MPavilion

Rituals have many functions—to maintain connection, honour history, and build the future by observing the important present. The rise of Asian-Australian podcasting did exactly this in the wake of increasing hostility towards Asians as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Through podcasts, Asian-Australians embraced their identities, celebrated their unique brands of pop culture, and shared their life experiences.

So take your shoes off, take a seat, and listen to this inspirational conversation celebrating the Asian-Australian community.

After 40+ years in print, Artlink proudly delivers its annual Artlink Indigenous issue, Visualising Sovereignty, edited by Paola Balla and Ali Gumillya Baker. Now in its eleventh year, this platform brings together leading First Nations scholars, artists and curators from across the country who have responded critically and candidly to the political, social and cultural issues of the moment.

Come and join Artlink Editor Una Rey, and Naarm-based First Nations writers as they discuss the magazine’s current issue’s theme, the editorial process and ideas addressed by the writers:

+ Community-focused, Indigenous-led curatorial practice

+ Blak architecture, public art and placemaking

+ Educating contemporary art audiences

Featuring speakers Hayley Millar Baker and Kimberley Moulton.

This talk was presented as part of UNTOLD: Marking Life, Indigenous reflections on continuing/maintaining/living rituals presented by Agency Projects.

This talk brings together three of the most exciting and highly regarded emerging First Nations artists showing at the 2022 Melbourne Art Fair.

Butchulla and Burmese artist Mia Boe, Arrernte artist Thea Anamara Perkins and Quandamooka artist Kyra Mancktelow all work in different styles, mediums and methods but through their contemporary practice, they are all storytellers; exploring what it means to be First Nations in contemporary Australia, tackling historical inquiry and reclaiming their stories through their art.  

Sit with these powerful artists as they share how they’re recovering, reclaiming and preserving their own and others' stories through their contemporary practice. 

This talk was presented as part of the program for UNTOLD: Marking Life, Indigenous reflections on continuing/maintaining/living rituals presented by Agency Projects.

'Suspended Activation' is an installation designed by the Stockholm-based architecture office Secretary and fabricated in Melbourne by Ellen Sayers.

Part outdoor gym equipment, part children’s play equipment, the structure repurposes the resistance bands used in physiotherapy and fitness training in order to invite its audiences to engage with its malleable surfaces, which deform and stretch under the weight of bodies young and old.

'Suspended Activation' (affectionately known as 'Susie' to her friends) stood in MPavilion for nine days, and in this conversation, Secretary’s Helen Runting explains some of the key concepts behind the with fabricator Ellen Sayers, moderated by architect Timothy Moore.

The pandemic, climate change, and the continued constraints on international (and interstate!) travel have left us reimagining how we recharge. Exploring themes of resilience, tourism, place, culture, technology, transport and history, we question: How might we still get away from it all?

This discussion looks at lessons from our past to help reinvent our future—proving that the journey can be as important as the destination!

Climate change, the pandemic, and decades of unchecked development have left our city crying out for more meaningful design. As we grapple with the changes of the ‘now,’ and how to re-engage with the urban, questions on what needs to be done to repair our relationship with the city are increasingly relevant.

In this conversation, the multidisciplinary panel featuring Andy Fergus, Maddi Miller, Amelia Leavesley and Rory Hyde, moderated by Lily Di Sciascio and Woodrow Smith, seeks to answer the question: How can we repair our city?

This event has been developed as part of the M_Curators, an MPavilion program engaging young makers, doers and programmers. This initiative is made possible by our presenting partner Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Image by Fraser at Assemble Communities

In a scorching summer when we are seeking sand and sea, how does Melbourne entice its citizens to stay local and vacay in their own town?

This panel, convened by Yarra Pools, brings together activists, artists and thinkers to explore the possibilities of how the Yarra Birrarung could become the ultimate summer destination.

How do you talk about your work? How do you connect with what drives you? How have the past couple of years disrupted your practice? And how long has it been since you’ve paused and reflected on how and why you create work – and what might come next?

In this conversation, long-time MPavilion collaborator Esther Anatolitis provides much-needed space and time for reinvigoration designed to reconnect you with your practice, your peers and your future.

How do the spaces we inhabit allow for spontaneity and play? How can we embed these ways of being into the built environment?

Hear us unpack these questions and more in a two-part series dedicated to exploring the influence of active and accidental play on the built environment.

Join artist and assistant professor at Williams College, Pallavi Sen, sit down with two fascinating practitioners who investigate the meaning of play in their work—Melbourne based painter and illustrator Esther Stewart, and Architectural theorist, urban design, Urban Planner and founding partner in the Stockholm-based architecture office Secretary, Helen Rix Runting.

This event has been developed as part of the M_Curators, an MPavilion program engaging young makers, doers and programmers. This initiative is made possible by our presenting partner Bloomberg Philanthropies.

How do the spaces we inhabit allow for spontaneity and play? How can we embed these ways of being into the built environment?

Hear us unpack these questions and more in a two-part series dedicated to exploring the influence of active and accidental play on the built environment.

Join artist and assistant professor at Williams College, Pallavi Sen, sit down with two fascinating practitioners who investigate the meaning of play in their work—Melbourne based painter and illustrator Esther Stewart, and Architectural theorist, urban design, Urban Planner and founding partner in the Stockholm-based architecture office Secretary, Helen Rix Runting.

This event has been developed as part of the M_Curators, an MPavilion program engaging young makers, doers and programmers. This initiative is made possible by our presenting partner Bloomberg Philanthropies.