DESIGN Canberra 2020 has dedicated our CBD programs in the heart of the city to the beautiful collaboration at Monaro Mall by Whitehead and Payne (1963) with Frank Hinder’s Star Ceiling (1963). Hinder’s beautiful glass mosaic is visible only to people who take time to look up from their busy lives, to appreciate a remarkable blend of form, tone and colour.

This iconic building is an inspiring expression of the vision of our city’s early planners, designers and artists. It is a timely reminder of our contemporary shared responsibility to preserve and appreciate our rich design history, and nourish our contemporary design creative sector.

Today we launched the DESIGN Canberra festival, as well as a beautiful suspended installation and spatial drawing by Hannah Quinlivan ‘Desiderium’ and the graphic intervention ‘Glimmer’ by Hannah Gason. Both works either respond to, or seek to draw your gaze to, Frank Hinder’s mosaic ceiling. They are contemporary expressions of how design can help to revitalise our city.

Every weekday during the festival, our festival hub at City Walk next to Monaro Mall will be the site for tours, talks, yoga, performances, workshops, meditation and social gatherings, delivered in a social distanced way. The Common Thread and Emerging Contemporaries exhibitions are located nearby in the Canberra Centre. Be sure to visit the ARCH-HUB, a pop up container by the ACT Institute of Architects to see a photographic exhibition of the architecture award winners, meet an architect, watch a film and more.

We are grateful for the support of the ACT Government City Renewal Authority for their funding to support these CBD programs, and their commitment to revitalise our city centre and build meaningful partnerships with Craft ACT and the creative sector.