Art x Architecture IN SITU Audio Tour
Hear in-situ perspectives from the architects and experts behind some of the University’s most unique contemporary and historical buildings, and curators and artists from the exhibitions currently showing.
Art x Architecture IN SITU is a self-guided audio tour, co-presented by The University of Melbourne’s Museums & Collections department and the Melbourne School of Design as part of Melbourne Design Week. Using your personal device, you can create your own tour activated by QR codes at various sites of contemporary and historical architectural significance across the University‘s Parkville campus.
Hear in-situ perspectives from the creatives and experts behind some of the University’s most unique contemporary and historical buildings, including the Old Quad, the Grainger Museum, and Science Gallery Melbourne. You will also hear from curators and artists from the exhibitions currently showing inside each building.
Headphones are recommended for this experience.
Participants
Andy Butler, Participating artist, Collective Unease
Peter Lovell, Director, Lovell Chen Architects
Dr Sarah Kirby, Grainger Fellow
William Smart, Smart Design Studio
Arie Glorie, Curator, Break the Binaries
Prof Alan Pert, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
A/Prof Jillian Walliss, Curator, Landscape Architects as Change Makers
Dr Heike Rahmann, Curator, Landscape Architects as Change Makers
Introductions by Rebecca Quin
Produced by Jacob Taylor, Susie Anderson, Emily Kennel
Interviews by Annika Aitken, Rory Hyde, Emily Kennel and Jacqueline Doughty
Audio edited by Susie Anderson and James Rafferty
Presented by The University of Melbourne’s Museums & Collections and the Melbourne School of Design, supported by the National Gallery of Victoria and Melbourne Design Week 2023.
Grainger Museum + Grainger Amplified (Sarah Kirby)
The Grainger Museum is the only purpose-built autobiographical museum in Australia, and home to the personal collection of composer Percy Grainger. Designed by the official University architect John Gawler of the firm Gawler and Drummond, in close consultation with Grainger, the building was completed in 1938.
This tour stop explores the design of exhibition Grainger Amplified and tells a few unusual stories along the way. Grainger Amplified immerses the visitor in the world that Percy Grainger envisaged for his original displays from the 1930s to 1950s. These include collection materials: from Grainger’s iconic ‘free music’ machines—both originals and playable replicas—to items illustrating his life and times. Selections of the provocative collection formed by Percy Grainger are shown in bespoke display cases, specially commissioned by Grainger to fit the museum’s unusual layout. Tour the exhibition with Curator and Grainger Fellow, Dr Sarah Kirby.
Old Quad + Collective Unease (Peter Lovell and Andy Butler)
The Old Quad is the University of Melbourne’s oldest building and the first university building to commence construction in Australia. The original building was designed by Francis Maloney White, completed in 1857, and redeveloped by Melbourne-based architecture firm Lovell Chen in 2019.
Since this reopening in 2019, the Old Quad has presented free exhibitions on its ground level in Treasury Gallery, where contemporary art and design dialogue with the historic and undeniably colonial setting. This tour stop features insights into the building and its redevelopment from Peter Lovell, Director of Lovell Chen.
The second half of this tour stop examines Collective Unease, a bold exhibition of three new commissions inspired by the University of Melbourne’s students, archives and collections. In the face of difficult histories and an uncertain future, these works emphasise themes of self-representation, empowerment and optimism. Listen on for an interview with exhibiting artist Andy Butler as he discusses his film commission The Agony and the Ecstasy.
Glyn Davis Building (MSD) + Landscape Architects as Change Makers (Alan Pert, Jillian Walliss and Heike Rahmann)
The Glyn Davis Building is home to the Melbourne School of Design (MSD), and was designed by John Wardle Architects in collaboration with Boston architecture firm NADAAA, completed in 2014.
This tour stop features an in-depth interview by Professor Alan Pert, Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Architecture and Planning. He speaks to Associate Professor Jillian Walliss and Heike Rahmann, curators for the Landscape Architects as Change Makers exhibition. This exhibition investigates strategies and tactics used by Japanese and Australian architects to implement innovative design outcomes.
Science Gallery Melbourne + Break the Binaries (William Smart and Arie Glorie)
Designed by Woods Bagot, the University’s innovation precinct ‘Melbourne Connect’ also houses Science Gallery Melbourne (SGM). Part of the acclaimed Global Science Gallery Network pioneered by Trinity College Dublin, the gallery opened to the public in January 2022 and was designed by Smart Design Studio. This tour stop begins with insights into the design of Australia’s new home for the intersection of art and science from William Smart, Smart Design Studio.
The second half of this tour presents an overview of BREAK THE BINARIES, an exhibition that invites visitors to bend, blend, blur or break society’s binary codes. Hear about the exhibition and how architecture can influence and inspire the curatorial process with Curator, Arie Glorie.
2022 Art x Architecture IN SITU Audio Tour
Revisit last year's Art x Architecture IN SITU Audio Tour as part of the 2022 Melbourne Design Week.