Incinerator Gallery & MADA Host Final Think Tank as Part of The Playground Project Melbourne

Incinerator Gallery and Moonee Valley City Council (MVCC), in partnership with Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA), will present the final instalment of their visionary think tank talk series: Regenerating and Reconnecting Recreational and Cultural Spaces.

Produced in association with the Festival of Urbanism 2025, the event will take place on 10 October at Maribyrnong Park Bowls Club, and will explore how underutilised recreational sites can be transformed into inclusive, vibrant public spaces that meet the needs of contemporary urban life.

“This final event is about more than just reactivating space. It’s about regenerating connections between people, place and community,” said Associate Professor Catherine Murphy, Program Lead of the Master of Urban Planning and Design at Monash. “The Maribyrnong Park Bowls Club offers a unique lens through which to explore how design, culture and civic life intersect. We’re excited to bring diverse voices together to imagine what these spaces can become.”

The Incinerator x MADA Talk Series forms part of The Playground Project Melbourne, currently showing at Incinerator Gallery. Since May, Incinerator Gallery and MADA have delivered a three-part public program investigating suburban revitalisation, offering valuable insights into creative placemaking and community development.

“This collaboration commissioned by Moonee Valley City Council has shown the power of design and dialogue to reshape our public places,” said MVCC Mayor, Cr Ava Adams. “As we consider the future of our recreational infrastructure, it’s vital that we listen, learn and co-create with the communities who use them. Projects like this help bring that vision to life. Community discussion plays a big role in shaping the way Council manages its public spaces and amenities, and events like this are a great way to amplify those voices.”

Supporting the think tank’s themes, Incinerator Gallery has commissioned photographer David Wadelton to document the surroundings in and around the Maribyrnong Park Bowls Club. The new photographs revisit the area near his former home in Ascot Vale, continuing his ongoing documentation of suburban life, its quiet rituals, community spaces and the subtle changes that have occurred over the decades. His work captures the layered histories that shape Melbourne’s evolving suburban landscape.

The Incinerator x MADA Talk Series at the former Maribyrnong Park Bowls Club is free for all (register here).

The Playground Project at Incinerator Gallery is on until 12 October 2025. Kids 12 and under go free, and tickets for parents and guardians are available (tickets available here).

Incinerator x MADA Talk Series: Regenerating and Reconnecting Spaces

• Friday, 10 October 2025, 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
• Maribyrnong Park Bowls Club, Moonee Ponds

The final think tank in the Incinerator x MADA Talk Series will bring together architects, designers, urbanists and cultural leaders to explore how public and recreational spaces can be renewed for inclusive, community-led futures.

Panel 1: Built Projects – Renewed Community Buildings

This panel showcases innovative architectural projects that reimagine and revitalise community buildings, exploring the potential of design to support civic life.

• Chair: Dr Timothy Moore, Lecturer in Architecture, Monash University
• Speakers: Nicholas Braun – Co-Director, Sibling Architecture. Bradley Kerr – Co-Director, Winsor Kerr. Suzannah Waldron – Co-Founder, Searle X Waldron Architecture.

Panel 2: Strategic Approaches – Connecting Facilities, People and Ecologies

This panel explores larger-scale urban strategies that support sustainable, inclusive and ecologically responsive public spaces.

• Chair: Catherine Murphy, Associate Professor, Monash Urban Lab; Course Leader, Master of Urban Planning and Design
• Speakers: Professor Nicole Kalms – Associate Dean (Research), MADA; Founding Director, XYX Lab. Dr Michaela Prescott – Landscape Architect and Research Fellow, Monash Informal Cities Lab. Valentina Tansley – Head of Festival and Events, Moonee Valley City Council. Dr Liz Taylor – Senior Lecturer, Urban Planning and Design, Monash University.

Keynote: These Are The Projects We Do Together

This keynote features Joseph Norster and Millie Cattlin, Melbourne-based designers renowned for transforming underutilised and contested spaces into inclusive, socially vibrant places. Their most recent work, Balam Balam Place, is a purpose-built creative precinct in Brunswick on Wurundjeri Country and demonstrates their unique approach to architecture, education and long-term community engagement.

• Chair: Professor Mel Dodd, Dean of Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA)

The Playground Project Melbourne has evolved into a dynamic, community-led exploration of play, risk and public space. Informed by the Incinerator x MADA Talk Series, including Grounds for Risky Play (May) and Art & Play (July), the project has been built on conversations led by artists, architects and thinkers including internationally renowned curator, urban planner and political scientist Gabriela Burkhalter, and artists and designers Mike Hewson, Emily Floyd and Mary Featherston. Featuring iconic works such as Simon Terrill and Assemble’s The Brutalist Playground and Yvan Pestalozzi’s Lozziwurm, alongside new site-specific commissions, the exhibition brings to life bold ideas around design, creativity and the social power of play in civic environments.

More information: incineratorgallery.com.au