Brave New World

A series of events explores the Modernist movement and the postwar designers who revolutionised our urban landscape.

- Anna Johnson

It’s a mistake to think of Modernism as a flat pack design formula that can be achieved by emptying a room and utilising a lot of glass, wood, stone and right angles. Modernists from the 1920s to the 1970s were doing more than just stripping back ornamental fripperies. They were building a whole new world that felt every bit as bracing and young as minimal interiors look now. “Imagine a house where every single part provides usable space,” says Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon, director of strategy and engagement at Sydney Living Museums. “In a Modernist house, every centimeter matters. And all the small parts build the aesthetic: the design, the rugs, the art, the ceramics, even the music on the turntable contributed to living inside a work of art.”