The National Gallery of Victoria has launched an 11-day schedule of more than 300 talks, tours, exhibitions, installations and workshops for the 2024 Melbourne Design Week which will run from the 23rd of May until the 2nd of June. Themed “Design the world you want” the 2024 design week will focus on energy as far as how design can champion new technologies in the transition to renewables, ethics in terms of how design can be guided by societal values, and ecology which speaks to how design can respond to the physical environment and the influence of nature.
Nigerian architect and designer, Tosin Oshinowo, will be headlining the 2024 program with a keynote lecture on architecture and urbanism in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia as well as diverse design approaches to meet cultural and climatic needs. Oshinowo is known for her socially responsive approaches to architecture, design and urbanism which she does through Lagos-based Oshinowo Studio which she founded in 2013. Her other works include co-curating the Lagos Biennial in 2019 as well as the second Sharjah Architecture Triennial in 2023.
The program also includes a satellite event presented by Open House Melbourne that will explore the relationship between design and death and how spaces of burial can provide insights on how we live. Design week favourites including Melbourne Art Book Fair, the Melbourne Design Week Film Festival, as well as the announcement of the Melbourne Design Week Award. NGV and Stylecraft will also announce the Australian Furniture Design Awards on the eve of design week.
The winner of the 2022 Melbourne Design Week Award, Revival Projects, will be back with an exhibition of 100 timber urns made from salvaged Cypress Macrocarpa trees from Box Hill cemetery. Popular Youtube channel Never Too Small, which focuses on compact living, will present Multi-Functional Pet Furniture – a collection of designs that combine pet housing with aesthetics and affordability. A public symposium on speculative designs for Birrarung/Yarra River will be held, ahead of an exhibition later in 2024 that challenges eight landscape architects to reimagine and reinvent sites along the river for 2070. The full program for the 2024 Melbourne Design Week will be available from the 11th of April. Events are free but some will require bookings.
