I’m excited to share that Song of the Cricket—a large scale living lab developed first as a Special Project at the 19th International Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia and now expanding to sites in the Venice Lagoon—has been selected as a finalist for the Architizer A+Awards in the Sustainable Landscape / Planning category.
It is one of only five projects worldwide shortlisted for the Popular Choice Award in this category.
You can sign into Architizer and vote here:
https://go.unimelb.edu.au/kao2
Voting is open now, and your support would mean a great deal.
You can watch a 3-minute project video here:
/watch?v=i_oWB8qiAb8
The Urban Ecology and Design Lab (UEDLAB) in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, developed the project in collaboration with the Fondazione Museo Civico di Rovereto, with faculty from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, Faculty of Science, the Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration (CSDILA) in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, School of Computing and information technology, Fab Lab, Machine Workshop and Maker Spaces, UoM, Arup as our industry partner and with Biomatrix Water Solutions, Aflex Technology, Servizi Tecnici, and alongside partners including Esapolis and World Wildlife Fund Italy, Parco del Mince, Melbourne Biodiversity Institute, Macgeorge Estate, Parco Natura Viva and Zoom Torino, and World Biodiversity Association.
Many thanks to the broader team of collaborators who contributed to this work across ecology, design, engineering, and sound.
23.03.24
Open House/Open Floodplain
Many of the Birrarung’s confluences are sites of women’s business.
The Confluence, where the Birrarung meets the Darebin Creek is sacred to Wurundjeri women, who have gathered in these places for ceremony and birthing practices for time immemorial.
This film documents last years event where Wurundjeri and First Nations women returned to the confluence.
Starting at the confluence this ceremony marked the beginning of our movement through a series of dances and yarns through the floodplain and up to the parklands of Darebin Creek.
Filmed and edited by Jordan Brown
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We would like to extend our gratitude to our collaborators Mandy Nicholson and the @djirridjirri Wurundjeri women’s dance group: Kathleen Terrick, Teena Moffatt, Ryder, Lynetter George, Hailey George, Mikayla George.
We'd also like to thank the @robin.boyd.foundation , Macgeorge House Trust Committee, @nationaltrustvic .
It was a privilege to witness Wurundjeri and First Nations women perform ceremony at the confluence and up the floodplain, as rights and knowledge holders of confluence spaces.
Song of the Cricket, presented at the @labiennale 2025.
A collaboration between Urban Ecology and Design Lab, University of Melbourne, @fondazionemuseocivicorovereto and Museo Esapolis in Italy.
This short documentary traces the ecological and cultural foundations of the Zeuneriana marmorata translocation project through fieldwork in wetland reserves, and conversations between Alex Felson and local experts, entomologist and Zeuneriana marmorata researcher Filippo Buzzetti, and Oasi di Valle Averto ranger Marco Baldin.
Filmed and edited by Jordan Brown. Soundscape and music by @miriama.young
Link in bio to full documentary.
At the 2025 Venice Biennale we are celebrating the evocative and beautiful song of the Adriatic marbled bush cricket, Zeuneriana marmorata, through a live, performative exhibit.
The crickets, that hatched right before the Biennale opening in May, have now excitingly reached maturity and will soon be heard singing in the Arsenale. You might not be able to spot the small dark bush crickets, but you will hear their song harmonizing with the natural wetland habitat soundscape and composition by the University of Melbourne Faculty of Fine Arts and Music playing around the Gaggiandre.
#BiennaleArchitettura2025 #IntelliGens #Unimelb #UEDLAB #msd #succedealCivico #arup #venice #urbanfoodwed #design #bushcricket #biodiversity #orchestra #mobilehabitat
🦗 Conservation will meet sound art in the heart of the Venice lagoon soon, with Song of the Cricket launching at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
The installation features floating, mobile habitats housing the critically endangered Adriatic Marbled Bush-Cricket – a singing insect that once thrived in Venice – alongside an interactive sound garden on the site of a 16th century Venetian shipyard.
Designed by a University of Melbourne research team led by Prof Alex Felson, the exhibition blends art and science to build awareness of the crickets’ plight and offer solutions for habitat rehabilitation. ‘This is not just a temporary installation – it’s a step toward reconstructing vital cricket populations in the Venice lagoon,’ he said.
In Venice, Dean Prof Julie Willis added through ‘world-leading research from across the University, Song of the Cricket will help reimagine this iconic place as a living, responsive and biodiverse city.’
🔗 Experience Song of the Cricket from 10 May–23 Nov at #BiennaleArchitettura2025, learn more via the link in bio.
📷 Courtesy @AlexanderFelson & @UED_LAB@FEITUniMelb@Its_A_Mon_Day@LaBiennale@Miriama.Young@SciMelb@UniMelb@VCA_MCM
The UEDLAB in Venice...
Professor Alex Felson arrived in Veneto over the weekend and was greeted by key project entomologist and Zeuneriana marmorata expert Filippo Buzzetti from Fondazione Museo Civico di Rovereto.
They both travelled to meet Dr Enzo Moretto, Director of Esapolis Museo Vivente degli Insetti, and visited a beautiful wetland overlooking the city of Venice in the distance. This site consisted of the mud and salt flat ecotypes synonymous with the Venice Lagoon and the land the famous city was built upon.
In the coming weeks Professor Felson and Filippo Buzzetti will visit other wetland sites where Zeuneriana marmorata has been reintroduced to assess the population health and viability of their collection for the live exhibit at the Biennale.
#BiennaleArchitettura2025 #IntelliGens #Unimelb #UEDLAB #msd #succedealCivico #arup #venice #urbanfoodwed #design #bushcricket #biodiversity #orchestra #mobilehabitat
The UEDLAB is exhibiting the Song of the Cricket, a research and design project for lagoon habitat rehabilitation through the reintroduction of the Adriatic Marbled Bush-Cricket (Zeuneriana marmorata) this year at the 19th International Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia curated by Carlo Ratti.
#BiennaleArchitettura2025 #IntelliGens #Unimelb #UEDLAB #msd #succedealCivico #arup #venice #urbanfoodwedb #design #bushcricket #SaveTheBushCrickets #biodiversity #orchestra #NatureBasedSolutions
Open Floodplain Documentary, extract 7 of 11.
Many of the Birrarung’s confluences are sites of women’s business.
The Confluence, where the Birrarung meets the Darebin Creek is sacred to Wurundjeri women, who have gathered in these places for ceremony and birthing practices for time immemorial.
On the 23rd of March 2024, Wurundjeri and First Nations women returned to the confluence where they performed ceremony in private, hidden behind the trees of the Macgeorge House landscape.
Starting at the confluence this ceremony marked the beginning of our movement through a series of dances and yarns through the floodplain and up to the parklands of Darebin Creek.
___________
We would like to extend our gratitude to our collaborators the Djirri Djirri Wurundjeri women’s dance group: Lynette, Kathleen, , Mikayla, Hailey, Teena and Ryder, the Robin Boyd Foundation, Macgeorge House Trust Committee, National Trust of Australia (Victoria). We also thank those who attended to witness this ceremony and joined us across the three dances as we walked up and yarned about the river.
It was a privilege to witness Wurundjeri and First Nations women perform ceremony at the confluence and up the floodplain, as rights and knowledge holders of confluence spaces.
Open Floodplain Documentary, extract 2 of 11.
The Open House/Open Floodplain event recognised that with the Open House, the access to these three historic houses each, there is also the opportunity to open the floodplain and acknowledge the important connections of the floodplain.
Appreciating these historic houses and acknowledging their contribution to Australia’s settler colonial history, must include acknowledging the traditional lands they are built on and 60,000 thousand years of practice and ceremony and caring for this Country.
___________
We would like to extend our gratitude to our collaborators the Djirri Djirri Wurundjeri women’s dance group: Lynette, Kathleen, Mikayla, Hailey, Teena and Ryder, the Robin Boyd Foundation, Macgeorge House Trust Committee, National Trust of Australia (Victoria). We also thank those who attended to witness this ceremony and joined us across the three dances as we walked up and yarned about the river.
It was a privilege to witness Wurundjeri and First Nations women perform ceremony at the confluence and up the floodplain, as rights and knowledge holders of confluence spaces.
Exciting news! Construction has officially begun on the Food Web Designed Experiments at Royal Park! This project aims to enhance urban food web connectivity and restore habitats through species-specific habitat construction and functional landscape features. We’re working closely with the City of Melbourne and the University of Melbourne Biosciences team, applying an ecological design approach that builds on the ongoing Matchstick grasshopper (Vandiemenella viatica) translocation project. Our goal is to support the success of this species while creating educational opportunities for the community to engage with urban ecosystem functions, ecological management, and sustainable urban development. Stay tuned for more updates as the project unfolds!
On Sunday, the Urban Ecology and Design Lab (UEDLAB) and Design with Country: Resilience Studio participated in a special event at the Edge in Federation Square. We celebrated four years of collaborative education with the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Education Group.
The exhibition featured our large scale maps of the Birrarung referred to by Uncle Bill as "The Bunjil Eye View." Attendees enjoyed an overview of our studio structure, captivating videos from our Walks on Country with Uncle Dave, and highlights from four professional projects developed by graduates from Design with Country studio through the UEDLAB:
1) The Birrarung Confluences Report
2) The Melbourne Climate Futures CRX Grant on the Merri Creek Confluence 3) The Darebin Confluence
4) the Ballerrt Mooroop Studio and Creek-to-Creek plan.
The Studio and the projects represent our commitment to working in partnership with the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and to building knowledge and awareness in the next generation of landscape architects and other design disciplines to work with, listen to and respect the First Peoples and Country.
The exhibition and presentations marked the culmination of the YRKA Riverfest.
