Overview
Come November, the NGV's Grollo Equiset Garden will play host to a striking new addition, with the arrival of towering architectural installation In Absence.
Taking out the title of 2019 National Gallery of Victoria Architecture Commission, the design is the work of contemporary Indigenous artist Yhonnie Scarce and Melbourne architecture studio Edition Office. It beat 99 other designs in this year's competition, which invites participants from across the country to create a site-specific work of temporary architecture to grace the gallery's famed gardens.
Working to the themes of multidisciplinary thinking, collaboration and audience engagement, this year's winner takes a trip back in time for its inspiration, exploring the long-running history of construction in Indigenous Australian communities.
Drawing from the structures and building practises of pre-colonial Australia, In Absence boasts a soaring, dark timber tower, opening up to multi-textural interiors. Scarce has used thousands of small black glass yams to bring to life a pair of internal voids, in another nod to the past.
The looming tower structure will be the latest in an impressive lineup of Architecture Commission winners, joining the ranks of previous designs like 2017's maze-like Garden Wall and 2016's playful pink carwash design by M@STUDIO Architects.
In Absence will be on display in the NGV's Grollo Equiset Garden from November 2019. Further information is available from the NGV website.