We have borrowed, for the theme of our next conference, the title of John Berger’s seminal 1972 work of art criticism: ‘Ways of Seeing’. Berger’s approach was considered revolutionary because he viewed works of art in their cultural and political milieu, rather than as aesthetic objects divorced from contemporary context.

This standpoint seems relevant to landscape design today because we have surely been witnessing, over the past two to three decades, a fundamental alteration in cultural attitudes to our environment — both natural and human-made — related to the climate. In fact it could be argued that in the 21st century, the most important context for all cultural production, including landscape design, is the ecological. This must involve ‘ways of being’ as well as ‘ways of seeing’, because all human beings have no choice but to live on this one planet.

Each of our renowned speakers has reacted to this urgent environmental context in their own highly distinctive way — imagining new ‘ways of being’ which might inspire, console and delight.

I look forward to welcoming you to Melbourne in March 2025.