Refuge drops us in the hot zone of different climate-related disasters.

Flood, heat, pandemic and displacement: this five-year project offers us new ways to rally as a community and prepare for climatic events.

For the next two years we prepare for displacement prompted by climate crisis. In 2019, we begin on our own doorstep: are you ready to evacuate if the worst comes to pass? What do we need to do to prepare North Melbourne if we were displaced? What can we learn from Traditional Owners and First Nations who, over 120,000 years, have already survived many climate changes? What skills and knowledge can we share – and do you know your neighbours well enough to ask for their help?

North Melbourne School of Displacement offers an alternative way to learn in a mass installation of salvaged tents, by artist Keg de Souza and Wirlomin Noongar collaborator Claire G. Coleman. Jen Rae’s Portage in collaboration with architectural designers Mittul Vahanvati and Munir Vahanvati from Giant Grass provides us with survival skills for a climate emergency, learning how to build sustainable rafts alongside residents from local housing estates. Lorna Hannan’s Ruth Crow Corner is a space to meet your neighbours and share advice from your own experience over a cuppa. Join the conversation, contributing your best creative thinking, and imagine street plans that are effective, community-centred and fun in Street Plan: the Big Brainstorm with SES Controller Faye Bendrups. Peppered with real-life anecdotes and activities, Red Cross team up with artist Kate Sulan to run In Case of… RediPlan workshops offering practical and emotional ways for you to prepare when disaster strikes.

Lastly, you’re invited to take a place at the table for Words Nourish Neighbours hosted by Seini Taumoepeau, a feast of words and food creating new ways to meet your neighbours and prepare for climate crisis.

Come to North Melbourne Town Hall this Refuge to find your place in this crisis. Walk out with a plan.

2019 artists and projects:
North Melbourne School of Displacement Keg de Souza in collaboration with Claire G. Coleman
Portage Jen Rae in collaboration with Giant Grass
Words Nourish Neighbours Seini Taumoepeau and guests
Ruth Crow Corner Lorna Hannan and guests
In Case of… RediPlan Kate Sulan and Red Cross
Street Plan: The Big Brainstorm SES
First Nations in the House Claire G. Coleman, Cassie Lynch, Laniyuk, Rosie Kalina Monica Karo and Timmah Ball
Blak Order Moorina Bonini and Edwina Green

In 2020 we leap into a foreseeable future to consider displacement of our regional neighbours in the Pacific. How can we share resources in times of hardship when the worst comes to pass? Taking the lead from artist Latai Taumoepeau, Refuge 2020 explores displacement as a humanitarian crisis and directs our focus towards culture, spirituality, relationships and ritual. Read more about Refuge 2016-2020.