FREE POWERHOUSE MUSEUM PRESENTS Every design has a story. As part of a design process, symbiotic conversations take place between the designer and the audience— connecting ideas. Through its dynamic events, activities, discussions and lectures, Sydney Design creates a platform for the convergence of design lovers with respected photographers, stylists, craftspeople, de- signers, curators and artists. sydneydesign.com.au free iPhone app from iTunes Cover design by Boccalatte sydneydesign.com.au ‘ Tell me a story, and tell it from your heart.’ 3 P OW E RHOUS E M U S E U M 500 Harris Street Ultimo Opening hours 10am–5pm Adult $10 Child (4–15 years) $5 (under four) free Family pass $25 NSW Seniors Card holders, pensioners, concessions $6 Student card holders $5 Powerhouse Members free Groups discounts apply for groups of 10 or more Bookings 02 9217 0111 S YDN E Y De SIGN PASS $20 Buy your Sydney Design pass online and visit the Museum as many times as you like from 31 July to 15 August 2010. DOWNl O A D OUR F R E E S YDN E Y D E S I G N i PHON E A P P For easy reference to maps, favourites, the latest updates and more. For details visit sydneydesign.com.au/iphone TELL US WHA T Y O U T H I N K Complete our visitor survey in the Museum for your chance to win some fabulous prizes. First prize a Zanotta Sella Bicycle seat, de- signed by Achille Castiglioni in 1957, valued at $1545, courtesy of Space Furniture. Second prize an ASUS N Series Notebook, valued at $1299, courtesy of ASUS. SYDNEY DESIGN POCKetBOOK 31ST JULY–15TH AUGUST 2010 TABLE OF CONteNTS Introduction: Telling Stories by Dawn Casey . 7 P AR T 1 : { At T H E P OW E RHOUS E M U S E U M } . .9 Essay: Through the lens of Benini by Anne-Marie Van De Ven . .10 Essay: The Opinion Junkies by Prue Gibson . .30 Essay: Clusters of tactility, threads of warmth and a return to the senses by Prue Gibson . .52 Interview: Castiglioni: a designed life by Heidi Dokulil . 74 P AR T 2 : {CI T Y-WID E } . .89 K E Y After Hours Children & Families Markets Education Film Talks & Tours Exhibitions & Live Design Workshops Installations IN T RODUC T ION Sydney Design an international festival of design is now in its 14th year. IntRoduced BY DAWN CASEY, DIRECTOR POWERHOUSE MUSEUM TEllING StORIES Storytelling is a human act. Stories have always been told through a multitude of means and devices. Whether it is the faint scratchings on an ancient terracotta vessel, or the biblical stories told stitch by stitch in a 17th century needle lace panel or the powerful war imagery depicted in a Afghani rug, the intense narrative power is the same. The Powerhouse Museum’s broad range of disciplines and collecting areas reveal rich stories behind the many objects in the collection. But there is also a focus on the stories which surround the Museum; the hub of people who participate, visit, contribute and are connected in some way to the many threads of thought and ideas that converge within. What is important is the deeply personal stories and the unfailing hu- man connections that these stories bring to light. The information and knowledge form an immense puzzle. And it doesn’t matter where you come from, who you are or what you do—there is an entry point for everyone. Stories have the power to move, to inspire change and acti- vate thinking. As the museum of applied art and sciences, the Powerhouse Museum collects objects from the fields of industrial, graphic, fashion and inte- rior design, decorative and functional art. Elements of architecture and photography are also represented. Ceramics, textiles, jewellery, glass, furniture, children’s toys, cars, electric guitars, as well as film posters and old advertisements are all amassed in the curiosity chamber that is the Museum. 9 S YDN E Y D E SIGN As such, Sydney Design is a devoted celebration of these compelling areas of design interest. Sustainability, the notion of reuse, recycling, humble materials and limiting our carbon footprint are values which have long been espoused by the Museum. The Museum has curated permanent exhibitions such as Ecologic—one of the forerunners of thinking in this area—through to exhibitions which pay tribute to the handmade and the one-off, like Smart Works. Many events in the 2010 program highlight creative sustainability and inventive re-use. Urban redevelopment has long been an area of interest for the Museum. With a swag of high profile designers and architects now setting their sights on Sydney, we are re-imagining ourselves as a braver place and there is fierce and positive debate. Simple projects in Sydney Design such as the Bike Racks as Art competition ask our designers to rethink a humble object—again, to do what design is so good at—to take it into the realm of both the beautiful, the meaningful and at the same time to address serious functional and social issues. It’s only natural that story-telling today continues to make use of the technology which is increasingly part of everyday life—social media. The Sydney Design program will include many industry discussions, lectures by leading designers and events to explore new methods of storytelling through design. To tell stories is the fundamental role of many of our creative institu- tions. It offers insights into what it means to be human—now and in other times and places. Sydney Design straddles the two worlds—aes- thetic beauty and problem-solving functionality. These stories lead us down a path we might not have otherwise taken. 1 0 ‘ To be a person is to have a story to tell.’ Isak Dinesen PART ONE: {At THE POWERHOUSE MUSEUM} 1 1 S YDN E Y D E SIGN This mounted gelatine silver photographic print is one of Bruno Benini’s earli- est nude male portraits. It shows Antonio Rodrigues a dancer who originally came to Australia with the Katherine Dunham dance company, an early New York-based African-American modern dance troop. It is one of many photo- graphic portraits from an archive dominated by fashion photography in print, negative, transparency and proof print or contact formats. Taken during the 1960s, the photograph features a textured, wall surface with peeling paint as a key background element. Bruno’s widow Hazel Benini recalls that Bruno always ‘loved a peely’. Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator. Photography by Bruno Benini © Estate of Bruno Benini. 1 2 FE A T UR E The Creating the look: Benini and fashion photography exhibition draws on the Bruno Benini photography archive acquired with fund- ing assistance from the Australian Government through the National Cultural Heritage Account in 2009. The exhibition presents the fan- tastical world of fashion captured though Benini’s camera lens, and invites the visitor into the exciting world of fashion photography by providing a stimulating, visually arresting and immersive experience. ANNE-MARIE VAN DE VEN, CURatoR, VISUAL COMMUNI- cations, POWERHOUSE MUSEUM THROUGH THE leNS OF BeNINI ‘It’s ok for you.’ said Bruno Benini’s sister who worked for the Ital- ian Consulate in Melbourne, earnestly to her younger brother one day when she was struggling to come to terms with the world in which her young brother and his artist wife Hazel Benini had decided to make their life and living, ‘You guys live in fantasy land’. The following morning, out of hearing range of his sister and with arms flung wide overhead in a Italianate gesture of joyful defiance, Benini retorted as he and Hazel Benini entered the studio to begin another day’s work, ‘Fantasy land—here we come!’ In some ways, it’s not surprising that at times, Ilda Benini struggled to come to terms with her brother’s career choice, as she would have been fully aware that Hazel and Bruno spent their days concocting fun stories, meeting and shooting beautiful peo- ple, and generally immersing themselves enthusiastically into a won- derfully fanciful, weird and creative craft. Interestingly, like her, they too were very much a part of Melbourne’s post-WWII cosmopolitan inner-city scene. With her other brother a medical doctor, it’s maybe not surprising that Ilda Benini was concerned about her brother’s choice of occupa- tion. The world of fashion photography was generally not well known 1 3 S YDN E Y D E SIGN or understood at the time. While fashion photographs were familiar through the press, the process of fashion photography remained mys- terious, and male photographers were often represented as hedonistic playboys in films like Blow-up (1966) and media headlines like ‘Bruno is the darling of the best looking birds’ (Woman’s Day, 1 June 1970). Also, Bruno Benini never gained professional qualifications or training as a photographer. Initially he started photography as a hobby and then learnt on the job, at first in Peter Fox’s large commercial studio of mod- ern photography on Collins Street, Melbourne, and then from photog- rapher friends and colleagues who occasionally engaged him as a model. Printers, like Benini’s close friend Norman Ikin, also helped kick start his knowledge of printing, though Ikin tragically died in a car accident just days after Hazel and Bruno Benini’s wedding. Although Benini initially studied industrial chemistry and worked for General Motors Holden at Fishermen’s Bend near Geelong, he had opted to pursue a career as a fashion photographer after a return trip to Italy in 1950.