What's on August 5

EAT GREEN DESIGN 5 AUGUST 2009

Challenge your perceptions of sustainability through this unique creative platform and restaurant.

Breakfast, 8am (bookings essential): SUSTAINABILITY – PRODUCTS, DESIGN AND MEDIA with Michael Fitzsimons, Director Instyle Fabrics; Paul McGillick, Editor Indesign Magazine and Habitus; Fergus Scott, Director Fergus Scott Architecture; John Eusson, Director Eusson Consulting (MC).

Daily Designer, 2.00pm (free with Museum admission): Richard Francis-Jones.

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EAT GREEN DESIGN DAILY DESIGNER TALKS

Hear inspiring designers speak each day at Eat Green Design, a unique creative platform and restaurant inside the Powerhouse. Daily designer talks are FREE with Museum admission, no bookings required.

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FASHIONING NOW: CHANGING THE WAY WE MAKE AND USE CLOTHES

Fashioning Now looks at ways in which clothing is produced, used and discarded. Through a dynamic array of fashion garments, textile objects, photography, illustration and time-base media, Fashioning Now highlights the diversity of sustainable options being explored by designers, researchers and manufacturers, while predicting possible scenarios for a future fashion industry. (more…)

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FESTIVAL PASS

Make the most of Sydney Design 09 with a Festival Pass.

SYDNEY DESIGN 09 FESTIVAL PASS ($16)
Visit the Powerhouse Museum as many times as you would like during the Festival, including entry to the late night event, Play Late, on 7 August and Young Blood: Designers Markets on 14 and 15 August 2009. (more…)

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ARTEFACT H10515

Artefact H10515 is a life form that lives in a large display case. It moves, it breathes and it feeds on digital sources within and beyond the walls of the museum. Artefact H10515 is the creation of Craig Walsh, a leading Australian media artist with an international reputation for creating innovative and thought-provoking work. (more…)

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AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL DESIGN AWARDS

See the Powerhouse Museum’s selection from this year’s finalists in the Australian International Design Awards. This year designs are as diverse as a battery-heated wetsuit, foldable commuter bike, sleep disorder testing device and transportable sink.
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INTENSIVE SHOEMAKING COURSE

A five-day closely directed learning experience, focusing students on applying the techniques and skills necessary to design and make one pair of custom shoes. The course covers pattern making/design, cutting clicking patterns and leather, upper stitching, lasting and finishing. All the steps required for making your own custom shoe.
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WORKSHOPPED 09

Showcasing a stellar range of Australian furniture, lighting and product design conceived by emerging young designers, Workshopped 09 focuses on the work of designers that are ‘creating the future, inspiring, enhancing and making a difference’.
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A LIGHT TOUCH: THE BRUNO BENINI PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHIVE (1950-2001)

Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator, Visual Communication, Powerhouse Museum with special guest Benini models

Bruno and Hazel Benini led elegant and fashionable lives amid the excitement, exuberance and remarkable world of Australian and international fashion publicity. (more…)

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SUSTAIN ME: CONTEMPORARY DESIGN

The word “sustainability” is in danger of losing its tangible value and status as a universal catch-cry from chronic over use. Sustain me: contemporary design explores the conventional role design and designers play in creating and developing a deeper understanding of sustainability. (more…)

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GLENN MURCUTT: ARCHITECTURE FOR PLACE

Glenn Murcutt’s groundbreaking designs are internationally recognised as being at the very forefront of contemporary architecture. His work is celebrated for its sustainability, harmony with the natural world, and resonance and unity with Australia’s diverse climate and topography.
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TYPORGANICS BOTANICA SUSTAINABLE GRAPHICS

An exhibition of final-year Enmore Design Centre work highlighting the innovative and sustainable design solutions of signage. Students were asked to produce designs using non-renewable resources that were found, recycled or included the transformation of raw material (more…)

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DESIGN UNDERGROUND

Book into the Powerhouse Museum’s special series of curator-led tours and take an exclusive peek into the extraordinary depth and breadth of the Museum’s design collection in storage. SORRY DESIGN UNDERGROUND TOURS ARE SOLD OUT!
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PATTERNS OF THE PAST

Everything old is new again in design – or so it seems. See the original sources for some of the historical references in contemporary design and explore the rich collection of wallpapers, textiles, floor coverings, pattern books and manufacturer’s trade catalogues in a curator-led viewing of the Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection.
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INTERACTIVATION STUDIO PROJECT DEMOS

The Interactivation Studio is a research laboratory for the design, investigation, invention and development of new ways of interacting with electronic technology. It is a flexible infrastructure which can be rearranged to suit a number of uses – from workshop, class room, test lab, exhibition space (more…)

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SURRY HILLS: DESIGN LOVERS TOUR

Immerse yourself in the inspiring world of some of Australia’s most innovative and cutting edge designers and makers on this tour of Sydney’s burgeoning design culture. Discover innovative furniture, ceramics, glass, jewellery and interior design; meet artists, curators and retailers and experience Surry Hills’ cafes and galleries.
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THE CITY, SYDNEY – SYDNEY ARCHITECTURE WALKS

Taste the architecture and public art that materialises contemporary conditions and attitudes. They’re part of a heady urban narrative revealing the historic, political and topographic forces lapping at Sydney like its tides. The walk zooms in on two contrasting, yet complimentary structures by Italian architect Renzo Piano and Melbourne’s Denton Corker Marshall.
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RUGUP FORUM

Held in conjunction with the RugUp exhibition, the annual Government House design forum this year will focus on contemporary Australian rug design and manufacture. The editor-in-chief of Belle Magazine, Neale Whitaker, is in conversation with industry experts who include Yosi Tal, Harold Luke and leading designers Akira Isogawa, Julie Paterson of cloth fabric and Liane Rossler of Dinosaur Designs.
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(RE)SKIN: CONTEMPORARY KNITTING BY ALANA CLIFTON CUNNINGHAM

Via hand and machine knitting (re) skin: contemporary knitting explores and questions the concept of contemporary knitting as fashion or art, and interrogates the notion of “deconstruction” by looking past the traditional knitted coverings for the body.
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FINK: FOSTERING DESIGN

A retrospective exhibition of some of the most outstanding and endearing products developed by celebrated Australian design company FINK + Co. Established in 1994 by Robert Foster, the company has played a critical role in promoting Australian design and nurturing Australian designers. (more…)

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UNTOUCHABLE

Untouchable presents the work of staff from the Object Art and Design Studios of Sydney College of the Arts. It showcases the artists’ diverse approaches. As for its tongue-in-cheek title: What else do you call an exhibition to accompany Unwearable and Unbearable?
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UTILITY: UNBEARABLE

Unbearable challenges assumptions that art objects should be tasteful, aesthetically pleasing, understandable, accessible and physically manageable. The works ask you to address these expectations and consider other possibilities.
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LISA WALKER: UNWEARABLE

Why would a jeweller choose such a confrontational title for an exhibition of work from the last 15 years as Unwearable? It’s a provocation. Those familiar with New Zealand’s Lisa Walker’s work won’t be surprised. The very best jewellery in her exhibition aggressively challenges us on a material, conceptual and practical level. Curated by Damian Skinner.
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TRANSCLIMATIC

Transclimatic demonstrates how climate change drives us to address new objectives: explore new places, set new design strategies, use new techniques or develop new technologies via a multi‐disciplinary design exhibition. It showcases selected works of emerging or established artists, design practices and architects worldwide.
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ULTRA_FAB

Digital modelling and digital fabrication are wonderful things but how toxic are 3D printers and how much gas is given off while laser cutting a piece of plywood? What are the environmental impacts of these Ultra_Fab tectonics? University of Sydney architecture staff and students demonstrate the creative potential – and the impact – of digital fabrication at the Ultra_Fab pavilion.
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DESIGN + WOOD 2009: AN EXHIBITION OF STUDIO FURNITURE

Design + Wood 2009 features the work of established and emerging designer/makers who focus on contemporary design while retaining the tradition of workshop-based production. It showcases the beauty and diversity of Australian native timbers and is a rare opportunity to view handcrafted studio furniture seldom exhibited outside specialist and studio galleries.
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THE 2009 SYDNEY TEAPOT SHOW

An invitational exhibition of teapots of every persuasion – from the exquisite and the elegant, to the functional and the purely decorative, to the whimsical and the bizarre – The Sydney Teapot Show has been held for around 20 years at The Inner City Clayworkers Gallery in Glebe and showcases local, interstate and the occasional international design.
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LAUNCH PAD

See the very best budding product design talent in the country – finalists in the highly-competitive Launch Pad program. Launch Pad is designed to foster relationships between emerging Australian designers and industry professionals. It aims to help develop early stage prototypes into market-ready products. Finalists are selected by an elite international panel of design industry professionals. The two-week exhibition culminates at Saturday in Design, an event attracting over 7000 design professionals.
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COLOURED BODIES

Coloured Bodies is an extraordinary exhibition of abstract geometric paintings and digital prints that symbolically depict human DNA – the blueprint for life. Judith Duquemin’s work is algorithmic reconstructions of red, yellow, blue and green striped colour fields to represent Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine – the constituents of DNA.
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DOMESTIC ABYSS

Exploring the domestic and the mundane and discovering the fantastic, Domestic Abyss takes life’s everyday rituals and questions and illuminates them via a diverse and accomplished group of artists. Alexandra Chambers was a finalist in Ranamok Glass Prize; Ellen Kent – finding inspiration during an internship in Indonesia – draws on cultural difference and exchange and Laura Stekovic pushes the boundaries of the psychological with her digital art, printmaking, photomedia and public art.
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MATERIALBYPRODUCT: THE CURTAIN GOWN GETS BONES

The Curtain Gown is a signature work by Melbourne fashion phenomenon MATERIALBYPRODUCT. Blurring the boundary between fashion and interior design it has been critically acclaimed and widely publicised both here and overseas. (more…)

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KAZUYO SEJIMA + RYUE NISHIZAWA / SANAA: AN ARCHITECTURAL INTERVENTION

Two of the hottest names in Japanese architecture, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, will give a first-hand glimpse of their architectural aesthetic with their architectural intervention at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. (more…)

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FORM . FUNCTION . FABULOUS

Featuring a range of classic plastic designs by 20 international designers that include Ron Arad, Denis Satachiara, Christophe Pillet, Tokujin Yoshioka, Alberto Meda and Roldolfo Dordino Form Function Fabulous is a retrospective look at the last ten years of plastic design.
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NSW ARCHITECTURE AWARDS 2009

An exhibition of the 2009 winners of the prestigious NSW Architecture Awards at Sydney’s Centre for Architecture, Potts Point. The exhibition includes winners in the coveted Sulman and Wilkinson Awards – the highest accolades for public and residential architecture in NSW. (more…)

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SPLINTER WORKSHOP DESIGN IN ACTION

Along with completed contemporary furniture and objects in a workshop environment, see works in progress and take the opportunity to speak to designer/makers about their influences and methods. Splinter Workshop – Design in Action in an experiential event that connects visitors with the designers, makers, design process, the craft, materials and the completed pieces.
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