MPavilion

Common Good is a major design exhibition opening in March 2018 at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney. The exhibition explores the diversity of design practice from the Asia-Pacific region, through an expansive selection of innovative projects including material explorations, contemporary craft, video game design, speculative practice and large-scale architectural interventions.

In this star-studded MTalks event, Common Good curator Keinton Butler led a panel of internationally recognised Australian designers featured in the exhibition, including: sci-fi artist, film director and ‘body architect’ Lucy McRae; game designer and co-founder of craft games studio Mountains, Ken Wong; design studio U-P co-founder, Paul Marcus Fuog; and digital studio Sandpit creative director, Dan Koerner. Together they explored some of the challenges facing designers today, and critically examined several key trends emerging in contemporary design practice, in Australia and overseas.

This event was produced in partnership with the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, in association with the exhibition, Common Good, as part of the Sydney Design Festival 2018.

This event was made possible by the Hugh D T Williamson Foundation through funding for MPavilion’s series of events looking at design & science.

Having a baby changes your perception of the city. Suddenly, things become less accessible: trams are difficult to lift a pram into, there’s no space in your favourite cafe to change a nappy and events happen at night while you soothe your baby to sleep—and so the trials of new parenthood are mostly screened off from public view. (Some public institutions do offer parenting facilities, but they’re usually hidden away next to the toilets.)

Collaborative duo Guest, Riggs will invert this private spectacle and take us with them, by turning MPavilion 2017 into a public performance of the banalities of new parenthood, where the rotating grandstand of Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten’s amphitheatre-style structure will raise nappy-changing to new cultural heights. Guest, Riggs take Rem Koolhaas’s and David Gianotten’s statement that the space could function as a playground literally: the floor will be given over to babies’ exploits, made possible with a series of baby-friendly interventions within the pavilion.

Across four events in our summer program, a rolling line-up of speakers will address the exclusion of parents from cultural events and the architecture of new parenthood by creating a space for parents and babies. (Non-parents welcome too!)

The fourth and final instalment of this gathering, ‘CITY’, will focus on the cityscape of parenthood: How can we improve experiences of parenthood, citywide? And what are the major infrastructural and cultural changes that could improve parent amenity? Carla Pascoe will discuss the history of motherhood in Melbourne; and Carolyn Whitzman will speak about how urban planning might better accommodate babies and parents in the city. We’ll also be celebrating the first birthday of Stephanie Guest’s baby!

This event is proudly supported by Baby Rest.

With Trump leading a war on reality in the United States, Pauline Hanson staging #BurqaGate closer to home, and Tony Abbott suggesting he could be drafted back into leadership, the volatile and often unthinkable year of 2017 has been one for the history books.

Join esteemed journalist and chief political correspondent for The Conversation, Michelle Grattan, and The Conversation‘s politics editor, Amanda Dunn, as they take centre-stage in the MPavilion amphitheatre to discuss the key political moments of 2017.

Photo courtesy The Conversation

Our MTalks series meets Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA)’s Boiler Room series as MUMA presents a lecture by artists Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley, coinciding with their participation in the international exhibition The humours at MUMA from 7 October to 16 December 2017.

Mary Reid Kelley combines painting, performance and distinctive wordplay-rich poetry in graphically stylised black-and-white videos. Made in collaboration with her partner Patrick Kelley, her videos playfully jumble historical periods such as World War One and France’s Second Empire to trace the ways in which present concerns are rooted in the past. In particular Mary presents her take on the clash between utopian ideologies and the realities of women’s lives in the struggle for liberation.

Mary Reid Kelley, ‘The thong of Dionysus’, 2015. HD video (still), made with Patrick Kelley. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias Gallery, London.

Our MTalks series meets Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA)’s Boiler Room series as MUMA presents a lecture by artists Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley, coinciding with their participation in the international exhibition The humours at MUMA from 7 October to 16 December 2017.

Mary Reid Kelley combines painting, performance and distinctive wordplay-rich poetry in graphically stylised black-and-white videos. Made in collaboration with her partner Patrick Kelley, her videos playfully jumble historical periods such as World War One and France’s Second Empire to trace the ways in which present concerns are rooted in the past. In particular Mary presents her take on the clash between utopian ideologies and the realities of women’s lives in the struggle for liberation.

Mary Reid Kelley, ‘The thong of Dionysus’, 2015. HD video (still), made with Patrick Kelley. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias Gallery, London.

Join us at MPavilion for an exploration of the potential intersections of landscape architecture and deliberative development, presented by AILA Cultivate—a committee of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) that aims to expand ideas of landscape architecture beyond traditional practice.

Deliberative development, a designer-led development process introduced to mainstream Melbourne by Nightingale Housing, is introducing a new vocabulary of spaces to Melbourne’s suburbs. Deliberative development projects are significant in that they recast crises—like housing affordability, increasing urban density, climate change, extreme work-life balancing acts and changing family models—as opportunities, creating new ways of residing, working and socialising in cities. The conversation around deliberative development has predominantly focused on the discipline of architecture and the apartment typology. Given the significant social and ecological elements of deliberative development, this dynamic discussion will ask: what is the scope for landscape practice to contribute to—and potentially lead—development projects?

Speakers: Andy Fergus, urban designer at the City of Melbourne and co-director of Melbourne Architours; Brighid Sammon, senior urban planner at Hansen Partnership; landscape architecture practice Emergent Studios; Kate Dundas, landscape architect, strategic planner, urban designer and co-founder of 3000acres; and Rodney Wulff, co-founder of Tract Consultants.

Image courtesy Tract

Having a baby changes your perception of the city. Suddenly, things become less accessible: trams are difficult to lift a pram into, there’s no space in your favourite cafe to change a nappy and events happen at night while you soothe your baby to sleep—and so the trials of new parenthood are mostly screened off from public view. (Some public institutions do offer parenting facilities, but they’re usually hidden away next to the toilets.)

Collaborative duo Guest, Riggs will invert this private spectacle and take us with them, by turning MPavilion 2017 into a public performance of the banalities of new parenthood, where the rotating grandstand of Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten’s amphitheatre-style structure will raise nappy-changing to new cultural heights. Guest, Riggs take Rem Koolhaas’s and David Gianotten’s statement that the space could function as a playground literally: the floor will be given over to babies’ exploits, made possible with a series of baby-friendly interventions within the pavilion.

Across four events in our summer program, a rolling line-up of speakers will address the exclusion of parents from cultural events and the architecture of new parenthood by creating a space for parents and babies. (Non-parents welcome too!)

The third instalment of this gathering, DISTRICT, will focus on parenting communities—both online and IRL. The council-assigned parents’ groups, Facebook groups, the so-called village it takes to raise a child, the public library, the pool and the museum—what is the role of community in developing spaces for parents and babies?

Guest speaker Karen Pickering will talk about her role as the architect of a very special online parenting community, leading interactive community-building exercises, while Clementine Ford will reflect on parenting in public and the need for greater community involvement—particularly by men. A number of Melbourne Museum representatives will also join the line-up to discuss baby-friendly community spaces: Murphy Peoples, experience developer; Scott Parker, senior exhibition designer for permanent exhibition Ground Up: Building Big Ideas, Together; Jo Pritchard, senior graphic designer for the Children’s Gallery; and Naomi Fogel, senior exhibition designer for the Children’s Gallery.

Having a baby changes your perception of the city. Suddenly, things become less accessible: trams are difficult to lift a pram into, there’s no space in your favourite cafe to change a nappy and events happen at night while you soothe your baby to sleep—and so the trials of new parenthood are mostly screened off from public view. (Some public institutions do offer parenting facilities, but they’re usually hidden away next to the toilets.)

Collaborative duo Guest, Riggs will invert this private spectacle and take us with them, by turning MPavilion 2017 into a public performance of the banalities of new parenthood, where the rotating grandstand of Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten’s amphitheatre-style structure will raise nappy-changing to new cultural heights. Guest, Riggs take Rem Koolhaas’s and David Gianotten’s statement that the space could function as a playground literally: the floor will be given over to babies’ exploits, made possible with a series of baby-friendly interventions within the pavilion.

Across four events in our summer program, a rolling line-up of speakers will address the exclusion of parents from cultural events and the architecture of new parenthood by creating a space for parents and babies. (Non-parents welcome too!)

The third instalment of this gathering, DISTRICT, will focus on parenting communities—both online and IRL. The council-assigned parents’ groups, Facebook groups, the so-called village it takes to raise a child, the public library, the pool and the museum—what is the role of community in developing spaces for parents and babies?

Guest speaker Karen Pickering will talk about her role as the architect of a very special online parenting community, leading interactive community-building exercises, while Clementine Ford will reflect on parenting in public and the need for greater community involvement—particularly by men. A number of Melbourne Museum representatives will also join the line-up to discuss baby-friendly community spaces: Murphy Peoples, experience developer; Scott Parker, senior exhibition designer for permanent exhibition Ground Up: Building Big Ideas, Together; Jo Pritchard, senior graphic designer for the Children’s Gallery; and Naomi Fogel, senior exhibition designer for the Children’s Gallery.

In this Monday night MTalks, Contemporary Art Organisations Australia (CAOA) brings together an esteemed panel of speakers to explore the present-day visual arts ecology from the perspective of independent, not-for-profit, and artist-run sectors.

Independent visual arts organisations occupy a space in the arts ecology—at the intersection of production and development—that necessitates a responsive and agile approach. Considering this unique position, how can the sector maintain equilibrium in a constantly shifting landscape? What is the relationship of independent arts spaces to new models for philanthropy and the changing role of state institutions? What does 21st-century arts advocacy look like? And most importantly, what do artists need from an arts ecology?

Join us at MPavilion for a timely discussion about independent visual arts platforms, and a look at alternative and collaborative approaches designed to support risk-taking in programming and organisational sustainability.

Raquel Ormella, 'Golden Soil', 2016. Photo by Sam Cranstoun.

With the long-held title of ‘world’s most liveable city’, Melbourne regularly attracts international interest as an economically viable space for exploration. In the eighties and nineties, an appetite for the international architectural elite drew the likes of I.M. Pei and Kisho Kurokawa to Melbourne. More recently, OMA—and its research arm, AMO—turned its attention towards Australia, describing it as the next frontier of architectural opportunity and possibility. In Melbourne, we’re fortunate to possess a vibrant local design community, proud of its pursuits of innovation and excellence—but for whom the question of Melbourne’s evolving identity also generates impassioned debate.

Does OMA’s recent interest in Australia foretell a new era of ‘starchitecture’ in Melbourne, and what does this mean for the preservation of local culture, architectural or otherwise? Peter Corrigan and Robin Boyd were pioneers in translating international design to a local sensibility—how can Melbourne continue to benefit from global knowledge and experience? And what can we glean from the successes and failures of other cities? In short: are prestigious international firms usurping or supporting existing networks of local architectural culture?

These are just some of the questions PROCESS—an independent public forum on architecture and design—will ask in its annual end-of-year debate, this time inside MPavilion 2017, designed by Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten of OMA and intended as a space for public debate.

Speakers include: Andy Fergus, urban designer at City of Melbourne and co-director of Melbourne Architours; Joachim Clauss, associate director at Bates Smart; Lisa Gerstman, co-curator of PROCESS, EmAGN committee member and member of the RAP Working Group; Mark Raggatt, ARM Architecture co-director; Nicole Allen, senior designer at Grimshaw and masters studio leader at MSD; and Sarah Lynn Rees, a Palawa woman descending from the Plangermaireener people of north-east Tasmania, Charlie Perkins scholar, director of Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV) and project manager of MPavilion’s inaugural regional program.

Illustration courtesy PROCESS.