Another big event will be the arrival of the Skywhalepapa hot air balloon in March: the first time it has flown in Victoria and over an urban cityscape. The plan is to launch it from the garden next to the pavilion, in a spectacle that includes a “farewell song” for the aerial sculpture whose muscular, nurturing character endeared it to the audience in its Canberra debut last year.

“It’s a spectacle but it is also a celebration of life,” says Zielinska. “It’s so much also about the idea of getting people out together, there’s a collectiveness to how you witness it and that’s as much a part of the work as just watching the flight.”

Speaking of people getting out together, in honour of the Venetian designers they’re holding an MPavilion Masquerade Ball in the autumn with masks commissioned from a local arts organisation, and dance performances and music curated by All The Queens Men.

Yes, Zielinska is aware there is a “level of satire” in putting everyone back into masks. But she hopes it will be transformative: this functional item we’ve had stuck to our faces all year is transformed into a thing of art and beauty, even mystery.

“It brings back an element of dress, and playfulness,” she says. “And it’s a great opportunity to have a giant party. For us, a masquerade ball is really about having a day of performance and music and dance, and it being a celebration.”

A similar drive was behind the decision to host a “day of weddings” for people whose plans were put on pause by the pandemic: they’ll put out a call for couples who want to take part, with all wedding parties joining for a communal celebration and after-party.

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And there are many, many other parts of the program Zielinska is eager to share: The Salon: Designing the Self will include a free pop-up nail bar in the pavilion as speakers explore ideas of intimacy, emotions and the politics of beauty.

DJ 101 with DJ Sarah will take eight emerging female-identifying trans and non-binary DJs through basic skills over six weeks, with a live group show at MPavilion at the end of the course to celebrate.

There will be a fashion show with new fashion collective Outwst, and a series of talks exploring how nightclubs have influenced fashion, design, youth subcultures and the city’s nightlife.

In February, a musical reading will reinterpret Pink Floyd’s famous 1979 rock opera The Wall through an Indigenous lens.

Kerli Valk, one of the designers behind those little chairs for the pavilion, says she hopes it will be a “celebration of people coming together to dance, to share their lives in a physical space. This is a really exciting moment. It’s a special time, and there is such an optimistic feeling in everyone right now.”