hybrid objects

AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY TOKYO - MELBOURNE MUSEUM

The Australian Embassy in Tokyo played host to the Hybrid Objects exhibition of Australian Design as part of the annual Tokyo Designers Block. The exhibition was seen as a landmark in the promotion of Australian Design talent to an International audience. On return to Australia the exhibition was hosted by Melbourne Museum.

The brief for the exhibition called for participants to blur the boundaries of what constitutes design. Pieces in the exhibition included objects whose functions were ambiguous, that juxtaposed different materials and processes, that mixed craft skills and high technology production techniques and which invented new forms of habitable space.

Works included furniture, products, homeware, lighting, sculpture and architectural forms, featuring work from leading practitioners as well as up and coming talent. The diversity of responses received revealed contemporary design ideas emanating from Australian lifestyle, culture and sense of place. All of the designers were seen to be responding to local and regional conditions, therefore displaying the cultural diversity that is unique to Australia.