Semi Permanent 2023

Semi Permanent Aotearoa, the country’s premier festival of creativity and design, is set to return to the country’s capital of Wellington. Taking place across two venues within the city, from Wednesday 8th until Friday 10th November 2023, the festival will welcome thousands of attendees from across the Asia Pacific region for three days of keynote talks, panel discussions, workshops and masterclasses that will serve to educate and inspire.

The breadth of this year’s program is reflective of creative practice in 2023, including graphic, product, game and motion design, fashion, illustration, publishing, visual art, digital and brand strategy, and business innovation.

Each year, Semi Permanent takes the opportunity to explore a universal idea that most aligns to the challenges and opportunities of the time. For 2023, we introduce the platform ‘REFORMATION’. “We thought the world would seek to build itself back as it was, but it’s increasingly clear that our collective future cannot—nor should not—look anything like its past,” says curator Mitchell Oakley Smith. “We live amidst a once-in-a-generation chance to write past wrongs, reform seemingly immutable practices, and redesign the world in a shape we’d like to see.”

“One look around will tell you the seeds have already been sown: the promise of a borderless Web3 world; the reclaiming of time via remote work capabilities; the dismantling of industrial hierarchies and traditions that prioritised some consistently over others. And in its place, something new is beginning to emerge: new creative languages, new ways to communicate, to create, organise, disrupt, rebuild. New ways to speak, hear, interpret, understand, and connect. Less barriers to entry, and more possibility for brilliance. With all the chips seemingly thrown in the air—which of these do we catch, and which do we let go?”

We're pleased to share the standout talent lineup for Semi Permanent Aotearoa 2023, with speakers joining us from The New York Times Magazine, Adidas, PANGAIA, Vogue India, and more. Secure your ticket today.