Smart Flexibility – a leading-edge exhibition at RMIT

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Can a system achieve intelligence by combining the control of a flexible structure with the properties of an active material? The answer is ‘Yes’, and you will discover it at Smart Flexibility.

In collaboration with Materfad – Barcelona’s materials centre, RMIT University’s Design Research Institute brings to Australia for the first time the Smart Flexibility: Advanced Materials and Technologies exhibition – as part of the RMIT’s inaugural Design for Impact Festival.

This international touring exhibition opens on Friday 24 July and runs until Sunday 9 August in Project Rooms 1 and 2, Level 2 of RMIT Design Hub in the city.

Smart Flexibility presents international projects on advanced materials and technologies, developed by universities and firms from 10 different countries – with three projects from some of RMIT’s design research leaders.

The exhibition seeks to explore the current capabilities provided by structures and materials designed to raise awareness and adapt architecture to its environment.

Situated on the borderline between matter and structure, the exhibition investigates the flexibility and intrinsic reactivity of specific materials and advanced technologies.

Materfad is a Materials Centre based in Barcelona, Spain, that performs a research and technological surveillance task in the field of new materials.

Materfad, Materials Library Manager, Valérie Bergeron, said the Smart Flexibility Exhibition illustrated the result of combining flexible structures and active materials to form systems that interact with the environment and/or user.

“Working with DRI at RMIT, we have pinpointed the convergence of our ideas and opinions, on the role of new materials and associated technologies, to generate innovation in the industry through design.

“Thanks to the Australian curating team, the exhibition now includes three magnificent projects – Lumina, Penumbra and Aesthetics of Air; this is in fact the appeal of travelling exhibitions, to grow throughout the phases of the tour through local curator partners.

“Bringing this exhibition to Melbourne is a great opportunity for further research in the field of Smart Flexibility, as well as being a key collaboration for us with a prestigious Australian university of technology and design,” Ms Bergeron said.

Associate Professor Phil Ayres from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’ Centre of Information Technology and Architecture, Copenhagen and his exhibit Persistent Model #3 will be in Melbourne for the opening and to hold a Materfad/RMIT Sketcha Kucha event followed by a public lecture on 24 July.

Materfad Curators: Valérie Bergeron and Javier Peña

What: Smart Flexibility – Advanced Materials and Technologies exhibition When: Friday 24 July to Sunday 9 August 2015 – see opening times on website

Where: Project Rooms 1 and 2, Level 2, Design Hub, Building 100, corner of Victoria and Swanston Streets, Carlton

Website: http://designhub.rmit.edu.au/exhibitions-programs/smart-flexibility

What: Smart Flexibility Opening Celebration When: Thursday 23 July 2015, 6pm to 8pm

Where: Project Rooms 1 and 2, Level 2, Design Hub, Building 100, corner of Victoria and Swanston Streets, Carlton

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