Openwork: Conditions and Exclusions

3553 is proud to present Conditions & Exclusions, an exhibition by Openwork. The exhibition will run from 20-28 of June 2025. 

Opening Event:
Date: Friday 20th June 2025
Time: 6pm - 9pm
Location: 35-53 Emma St, Collingwood

Conditions and Exclusions presents a collection of models made by the Landscape Architecture & Urban Design studio Openwork, reflecting their methodology:

Our practice has always made small models. They’re not the proper models you see in books and monographs. They’re more direct – an adjustment, done quickly and generally done once, to fix an idea in time. Our models are made to help us remember. They are a way of holding an intention. We might describe part of that intention as a ‘condition’ and/or an ‘exclusion’.

A condition is about remaking the situation or site we’ve been asked to work in, as a figure or a shape that substitutes the scope of work in the brief with the boundary of the work we want to do instead. An exclusion is about sneaking things into a design process that have been omitted from a brief. More often than not, these imports encourage us to remember move the work beyond the default language or typical responses of commercial landscape practice.

These models are a way for us to subtly reclaim the territory of a site, remake its edges, and test and register the important moves and strategy for that site. As a tool, they capture only the essential strategies – their scale prevents reliance on form, detail, and materiality (all dead ends for urban projects). In this sense, they are mnemonic objects – physical statements that allow us to remember the essential parti of the thing, and that ward against any future dilution or normalisation of it.

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Openwork is a design studio that operates in four modes: a landscape architecture consultancy providing design and documentation of public places; an urban design studio providing input to plans and policies that enable future public realm; a research lab aligned with RMIT University School of Architecture and Urban Design; and a speculative design office, investing consulting profits into projects that need doing but don’t yet have external interest. Through these various modes of practice, they have cultivated an active studio who agitate change and public exchange.

3553 is a public event space dedicated to the exploration of ideas that affect the built environment. Operated by OFFICE, a design and research practice committed to advancing critical dialogue, 3553 fosters collaboration across disciplines, communities, and borders. The space offers a platform for local, national, and international practitioners, students, researchers, and academics to showcase innovative work, share insights, and engage in meaningful conversations. Through a diverse program of exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and public events, 3553 invites audiences to engage with the evolving landscape of design, while creating a space for education, critical thought, and creative exchange.