Architecture is Everyday

Robin Boyd was, in the words of his biographer Geoffrey Serle, “Australian architecture’s chief spokesperson”, a role which no one else has held before or since. A free talk exploring who might be the Boyd of the 21st century, and how has the conversation changed or remained the same?

Now, in our era of architecture pavilions and commissions and influential design blogs, Australians appear to be increasingly design-savvy. But since Boyd’s time, the emphasis has shifted from the Small Homes Service and ‘architecture for everyone’, to the subjugation of architecture as a means to an end for the property developer: the rise and rise of real estate and the housing market. Is this aspirational approach to architecture the key reason why architecture is still viewed as separate to everyday life, a practice and a profession for the educated or privileged few? Now, more than ever, do we need an architect-public intellectual? Who might this Boyd of the 21st century be and how has the conversation changed or remained the same?

Speakers: Louise Wright (barraco+wright), Philip Goad (Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Chair of Architecture, MSD), Monique Woodward (WOWOWA), Jonothan Cowle (Rothelowman)

Chair: Emma Telfer

The Australian Ugliness

This talk is part of Eugenia Lim’s exhibition The Australian Ugliness. The exhibition is showing in at The Dulux Gallery at Melbourne School of Design, from 23 July to 25 August.

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About Eugenia Lim

Eugenia Lim is an Australian artist who works across video, performance and installation. Interested in how nationalism and stereotypes are formed, Lim invents personas to explore the tensions of an individual within society — the alienation and belonging in a globalised world.

The Australian Ugliness collaborators:

Eugenia Lim – writer, director, performer, editor
Alexandra George – producer
Virginia Kay, Jamie Houge – executive producers
Tim Hillier – cinematographer
Dan West – composition and sound design
WOWOWA with Robin Boyd – installation design
The Post Lounge – Kurt Royan (general manager), Ela Furdas (post producer), Kali Bateman (colourist), Alan Bennett (online editor)
Amos Gebhardt – mentor
Nat Cursio – choreography
Kat Chan – costume design and art department
Julia Spizzica – wardrobe assistant
Shylo Tui – lighting consultant (Walsh Street)
Tom Ross – stills photographer
Eleanor Orchard, Alice Cummins, James Andrews, Gregory Lorenzutti, Alice Dixon – costumed figures
Miau Teng Tan, Daria Tolotchkov, Aryan Azizkhani, Rifat Muharram, Phoebe Kramer, Alex Jeanne Macdonald, Tamara Baksheev, Matthew Li – MADA Wearing the City designers
Dan West, Jessie French, Emma McRae, Georgia Nowak, James Stephens, Louise Terry, Rachel Feery, Simon Winkler, Belle Bassin, Sophia Cameron, Bridie Wilkinson – Walsh St partygoers
Tony Isaacson – project manager
Peter Felicetti – structural engineer
Lapel Industries – construction
Paul Christian, Emeile Dawkins, John Fang – installation
3D Inflate – inflatable
Mitra Jafarpour – curtain maker
Warren Davey – signwriter
Ark Coatings – painting
Jacqueline Miller, Grace Carver – studio assistants

The project is made possible through the generous support of the following partners:

Presented by
Open House Melbourne
Melbourne School of Design

Supported by
Australia Council for the Arts
Creative Victoria
City of Melbourne
Australian Cultural Fund
Gertrude Contemporary studio program

Cultural Partners
The Robin Boyd Foundation
WOWOWA
Plot Media
The Post Lounge

Industry Partners
Kane Constructions
HASSELL
Ontera
Wojo Signs

Location Partners
ACCA
Australian Academy of Science
AIATSIS
Australian Islamic Centre
MAB NewQuay Docklands
Melbourne Museum
Melbourne Recital Centre
National Museum of Australia
Save Our Sirius
RMIT University
Scape Swanston
Sydney Opera House
University of Melbourne
Waverley Council

Photo Credit: Eugenia Lim, The Australian Ugliness (2018) production still by Tom Ross