After its first year in 2021, the now-annual Geelong Design Week is back from March 17 to 27.
The 10-day event – which started to showcase why Geelong is Australia’s only UNESCO city of design– presents, explores and celebrates design, and promotes our regional city’s position as a world design capital.
Across the city, the week will feature a range of installations, exhibitions, and workshops as well as walks, talks, and tours that will investigate and illustrate the vital role design plays in our everyday life.
“Geelong is a city that continues to reinvent itself through the use of creative design,” deputy Mayor Trent Sullivan says.
“Design is fundamental to the way we live. The revitalisation of our CBD with new cultural institutions and a rich design culture shows that Geelong continues to change and grow.”
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
With a focus on how design and creativity can be used to push the boundaries and continue to address global challenges, the festival is tethered under the theme of ‘TAUR’ which means belonging in the language of the local Wadawurrung people, Traditional Owners of Djilang (Geelong).
Geelong Design Week is all about asking deeper questions about belonging – our emotional need to be accepted – and how design can respond to our need to belong, how we create places and sustainable environments that are accessible to everyone and how being connected improves life.
Highlighting innovation, ideas and adaptations across the week through a range of different events, the program is grouped under eight themes including Art, Craft, Fashion; Culture and Heritage; Equity, Inclusiveness and Encounter in the Built Environment; Learning, Knowledge and Research; Social and Community Services; Sustainability; Technology, Innovation and Manufacturing and Visual Communications and Multimedia.
Highlights this year include the Open Studios feature program, which will see designers, artists and makers across the Greater Geelong region open their studio doors and showcase their work over two weekends; a presentation from Back to Back Theatre; ABC of Geelong where you’ll find the bespoke design commission for the ABC Radio Melbourne regional residency; and Wurriki Nyal – to speak and talk together, an opportunity for our community to hear how the City of Greater Geelong has partnered with Wadawurrung Traditional Owners to share Wadawurrung culture at Wurriki Nyal, the City’s new civic precinct.
Launching this year’s event will be an exploration of big Dreams, creative resilience and the stories we tell ourselves with the brilliant Clare Bowditch. For those feeling inspired to ‘skill-up’, the Australian musician, actress, radio presenter and business entrepreneur will present a captivating evening exploring a far more hopeful vision of our future at The Palais on Thursday, March 17.
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Other not-to-be-missed events include INBETWEEN, an acclaimed exhibition represented as an Immersive 360 Degree experience featuring outstanding contemporary Indigenous-inspired architectural projects from across Australia and the Pacific; a two hour walking tour of Geelong’s 20th-century architecture; a dance performance from the Geelong Gallery responding to the exhibition Sally Smart — P.A.R.A.D.E; and a stunning sculpture, photography, mixed media and painting installation by Geelong Experimental Arts Inc.
Sacred Heart College students have also been working on three temporary pavilions that will be displayed during Geelong Design Week. The installation is called Sensory and it merges nature, technology and design.
If you’re looking to support local, Meet The Makers at Creative Geelong May’d Shop showcases local artists, makers and creators of all things made locally. This will be a unique opportunity to meet and support local makers and most importantly take home your own treasure.
Proud Wadawurrung artist Deanne Gilson has created an artwork – Yalik Beek Murrup (Water, Country, Spirit) that will be the signature design for the event collateral and signage. Featuring the traditional mark of the wave pattern used by Deanne’s ancestors, the artwork’s synergy with the city by the sea is reflected.
That’s barely scraping the surface of this year’s vibrant and extensive program. With more than 60 events presented by talented and dedicated designers, artists, organisations, and community groups, this is a 10-day opportunity to explore building a more resilient, more sustainable, and more creative future for our community where everyone belongs.
Explore the full program and book tickets here.
