MELBOURNE.- The Playground Project Melbourne brings together renowned Australian and international artists and designers to respond to the project from a local perspective with three new installations commissioned by the gallery and Moonee Valley City Council. This hit international travelling exhibition, curated by Gabriela Burkhalter and conceived by the Kunsthalle Zürich is making its debut in Australia, and is an interactive four-month takeover that explores how play influences our suburbs and shapes our imaginations.


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The project, which showcases a unique chapter in art, design, urbanism, and activism from the late 19th to the early 21st centuries, presents creative collaborations by Simon Terrill and Assemble (UK), Mary Featherston AM and Emily Floyd, as well as BoardGrove Architects as thoughtful, site-specific responses that foster a sense of belonging, evoke local childhood memories, and encourage collaboration and shared experiences among users.


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The Brutalist Playground Melbourne by Simon Terrill and Assemble

Australian-born, UK-based award-winning artist Simon Terrill, together with the Turner-prize recipient, multi-disciplinary collective Assemble (UK) presents The Brutalist Playground Melbourne, inspired by Park Hill, Sheffield’s iconic social housing estate in the UK, where bold architecture and social ideals meet in spaces that invite playful exploration and games of hide and seek. Terrill incorporates archival visual footage of the original Incinerator building and other works of its modernist architects from Canberra, where the artist spent his formative years. The Brutalist Playground (2015-2025) was originally commissioned by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to be ‘part sculpture, part architectural installation, all play’, and as an immersive installation, explores post-World War Two urban design for childhood and play in the UK. Terrill’s practice explores relations between architectural spaces, public and private identities, and the idea of the crowd as a tool to examine architecture, identity, and community. His work has been exhibited in Melbourne at the National Gallery of Victoria and Australian Centre of Moving Image, and in London at the National Portrait Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, and RIBA.

Simon Terrill said: “Growing up, the Burley Griffins’ design of Canberra became our teenage playground. It was all about open space and a weird kind of concrete geometry. Those early experiences feel like a perfect fit with this new work at the Incinerator Gallery.”

Round Table by Mary Featherston and Emily Floyd

Designer Mary Featherston and artist Emily Floyd exhibits a new rendition of their collaborative project, Round Table (2017-2025) in the Incinerator Gallery’s courtyard, which will then remain part of MVCC’s permanent art collection. Round Table is an instructional artwork with a modular social seating element, conceived both as a gathering space and play sculpture – the work is based on the 1977 cover design by Mary Featherston for the Community Child Care organisation's publication Ripple, which was edited by Emily Floyd’s mother, Frances Floyd. This edition of Ripple proposed that playgrounds form part of a multifaceted "early childhood development complex," one of many intersecting resources to support children and families. The title of the publication was conceived by Mary because ripples embody "gentle agitation, they are outward movements from many centres continually overlapping." Emily also presents a selection of prints inspired by Ripple in the historic Incinerator Gallery.

Mary Featherston and Emily Floyd said: "We are thrilled to contribute to The Playground Project. The role of play in shaping children's experience remains more vital than ever, we especially look forward to sharing our perspectives with the community for the upcoming Playground Symposium."

The Ringtales Playground by BoardGrove Architects

An exciting new addition is the new commission, The Ringtales Playground designed by Melbourne-based BoardGrove Architects. Commissioned by Incinerator Gallery, MVCC's newest, site-specific playground explores notions of nature play. It also pays tribute to the architecture of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin (designers of the original Incinerator). BoardGrove Architects is an award-winning Melbourne-based creative architecture and design studio established in 2016 by Holly Board and Peter Grove. Leading projects include NGV Triennial Outdoor Pavilions and MPavilion Stool Dolly.

Free public program and keynote by Gabriela Burkhalter

As part of the free public program during the opening week, the Incinerator x MADA Talk Series: Art & Play will be held on Friday, 4 July 2025, from 4pm to 7pm. Mary Featherston and Emily Floyd, along with education partner, Monash University’s Dean of Architecture Professor Mel Dodd and Associate Professor Kathy Waghorn, will join The Playground Project exhibition curator Gabriela Burkhalter and Daniel Baumann, the original project commissioner and former Director of Kunsthalle Zürich, for an engaging discussion on play and learning. Attendees can register here.

Recently announced, Trawlwoolway multidisciplinary artist Edwina Green’s First Nations Playable Public Art Commission, produced in collaboration with Agency, will be unveiled in September 2025 as part of the program. She will also join the panel on 4 July with cultural liaison and public programs lead at Agency, Leila Gurruwiwi.

The Playground Project Melbourne takes place at Incinerator Gallery from 28 June to 12 October.



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