Our picks at Melbourne Design Week 2020

Melbourne Design Week 2020 will be held from 12 – 22 March. Now that the action-packed program is soon upon us, we’ve selected a few environmentally-minded events from the schedule that aren’t to be missed.

FRANCIS KÉRÉ: ARCHITECTURE SHAPES LIFE | TUE 17 MAR, 6.30–7.30PM
Presented by NGV with Architecture Foundation Australia and the Futuna Lecture Series
Responding to the 2020 Melbourne Design Week theme ‘How can design shape life?’, internationally acclaimed architect Francis Kéré delves into his own journey – revealing how architecture has shaped his life and sharing his vision for how architecture that is collaboratively realised, rooted in traditional knowledge and specific to its context will contribute to a positive and dynamic future for Africa.
Cost $28 NGV Member / $35 Adult / $32 Concession, bookings required
Venue Great Hall, Ground Level, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

BAS VAN ABEL: DARK MATTER | WED 18 MAR, 6.30–7.30PM
Presented by NGV, EWaste Watch Institute and Design Institute of Australia
Every pixel you see and every byte you send has a whole world of minerals, factories, recycling and distribution behind it. Fairphone aims to surface the dark matter of our production systems and make it human again. This keynote lecture by Fairphone founder Bas van Abel is a unique chance to think about the ways that design-led business can transform the environment and economy.
Cost $28 NGV Member / $35 Adult / $32 Concession, bookings required
Venue Great Hall, Ground Level, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

DESIGNING A LEGACY: Presented by Tim Ross | FRI 13 & SAT 14 MAR, 7–8.15PM & SUN 22 MAR, 2–3.15PM
Comedian and design nerd Tim Ross draws out the stories of Australian families whose lives have been shaped within the walls of modern masterpieces, and discovers how architecture and memories bind us to a place.
“The key theme of DESIGNING A LEGACY is the idea that great architecture can elevate us all … If we value and preserve our best buildings, we’re not just thinking sentimentally, but sustainably as well.”
Cost $35 NGV Member / $45 Adult / $39 Student/Concession, bookings required
Venue Clemenger BBDO Auditorium, Ground Level, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

E-WASTE CHALLENGE LIVE PITCH FINAL VICTORIAN DESIGN CHALLENGE 2020 | WED 18 MAR, 10AM–3.30PM
Presented by NGV
Creative Victoria and NGV are offering a $20 000 major prize for the best design idea in the Professional category and $5000 in the Tertiary category in a challenge addressing one of the world’s fastest-growing waste problems – e-waste. Teams in each category will have to convince the Challenge jury, chaired by Craig Reucassel from the ABC’s War on Waste, that their idea is the best solution to tackle the 40 million tons of e-waste produced globally every year. The E-Waste Challenge aims to highlight the capacity and responsibility of designers to contribute to shifting behaviour, raising awareness, redesigning products, or devising smart end-of-life solutions that reduce the negative impacts of e-waste.
FREE
Venue Great Hall, Ground Level, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

TRANSFORMATIVE LANDSCAPES: RESHAPING THE CITY THAT SHAPES US | THU 19 MAR, 8.30AM–1PM
Presented by Foreground, Vic Health and NGV
The way we design and plan our cities, parks and places has profound effects on our health and well-being. In this symposium, design and health experts explore the role of landscape architecture, urban design and planning in making healthful urban environments.
Cost $40 Adult / $25 Student, bookings required
Venue: Clemenger BBDO Auditorium, Ground Level, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

RE-MAKING E-WASTE | Multiple Dates
Presented by RMIT School of Design and Monash Design
E-waste is one of the biggest challenges of the digital age. Re-Making E-Waste is a week-long event with designers, artists, creative writers and anyone interested in exploring solutions to e-waste to imagine and shape new lives for old electronic devices.
FREE, bookings required
Venue Building 45, RMIT University, 61/89 Lygon St, Carlton

9 HOUR FACTORY | SAT 21 MAR, 10AM–7PM
Presented by New Model by Dowel Jones
New Model by Dowel Jones, in partnership with Kvadrat Maharam, presents 9 Hour Factory, a one-day-only live making installation. Visitors can design and create a New Model accessory or bag to take home or drop by to observe the production.
FREE to view
Cost WORKSHOPS: from $50 New Model accessories / $250 New Model 1-Hour Bag, bookings required
Venue 200A Argyle St, Fitzroy

ATMOSPHERE: A REVIVAL | 14–20 MAR, 11AM–6PM DAILY
Presented by Studio Rain
Atmosphere: A Revival is a public sauna installation that seeks to promote the revival of bathing culture along the Yarra River. The installation is an urban and social regeneration project that draws upon historical contexts of saunas and communal bathing to activate under-utilised public space.
Bookings Required

LIFE AND DEATH | 12–21 MAR, 10AM–5PM
Presented by Friends and Associates
Urns made from soil, screens made from urine fed bacteria, chandeliers made from cracked phone screens and sending artworks into space: this exhibition presents projects by Australian creative practitioners exploring life and death.
FREE
OPENING: FRI 13 MAR, 6–10PM
Venue Meat Market Stables, 2–8 Wreckyn St, North Melbourne

EARTH (ERDE) | Australian Film Premiere
A portrait of the Earth at seven locations that humans have transformed on a grand scale: Entire mountains being moved in California, a tunnel being sliced through rock at the Brenner Pass, an open-cast mine in Hungary, a marble quarry in Italy, a copper mine in Spain, the salt mine used to store radioactive waste in Wolfenbüttel and a tar sands landscape in Canada. The dimensions are gigantic, the proportions out of control, the world appears to have slipped from humanity’s grasp.
LIDO: THU 19 & SAT 21 MAR, 7PM \ CLASSIC: SUN 15 MAR, 4PM & WED 18 MAR, 7PM

Full program: ngv.vic.gov.au/melbourne-design-week