No gallery space could ever be big enough to capture the creativity of an entire city. That’s why Object is doing away with the concept of a conventional design museum. The city is the exhibition space, and the tours will guide towards hotspots of design and the stories and people behind it. Download audio tours and accompanying maps straight to your mp3 player or iPhone and hear designers tell their story as you pound the pavement. Use the links above to explore our ‘exhibition spaces’ (Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane).

The Audio Design Museum is a major project launched by Object in 2010. Ever keen to explore new media and expand its scope beyond the gallery space, Object has taken the ‘gallery audio tour’ medium, built upon it and created a series of downloadable tours that offer a unique insight into, and sensory experience of, the wide realm of design in Australia, using the city as an exhibition space, with designers and their work as the exhibits.

The first nine tours were created by Object Adjunct Curator Kate Rhodes with Viviane Stappmanns, exploring precincts in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as two thematic tours, Melbourne’s Focus on Jewellery and Sydney’s Focus on Furniture. Object acknowledges the support of the Australia Council for the Arts and The Melbourne and Sydney Design Guides for their contribution to these projects, as well as Artisan through Creative Sparks, a joint initiative of Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government.

Two further Audio Design Museum collections were launched in 2011 and 2012, exploring Sydney’s Inner West and Chippendale precincts, possible through the support of the City of Sydney and produced by Joan-Maree Hargreaves. Further tours are planned for the future.