Semi Permanent announces Melbourne festival program ‘Never Permanent’ ~ headlined by director and screenwriter Roman Coppola
Semi Permanent has announced the launch of a new event property for Naarm/Melbourne. Produced in partnership with City of Melbourne as part of the recently announced Now or Never festival, Never Permanent is a full-day program of keynote talks and panel discussions that will explore and celebrate the rich and ever-changing intersection of creativity and technology to inspire new ways of thinking. The event will take place at the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, on Thursday 24th August 2023 and bring together an audience of 1,000 creatively attuned attendees from across Asia Pacific.
As the biggest and longest-running event of its kind in the southern hemisphere, Semi Permanent shares insight into the processes of the world’s leading visionaries and ignites connection, conversation, collaboration, and creativity. 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. Never Permanent will deliver this with a specific focus on how technology is reshaping these industries, and the challenges and opportunities that exist within new and changing mediums.
The breadth of the Never Permanent program is reflective of the rich intersection of creativity and technology, with talent representing the fields of filmmaking, photography, graphic, product and motion design, animation, music, Web3 and the metaverse, and visual data, and includes:
Roman Coppola is a director, screenwriter, producer, and inventor. Coppola has played an integral part in countless film projects, including second unit work, producing, and co-writing with frequent collaborators Sofia Coppola on such projects as On the Rocks, Marie Antoinette, Lost in Translation, and The Virgin Suicides, and with Wes Anderson on projects including the upcoming Asteroid City, The French Dispatch, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Darjeeling Limited, and Moonrise Kingdom, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Coppola is also president of pioneering independent production company American Zoetrope, founder, and owner of award-winning commercial and music video production company The Directors Bureau, and founder of revolutionary blockchain-based film community known as Decentralized Pictures.
Mindy Seu is a designer and technologist based in New York City, currently teaching as an Assistant Professor at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts and Critic at Yale School of Art. Her expanded practice involves archival projects, techno-critical writing, performative lectures, and design commissions. Mindy’s ongoing Cyberfeminism Index, which gathers three decades of online activism and net art, was commissioned by Rhizome, presented at the New Museum, and awarded a Graham Foundation Grant.
Ta-ku is a multi-disciplinary artist from Perth, Australia, of Filipino-Maori heritage. Having risen to prominence as one of the world’s most in-demand beatmakers, he has found himself curator of a rapidly expanding creative empire. This storytelling gene is key. Once reserved as currency for his music, Ta-ku now applies it to a diverse range of passion projects that encompass creative direction, photography, videography, design, business and fashion. His first full solo album, Songs To Come Home To, will be launched at Never Permanent.
The full program includes:
· Angie Abdilla — founder, Old Ways, New, Sydney
· Jesse Woolston — multimedia artist and composer, Los Angeles
· Joshua To — vice president of design, AR & Wearables, Meta, San Francisco
· Justin Ridler — photographer and filmmaker, Melbourne
· Mindy Seu — designer and technologist, New York City
· Nicholas Kamuda — product designer, Meta, Seattle
· Roman Coppola — director, screenwriter and producer, Los Angeles
· Serwah Attafuah — multidisciplinary artist and musician, Sydney
· Ta-ku — recording artist, photographer and creative director, Perth
Says Murray Bell, founder, Semi Permanent: “For so many years we’ve had a passionate community of followers in Melbourne that have campaigned for Semi Permanent to return to the Victorian capital, and this partnership with the City of Melbourne and Now or Never feels like exactly the right opportunity to bring our unique festival to town. As we continue to adjust to a creative landscape radically altered by new and emerging technologies, our diverse lineup of speakers will shed light on how creative practice can continue to flourish in the face of, and in concert with, these shifting mediums.”
Says Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp: “We look forward to welcoming Semi Permanent to Melbourne for the first time since 2013 as they present Never Permanent as part of our inaugural Now or Never line-up. Never Permanent will welcome 1,000 visitors to the historic Royal Exhibition Building for a day of thought-provoking discourse led by leading creative visionaries from around the world. Prepare to have your opinions challenged and your perspective expanded.”
More information on the event can be found at semipermanent.com/events/never-permanent-2023
