By Callum Ludwig
The ‘Reimagining Birrarung: Design Concepts for 2070’ exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is now on display in the Ian Potter Centre: NGV in Fed Square from 23 August 2024 to 2 February 2025 and free for all to enter.
It has brought together eight leading Australian landscape architects, asking them to reimagine the lands and waters of the Birrarung (Yarra River) from the city centre, the eastern suburbs and through to the Yarra Ranges.
It includes the submission of Bush Projects, a landscape architectural studio, who explored the Upper Yarra catchment between Healesville and Woori Yallock.
Their vision suggested the Upper Yarra catchment area be established as a biodiversity protection zone only to be accessed by Traditional Custodians and the River Rangers whose role it will be to protect the environment.
This exhibition asked Bush Projects and other studios to look into the future and how the river may have changed by the year 2070, what the area around it will look like and what will need to be done to maintain and increase the health of the Birrarung, including considering changes such as the changing climate and how agriculture and farming practices may evolve.
