Exhibition21 Feb – 27 May 2023
Radical Utopia
Melbourne in the 1980s was the site for new ideas to emerge, bend and transform the city, making its mark in post-modern design…
Melbourne Design Week | Radical Melbourne: City Of Ideas
In a conversation reflecting on the radical ideas that made Melbourne the vibrant city it is today, Radical Utopia co-curator and Journal co-editor Harriet Edquist AM, Journal contributing author Karen Burns, and moderator Sarah Teasley come together for this RMIT Culture Salon celebrating Radical Utopia: an archaeology of a creative city.
Melbourne in the 1980s was a testing ground for new ideas to emerge and flourish in design disciplines across the spectrum from fashion to architecture. Driven by inclusive and imaginative subcultures, often supported by a sympathetic state government, the social and cultural infrastructure of the city and inner suburbs was radically transformed.
Architecture students, academics, and progressive professionals spearheaded this transformation. They built a culture of shared experience through public debate, exhibition, public lectures, publication in periodicals and pamphlets, radio, and informal front-bar crit sessions. Everyone was expected to take a position, debate their point of view and contribute to the wider conversation. New ideas about architectural practice and its role in the city and suburbs of Melbourne were the shared currency that drove this transformation and established the character of the city that is still recognisable today.
Image: “New Order Goes Public”, Crowd Magazine, January 1984, author Ian McDougall, photographer Dominic Lowe, RMIT Design Archives, Michael Trudgeon and Jane Joyce Collection © 2023 Michael Trudgeon and Jane Joyce, and Dominic Lowe.
