Reading Aloud Past Event
Members of the public are invited to congregate, armed with design, art, or sociological texts and ephemera to share amongst a large reading circle.
First, we will listen to a short talk delivered by a local designer, curator, or researcher, in response to the question, “How can we promote peer-to-peer learning through design?”, followed by a reading from a critical text of their choice. Then, working around the circle, gathered participants will be invited to read aloud from their texts for up to two minutes.
Through the action of sharing and listening, we will consider what voices are most commonly heard in design and in spaces of information sharing. We will investigate how activation of space through voices can create ‘libraries’, and will encourage our circles to be the starting point of meaningful exchange amongst participants.
‘Reading Aloud’ seeks to encourage collaboration, peer-to-peer learning, and knowledge sharing. Forming space through bodies and voices, we invite the community to actively co-design a space for exchange and conversation, questioning existing systems of information exchange, and encouraging the imagining of alternative libraries and ways of teaching.
Join the conversation on Instagram @melbartlibrary.
Videos
Caliper Journal
Caliper is an independent, youth-led architecture journal that was first published in 2017 by co-founding editors; Lauren Crockett, Nicola Cortese, and Stephanie Pahnis. Across eight issues and launch events, Caliper Journal has provided young Naarm/Melbourne-based architects with a platform to share design ideas and knowledge messily and meaningfully. Current Caliper editors, Simone Chait and Connor Hanna, will join co-founding editors in leading discussion.
Office
OFFICE is a Naarm/Melbourne-based design and research studio founded by architecture duo Steve Mintern and Simon Robinson. Together, the team pursue a broad range of ethical design projects across themes of education, research, discourse, and built work to bring about public good in the local community. Since establishment in 2017, OFFICE has built a network of clients and collaborators, including Lyons House Museum, Culpra Milli Aboriginal Corporation, Living Links, Bus Projects, and the National Gallery of Victoria; and, published three volumes of their quarterly transcripts, The Politics of Public Space.
Dr Toni Roberts and Dr Ben Byrne
Dr Toni Roberts is the Project Manager of the Bachelor of Communication and Design at RMIT University, and Director of Hatchling Studio, a Naarm/Melbourne-based collaborative design consultancy. Dr Roberts specialises in interpretation design with particular interest in communicating natural, cultural, and technological heritage.
Dr Ben Byrne is a senior lecturer in Digital Media at RMIT University, and the founder of Avantwhatever, an online festival publishing experimental music, sonic art and design. Through critical listening practices, Dr Byrne seeks to develop creative, ethical, and sonic ways of being.
Together, Dr Roberts and Dr Byrne, supervise the RMIT School of Design PhD project Engaging communities through place-based design and creative practice with Dr Neal Haslem.
Kate Rhodes and Nick Selenitsch
- Kate Rhodes is Project Curator at the State Library of Victoria and a PhD candidate at Monash University. Kate has been curator at RMIT Design Hub, the Australian Centre for Design, National Design Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, and Craft Victoria; editor at architecture and design magazine Artichoke; and creative director for the State of Design Festival.
Nick Selenitsch is an artist represented by Sutton Gallery, and lecturer at the Victorian College of the Arts. His multidisciplinary practice combines the colourful visual language of games with civic design to underscore the importance of play in forming understanding. Selenitsch’s work is held in private collections and by the National Gallery of Victoria, Monash University, and Art Bank.
Melbourne Art Library
‘Reading Aloud’ is brought to you by Melbourne Art Library’s transcontinental event team – Fi Wilson, Andy Copolov, Nell Fraser, Jenna Muir, and Alec Wilson.