Adelaide’s Open State festival brought together ideas and innovation across our city. As part of the festival, an evening exploring Adelaide’s liveability combined sustainability and art.
The event asked Adelaide is one of the world’s most liveable cities: fact or fiction?
The evening held a panel discussion, and Q&A session, which delved into the question at hand. Ideas were flying, tricky questions were asked, and solutions were suggested.
As with many Open State events, your head can be swimming with ideas, and something other than words can help us reflect and bring it all together. This is why it was so exciting to see the evenings discussions represented visually in three pieces of artwork by Valli Morphett from Morph-it and her partner Michael Lannan.
Image: Artwork being created by Valli Morphett from Morph-it at the Open State event.
The three designs were created using a range of methods including appliqué and overlaid sketching. The artwork displayed the following themes:
Piece 1: Landscape
The traditional Australian landscape has been reimagined to represent the easy access to nature that many people who live in Adelaide experience. This links strongly with the panel’s discussion of a greener Adelaide that encourages people to utilise outdoor spaces and interact with their local wild spaces and parks.
Piece 2: City Streets
The 1900s bare city streetscape maintains the original street frontage whilst towering high density apartment blocks are now visible in the background. Green walls and plantings help to not only beautify the area but also keep the buildings cooler. Densification caters for a growing population.
Good urban planning and community input can help to develop cities in order to maintain public space and create cities that encourage inter-generational equity.
Piece 3: Family
The role that technology plays in our lives has changed. How will we live, play and work in the future? The need to plan for ways in which we are likely to use cities in the future is important. Technology has changed our interaction with one another and the way we use our cities. What type of future do we as a society want and how do we plan for it?
Image: Open State artwork by Valli Morphett from Morph-it and her partner Michael Lannan on display at Adelaide Sustainability centre.
This collection is best appreciated up close and personal, with time to reflect on the detail and ideas it represents. These pieces are currently on display at the Adelaide Sustainability Centre. Take a moment to see them when you’re next nearby.
This event was delivered by the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board.
