The southern hemisphere's longest-running creativity and design festival, Semi Permanent is returning to its homeplace in Carriageworks, Sydney, as part of Vivid Sydney 2023.
Now in its 21st year, Semi Permanent will again bring together the creative industries across Asia Pacific for three days, from 31st May through 2nd June 2023.
Featuring inspiring keynote talks, panel discussions, workshops, exhibitions, demonstrations, installations, and more. In 2023, Semi Permanent is supported by the continuing partnership with the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency Destination NSW.
Equal parts education and inspiration, the event provides an opportunity for attendees to level up their skillset whilst expanding their understanding of an ever-evolving creative landscape.
Minister for tourism and the arts Ben Franklin said: “The NSW Government is proud to support Semi Permanent, which is an established drawcard for creative people from across the country and the world.
"We welcome the eclectic, boundary pushing thinkers this event inspires, positioning Sydney as a hub of innovation for the creative industries.
"Semi Permanent will provide a dynamic element to the Vivid Sydney 2023 season, contributing to our ambition to make Sydney and NSW the major events capital and premier visitor economy of the Asia Pacific.”
2023 THEME
Each year, Semi Permanent takes the opportunity to explore a universal idea that most aligns to the challenges and opportunities of the time. For 2023, it introduces the platform ‘REFORMATION’.
Mitchell Oakley Smith, Semi Permanent global creative director, said: “We thought the world would seek to build itself back as it was, but it’s increasingly clear that our collective future cannot—nor should not—look anything like its past.
“We live amidst a once-in-a-generation chance to write past wrongs, reform seemingly immutable practices, and redesign the world in a shape we’d like to see.
“One look around will tell you the seeds have already been sown: the promise of a borderless Web3 world; the reclaiming of time via remote work capabilities; the dismantling of industrial hierarchies and traditions that prioritised some consistently over others.
"And in its place, something new is beginning to emerge: new creative languages, new ways to communicate, to create, organise, disrupt, rebuild. New ways to speak, hear, interpret, understand, and connect. Less barriers to entry, and more possibility for brilliance. With all the chips seemingly thrown in the air—which of these do we catch, and which do we let go?”
PROGRAM
The breadth of this year’s program is reflective of creative practice in 2023, including graphic, product, spatial and motion design, filmmaking, photography, illustration, publishing, writing, advertising, animation, Web3, and visual data. Many of the talks and programs delve into important and timely cultural subject matter, including futurism, feminism, First Nations culture, accessibility, sustainability, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Irish writer, academic and disability activist Sinéad Burke is the founder of Tilting The Lens, a consultancy that asks: ‘Is this accessible?’ Burke supports clients – including Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Netflix, and Pinterest – in moving from awareness to action, accelerating systemic and cultural changes for a world that is more accessible and equitable for everyone. Her work has been featured and recognised by Vogue, The Financial Times, and Vanity Fair.
Liam Young is a film director and architect, and founder of the urban futures think tank Tomorrows Thoughts Today and the nomadic research studio Unknown Fields. Young's practice is situated within the fields of design fiction and critical design. His work explores the increasingly blurred boundaries among film, fiction, design, and storytelling, with the goal of prototyping and imagining the future of the city.
Using words, colour, and sound, data journalist, writer, artist, and producer Mona Chalabi rehumanises data to better help us understand our world and the way we live in it. Her writing and illustrations have been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Guardian, where she is currently the data editor, and have earned her a fellowship at the British Science Association, an Emmy nomination, and recognition from the Royal Statistical Society.
Bijan Berahimi is an Iranian-American designer and founder of FISK, a studio and gallery in Portland, Oregon. FISK has become an ongoing project based around culture, community, and commerce through the lens of art and design, the studio championing a wide range of ethnicities, voices, and backgrounds. Berahimi has collaborated with Nike, Toro y Moi, Harvard, Boiler Room, and was the first designer-in-residence at Facebook HQ.
The full program includes:
· Mona Chalabi — visual data journalist, New York
· Bijan Berahimi — designer and founder, FISK, Portland
· Sinead Burke — founder, Tilting The Lens, Dublin
· Liam Young — speculative architect and filmmaker, Los Angeles
· Megha Kapoor — head of editorial content, Vogue India, Mumbai
· Filipe Carvalho — film and TV designer and director, Lisbon
· Mikaela Jade — founder, Indigital, Canberra
· Seb Chan — director, Australian Centre for Moving Image, Melbourne
· Chris Yee — artist, illustrator and animator, Sydney
· Jazz Money — Indigenous artist and poet, Sydney
· Samuel Leighton-Dore — artist, illustrator and screenwriter, Gold Coast
· Jordy van den Nieuwendijk — artist and illustrator, Melbourne
· Mikaela Stafford — motion graphics artist, Melbourne
· Wani Toaishara — artist, photographer and performer, Melbourne
· Evi. O — designer and artist, Sydney
· The event will be hosted by TV presenter, radio broadcaster and producer, Namila Benson
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