“Indigenous science is a way of knowing and a way of life. The power of Indigenous science lies in its ability to make connections and perceive patterns across vast cycles of space and time” – Marcus Hughes Celeste Carnegie, Indigenous STEAM program producer at Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, stands strong on 60,000 years of technological advancement and environmental sciences that shape her exploration into science and technology while sharing the sophistication, richness, and leadership...
Apr 16, 2019•32 min
Our buildings, interiors and urban landscapes are navigated daily by people with greatly differing access needs—and they often fail many. Our collective awareness of accessibility is increasing, but what do we really mean when we talk about designing inclusive spaces and places? How can we work to overcome ingrained and everyday ableism, from our cultural institutions to our civic spaces and workplaces? Introduce yourself to this line-up of designers, professionals and activists as they talked a...
Apr 09, 2019•57 min
Our buildings, interiors and urban landscapes are navigated daily by people with greatly differing access needs—and they often fail many. Our collective awareness of accessibility is increasing, but what do we really mean when we talk about designing inclusive spaces and places? How can we work to overcome ingrained and everyday ableism, from our cultural institutions to our civic spaces and workplaces? Introduce yourself to this line-up of designers, professionals and activists as they talked a...
Apr 09, 2019•1 hr 2 min
This public talk, led by MPavilion’s inaugural Writer in Residence Maddee Clark, brings together First Nations writers and thinkers to discuss symbolism, memorialisation, diversity and decolonial aesthetics. Unreconciliatory landscapes is a public conversation on race, design, symbolism, diversity and representations of Indigeneity in built environments. This discussion considers the different ways colonialism and whiteness shape understandings of and interventions into public space. It was a cr...
Apr 04, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Join award-winning curator and writer Juliana Engberg—recently announced as curator of the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2019—in conversation with publisher Louise Adler about 'En Route', a little book about getting lost, an ode to wandering through time and place, and meeting personalities with no fixed addresses. It’s almost impossible to get lost these days; the fastest and most direct route arrives with the press of a few keys. But what of the joys of unexpected discoveries off ...
Apr 02, 2019•55 min
In so many aspects of our lives we continually strive for perfection—from needing the highest marks in school, to playing the best on the footy ground every week, to portraying the “perfect” life on Instagram. Sometimes this need for perfection is necessary for a task and at other times it hinders our performance. Why do we strive for perfection when we know it is unattainable? Is it worth the anxiety it causes us? Revisit this intriguing discussion presented by Science Gallery Melbourne that ex...
Mar 19, 2019•1 hr 18 min
The archives of the National Trust’s register of significant places largely document the work of male architects, engineers, builders, planners and politicians. But, while historically under-represented in these professions, women have shaped Melbourne’s cultural landscape in other ways. Through advocacy, activism and civic leadership, women have been instrumental in shaping the fabric of our city, from bluestone laneways, to public art, our green spaces, and the nineteenth-century streetscapes ...
Mar 12, 2019•1 hr 6 min
Following on from the opening of The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial (Brisbane), listen back to curator Professor Natalie King in conversation with regional luminaries including Elia Nurvista (Indonesia), Ly Hoàng Ly (Vietnam), Mithu Sen (India) and Lyno Vuth (Cambodia) discussing the role of artistic collaboration and collectivity. Co-hosted by Centre of Visual Art, VCA, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne and Design & Creative Practice ECP, RMIT University. – Image: 'Human N...
Mar 05, 2019•1 hr 16 min
What does it mean to be a woman working in the Indigenous design space? This discussion, the first of our BLAKitecture series, explored the moments of celebration, the challenges, the questions and the answers from the perspective of established Indigenous women practitioners to students across the fields of architecture, landscape, interiors and research. MPavilion’s second annual BLAKitecture forum brought together Indigenous built environment practitioners on the Yaluk-ut Weelam land of the B...
Feb 19, 2019•1 hr 37 min
Every year, MPavilion takes a new form as a different architect responds to the changing face of Melbourne. This continual movement of space and meaning reflects growing international recognition—epitomised in the work of our 2018 architect, Barcelona’s Carme Pinós—that urban environments are increasingly dynamic. Victorian-era institutional buildings in our own city demonstrate that in the past, architecture emphasised solidity and permanence, whatever the reality of its inhabitants. Now, desig...
Feb 12, 2019•41 min
The digital revolution is changing the way we live today as radically as the industrial revolution did almost two centuries ago. As urbanisation accelerates across the world, digital media and information technologies integrated with the built environment hold huge potential for understanding, designing, and managing future cities. As Melbourne tries to secure its place amongst the most liveable cities, a multidisciplinary approach from diverse fields such as city planning, architecture, enginee...
Feb 10, 2019•1 hr 13 min
The Melbourne Fashion Showcase forms part of Hong Kong Business of Design Week (BoDW), Asia’s premier design event, where the international spotlight will be on Melbourne as the event’s official partner city. Melbourne was the first Southern Hemisphere city to partner this major event, following 2017 Country Partner, Italy. BoDW presents an unprecedented opportunity for Melbourne’s most influential fashion designers, and emerging brands, to tell their story to the world. Melbourne will send its ...
Feb 05, 2019•43 min
The Melbourne Fashion Showcase forms part of Hong Kong Business of Design Week (BoDW), Asia’s premier design event, where the international spotlight will be on Melbourne as the event’s official partner city. Melbourne was the first Southern Hemisphere city to partner this major event, following 2017 Country Partner, Italy. BoDW presents an unprecedented opportunity for Melbourne’s most influential fashion designers, and emerging brands, to tell their story to the world. Melbourne will send its ...
Feb 05, 2019•1 hr 14 min
Enjoy a rare treat from Melbourne Theatre Company at MPavilion over three summer evenings as MTC presents a series exploring different facets of modern theatre practice. Hear play-readings of new Australian dramatic works commissioned by MTC and enjoy a discussion of the theatrical process with special international guest director Lila Neugebauer. Here they discussed the warp and weft of theatre, its role in shaping the future, and how it works both here and overseas. Make new discoveries and se...
Feb 05, 2019•49 min
We live in cities and towns that reflect the denial of Indigenous histories and perspectives, but momentum around this issue is building. What role can design play in addressing the lack of memorials and visibility to the memories and legacy of the frontier wars in Australia? What are the challenges around this for both non-Indigenous and Indigenous designers? MPavilion’s second annual BLAKitecture forum brought together Indigenous built environment practitioners on the Yaluk-ut Weelam land of t...
Jan 29, 2019•1 hr 41 min
We all learn to navigate society and our lives differently. For some, the path to wellbeing and fulfilment comes with unimaginable obstacles, amongst them societal inequality, health-related setbacks, and housing and family instability. How can we as a community better help those in need to reorient themselves within complex systems? How do we seek and create alternative routes to healthy and happy lives? How do we give everyone the tools needed to find their way? Revisit this lively tag-team di...
Jan 22, 2019•1 hr 6 min
We all learn to navigate society and our lives differently. For some, the path to wellbeing and fulfilment comes with unimaginable obstacles, amongst them societal inequality, health-related setbacks, and housing and family instability. How can we as a community better help those in need to reorient themselves within complex systems? How do we seek and create alternative routes to healthy and happy lives? How do we give everyone the tools needed to find their way? Revisit this lively tag-team di...
Jan 22, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Often named as one of the most important figures in contemporary British art, Hannah Barry is the founder of the Bold Tendencies Community Interest Company and Hannah Barry Gallery, both based in Peckham, South London. Transforming its multi-storey car park space into acclaimed programs of contemporary art, Bold Tendencies has reimagined South London and captured the attention of the art world as well the broader public, drawing nearly two million visitors since 2007. It has also hosted the BBC ...
Jan 15, 2019•1 hr
Over the past twenty years we have seen very significant changes in the way in which art museums work with artists and how they engage with their public. Celebrated former director of Tate, Sir Nicholas Serota CH, will discuss the impact of these changes on the outlook and programs of museums with special reference to the evolution of Tate during the period in which he led on the creation of Tate Modern, the adoption of a wider international perspective and the development of a new approach to a...
Dec 03, 2018•1 hr 7 min
For MPavilion 2018's opening week, we were privileged to hear from two architects who have forged ahead in a traditionally male-dominated space. Carme Pinós and Kerstin Thompson were invited to have an informal discussion as part of Parlour's 'In Conversation' series. The chat was billed as an informal chat between two practitioners... only with an audience in attendance. The two architects charted public space, ideas of neighbourly intimacy, and Kerstin's penchant for seeing life happen behind ...
Nov 30, 2018•1 hr 10 min
Carme Pinós is a major influence on global architecture through her sharp and poetic designs and humanistic design philosophy, leading urgent conversations about public architecture, social housing and urban refurbishment. She joined journalist and author Virginia Trioli in conversation with Naomi Milgrom AO, founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, the organisation that commissions the architect of each MPavilion. The trio talks all things urban design, leadership and the creative journey of 20...
Nov 29, 2018•56 min
Diversity has become a catchcry, a battle cry and an umbrella term for opportunity and access—but is it holding us back? Does the framing of diversity in conversations about our cities and institutions continue to keep minorities and the underprivileged at the margins? How can we move beyond a focus on otherness, and to where do we move? As political and economic forces create rapidly changing populations, engaging design to respond to these changes is not only essential but also urgent. From th...
Oct 27, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Diversity has become a catchcry, a battle cry and an umbrella term for opportunity and access—but is it holding us back? Does the framing of diversity in conversations about our cities and institutions continue to keep minorities and the underprivileged at the margins? How can we move beyond a focus on otherness, and to where do we move? As political and economic forces create rapidly changing populations, engaging design to respond to these changes is not only essential but also urgent. From th...
Oct 27, 2018•1 hr 41 min
Queer music in Australia is arguably louder and prouder in 2018 than it has ever been—but this modern strength and visibility did not grow out of a vacuum. From singular artists in the ’50s and ’60s to women’s music groups in the ’70s, plus dance hedonism in the ’80s, ’90s and beyond, Australia has a long and rich—but often neglected—history of openly queer music. This panel discussion at MPavilion is a vibrant reflection on Australian LGBTQIA+ musical expression across the decades, featuring re...
Feb 27, 2018•1 hr 27 min
At a time when Melbourne is undergoing the greatest change since the Gold Rush, we joined Kim Dovey, Rob Adams and Ron Jones at MPavilion to launch their new book Urban Choreography: Central Melbourne, 1985– (Melbourne University Publishing, 2018). A collective retrospective on the incremental transformation of central Melbourne from the mid-1980s onwards, Urban Choreography documents and discusses the key events, plans, projects, places and people involved in these transformations, seeking to u...
Feb 25, 2018•1 hr 7 min
MPavilion 2017 attracted international acclaim as one of the top civic spaces in the world today. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten of OMA, MPavilion 2017 was named by Wallpaper* as one of the top buildings that shaped culture in 2017. In an interview with Dezeen, Rem Koolhaas said, “We are happy that MPavilion can perform as a theatre of debate around the city and its development, and contribute to the ongoing civic discourse of Melbourne.” In this exclusive behind-the-scenes event, ...
Feb 25, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Australian artist Keg De Souza creates site- and situation-specific projects with people. With an emphasis on knowledge exchange, Keg’s investigation of social and spatial environments is influenced by her formal training in architecture and experiences of radical spaces through squatting and organising. Keg’s work on an alternative mapping project of Shepparton was formed as part of the MPavilion 2017 regional program in collaboration with Shepparton Art Museum (SAM). At this insightful talk at...
Feb 25, 2018•53 min
How are women represented in the media and what are the alternatives? Panellists Nayuka Gorrie, a Kurnai/Gunai, Gunditjmara, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman who writes on Black politics, queerness and feminism; Brigid Delaney, journalist, author and features editor of Guardian Australia; Natalie Thomas, artist, writer and fierce advocate for the participation of woman in the arts; and Deb Verhoeven, associate dean of engagement and innovation at UTS (Sydney), came together at MPavilion on Saturd...
Feb 25, 2018•1 hr 37 min
All urban environmental research, policy and practices occur on and in Aboriginal Country. A key challenge for urban practitioners and researchers is to respond meaningfully to the expectations, rights and aspirations of Indigenous people and communities in cities. Presented by Indigenous researchers and advisory members of the National Environmental Science Program, this panel discussion explored a range of questions about the significance of nature in cities—including threatened species—for ma...
Feb 23, 2018•1 hr 9 min
This panel discussion was the third and final instalment this MPavilion season of Open Journal‘s popular and thought-provoking series High Density Happiness. It looked at property ownership alternatives, from enforced re-sale restrictions in Brunswick’s Nightingale development, to more complex shared ownership structures and co-housing. The panel explored whether a new ownership framework could be the answer to affordable housing, and considered whether we might see a split market soon emerge. U...
Feb 23, 2018•1 hr 1 min
