In this wide-ranging discussion, Tim Flannery, RMIT's recently appointed Professor, RMIT University College of Design and Social Context, award-winning scientist and former Australian of the Year, explores how to hold onto hope in the face of climate catastrophe – and the transformations humanity must make to move toward a regenerative future. A palaeontologist by training, Flannery brings a long view to the climate and biodiversity crisis, daring to dream of a world where clean-energy technologies underpin global economies, knowledge and expertise are celebrated, and humankind rediscovers its innate creativity, stoicism, optimism and humour in the face of adversity.
In conversation with ABC Radio National presenter Hilary Harper, Flannery reflects on the societal shifts that give him cause for hope – imagining a future where war is obsolete, civic democracy endures, food and water are abundant, and nature is in recovery.
Presented by Planetary Civics Inquiry and RMIT University, in partnership with City of Melbourne's 'Now or Never' festival.
'Portable Stillness' (2025), is an ongoing spatial installation that explores how the making of miniature objects and floating altar-like displays can express memory, collection, and the domestic in transition. Motivated by the instability of diasporic living and continual relocation, Ko Jou Chen constructs handmade structures that carry memory and presence across her shifting environments.
'Slip' is a practice-led research project that explores the poetic qualities of the bluestones that have been discarded in recent construction works around RMIT University. Through the process of moulding and casting these stones into beeswax, Noah Bridger hopes to reimagine Melbourne’s urban landscape.
Chloe Rose Thomas’ exhibition, 'Can I Hold You?' centres on queer community and embodied practices of care, exploring what it means to take traditional photographic portraits of non-normative bodies and the histories they represent.
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
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