Melbourne Design Week 2023 kicks off on May 18th, celebrating design in an 11-day program of talks, tours, exhibitions, launches, installations, and workshops across Australia’s design capital.
Two highlights you don’t want to miss are the Numbulwar Pop-up Studio and Exhibition and Wandering OFF-Menu.
Numbulwar Pop-up Studio and Exhibition
May 18-28 | Tait Showroom, 209-211 Smith Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065, Australia | Free, no booking required
Agency and Tait host an immersive activation with the Numbulwar Numburindi Arts pop-up studio, exhibition, and weaving circle in the Tait showroom.
Built on self-determination, Numbulwar Numburindi Arts is a collective of artists whose mission is to keep culture strong. Established in 2019, Numbulwar’s first art centre is 100 per cent owned and controlled by the community. Born from the community’s desire to practice and engage with traditional culture, Numbulwar Numburindi Arts is a space for artistic and cultural expression.
A key focus of this collaboration is an exhibition of works specifically woven by master weavers, Joy and Rose Wilfred, which reimagine Tait’s iconic Tidal chair, the design of which references ocean and wave patterns. The studio will not only highlight the beauty of the Numbulwar weavers’ practice, but is designed to encourage a conversation around the use of discarded ghost nets, which wash up on the shores of their remote community in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Ghost nets account for about 40% of all ocean plastic and take 600 years to break down. Removing these polluters from their oceans and shores has an enduring legacy and is a modern act of caring for Country for Numburindi people.
Numburindi Artists Joy Wilfred, Rose Wilfred and Janette Murrungun will be in residence in the studio on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 May between 10am and 2pm, showcasing their traditional weaving practice. A selection of small fibre artworks will be available for sale across the week. Adding to the live studio experience, Joy, Rose and Janette will also be hosting a weaving circle on both Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 May. Learn to weave a small basket and enjoy the opportunity to talk to the artists about their work.
Wandering OFF-Menu
May 20 & 21 | Banana Alley to Alexandra Ave Public BBQs, Banana Alley, Melbourne VIC 3004, Australia | Booking required
Like many central sites within a colonised landscape, the Birrarung has witnessed the vast overlapping of First Nations and introduced food systems.
Speaking to the Birrarung and its significance, an introduction to this walk will be led by First Nations guide Dean Stewart. Guests are taken to places that no longer exist, examining what is deleted when things are created. Long Prawn, through both historically grounded and newly invented foodstuffs, will ask the audience to consider the ongoing impacts of how we eat, what is gained, and what is forgotten.
From indigenous eel (iuk) routes, banana ripening vaults, 24hr floating pies to floating restaurants, charcuterie on small boats and riverside ‘barbies’; a menu where no idea is off topic, where our minds bend like the river itself.
The ticket includes a talk from Dean Stewart, lunch and snacks in collaboration with food-waste experts Furrmein, a discussion of key sites from Banana Alley to the Birrarung, a lunch pack and flyer as well as refreshments and snacks along the way. This culinary journey is recommended for curious appetites 12 and up.
Visit the Melbourne Design Week website: designweek.melbourne
