MPavilion

This podcast from early 2020 explores the potential of technology-driven approaches to drive innovation in the area of healthcare architecture, design and research. Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging and rapidly developing technology that can be used as a powerful method to engage end-users in healthcare and design projects. It is well suited for projects aiming to design human-centered spaces, which contribute to positive outcomes and user experience. The topics for this session are drawn from the New and Optimised Virtual Environments Living Lab (NOVELL) project led by Professor Julie Bernhardt at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. This project sets out to rethink how rehabilitation facilities are designed and integrated into new models of care.

This event was made possible by the Hugh D T Williamson Foundation through funding for MPavilion’s Design & Science series of events.

Listen back as Takao Kawaguchi, Linda Sastradipradja and Amaara Raheem join in conversation with Dr Philipa Rothfield and Dr Priya Srinivasan. This conversation interrogates the politics of taste; in particular the politics of arts ecologies that define questions of aesthetic value and the systems that support them. In particular, we ask what it means to be a practitioner of “traditional” art forms in a landscape that privileges “the contemporary” and how taste can be thought to be hegemonic. Which art forms are seen, funded, showcased, valued and supported is ever-changing and exposes the trends of the time, but more so, the policy and power systems in place. This conversation asks whether the “traditional” can be unpacked to reveal its often colonial, postcolonial, hybrid and contemporary origins in order to rethink the very notion of taste.

In partnership with Dancehouse.

Listen back us as Parlour—an organisation advocating for gender equity and increased representation in architecture—hosts an informal conversation between Hélène Frichot, Professor of Architecture & Philosophy and Director of the Bachelor of Design at the University of Melbourne, and Charity Edwards, founder of The Afterlives of Cities research collective and lecturer at Monash University.

Casual and welcoming, the Parlour Summer Salon is an opportunity to connect with many of the women active in our built environment.

"Free admission is not enough, we need to do more... it means we have to go with art to the people."

—Hans Ulrich Obrist, curator at the Serpentine Gallery in London, in conversation with Victoria Lynn, Director of TarraWarra Museum of Art

Essential listening for anyone interested in art, curation and culture: Hans Ulrich Obrist spoke in early May with Victoria Lynn about what a building without walls can do for bringing art to the community. Exploring experimentation, conversation marathons, how early morning joggers use pavilions, a world after COVID-19, digital engagement, Roland Barthes, and the value of art in a crisis — this conversation is not to be missed.

Storytelling has been at the heart of every culture since the dawn of humankind. It’s how we’ve sought to make sense of who we are and how we interact with the world around us. From rock walls and campfires to theatres and dinner tables, the platforms for our storytelling have been as varied as the yarns themselves. As we find ourselves deeper and deeper in the digital age, our natural inclination to process experience through storytelling can be challenged.

In this interactive workshop, the team at School of Life shared tips and ideas for finding your stories through conversation and reflective practices. The team helped meaning in some of the key experiences of the audiences life and give them a narrative arc. Whether it’s a poignant story of loss, a fast-paced thriller or a rip-snorting comedy of errors, listen back to this talk and learn to craft your story and deliver it in a way that leaves you feeling invigorated and empowered.

This facilitated conversation and interactive workshop asks: Why is Australia not seeing a tidal rise of young women, and women of colour, rising up in politics?

This event brought together a range of perspectives, from youth activists, the Melbourne School of Government, Democracy in Colour, artists, and designers who specialise in systems re-design, to talk through some of the road blocks and what can be done to create better political systems that speak to and for women.

The audience was then invited to get interactive and a little bit witchy, too! They were asked to metaphorically ‘burn it to the ground’ by placing thoughts about what doesn’t work about the current political system into a cauldron. From that starting point, participants were invited to answer the question: What next?

Bring your lunch and your curiosity and listen back to this picnic conversation. Facilitated by Singapore-born artist Jamie Lewis, and joined by table hosts from a range of artistic, cultural and professional backgrounds, prod at the boundaries of the multiplicity of the ‘Asian-Australian’ narrative.

The Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts—or Asia TOPA—settles into MPavilion for an action-packed month-long residency from Thursday 20 February to Sunday 15 March. Each day of the residency, talented and multidisciplinary guests from Asia TOPA’s international roster of artists will give a lunchtime performance at MPavilion, from 12.30–1.30pm.

For the final instalment of the Wednesday Assembly series, we were joined by South Sudanese Australian musician Ajak Kwai, broadcaster, producer and writer Namila Benson, and Dr Vicki Couzens. Simon, Ajak and Namila discuss MPavilion’s March theme — Knowledge: Shared Learning, Shared Power.

Lauren Taylor and Simon Winkler, hosts of 3RRR’s Breaking & Entering, record a special podcast each month, with guests including inventive artists, musicians and creatives. Over four nights throughout the season, Lauren and Simon and their guests dig into 2019 program themes: Australian Design: Identity & Cultural Collaboration; Connection: Instruments of Harmonious Living; Unplugged: Energy Without Electricity; Earth: A Place of Reconciliation, a Reconciliation of Place; and Knowledge: Shared Learning, Shared Power.

Listen back to this talk with Takao Kawaguchi, Linda Sastradipradja and Amaara Raheem in conversation with Dr Philipa Rothfield and Dr Priya Srinivasan. This conversation interrogates the politics of taste; in particular the politics of arts ecologies that define questions of aesthetic value and the systems that support them. In particular, they ask what it means to be a practitioner of “traditional” art forms in a landscape that privileges “the contemporary” and how taste can be thought to be hegemonic. Which art forms are seen, funded, showcased, valued and supported is ever-changing and exposes the trends of the time, but more so, the policy and power systems in place. This conversation asks whether the “traditional” can be unpacked to reveal its often colonial, postcolonial, hybrid and contemporary origins in order to rethink the very notion of taste.

In partnership with Dancehouse.

The Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts—or Asia TOPA—settles into MPavilion for an action-packed month-long residency from Thursday 20 February to Sunday 15 March. Each day of the residency, talented and multidisciplinary guests from Asia TOPA’s international roster of artists will give a lunchtime performance at MPavilion, from 12.30–1.30pm.

This talk explores the potential of technology-driven approaches to drive innovation in the area of healthcare architecture, design and research. Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging and rapidly developing technology that can be used as a powerful method to engage end-users in healthcare and design projects.

It is well suited for projects aiming to design human-centred spaces, which contribute to positive outcomes and user experience. The topics for this session are drawn from the New and Optimised Virtual Environments Living Lab (NOVELL) project led by Professor Julie Bernhardt at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. This project sets out to rethink how rehabilitation facilities are designed and integrated into new models of care.

Listen back to this cross-disciplinary expert presentation and discussion around VR technology and its potential in facilitating end-user engagement and research data collection in the design process. The audience was invited to live-test different environments and design scenarios using VR technology.