Molonglo

Landscape as Protagonist was a symposium and series of public talks that featured international guests including landscape designer and architect Dan Pearson (UK), artist and architect Marjetica Potrč (Slovenia) and landscape architect Thomas Doxiadis (Greece). This program was Molonglo’s second co-curation with the National Gallery of Victoria (the first being Tall Buildings) as part of Melbourne Design Week 2019.

The symposium took place at Mueller Hall at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and it followed this thinking: We accept that nature is an important part of our existence and our wellbeing. We, as humans, make buildings and cities. Why then is nature not given a place of primary importance in our conception of buildings and cities? Why is the development industry’s current perspective on plants and landscapes in the built realm limited to a sad green wall or notional garden entry? Landscape as Protagonist attempted to redress this apparent imbalance by advocating for nature to be the place where we start a project, not a way to finish it. Learnings are currently being assembled and will be published as an open resource.

The closing of the symposium was marked by a meal that explored the migration and legacy of food plants, cooked by Audrey Shaw and produced by Long Prawn. The event included performances by Plants and Animalia and artist Makiko Yamamoto, and a plant installation by florist Cecilia Fox that utilised foliage from the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria green waste pile.

Findings from the symposium and some further exploration are presented in a publication that is available to buy here.