Future Prototyping Exhibition - Call for Projects

Making a prototype provides a means to experiment, design and evaluate an idea, or a concept. What it does is to make the future visible. While most prototypes are physical artefacts, they can also be virtual and come in a multitude of media that challenge our senses: in the form of sound, touch, smell, sight and taste. Most critically, they challenge our current views of our world and the ideal of our future society.

The Future Prototyping exhibition staged at the Melbourne School of Design will coincide with Melbourne Design Week 2020. The exhibition gathers innovative virtual, immersive and physical prototypes, that are emerging across the field of art, design, food, engineering, and architecture in Australia. These prototypes demonstrate how making is changing in the 21st century through advanced technology, novel techniques and revitalisation of traditional craftsmanship. How we make defines our milieu but most importantly, it provides us with glimpses of the future, one that is yet to come.

Call for Projects

Our Call for Projects is open for submissions to all disciplines from fashion, music, food, engineering to architecture by individuals or collaborators in academia, practice and industry with at least one partner based in Australia or New Zealand. We welcome submissions that have a physical or virtual prototype as a material artefact or captured in film or other media that can be presented in an exhibition setting. The submissions will be blind reviewed by a panel of experts and the curatorial team. The selected projects will be included in an exhibition at the Dulux Gallery at the Melbourne School of Design as part of Melbourne Design Week 2020. All accepted projects will be included in a published catalogue with ISBN number. Selected authors will be invited to speak at the one-day symposium during the exhibition.

Submission requirements:

One PDF document containing maximum of 5 x A4 pages, guidelines as below.

Page 1:

1. An abstract of the project (maximum 500 words). Abstract must address the significant and impact of the project.
2. The size of the artefact and proposed exhibition format. If it is multi-media, please state the audio and visual equipment required.

Page 2 - 4:

1. Up to 10 images of your project with captions (minimum of four images).

Last Page:

1. An estimated shipping and delivery cost budget. State the current location of the prototype. Please note that once accepted, the organiser will contact the participant regarding shipping arrangement. The organiser will bear the cost of shipping and returning of the work.

Notes:

• Submissions will be reviewed anonymously. Identifying markings, logos or applicant information are not permitted.
• Submissions not adhering to these guidelines will be disqualified.
• The images and work featured in final exhibition and catalogue will likely be made available online via a Creative Commons CC-BY License. Authors will retain their copyright and will be free to reuse their work without restrictions.

Submit Project Here: Call for Projects Website

Selection Criteria:

• The project must be non-commercially available.
• The project must provide a glimpse of the future (that is relevant to today's societal needs).
• The project must be novel or have an innovative aspect. We will accept prototypes created in the last ten years.

Selection Panels:

• Professor Donald Bates (MSD | Lab Architecture Studio)
• Professor Jane Burry (Dean of School of Design, Swinburne University of Technology)
• To be confirmed