Melbourne Modern. European Art & Design at RMIT since 1945

BACKGROUND: While architectural pedagogy is a well-established research field, design pedagogy is much less developed. This research investigates post-war modernist design practice and pedagogy in Melbourne in a multi-modal way, as its many subjects did not form one but many voices of public teaching. It specifically focused on European emigres to provide evidence for the impact of European-trained teachers who were at the forefront of what became Melbourne's 'multicultural' identity. CONTRIBUTION: ‘Melbourne Modern’ involved the curation of an exhibition and publication of a book by Harriet Edquist and Jane Eckett. While Eckett focussed on the art component Edquist curated the architecture and design sections of the exhibition which included architecture, interior design, fashion, graphic design, industrial design and gold and silver smithing. With the exception of the objects from RMIT's gold and silver-smithing collection, the objects in Edquist's section came from RMIT Design Archives, offering a model for the role of archival collections for research and in the construction of new design histories and new forms of public engagement. Understanding a key moment in the history of RMIT, one of the world's foremost design universities, when design teaching became more disciplinary-based and professionalised, is a significant contribution to Australian design history. SIGNIFICANCE: The exhibition was presented at RMIT Gallery from June to August 2019. Exhibition content was generated by Edquist's research conducted as a CI of the ARC Discovery project 'Bauhaus Australia; Transforming Education in Art, Architecture and Design'. The associated book was published by RMIT Gallery with support of the Gordon Darling Foundation. It featured 6 distinguished authors including Eqduist and Eckett.