Design is one of the most powerful forces in our lives – and we urgently need its power at this intensely turbulent time.  

Celebrating the release of NGV’s latest book, Observations: Moments in Design History, award-winning design critic and author of Design as an Attitude, Alice Rawsthorn OBE joins us in Melbourne to share her vision of how digitally empowered, politically engaged designers are addressing the complex challenges facing us now, and in the future. 

This special event will open the 2024 Melbourne Art Book Fair and Melbourne Design Week, and launch the second volume of NGV’s Observations series. In this new book, writers, scholars and curators from around the world explore almost 400 years of design innovation across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. The book explores the ways in which design is intrinsically linked to culture, considering key historical moments, materials, manufacturers and design movements.  

Photo Credit: Michael Leckie