*Please note: This event has changed time! It will now start at 10am, and finish at 12pm.

Having a baby changes your perception of the city. Suddenly, things become less accessible: trams are difficult to lift a pram into, there’s no space in your favourite cafe to change a nappy and events happen at night while you soothe your baby to sleep—and so the trials of new parenthood are mostly screened off from public view. (Some public institutions do offer parenting facilities, but they’re usually hidden away next to the toilets.)

Collaborative duo Guest, Riggs will invert this private spectacle and take us with them, by turning MPavilion 2017 into a public performance of the banalities of new parenthood, where the rotating grandstand of Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten’s amphitheatre-style structure will raise nappy-changing to new cultural heights. Guest, Riggs take Rem Koolhaas’s and David Gianotten’s statement that the space could function as a playground literally: the floor will be given over to babies’ exploits, made possible with a series of baby-friendly interventions within the pavilion.

Across four events in our summer program, a rolling line-up of speakers will address the exclusion of parents from cultural events and the architecture of new parenthood by creating a space for parents and babies. (Non-parents welcome too!)

The third instalment of this gathering, DISTRICT, will focus on parenting communities—both online and IRL. The council-assigned parents’ groups, Facebook groups, the so-called village it takes to raise a child, the public library, the pool and the museum—what is the role of community in developing spaces for parents and babies?

Guest speaker Karen Pickering will talk about her role as the architect of a very special online parenting community, leading interactive community-building exercises, while Clementine Ford will reflect on parenting in public and the need for greater community involvement—particularly by men. A number of Melbourne Museum representatives will also join the line-up to discuss baby-friendly community spaces: Murphy Peoples, experience developer; Scott Parker, senior exhibition designer for permanent exhibition Ground Up: Building Big Ideas, Together; Jo Pritchard, senior graphic designer for the Children’s Gallery; and Naomi Fogel, senior exhibition designer for the Children’s Gallery.

Additional dates for MMeets—A stage for new parenthood:

Monday 16 October 2017, 12pm–3pm
Tuesday 14 November 2017, 12pm–3pm
Tuesday 16 January 2018, 10am–12pm

This event is proudly supported by Baby Rest.

This event has now concluded. Head to our library to hear the audio in full.