What's on in February 2025

A photography exhibition that captures Australian suburbia is among the intriguing events scheduled for this month.

This exhibition explores how artists have used the medium of photography to interpret the Australian suburbs. These images from the gallery's collection provide occasion to pause and reflect on familiar settings, places and people, imbuing them with aesthetic, historical and emotional significance. While rationales for capturing suburbia vary, these artworks demonstrate the enduring role of photography in enriching the national understanding of scenes from everyday life - whether homely or uncanny.

Tasmania Makes is an annual exhibition designed to celebrate and invigorate Tasmania's rich culture of innovation and craftsmanship in design. This year's program will be split into two exhibitions, with the first exhibition taking place at Design Tasmania in Launceston between 24 January-25 May 2025. Designers to feature at the first exhibition include Andrea Barker, Nanna Bayer, Kate Bowman, Christopher Clinton, Shauna Mayben, Liam Starcevich, Scott van Tuil, Adam Wallace and Isaac Williams. Designers to showcase at the second exhibition will be announced in May.

From the 'burbs, to the bush, to the inner city, Australians are obsessed with the idea of home and the dream of home ownership. In The Australian Dream? Tim Ross casts his discerning eye across the archival treasures of our much-loved public libraries and uncovers the telling images that reveal a multi-decade story of Australian homes: how they're sold to us, why we buy them and how we make them our own. Ross explores the reasons why home ownership is such an all-consuming distraction among Australians and uncovers some of the unique and special ways we have built in this place. This talk is complemented by a selection of new cinematic style films produced especially for the presentation. The Australian Dream? with Tim Ross will be held nationally at venues in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

A one-day course on materiality in Melbourne and Sydney that challenges designers and specifiers to lead the way towards a circular economy. Topics discussed during the course include the materiality of materials and products, how to investigate the composition of materials you use in your products and fit-outs, why waste as a resource is important for a circular economy, how to design with the end in mind, how to include suppliers and other stakeholders on the journey. This is a trade only course, to be held in Sydney on 20 February and Melbourne on 14 March.