In 2020, designers experiment with ideas, materials, places and processes to respond to the central question ‘How can design shape life?’
We can spend decades feeling that the world stands still. But in an instant the world can change forever through catalytic events. As ecological, economic and social issues converge, design can help us mitigate and respond to these complex problems by testing out possible scenarios, creating new ideas, and imagining the future before it arrives. Design can give us hope and be part of a solution.
In 2020, Melbourne Design Week explores the role of how design can shape life from big-picture thinking around global events to transforming the routines of everyday life. Melbourne Design Week explores the potential of design to shape life through five themes. Melbourne Design Week builds upon the success of its 2019 program through continuing its exploration of Victoria’s rivers, waterways and oceans with Open House Melbourne under the Waterfront program. The War on Waste continues with a special focus on e-waste. Design Cultures looks at the objects, experiences and beliefs that bind people together; Design Evolution highlights a new wave of design thinking; while the mental and physical pulse of our urban environment is checked in the thematic Healthy Cities.
This year Melbourne Design Week has expanded to over 300 events, but it holds to its core a Melbourne attitude rather than an aesthetic, in this expansion. This attitude is a responsibility for design to imagine and create better ways of doing things. You do not need to be a designer or from Melbourne or Victoria to have this attitude. Come along: talk, make, share, eat, discuss and listen. And most importantly, imagine a better life today.
In 2020, designers experiment with ideas, materials, places and processes to respond to the central question ‘How can design shape life?’
We can spend decades feeling that the world stands still. But in an instant the world can change forever through catalytic events. As ecological, economic and social issues converge, design can help us mitigate and respond to these complex problems by testing out possible scenarios, creating new ideas, and imagining the future before it arrives. Design can give us hope and be part of a solution.
In 2020, Melbourne Design Week explores the role of how design can shape life from big-picture thinking around global events to transforming the routines of everyday life. Melbourne Design Week explores the potential of design to shape life through five themes. Melbourne Design Week builds upon the success of its 2019 program through continuing its exploration of Victoria’s rivers, waterways and oceans with Open House Melbourne under the Waterfront program. The War on Waste continues with a special focus on e-waste. Design Cultures looks at the objects, experiences and beliefs that bind people together; Design Evolution highlights a new wave of design thinking; while the mental and physical pulse of our urban environment is checked in the thematic Healthy Cities.
This year Melbourne Design Week has expanded to over 300 events, but it holds to its core a Melbourne attitude rather than an aesthetic, in this expansion. This attitude is a responsibility for design to imagine and create better ways of doing things. You do not need to be a designer or from Melbourne or Victoria to have this attitude. Come along: talk, make, share, eat, discuss and listen. And most importantly, imagine a better life today.
Melbourne Design Week returns in 2020 with its most extensive program to date, exploring how design can shape life.
From tackling e-waste to creating healthy cities and driving sustainability, design has the capacity to improve the way we live and address the challenges of our times.
This year the program extends across Greater Melbourne, with over 300 events spanning talks, exhibitions, films, tours and workshops and featuring the best in local and international design.
Melbourne Design Week is all about the power of design to make a difference, and celebrating the designers and innovators who are shaping our lives – now and in the future.
Martin Foley MP
Minister for Creative Industries, Equality and Mental Health
Melbourne Design Week is the country’s largest annual international design event. A testament to Victoria’s status as Australia’s most design-focused state, this event has experienced significant growth year on year since it began in 2017.
This year Melbourne Design Week will challenge and inspire us as we reflect on the capacity of design to shape our city and the world-at-large. How designers are engaging with the world around us offers viewpoints and solutions for tackling some of the world’s most urgent challenges. This knowledge offers us immense possibility and opportunity to improve the way we live. This is why the Victorian Government and NGV are dedicated to investing in the design sector, including through Melbourne Design Week.
Running for 11 days from March 12, this year’s festival takes place across Melbourne and Victoria in a range of spaces – from design studios and cinemas to commercial and public galleries, parks, trains stations and waterways. Melbourne Design Week also includes the Melbourne Art Book Fair, which last year was the most attended publishing event in the Asia Pacific region. By bringing people together, new audiences are cultivated in which to celebrate design and architecture in Victoria today.
Tony Ellwood AM
Director, National Gallery of Victoria
Curated and presented by the National Gallery of Victoria
Tony Ellwood AM, Director
Donna McColm, A/Assistant Director, Curatorial and Audience Engagement
Ewan McEoin, The Hugh Williamson Senior Curator, Contemporary Design and Architecture
Simone LeAmon, The Hugh Williamson Curator, Contemporary Design and Architecture
Timothy Moore, Curator, Melbourne Design Week
Megan Patty, Curator, Melbourne Art Book Fair, Head of Publications, Photographic Services and Library
Myf Doughty, Assistant Curator, Contemporary Design and Architecture
Jes Wawrzynski, Senior Public Programmer
Zoe Kirkby, Public Programmer
MDW ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Alice Blackwood, Indesign
Liam Fennessy, RMIT University
Peter Handsaker, Creative Victoria
Denise Neri, Aesop
Sarah Lynn Rees, JCBa and Monash University
Bree Trevena, Arup
PROGRAM TEAM
Polly Dymond, Public Programs Representative
Alice Fairweather, Program Assistant, Melbourne Design Week
Isabella Farchione, Program Assistant, Melbourne Art Book Fair
Melbourne Design Week is coordinated by the National Gallery of Victoria.
For more information contact:
Media Enquiries: media@ngv.vic.gov.au
General Enquiries: designweek@ngv.vic.gov.au
