MPavilion has unveiled the highlights of the 2016/2017 program

The Naomi Milgrom Foundation and MPavilion last week unveiled highlights of the MPavilion 2016/2017 program, which is placed to be bigger than the 2015 program and will feature more than 400 free public events with more than 300 collaborators, including 31 education and cultural organisations.

Designed by acclaimed Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai and presented from 5 October 2016 to 18 February 2017, MPavilion 2016 will open as part of the Melbourne Festival and Confluence: Festival of India and participate in events such as the new Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts (Asia TOPA), Melbourne Music Week, White Night and the India Leadership Summit through the popular MTalk, MMeet, MMusic and MKids event series. A new series – Design and Science – will be launched this season with support from the Hugh D. T. Williamson Foundation.

Naomi Milgrom AO of Naomi Milgrom Foundation said: “Recognised internationally as one of the ten most inspirational installations in the world, MPavilion is a space for creativity and community connection and has become the new civic space for the whole of Melbourne. The MPavilion 2016 program reflects the intuitive, collaborative and hand crafted influence of Bijoy Jain’s architecture.”

Opening MPavilion’s 2016 program is a free public ‘in conversation’ MTalk event hosted by architect Peter Maddison with MPavilion creator Naomi Milgrom AO and MPavilion 2016 architect Bijoy Jain. Presented at MPavilion on Thursday 6 October at 6.15pm, the trio will discuss MPavilion 2016’s ideas of cultural exchange and the collective construction process. This talk coincides with a special exhibition of Bijoy Jain’s design process at RMIT Gallery from 9 September to 22 October.

MPavilion program highlights

MPavilion 2016’s program of events reflects the strong Indian/Australian connection influenced by architect Bijoy Jain and Studio Mumbai’s Indian heritage. Collaborating with the Festival of India, Australia India Institute and the Indian Consulate, the program will feature events, talks, music, dance and theatre performances from leading Indian musicians, puppeteers, magicians, academics and cultural influencers. Amongst the highlights includes a performance by leading Indian tabla player Aneesh Pradhan on 8 October and a weekend dedicated to Indian cultural events on 3 and 4 December held in partnership with the Indian Consulate.

A special MTalk focusing on The Art of Sport on 8 October will explore Melbourne’s unique love of and the many similarities between sport and arts. Hosted by Robyn Archer, the talk features MPavilion 2016 architect Bijoy Jain who was once on the Indian swim team and swam the English Channel when he was just 17 years old, and artist David Pledger who played serious Australian Rules till he was 18 and was destined to play for Essendon.

Presented as part of the Melbourne Festival, MPavilion will host a week of events, talks, broadcasts and workshops from 17 October to 23 October in partnership with the inaugural Public Art Melbourne Biennial Lab which explores anew the Queen Victoria Market through the lens of leading Australian artists. Amongst the highlights is an MTalk on 19 October by Singaporean curator and artist Khairuddin Hori, the former deputy programming director of Palais de Tokyo, Paris – one of Europe’s foremost centres of contemporary art.

To celebrate their 110-year anniversary, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will hold a series of three concerts at each site of the three MPavilions on 11 December. A special design/architecture self guided audio tour by Open House accompanies the concerts and will guide visitors between the three MPavilion sites starting at MPavilion 2016 in Queen Victoria Gardens. Further classical musical performance highlights include a performance by the Australian Youth Orchestra on 7 October, a concert by the Australian National Academy of Music on 13 October and Australian String Quartet performances on 25 and 26 October.

The influence of the Bauhaus in Australia will be explored through a series of events and talks in November held in partnership with the Bauhaus in Australia Forum, Monash University and the University of Melbourne. German expert Dr Isabel Wünsche will join architects and academics from around Australia on 29 November. Penelope Seidler will be in conversation with Naomi Milgrom AO to discuss the work of legendary architect Harry Seidler.

Open Journal will host a series of three MTalks exploring housing policy in Australia with the first in the series on 18 October looking at the development of Melbourne’s housing policy.

Design and science is explored at MPavilion in a new program of events supported by the Hugh Williamson Foundation which looks at the exciting relationship between design and science that has prompted a collaboration with Australia’s first Science Gallery which opens in 2020 at the University of Melbourne and will also include events in collaboration with The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Assemble Papers, Bug Blitz and Scienceworks plus more to be announced.

Inspiring the next generation of architects and designers, MPavilion’s 2016 program features a series of events hosted in conjunction with Melbourne’s universities. On student design, MPavilion’s will see the return of the hugely successful Wearing the City by Monash University’s architecture students on 12 November featuring design inspired by iconic Melbourne homes and RMIT University’s Masters of Fashion Design graduate show on 16 November. Monash University’s School of Music will host performances and workshops in October with students and visiting musicians inspired by a variety of genres including Indian music and a student Jazz concert on 10 October.

The popular MMusic program of free shows, sets, workshops and aural experiences are presented in collaboration with Melbourne and international artists, DJs and experimenters including long-time MPavilion partners Chapter Music along with fellow independent record labels Bedroom Suck Records and Smooch Records as well as a mix of independent artists DJs and guest curators including Conrad Standish, Sovereign Trax, Spike Fu*k and Miles Davis. MMusic highlights include a live iteration of Assemble Papers popular ‘EARS’ podcasts on Friday 14 October, a showcase of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander music with Sovereign Trax on Friday 28 October, Chapter Music Presents Sunday afternoon events including Clag – a tribute show to Bek Moore on Sunday 27 October and Gregor on Sunday 20 November and many more to be announced.

Sound art organisation Liquid Architecture will continue their partnership with MPavilion and host a number of events through the season starting with International guest Anne James Chaton who will be creating a work through one-on-one meetings with members of the public over a week beginning on 24 October. Continuing from last season’s successful installation with artist Caitlin Franzman, the ‘Tree-Telling’ installation will return to MPavilion this season for a second iteration where members of the public are invited to sit down with the artist for a tree-focused tarot reading. Liquid Architecture’s annual MPavilion finale event Endless Bummer in February will also return.

MPavilion’s MMeets series of free gatherings returns in 2016, inviting participants to explore the world through the designer’s eye through unexpected activities around creativity and handcrafted design. MMeets events include regular ‘dog walking adventures’ starting on 16 October in partnership with Tom & Captain Dog Adventures, regular yoga sessions including a return of Happy Melon Mindful Yoga’s Thursday morning yoga sessions throughout November and a range of making workshops inspired by the handmade architecture of Bijoy Jain’s MPavilion 2016.

MPavilion 2016 will see the return of hugely successful free MMusic event M*Sync on 11 February 2017, an event to mark the full moon, which brings together live music, dance and art with a heartbeat-syncing installation by Unconscious Collective and custom heartbeat soundscapes by HTRK. The popular MRelay event, a day-long design talk-fest where guests pass the microphone from one speaker to the next returns on Saturday 4 February and will bring together leading Australian and international thinkers, philosophers, fashionistas, mavericks, activists, provocateurs and architects to share insights and ideas throughout the day.

Every evening at twilight, during MPavilion’s presentation from October until February, the pavilion structure will create its own Evening Ritual, a collaboration between the architect and lighting designer Ben Cobham of bluebottle and Philips technology. This year, MPavilion has collaborated with Indian and local Melbourne designers such as lighting designers bluebottle, fashion designers P.A.M and graphic designer Fabio Ongarato Design and landscape architects Tract Consultants.

MPavilion program team includes creative director Robert Buckingham, deputy creative director Jessie French and associate producer Jennifer Zielinska. A special MPavilion print issue of the design publication Assemble Papers which focuses on the theme of ‘Future Local’ will also be available onsite and at selected design spaces throughout the season. This will be accompanied by a weekend of activities relating to the issue from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 December and a launch event in partnership with the Wheeler Centre to be announced.

mpavilion.org