Melbourne’s favourite design and architecture celebration is back for its eighth year, and they’re certainly bigger and better than ever. If you’ve been lamenting your empty calendar this year, get ready to fill it with the epic MPavilion 2021 summer program featuring over 250 free events. There will be workshops, talks, performances, art displays and even weddings—remember those?
To make it easy for you, we’ve scoured the schedule in advance to bring you the unmissable highlights of the season. Here are our top seven picks of the MPavilion program for 2021.
MMW Presents | A Mindful Morning: Rich Moffat + Alex Albrecht
Saturday 4 December
In conjunction with Melbourne Music Week, MPavilion is bringing together celebrated qigong & yoga instructor Rich Moffat with ambient producer Alex Albrecht for a morning of movement and sound. Rich will share simple techniques to balance your nervous system through his practises, while Alex will supply a meditative, focusing soundtrack. More here.
DJ 101 Program and Showcase
Starting Friday 10 December
This six week program led by DJ Sarah nurtures the emerging careers of eight female-identifying, trans and non-binary DJs. Taking them through the basics of beatmatching and DJing over the course of the program, it all comes down to an epic live show in the MPavilion at the end of the program. If you think this could be for you, apply to join the program before Thursday 25 November here, otherwise head down to the final showcase on Friday 25 February to show these emerging DJs some love.
Parkour Vision: Mapping The City For Play
Sunday 19 December
Ever thought about taking up parkour? This is your way in. Join local pros who’ll be sharing the ways in which they interpret their local environments and map out the city. The session is designed for all abilities where the team will also take you through several essential movements and practices. More here.
Pink Floyd ‘The Wall Remix’: A Musical Reading
Sunday 13 February
Presented by author Monique Grbec, ‘The Wall Remix’ is a powerful collaboration between First Nations creatives to reinterpret Pink Floyd’s classic 1979 rock opera ‘The Wall’. Looking back on the album through an Indigenous lens, the project reflects in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and the death of George Floyd. The performance will be presented as a reading, accompanied by live music following Pink Floyd’s original 26-track structure. Find out more here.
Patricia Piccinini’s Hot Air Balloon Sculpture
Tuesday 1 March
We all know and love Patricia Piccinini for her wonderfully lifelike and unique sculptures of imagined lifeforms and human-like creatures. Now she’s taking to the skies, with the inaugural Melbourne launch of ‘Skywhalepapa’, a hot air balloon sculpture inspired by her children’s book Every Heart Sings. ‘Skywhalepapa’ will be the new companion to the original Skywhale, with the balloon family gracing Melbourne skies for the first time. You can’t miss it—just look up.
Fashion show with OUTWST
Friday 4 March
OUTWST are back in 2022 with a fashion show you won’t want to miss. Their theme is ‘Come join thje’, which plays with the time/reality concept. The pieces you’ll see offer different perspectives on reality, with particular attention given to the ‘characters’ beneath the clothes. The clothes will also be for sale, with 5% of the profits going towards a Melbourne charity chosen by the OUTWST community. Check out more details here.
The Salon Talks and Pop-Up Nail Bar
Tuesday 15 March to Friday 18 March
Ever heard the sentiment that a haircut is cheaper than therapy? Delving into this concept, The Salon series of talks is an opportunity to explore the hair and beauty salon as an intimate space of communication and connection. The politics of beauty will also be up for discussion, looking at how gender, sexuality, race, disability and other facets of our identities impact our experiences in these spaces. There’ll also be a free, pop-up nail bar on the site.
Weddings with MPavilion
Saturday 9 April
We know it’s been a while, but weddings are back and MPavilion is getting amongst the action. They’re giving lucky couples the chance to tie the knot in the specially designed pavilion in the gorgeous Queen Victoria Gardens, followed by a picnic party for the whole community. If your wedding plans were hit hard by COVID, read all the T&Cs and let MPavilion help plan your special day. Not getting married but like to dress up? That’s ok, these weddings can be attended by anyone, so dust off your Sunday best and we’ll see you there with (wedding) bells on.
Check out the full program at the MPavilion website here.
Image credit: supplied