Radical Utopia: An archeology of a creative city, curated by Harriet Edquist and Helen Stuckey, is a maximalist experience. Even the title itself is a little unwieldy. The exhibition is an ambitious attempt to outline firstly the emergence of a contemporary, post-modern design culture in Melbourne, and, secondly, to frame this moment as the point at which Melbourne emerged into what the curators term a ‘global “creative city”’.

Every room in the gallery has a separate design focus, and the show is crammed with posters, videos, costumes, earrings, pamphlets, magazines, photos, letters, chairs, lamps, slides, artist books, clothing labels, architectural models, illustrations, and computer games (and possibly more). Bursting with so much material, each room could easily have been spun out into individual exhibitions.