playful animal sculptures like the travelling Rubber Duck. He scales up everyday objects to spark public joy, community connection and a sense of wonder in urban spaces. We have seen his work before. Hofman’s The Messengers of Brisbane installation featured six giant, seven-metre-tall inflatable rainbow Gouldian finches wearing party hats. That was created in collaboration with Urban Art Projects for Brisbane Festival in 2021.
Brisbane Powerhouse CEO and artistic director Louise Bezzina was running Brisbane Festival at that time, and so she invited the artist back to Brisbane in his new role with Melt, and he’s happy about that. Chatting to Hofman by the riverside, with his Rubber Duck towering above the water nearby, he keenly watches people’s reactions.
“I love watching people’s reactions and interactions,” Hofman says. “Look there’s a woman taking pictures. And that lady is showing it to a child.”
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That makes him smile. He calls the work “a happening” and one that is designed to bring people together.
“The waters of the world are a global bathtub and we are one family,” he says. “So, the Rubber Duck floats from one continent to another.”
Figuratively that is. Although it would be amazing to see it, say, crossing the Pacific. What fun.
The bathtub reference makes me think of the Muppet song Rubber Duckie, sung by Ernie. I mention this but he gently slaps me down.
“This is not a Duckie,” he insists. “It’s a Duck!” Point taken.
It’s certainly an intriguing work and the scale is impressive. And watching people smile when they see it makes the artist smile, too. Job done.
The appearance of Rubber Duck signals that Melt Festival has well and truly begun. Over the coming weeks it will transform Brisbane into one of Australia’s most vibrant destinations for Queer arts and culture, with more than 100 events across more than 70 venues, with a city-wide program spanning landmark public art, world premieres, headline concerts, spectacular river celebrations and powerful new Queer storytelling.
Bezzina says Melt Festival has “always been about bringing people together through unforgettable shared experiences, and this year’s program does that on a scale we’ve never seen before”.
“From international public art legend Florentijn Hofman’s giant pink duck floating down the Brisbane River for our biggest-ever River Pride Parade to a major new commission from Brisbane’s own Circa, the city will come alive in ways you simply won’t experience at any other time of year,” she says.
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“Whether you’re part of the LGBTQIA+ community, an ally, a family discovering the festival for the first time or visiting Brisbane, it is an honour to welcome you to Melt Festival 2026 to come together, celebrate and experience the city at its brightest.”
For the first time, Brisbane Pride’s Rally and March and Fair Day will align with River Pride Parade in its new twilight time slot on Saturday (October 24), bringing together Brisbane’s largest celebrations in a single day that stretches from Fortitude Valley to New Farm and along the Brisbane River/Maiwar.
The celebration continues at Brisbane Powerhouse, where Melt’s Opening Party with free entry keeps the energy going with DJs, live performances and festivities into the night.
Another addition to the 2026 program is the inaugural Mr First Nation. Building on the success of Miss First Nation in 2025, producer Ben Graetz’s new competition celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander drag king performers with two heats leading to a glittering grand final on the festival’s opening weekend.
Melt is also inviting Brisbane to become part of the festival through Onesie World, a major participatory artwork by artist and fashion researcher Adele Varcoe and celebrated Queer First Nations artist Dylan Mooney. More than an artwork to experience, Onesie World is a chance for the community to come together, get involved and help create a shared moment of queer joy and connection.
Free community sewing workshops have been running this month and continue until October 23 at Brisbane Powerhouse and the State Library of Queensland, where participants have helped make 1000 onesies featuring Mooney’s iconic print. On River Pride Parade day on Saturday, the onesies will be released back into the community, free to claim on a first-in, first-dressed basis, transforming the Brisbane River into a vibrant collective celebration, wearing the pieces of the artwork they helped create.
Beyond opening weekend, one of the festival’s defining artistic experiences is the world premiere of Show Me Love, a new Brisbane Powerhouse commission from the city’s globally recognised contemporary circus company, Circa.
Created exclusively for Melt, this immersive production invites audiences to move through the hidden spaces and winding corridors of Brisbane Powerhouse, following Circa’s acrobats and guest artists as they explore the tension between instinct and control, vulnerability and strength, before culminating in a spectacular finale inspired by club culture.
Across music, live performance and comedy, Melt welcomes internationally acclaimed artists alongside Australian favourites and exciting new voices.
And on October 30 in the Powerhouse Theatre, Melt will pay tribute to one of pop culture’s most beloved icons with Dolly Hoe-Down – an evening fully dedicated to the one and only Dolly Parton.
Hosted by the reigning Queen of Queensland’s Drag Scene Vollie LaVont, expect DJs spinning Dolly favourites, drag performances and a lesson from Gilly’s Line Dancing. This will be alongside larger-than-life Dolly visuals and a dancefloor packed with rhinestones, big hair, denim, sequins and country glamour.
And there’s plenty more where that came from.
Melt Festival runs in venues across Brisbane until November 8. Check out the full program:
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