MPavilion kicks off in Melbourne on 12 November with festival goers set to enjoy the season on STOOL DOLLY by interior designer and architect Holly Board in partnership with Peter Grove.

Designed in collaboration with Melbourne Fringe’s Fringe Furniture program, the MPavilion 2020 stool is part of the festival’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Responding to the necessity of ‘physical distancing’ in this time of pandemic, STOOL DOLLY considers how individuals can informally create separation through spatial means,” says MPavilion organisers, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation.

“[They’re] reminiscent of children’s paper dolls—where folded paper is cut into a simple human form before becoming a train of people connected by their stretched-out arms.”

From December, the stool will be used across multiple physical locations in and around Melbourne, and is designed to be positioned at arm’s length or interlocked.

“When used at MPavilion events, the resulting configuration allows its users to be safely apart, together,” says the Naomi Milgrom Foundation.

Board and Grove join the select group of architects and designers that have been commissioned to produce a furniture piece for MPavilion.

Previous commissions include designs by Chris Connell (2019), Carme Pinós (2018), OMA (2017), local artisans in India in collaboration with Studio Mumbai (2016) and Sean Godsell (2014).

Breaking with tradition, this year’s event will not feature a newly commissioned pavilion, but rather will valorise existing pavilions from the past six iterations of the festivals.

The 2020 MPavilion season will run in Melbourne from 12 November 2020 to 5 April 2021 and will feature 400 free events ranging from talks and workshops to performances, community projects and installations.

All events will occur entirely online in November, before transitioning to a combination of online and in-person sessions from December onwards.

Photography, sketches and imagery supplied.