Festivals and Events in Melbourne

Melbourne Design Week started last Thursday and will extend through this Sunday! A slew of events—everything from symposiums on typography, book launches, book previews, panels, and discussions—have and will take course around Melbourne!

So far, I have attended the Melbourne Art Book Fair. The Book Fair took place at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). It is an amazing art museum that is about a five-minute walk from Flinder’s Street Station. What is even better is that general admission is absolutely free—and there’s also free Wi-Fi. So, if amazing art won’t sell you, maybe the free general admission and Wi-Fi will. NGV is definitely a great place to explore during the weekends or an off day.

The Art Book Fair took over two galleries in the museum. The fair was an endless maze of participants selling zines, art books, magazines, and the like. One gallery was a zine showcase presented by Sticky Institute, which is a fantastic non-profit retail art space. Sticky Institute is mere steps away from Flinder’s Street in the Degraves Street Subway. It is a small space that is jam packed with all kinds of zines. They also have badge machines and zine making material if you’d like to stay a little bit longer after perusing their endless collection of art and literature. The other gallery at the NGV had vendors selling more traditional art and design books, manifestos, magazines, critiques, photobooks, and more.

Melbourne Queer Film Festival also started last Thursday—the same day as Melbourne Design Week. There are over 76 films that will be screened throughout the duration of the festival.

Melbourne Fashion Week also just recently ended on Sunday. I did not really participate in any of the events that took place. I did however watch a documentary—Weaving Shibusa—which was screening as part of Melbourne Fashion Week at the Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI). Weaving Shibusa is a documentary about the making of Japanese denim. It follows people like Masayoshi Kobayashi of The Flat Head, Shinichi Haraki of Iron Heart, Kazuhiko Hanazawa of Marvin’s Vintage and more who talk about the Japanese denim industry, workmanship, and craft. It was screened at ACMI, which is located in Federation Square. So, it’s also another great place to visit that is literally just across the street from Flinder’s Street Station.

With all these festivals and events happening around Melbourne, it’s kind of difficult to focus on studying. But it just goes to show how lively and exciting this city truly is.