MELBOURNE.- This week, Australia's leading annual international design event, Melbourne Design Week presents its largest program to date, with more than 200 events – including 47 exhibitions, 16 film screenings, 81 talks, 33 tours and 18 workshops as well as more than 40 events for Melbourne Art Book Fair – across Melbourne, and for the very first time, Geelong from 14 – 24 March 2019. Celebrating the best of local, national and international design, the expanding, state-wide festival is an initiative of the Victorian Government presented by Creative Victoria and the National Gallery of Victoria.

Three major exhibitions have been revealed including John Wardle’s Somewhere Other, taking up residence in the foyer of NGV Australia, international design super-studio So-Il present Viewing China in Federation Court at NGV International and Designwork 03: The Supply Chain exhibition at Sophie Gannon Gallery.

Melbourne Design Week Highlights

John Wardle on Somewhere Other / Sat 16 Mar, 11am–12pm
John Wardle Architects’ Somewhere Other, first presented for the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2018, invites visitors to look through a series of portals that transport them to different spaces and places, to frame views and establish connections between buildings and their context. As part of Melbourne Design Week, hear John Wardle introduce audiences to the development of the project and its re-creation at NGV Australia.

FREE ENTRY
Venue NGV Australia, Federation Square, Theatre

So-Il: Viewing China / 8 Mar – 4 Aug, 10am - 5pm Daily
Continuing the National Gallery of Victoria’s engagement with contemporary art and design from China, SO–IL: Viewing China presents more than fifty white porcelain items from the NGV Collection within a vibrant architectural display designed by groundbreaking architecture practice SO–IL (USA/China). The project is displayed within Federation Court at NGV International for the opening of Melbourne Design Week in March 2019.

“Porcelain is a ubiquitous material in our lives: we eat off it; we drink from it; we incorporate it into our bodies in forms such as dental fillings and prostheses; it is used to fabricate electrical, electronic and machine components. Porcelain has become a material appreciated for its astonishing physical properties and functionality, though this universality can render it virtually invisible. How often do we reflect on the materials from which the practical objects we use in our day-to-day lives are fabricated?”

FREE ENTRY
Venue NGV International, Federation Court

Designwork 03: The Supply Chain exhibition / 5 – 23 Mar, Tue–Sat, 11am–5pm
Talk: Sat 16 Mar, 3–4pm
Launch: Sat 16 Mar, 4–6pm
Presented by Sophie Gannon Gallery
Curated by Guy Keulemans, the exhibition considers the supply chain and materials of design. Here, designers ask: where do their materials of making come from?

FREE ENTRY
Venue Sophie Gannon Gallery, 2 Albert St, Richmond