Overview
Restrictions and lockdowns have meant many Melbourne art galleries have spent more time closed than open in 2020. But it seems the culture gods have smiled down and cut us a little slack when it comes to one of the biggest, most anticipated art events to hit the city in three years. The NGV Triennial is set to return for its blockbuster second iteration this summer, taking over NGV International from Saturday, December 19. Breaking Melbourne's art drought with a free large-scale exhibition of international contemporary art, design and architecture, it'll showcase 86 projects by more than 100 artists, designers and collectives.
Held every three years, the Triennial made its huge debut in 2017, pulling a hefty 1.23 million visitors and remaining the NGV's most visited exhibition even today. Triennial 2020 looks set to follow suit, as artists from over 30 different countries share a diverse spread of works reflecting on a truly unique time in our world's history. Here, they're diving deep into the themes of illumination, reflection, conservation and speculation.
Expect to see US artist Jeff Koons pay homage to the goddess of love Venus with a towering mirror-finished sculptural piece, while renowned interior designer Faye Toogood reimagines a series of gallery spaces with commissioned furniture, tapestries, lighting, sculpture and scenography. She'll nod to the NGV's 17th- and 18th-century collections, while playing with the concepts of daylight, candlelight and moonlight.
Cerith Wyn Evans, The Illuminating Gas at Pirelli HangerBiocca, Milan, 2019. Photo by Agostino Osio.
Turkey's Refik Anadol has put together a video work, capturing digitised memories of nature with help from artificial intelligence and machine learning. Meanwhile, a showcase by Yolngu woman Dhambit Mununggurr is replete with her trademark blue hues, including a set of 15 large-scale bark paintings. Lauded Japanese architect Kengo Kuma joins forces with Melbourne-based artist Geoffrey Nees, using timber from trees that died during the Millennium Drought at Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens to construct a pavilion. The structure will then feature as part of a multi-sensory walkway delivering audiences to a new piece by South Korean artist Lee Ufan.
British artist Alice Potts uses flowers and food waste to create a set of bioplastic face masks, Spanish-born designer and architect Patricia Urquiola crafts giant-sized socks from upcycled textile furnishings, and South Africa's Porky Hefer sheds some light on ocean pollution with his large-scale dystopian under-the-sea scenes.
If ever there was an exhibition worthy of your post-lockdown gallery-hopping debut, it's this.
The NGV Triennial 2020 will be on show at NGV International from Saturday, December 19 until Sunday, April 18, 2021. For more info and to see the full program, visit the NGV website.
Top images: 1. Kengo Kuma & Associates, Tokyo and Paris, Kengo Kuma and Geoff Nees. Botanical pavilion 2020 (render), commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased with funds donated by Connie Kimberley OAM. Copyright and courtesy of the artists. 2. Refik Anadol, render of Quantum memories 2020, commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased with funds donated by Loti & Victor Smorgon Fund and Barry Janes and Paul Cross 2020.