The 3rd annual Possible Worlds Film Festival, held in Sydney November 27 – December 2, aims to introduce and familiarise Australian audiences with the rich diversity, vibrant talent and the accessible nature of Canadian film. Much of the program of films selected for the festival will be screened in Australia for the first time.
This year’s program highlights included Guy Maddin’s docu-fantasia My Winnipeg and the Australian premiere of The Museum.
The Museum. Dir: Kenton Vaughan 2008. Source: The Festivalists. All rights reserved.
Kate McCurdy
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The 3rd annual Possible Worlds Film Festival, held in Sydney November 27 – December 2, aims to introduce and familiarise Australian audiences with the rich diversity, vibrant talent and the accessible nature of Canadian film. Much of the program of films selected for the festival will be screened in Australia for the first time.
This year’s program highlights included Guy Maddin’s docu-fantasia My Winnipeg and the Australian premiere of The Museum.
My Winnipeg is the latest feature film by Canadian auteur, and unique filmmaker, Guy Maddin. The film can be viewed as an attempt to revisit and therefore understand his upbringing in Winnipeg, Manitoba (the coldest and most central city in North America). The result has been described as ‘equal parts mystical renumeration and personal history, city chronicle and deranged post-Freudian proletarian fantasy’, and is an engaging, reflective and entertaining experience. Maddin’s keen sense of humour is at the fore, not only through the inspired application of animation, archive footage and re-enactments that make up the film, but also as he guides the audience via his narration.
Previous films by Maddin include a number of short films, as well as his recent features The Saddest Music in the World (2003) and Brand upon the Brain! (2006).
My Winnipeg. Dir: Guy Maddin 2008. Source: The Festivalists. All rights reserved.
Another documentary highlight at the Possible Worlds festival is Kenton Vaughan’s highly entertaining film The Museum, exposing the ego, art, politics and architecture of the newly rejuvenated Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada. William Thorsell, director of the Royal Ontario Museum, in response to the digital age and old-fashioned appearance of the museum, made the decision to give the building a much-needed facelift. Due to the scale and publicity surrounding such a make-over, as the newly designed building would effectively transform the entire city let alone Bloor Street on which it stands, the choice of architect for the project was crucial. The decision was to employ celebrity architect Daniel Libeskind, a global brand behind some of the world’s most prestigious landmarks including Ground Zero in New York.
The Museum is a fascinating portrait of these two visionary men and their daring quest to reinvent public architecture.
The Museum. Dir: Kenton Vaughan 2008. Source: The Festivalists. All rights reserved.
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Art Deco: 1910-1939 is a comprehensive exhibition celebrating the significant period in which its glamour and style influenced design worldwide. Direct from London’s famed Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the exhibition is staged exclusively at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV); the fifth exhibition in the extremely popular ‘Melbourne Winter Masterpieces’ series, and the first to feature the decorative arts with over 300 works on display.
Oliver Bernard (designer) England 1881–1939 Strand Palace Hotel staircase 1930–31 glass (lit), chrome 370.8 x 447.5 x 444.7 cm (main); 261.0 cm (stairs) Victoria and Albert Museum, London © V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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Kate McCurdy
Art Deco 1910-1939
Art Deco: 1910-1939 is a comprehensive exhibition celebrating the significant period in which its glamour and style influenced design worldwide. Direct from London’s famed Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the exhibition is staged exclusively at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV); the fifth exhibition in the extremely popular ‘Melbourne Winter Masterpieces’ series. The first exhibition to feature the decorative arts, there are over 300 works on display.
Exhibition structure
The exhibition explores the chronological development of Art Deco, from its origins in Europe during the years leading up to the First World War, to the explosion of the movement at the 1925 Paris Exposition, and its enormous popularity and influence on design to countries across the globe. Art Deco 1910-1939 pays particular attention to the major influence of Deco in Australia, dedicating an entire section to Australian architecture, fine arts and product design.
AWA, Sydney (manufacturer) Australia 1913– 'Empire State, Fisk radiolette and cigarette box' 1936 bakelite, glass, metal 28.5 x 28.5 x 18.0 cm Private collection, Sydney © Peter Sheridan
A global influence
The scope of Art Deco’s influence is accurately represented in the exhibition by the display of a wide range of artistic media including painting, jewellery, ceramics and glassware, fashion, industrial design, graphic design, film, architecture and interior design, automotive design, photography and furniture design. Also well represented is the spread of Art Deco at a global level, with featured art and design pieces from Europe, the USA, Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Origins
Art Deco first appeared in Europe, in the years before the First World War. The movement developed in many of the cities where Art Nouveau was popular, and in the years following the war Art Deco’s own popularity and influence on art and design grew quickly, its influence spreading worldwide. The highpoint of this time was the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, the first world fair dedicated to modern decorative arts. In the 6-month duration of the exhibition, 16 million visitors came from around the world to view the latest offerings in Art Deco design, which also served to reassert France’s reputation as the arbiter of taste and producer of luxury goods, as well as the centre of fashion, internationally.
Pablo GARGALLO Spain/France 1881-1934 'Kiki de Montpamasse' 1928, cast 1978 Bronze, ed. 2/3 27.5 x 16.5 x 17.0 cm Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris Gift of Pierette Anguera-Gargallo, 1981
Inspired by the ancient, the exotic and the Avant-Garde
Art Deco itself is influenced by many factors, most significantly by ancient and exotic inspirations as well as styles from the avant-garde movements. Motifs, symbols and imagery from exotic cultures were widely appropriated to the style of Art Deco designs. Paul Colin’s depiction of cabaret dancer Josephine Baker, featured in the Exotic section of the exhibition, illustrates Art Deco’s fascination for the exotic.
The Avant-Garde also had a strong influence on the development of the Art Deco style, in which the art of French Cubism, Orphism, Italian Futurism and Russian Constructivism gave designers a fundamentally new and modern language of forms. These ideas were applied to graphics and textile designs, decoration of ceramics and glassware, as well as architecture, interior design and photography.
Paul Colin France 1892–1985 'Josephine Baker' 1927 from 'Le Tumulte noir (The black craze)' portfolio, Paris: 'Editions d’Art Succès', 1927 lithograph and pochoir 47.3 x 63.6 cm (sheet) Victoria and Albert Museum, London © V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London © Paul Colin/ADAGP, Paris. Licensed by VISCOPY, Sydney
The 1925 Paris Exposition
The 1925 Paris Exposition can be regarded as the belated ‘launch’ of Art Deco; the moment at which the style exploded onto the main global stage, while reinstating France’s position as a trendsetter and world centre for style at the time.
The Exposition included paintings from Jean Dupas; furniture design from Jacques-Émile Rulhmann, Sir Edward Maufe, Louis Süe and André Mare; François Pompon’s sculptures including the famous Polar bear; silversmith Jean Puiforcat’s designs; glass pieces from René Lalique, Maurice Marinot and Edward Hald; glamorous jewellery by Louis Cartier and fashion by couture houses Madeleine Vionnet and Maison Myribor.
Also exhibiting at the Exposition were works from designers Jean Dunand , Henri Rapin, Pierre Legrain, Rose Adler, Thayaht, F. Gregory Brown, Gio Ponti and Josef Hoffman.
The Art Deco streamlined lifestyle
A number of these pieces are exhibited in Art Deco 1910-1939, including Louis Cartier’s Tutti Frutti strap bracelet and double-clip brooch, a complex arrangement of coloured precious stones including ruby, emerald and sapphire. These pieces were sold to Cole Porter’s wife Linda Lee Thomas, whose fame adds to the glamorous appeal of this jewellery.
Other glamorous pieces featured in the exhibition are Coco Chanel’s dresses. Extending ideas from pre-First World War designer Paul Poiret, Chanel and Jean Patou created dresses that were designed to reflect the 1920s lifestyle of attending cocktail bars and the cinema. Hair and dresses were cut shorter, the latter to allow women to dance the Charleston, and accessories were designed to match.
The Art Deco style of streamlining influenced not only products and architecture, but the streamlined silhouette was also a coveted style in dress design. A significant practice in fashion design in this time was that of the bias cut in garment construction. This involves the woven fabric being cut on the diagonal to the direction of the weave, which provides greater elasticity and more fluid draping. Designers such as Charles James used this practice to produce sleek designs in matt silk crêpe or smooth glossy satin, which were sophisticated and very Art Deco.
Tamara DE LEMPICKA Poland 1898–1980, emigrated to France 1918, worked in United States 1939–69, Mexico 1962–80 'The telephone II (Le téléphone II)' 1930 oil on wood panel 35.0 x 27.0 cm Wolfgang Joop Collection, London © Tamara De Lempicka/ADAGP, Paris. Licensed by VISCOPY, Sydney
The telephone and the skyscraper
Other highlights of the exhibition include Tamara de Lempicka’s The telephone II from 1930, and the stunning installation of the original architectural elements from the foyer of the Strand Palace Hotel from London’s West End, rescued by the V&A during the demolition of the foyer space in 1969.
Perhaps one of the most significant aspects of Art Deco’s influence on architecture is that of the skyscraper. As well as a striking symbol of modernity, the spectacle of the towering skyscraper also signifies the impact of the new modern style on the art and lifestyle of America. As the style of Art Deco spread from Europe to the United States and the rest of the world, so the American interpretation of Art Deco was shown and promoted to international audiences via the Hollywood film.
Travel and transportation
Travel is also an important inclusion in the exhibition, particularly film footage of the interior design of the Normandie, is featured in the Travel and Transportation section. The depictions of other modes of transport of this era, including grand luxury liners, streamlined trains and motor cars, as well as the exotic tourist destinations communicates the extent of Art Deco’s influence on mass culture and the modern world. Motor vehicle design is featured with the 1937 Cord 812 Westchester sedan, produced by Auburn Automobile Company in Indiana, USA, given a prominent position in the exhibition.
AUBURN AUTOMOBILE COMPANY, Auburn and Connersville, Indiana (manufacturer) United States 1900–27 'Cord 812 Westchester sedan' 1937 160.0 x 180.0 x 500.0 cm Private collection, Melbourne Photo: Courtesy of Brian Scott
Deco Down Under
One section of Art Deco 1910-1939 has an entirely Australian focus, displaying its architecture, fine arts and product design.
Historical photographs highlight the Sydney Harbour Bridge as being one of the most striking examples of this country’s architectural design, although local architecture in cities, suburbs and towns throughout Australia were strongly influenced by Art Deco. From the mass-produced objects of glassware and ceramics to distinctive handcrafted items of similar products, Australian Art Deco reflects unique national characteristics while at the same time embracing international modernity and Australia’s enthusiasm to be considered part of the global community.
This extensive exhibition is at once a nostalgic tour of the past and also a celebration of style that has never truly gone out of fashion.
Art Deco 1910-1939
28 June – 5 October 2008
NGV International
180 St Kilda Road
10am-5pm
Exhibition fees apply
Further information:
www.ngv.vic.gov.au
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This multimedia exhibition will feature work by architects, artists and designers: Morgan Veness, Haruka Kokubu, Didier Ryan, German Perez Tavio, Malou Dunkley, Patrick Santamaria, Billy Ryan, Sam Painter.
Described as a ‘forecast of dream shapes from concept to reality’ which will explore ‘evolving shapes, surreal qualities, elevated perceptions and floating sensations’, the exhibition will include contributions from Australia, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Further information
Private viewing, RSVP to cloud4m@gmail.com for details of the event and location.
The Victoria-wide design event, The State of Design Festival kicks off on Wednesday 16 July 2008 with a host of events to appeal to anyone with an interest in design. Under the artistic direction of Ewan McEoin from Studio Propeller (one of the key organisations that make up the State of Design Alliance or SODA), the festival features four major design arenas: the Premier’s Design Awards, Design Capital, Design for Everyone and Design:Made:Trade.
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 (low res).jpg "02_Design Capital: Designer - Brendan Morris, Company - Plantic, Product - Thermoforming")
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 (low res).jpg "04_Design Capital: Designer - Brendan Morris, Company - Plantic, Product - Thermoforming")
.jpg "05_Design Capital: Designer - Chris Bosse")
 (low res).jpg "06_Design Capital: Designer - Emily Pilloton, Company - project H, Product - Hippo Roller")
 (low res).jpg "07_Design Capital: Designer - Jackson Tan, Project - Utter Rubbish")
 (Low res).jpg "08_Design Capital: Designer - Nendo, Product - Moss House")
.jpg "09_Design Capital: Designer - Nendo, Product - one precent products @ Interior Lifestyle")
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 (low res).jpg "15_Design For Everyone, Event - Bavaria-Bavarium-Bavaried, Designer - Gretchen Hillhouse")
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.jpg "20_Design For Everyone, Event - Object Bombay Sapphire, Designer - Bernabeifreeman")
.jpg "21_Design For Everyone, Event - Object Design Now! Designer - Sian Power")
.jpg "22_Design For Everyone, Event - Peter Bennetts, Image - GPO")
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Premier’s Design Awards: Winners announced Wednesday 16 July 2008
Design Capital: Wednesday 16 – Friday 18 July 2008
Design for Everyone: Wednesday 16 – Thursday 24 July 2008
Design:Made:Trade: Thursday 17 – Sunday 20 July
The Victoria-wide design event, The State of Design Festival kicks off on Wednesday 16 July 2008 with a host of events to appeal to anyone with an interest in design. Under the artistic direction of Ewan McEoin from Studio Propeller (one of the key organisations that make up the State of Design Alliance or SODA), the festival features four major design arenas: the Premier’s Design Awards, Design Capital, Design for Everyone and Design:Made:Trade.
While the Melbourne Museum will become a ‘design hub’ for most of the activities on offer, events will take place at venues all over Melbourne, including the Royal Exhibition Building, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, as well as regional venues across Victoria.
The festival welcomes many international guests as well as those from around Australia, but takes a distinctly Melbourne, and indeed Victorian, focus in its celebration of design talent and innovation. One of the key themes at the festival is the issue of sustainability in design, and that is reflected in the criteria of the Premier’s Design Award, and newly introduced Premier’s Design Marks, as well as the challenges it brings to design and business as shown in Design Capital, how it affects product design in Design:Made:Trade as well as the broad scope of climate change and sustainability awareness of the entire population in Design for Everyone.
The Premier’s Design Awards
A highlight of the State of Design Festival, The Premier’s Design Awards 2008 seeks to recognise excellence in design practice in Victoria. Held biennially from 2008 onwards, the award is judged by a local and international panel and the winner announced at the opening of the festival.
In addition to the Award, the event has recently been redeveloped to introduce the Premier’s Design Marks. These Marks will ‘reward designers and practices that have developed their skills and their creative processes to respond to the new more demanding market conditions, producing exemplary approaches and outcomes that are perceived by the profession, clients and the community as a contribution to a sustainable future’.
The Premier’s Design Marks will be awarded within the following design categories in the divisions of Commercial, Cultural or Self Initiated: Industrial/Product Design, Architecture, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Multimedia Design, Landscape Design, Exhibition Design, Set Design, Textile Design, Fashion Design, Hand Made Objects.
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Chris Bosse, Designer, Design Capital
Design Capital
As Australia’s first business of design conference, Design Capital, presented by Design Victoria, will bring the realms of business and design together in order to allow them to connect and discuss issues facing both areas such a sustainability, globalisation and also examining the role of design in successful innovation. Participants in Design Capital include leading innovators, designers, business figures, the media and industry who will bring their insights to the table to tackle issues relevant to designing, thinking, process, and the commercialisation of design led products and services from Victoria.
The Design Capital conference has been structured over three days according to key themes affecting business and design. These themes complement each other as well as work to stimulate debate among the participants.
Day One’s themes are ‘Designing Identity’ and ‘Place Making’. ‘Designing Identity’ examines how design is generated and shifts the identity of individuals, products, brands and places; and particularly looks at how when they work well, design solutions can provide a double dividend: a return on investment and a return on imagination, creating iconic, strategic outcomes for business. ‘Place Making’ looks at how urban renewal and development creates environments and new opportunities for business and community, acknowledging how architecture and urban planning are crucial to shape the way of the future.
‘Designing Experience’ and ‘The Opportunity of Crisis’ are on the agenda for Day Two. The former analyses the how our ‘experience economy’ harnesses design as a way to ensure consumer engagement. ‘Opportunity of Crisis’ canvasses the obligation of designers to respond to the imminent challenges of climate and society, and also motivate change as they create the products, environments and opportunities of the future.
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Nendo, Design Capital
Day Three takes a global view with the ‘Convergent World’ and the ‘Commercialisation of Ideas for Export’. ‘The Convergent World’ observes how a new generation of design service systems, products and production methodologies are emerging to challenge social, environmental and consumer expectation. This theme makes particular reference to how technology-based design processes, digital networks and sustainable manufacturing are all innovation led business arenas worth watching. The ‘Commercialisation of Ideas for Export’ expands upon these themes as three innovative Victorian exporters describe their pathway to market, illustrate the commercial potential of design and manufacturing fed from research, and products rich with design.
The State of Design Festival Artistic Director and Conference Curator, Ewan McEoin, says that this conference is a ‘strategic event, looking towards a competitive, innovative future for Victorian design and Victorian business’. Design Capital will be facilitated by Oliver Freeman, director of the Neville Freeman Agency, and has been strategically designed to build a picture, across six diverse yet connected themes, of where Melbourne and Victoria sit in a competitive global market, and predicts new opportunities for design-led business from Victoria and Australia.
Design Capital will run from Wednesday 16 – Friday 18 July 2008 at the Melbourne Museum.
Design for Everyone
Design for everyone proclaims that ‘Design is a Verb!’ The driving force behind this event is to make design appear as accessible and appealing as possible, that ‘it’s about doing, being, making, crafting, thinking, shaping – a process not an object, design is for everyone!’
The involvement of not only the venues across the city of Melbourne such as Melbourne Museum, ACMI, the State Library of Victoria, RMIT University and the National Gallery of Victoria, but also regional centres from Horsham to Castlemaine to Bendigo – making this a truly accessible event at the Festival.
In designing these events, program curator Fleur Watson has helped bring together the design community, giving the designers unique opportunities with a space for design in all its guises to interact directly with the public. With events ranging from exhibitions to public talks, design experiences and iconic design statements, Design for Everyone makes its message clear.
'Propogating Fiction' for 'Winterlights' - Tracy Sarroff, Mars, Design for Everyone
Design:Made:Trade
Complementing the business realm of Design Capital and its opportunity for leading businesses to network and forecast, Design:Made:Trade adds an essential commercial aspect to the State of Design Festival. This trade event brings together 40 of Australia’s most talented designers from a wide range of design disciplines including lighting, textiles, fashion design, furniture, industrial design, and graphic design, and aims to give exposure to this showcase of forthcoming products and material trends to local and international markets.
Housed in the Royal Exhibition Building, Design:Made:Trade is the perfect location to attract key buyers, design professionals, design makers, manufacturers, decision makers from national and international creative industries, as well as design conscious members of the public.
Design:Made:Trade also makes an effort to engage with the current trend of sustainability in design by giving exhibitors the opportunity to transform a design box to showcase their design talent. The boxes are provided by Visy, are constructed from recycled cardboard and will be recycled at the end of the event.
Design:Made:Trade has been compared to the designers block concept in London as well as 100% Design Tokyo events, and aims to present innovative work in an environment focused on attracting designers and trade visitors with a creative young and fresh approach.
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Zema Designs, Design:Made:Trade
The State of Design Festival has been made possible by the Victorian Government, the Design Victoria program, the State of Design Alliance (SODA) as well as commercial partnerships. SODA is a joint venture made up of Australian Exhibitions & Conferences, Winslow Solutions and Studio Propeller.
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Serero Architects were recently awarded first prize in competition for the new auditorium and movie theater in Saint Cyprien, France.
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Anne Paterson
Serero Architects were recently awarded first prize in competition for the new auditorium and movie theater in Saint Cyprien, France.
The site for the new auditorium and movie theatre at Saint Cyprien is the middle of an open park. David Serero researched the natural surroundings for his winning design. A computer script was created, generating a facade that assembles non-repetitive and non-standard components. The roofing of the building, despite its irregular appearance, is generated from simple geometrical rules allowing a variation of shapes between the elements. The egg-shaped perforations in the roof resemble the dappling effect of the sunlight filtering through the tree foliage, and in the way a tree provides a shady place, the external shell protects the lobby and the auditorium from the sun. The internal shell of glass and concrete regulates and controls the heating and ventilation level. In this way the external shell of the building acts like a ‘living’ skin.
David Serero draws his inspiration from trees: ‘They are complex structures elaborated from simple rules, growing coherently and continuously in time and space. The efficiency of those structures is based on the notions of redundancy and differentiation in opposition to the concepts of modern engineering such as modern optimisation and repetition.’
The auditorium is designed to offer optimum acoustic quality to two different sound spaces, with the use of a complex geometrical ceiling to diffuse the sound to the whole audience. ‘Concrete Canopy’ at Saint Cyprien, has a strong and sensitive ‘sense of place’. The design of the building is a natural extension of the surrounding park, but at the same time makes a strong design statement, borrowing intelligently and respectfully from nature’s own design elements. ‘It is a concrete “pebble” under foliage that visitors will follow to enter the auditorium,’ says David Serero.
Serero Architects, created in 2000, develops projects combining research and design in the fields of architecture and landscape design, urban planning and product design. David Serero has particular interest in generative design (using computer software to automatically create designs from high-level specifications), digital manufacturing (describing every aspect of the design-to-manufacture process digitally), fluid dynamics, crystallography, acoustics, genetics and topographical manipulation. He seeks to make new connections between these fields and architectural practice, strongly embracing the concept of interdisciplinary design.
Serero Architects has won numerous international awards. The latest design project (March 2008), is a stunning extension to the top floor of the Eiffel Tower, and can be viewed on the website. David Serero’s work has been widely published and exhibited in shows at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) of New York, and the Venice Biennale among others.
