Semi Permanent will return to Sydney this year, with the creativity and design festival celebrating two decades since its launch. Running May 25-27, the festival will take place at Carriageworks as part of Vivid Sydney 2022.

The 2022 edition of Semi Permanent will see the event present its largest, most dynamic program to date alongside an enhanced visitor experience consisting of workshops, panel discussions, performances and installations.

Executive Director and founder, Murray Bell, says a return to in-person events is a highlight for the 2022 edition, alongside returning to Sydney. “Twenty years ago, we had this sense that as things increasingly moved online that the value of shared in-person experiences would become even greater, and though we’ve really embraced digital events, these past few years of separation have again made us yearn to be together in a room — listening, learning, sharing ideas,” Bell explained.

“For our 20th anniversary, it feels right to be returning to our home of Sydney and to have a program that reflects the breadth, scope and excitement of the creative and design industries today.”

Who is included in the Semi Permanent program for 2022?

Included in the lineup for the event are the likes of furniture designer Sabine Marcelis, filmmaker Grace Otto, typographic designers Jazlyn Fung and Tony Wong, and everybody’s favourite satirical newspaper publication, The Betoota Advocate. Each year, Semi Permanent explores a universal idea aligning with challenges and perspectives of the time, and in 2022 this idea is ‘perspective.’ “2022 is a demarcation in the evolution of both our purpose and our organisation,” says Bell.

“A milestone like this triggers a moment of reflection, imploring us to look back on our achievements and mistakes as the things that helped shape where we are today. It begs us to look forward, too, challenging us to think about where we might be in another 20 years’ time. And after two years in which our lives were disrupted by the pandemic, so too have perspectives on the future completely shifted.”

Additionally, following the success of A Semi Permanent Hotel – the event’s experiential two-day takeover of Paramount House Hotel – this year’s festival has an expansive range of touchpoints beyond the core talks of the program. Many of these are free and include the launch of the PERMANENT Art and Design Book Fair.

Semi Permanent is the largest and longest-running creativity and design festival in the southern hemisphere. Tickets, including for the first time single- and half-day tickets, are now on sale.