Loop Project Space & Bar

Loop is an independent arts project space and bar located in Meyers Place in Melbourne's CBD.  Since opening in 2003, Loop has hosted an eclectic mix of curated screen, sound and performance based art projects for groups such as the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), The Next Wave Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) and a host of independent collectives.  They also provide strong support to not-for-profit projects and fundraisers.

Some things you can expect to enjoy at Loop include Pleasure Forum Australia (held on the first Tuesday of every month), Read & Rights (every second Tuesday of every month), Electric Shorts (a Fringe Festival screening), White Silk Road (an independent snowboarding film by local filmmakers shot in Afghanistan), Loopdeloop (a monthly animation challenge) and LoopHole (craft and object display spaces)

You don't have to be attending something 'arty' to enjoy Loop.  The bar itself is an alluring place for a quiet beer with friends or an evening of cocktails.  

On weekends Loop transforms into an intimate club with local producers and DJ's always accompanied by a live VJ. These nights are always free and very diverse. You can expect to hear anything from hip hop, dub, beats, tropical, disco, techno or drum and bass depending on the crew of the night. The nights go well into the mornings and they never shut before 5am, even later if the crowd is up for it. Check out what DJ's are coming up. 

To find out everything Loop has to offer check out Loop. 

Loop review:

Deep in the recesses of Meyers Lane lies Loop, in which an oddball blend of elements come together to form one bar for CBD cinephiles. It’s made up of two dim, industrial-looking rooms, one a dedicated screening room with sofas and the other a more standard front bar. Both boast projector screens, and in both you’ll find anything from documentaries to photographs to shorts by local animators on rotation. Loop’s busy program means no two nights of the week are the same, and those in search of a theme will find none here.

The main bar looks as though it could be divided into various seating areas thanks to metal rails on the ceiling from which strips of plastic hang, making it look a bit like a butcher’s shop. We’d quite like to have seen them in action, but it seemed like bad form to go around asking people if we could please try to rope them off with flystrips to see if it worked, particularly in the middle of a show. The floor is concrete, electronic music is favoured and there are some incredibly heavy pieces of metal furniture to really drive that industrial aesthetic home.

But there are some adorably human touches that warm Loop back up. We’ve already mentioned the sofas in the back viewing room: what we didn’t mention is the vocal, appreciative audiences filling them. The menus are rather oddly adorned with tiki-themed art and maudlin musical intertitles: the good times are killing me, I just wasn’t meant for these times, and so on. There are tea-infused cocktails on offer and a simple bar menu of pizzas etc; Loop also currently offers the best mulled wine we’ve enjoyed so far this winter. It’s very hot, just spiced enough and in no way resembles a fruit salad with a drinking problem.

Both literally and figuratively warmer than initial appearances may suggest, Loop is a great proving ground for budding filmmakers in search of an audience. See the website below for information about upcoming shows and competitions.