Take The Reins at Melbourne Design Week

Humanity was an accident.

Whether or not the accident is more akin to penicillin or coca-cola is a matter of perception. The fact remains, however, that we are all at the behest of chaos, and, as humans, we’ve taken profound issue with that. Because no matter how self-actualised you proclaim yourself to be or how much weed you smoke, you’re still as insolent as you were when you were three and shoving crayons up your arse.

The only difference is now that you’re an adult, other adults will support you in your illusion of control and give you money and accolades for it (also the things you shove up your arse are battery-powered and don’t leave a waxy residue).

There’s no better, more grandiose example of that mutually enjoyable control-based arse-play than Melbourne Design Week.

In 2020, Melbourne Design Week explores the role of how design can shape life from big-picture thinking around global events to transforming the routines of everyday life. Melbourne Design Week builds upon the success of its 2019 program through continuing its exploration of Victoria’s rivers, waterways and oceans with Open House Melbourne under the Waterfront program. The War on Waste continues with a special focus on e-waste. Design Cultures looks at the objects, experiences and beliefs that bind people together; Design Evolution highlights a new wave of design thinking; while the mental and physical pulse of our urban environment is checked in the thematic Healthy Cities.

This year Melbourne Design Week has expanded to over 300 events, including a film festival and book fair, but it holds to its core a Melbourne attitude rather than an aesthetic, in this expansion. This attitude is a responsibility for design to imagine and create better ways of doing things. You do not need to be a designer or from Melbourne or Victoria to have this attitude. Come along: talk, make, share, eat, discuss and listen. And most importantly, imagine a better life today.

We’re all aware that control is an illusion.

But that doesn’t mean that the dollhouse sitting in the eye of the swirling storm we’re living in couldn’t benefit from some soundproof windows and a sympathetic balcony re-tiling.

 

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