This year, the Sydney Design Week Keinton Butler, the creative director of Dezeen’s latest article, explains that his work is inspired by the late French philosopher. interview.
Butler, who also serves as a senior curator at the Museum of Design and Architecture in New York City Powerhouse MuseumDezeen asked her to describe the curatorial approach she took for this year’s programme.
This year’s edition is the Sydney Design Week The festival, which takes place between 15 and 24 September, will feature more than 60 activities, including tours of the city, workshops and displays of public architecture.
The programme, entitled Amodern will explore six themes that address the cultural and environmental issues facing architects and designers.
Butler said that this year’s theme is a direct reaction to the work by French philosopher and ethnologist, Jean-Paul Sartre. Bruno LatourThe death of a person in 2022.
Title of the Design Week: “A Provocation to Rethink”
She said, “It was about the time I started to shape the Design Week programme.”
“I was revisiting some of Latour’s prolific work — which pre-empted many of the important discussions that designers and architects are engaged in today around building stronger connections between society, culture and our natural and built environment.”
“The title of this book is a provocation for rethinking entrenched narratives from the 20th Century and establishing new ways of thinking.”
Latour’s work on how humans perceive the climate crisis differently across the globe is well-recognized.
From a curatorial perspective, one of the main departures from previous Sydney Design Weeks is the division of the programme into six fields of enquiry – Eco Systems, Material Cultures, Communal Cities, Micro Cycles, Connected Threads and Photofields.
Materials science is a major focus
Materials The programme for this year is focused on science, research, and innovation.
Butler said, “As curator, I wanted the program to be framed in this manner and designed to prioritise research-based practices, while also embracing multiple perspectives from our local community.”
“I wanted to create a program that had a planetary perspective, and was clear-eyed about the work we have ahead of us.”
South Korean designer Kwangho Lee On 16 September, he will deliver a key note speech at Powerhouse Ultimo to share his fabrication experiments using wood, stone and stray, as well his insights into recent work. This includes his knotted nylon cord furniture as well as the collection he designed for Swedish brand Hem.
Workshop on Making bio-based plastics The event will be hosted both by Nahum McLean, and Ella Williams.
The Shima Seiki Wholegarment seamless knit machine will be demonstrated by Australian fashion designer Gary Bigeni, and Doris Li, a researcher.
The Japanese machine allows the creation of entire garments as a single piece. This helps to reduce yarn and material waste, and also supports made-toorder and bespoke production.
“Materials science, research and innovation have been at the forefront of design discourse for a number of years, for good reason – materials have the ability to revolutionise large-scale manufacturing and production,” said Butler.
The design week program examines Australia’s materials resources and extraction practices in a climate crisis, and explores the cultural histories and political histories associated with materials.
The programme will also examine AustraliaShe said.
The program offers an opportunity to examine our colonial history and museum collections. This year I wanted to prioritize new perspectives, diverse curatorial and industrial voices, as a well as expansive practices of our local community.
Visitors are invited to explore colonial legacy of Australia’s built-environment and its impact on the present in a series of public and closed conversational programmes entitled Objects Testify. indigenous communities.
Multiple design perspectives
Joel Sherwood Spring is a Wiradjuri-speaking artist who will be presenting his work, which demonstrates how colonisers used the “digging”, and extraction of raw material as a basis of colonial abuse.
Clarence Slockee is the director of Jiwah Indigenous Company, a company that specialises in cultural landscape The first Indigenous rooftop farm in Australia will be visited by a guide with a background in design.
The 500-square-metre garden, located on the roof of a building for a community, grows Indigenous edibles, medicinal plants and cultural plants. It also includes a wide variety of bushfoods.
Elsewhere, Punchbowl Mosque architect Angelo Candalepas The building is located in the largest Muslim community of Sydney.
It has 102 exposed concrete domed roofs, with each having a 30 millimetre opening in the middle to light up the main prayer room as the sun moves through the day from morning prayer to midday prayer and mid-afternoon.
Butler said, “I’d like to believe that Sydney Design Week is evolving along with the industry. I think this year’s program reflects the multi-disciplinary nature of today’s design practice.”
“Designers are fundamentally tasked to respond to a rapidly changing society, as well as climate change and have an enormous amount of cultural autonomy.”
Sydney Design Week will take place in Sydney between 15 and 24 September 2023. Visit for information on events and talks. Dezeen Events Guide.
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