Semi Permanent 2017

words by ben stephens

You creative loving humans, it’s that time again. Time to note down in your near perfect condition Moleskin that you’re busy on the dates of May 25 – 27. There will be a whole gaggle of who’s who in the creative world to present Semi Permanent 2017, the premiere global creative and design event.

Quick History Lesson – It’s 2002, Two lads, Murray Bell and Andrew Johnstone run the website Design Is Kinky. Curating artworks that fall between aesthetically pleasing and beautiful. Their popularity sees them invited to Barcelona, Spain to present at a design festival. The pair get talking to the team at Diesel and bond over a mutual love of Design Is Kinky. After a number of bottles of wine, the boys are given a cheque to create a live experience based on creativity, design and ideas in Sydney, Australia. 15 Semi Permanent years later and here we are, SP 2017.

As with all Semi Perm’s, the lineup has been stacked with movers and shakers from across the globe, here to share their thoughts, designs and creative thinking with the Sydney attendees.

Let me walk you through just some of the highlights of Semi Perm 2017:

Talks
Kicking things off on the first morning of SP17 will be Katherine Keating, a producer, publisher and host with VICE. Katherine will be presenting Publishing to the Worlds Youth, a talk that will break down just how the youth publisher is fighting for awareness and global action through the many verticals that make up VICE Media.

Panels
The lineup is still yet to be TBC, but if last year is anything to go by, you don’t want to miss out on this one. Last year’s panel was made up of the likes of Head of Google Search, the Design Director from Netflix and Product Design directors from Uber and Facebook… 2017 will see the ideas of immersive storytelling, AI and designing cities. I’m in.

Design
Virtual Reality is a hell of a thing and when mixed with progression, the mind crumbles at the idea of where it can take you. The Google Immersive Design team will be on hand at SP17 with Tilt Brush, giving attendees the ability to create artwork in the VR space. The technology is still in the infancy stage but has almost no limits as to where it can go.

The above is just a taster of what’s going down at Semi Permanent 2017, head over HERE to check out the full list of rad humans discussing important ideas and to purchase your tickets.