Melbourne Design Week 2019 Announces It’s Largest Programme To Date.

Melbourne Design Week is about to kick off its 2019 program, its largest to date with over 200 events across Melbourne and for the first time, Geelong. Presented by Creative Victoria and the National Gallery of Victoria, the 2019 theme is “Design Experiments – How can design shape the future?”

A reaction to continued urbanization, digitization, and ecological transformation, the concept delves into the potential of architecture and design for implementing positive progress through disruptive ideas across industry, politics, history, science, psychology, and more. The idealistic agenda gives designers a platform to reflect on what they do, conceptualize new and better processes, and share these insights with a broad audience. Design to the rescue, basically.

The program is curated under five thematic pillars. Reconnecting with Birrarung includes part of the Waterfront series presented by Open House Melbourne and explores how we can reconnect with the Yarra River. Formerly a major food source and meeting place for local indigenous people, the Yarra River has been radically altered and overtaken by urban expansion and pollution. Events including boat and bicycle tours explore how design can aid in restoring the spiritual significance of the river to Melbournian culture.

Melbourne Design Week 2019 Team: Timothy Moore of Sibling Architecture and Curator of the Melbourne Design Week satellite program; Emma Teller, executive director of Open House Melbourne and Ewan McEwan, Senior Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture at NGV.

The War on Waste reveals the ways in which design can combat climate change, waste, and pollution. Exhibitions include Welcome to Wasteland, featuring furniture made from coffee, and Toxic City? Symposium, a talk in collaboration with the New York Times that looks at implementing systems to improve the environment.

Material Matters looks at vast global supply chains, and how designers can consider the consequences and implications of where materials come from and where they will end up; potentially heralding a new wave of material thinking. The Material Thought exhibition showcases pieces by some of Australia’s most innovative furniture, lighting, and object designers, including Steelotto, Henry Wilson, Nicolette Johnson, Ebony Heidenreich, and Christopher Boots.

Possible Futures explores how design shapes our quality of life – from products and services to transport and health. The series explores some of the ways in which designers work at the intersection of science, technology, and creativity to reimagine the future. Turkish-born, LA-based media artist Refik Anadol will give a keynote talk presented by Telstra and NGV, examining how machine intelligence is reshaping the world.

Inclusive Cities is a series that looks at the role of design in redressing Melbourne’s challenges in offering safety, equality, inclusion and respect as a city, insinuating that design accelerates how citizens access positive potential or the urban realm. Oliver Wainwright, architecture and design critic for the Guardian UK will give an address examining the housing market, presented by NGV, the Robin Boyd Foundation and the Australian Institute of Architects.

Melbourne Design Week runs from March 14 – 24, and includes over 47 exhibitions and 81 talks. For more information or book tickets for certain events here.

Welcome to Wasteland: CMYK Chair by Morgan Doty. Photo by Morgan Doty.

This Yellowtrace Promotion is sponsored by National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Please note that all our sponsored content is carefully curated to maintain utmost relevance to our readers.

[Images courtesy of National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Photography credits noted.]