Overview
Launched in 2017 and held every three years since, the NGV Triennial has become one of the most significant events to take over Australia's largest and most visited art gallery. While the lengthy wait between editions at the ever-popular gallery is star-studded with outstanding arts and culture happenings, the NGV crew pulls out all the stops for this free event, showcasing a snapshot of contemporary culture through nearly 100 artists and collectives from 35 countries.
Running from Sunday, December 13–Sunday, April 11, the fourth instalment of the NGV Triennial will feature 80 projects, spanning all levels of the NGV International. Among these, there are 25 world-premiere commissions featuring renowned local and international artists and designers exploring the idea of transformation in its many forms — material, cultural, technological, personal and societal. Once you've finished wandering the gallery's walls, you might just see the world in a new light. So, what's bound to capture your attention?
Pamela Rosenkranz, Old Tree, 2023. A High Line Plinth commission. Photo: Timothy Schenck. Courtesy of the High Line.
Before you even enter the gallery itself, the exhibition opens with two major site-specific works that remake the NGV International's Forecourt and Waterwall. Wunambal Gaambera/Worrora artist Angelina Karadada Boona will realise her most ambitious work to date, with her signature Wandjina figure reimagining the Waterwall in glowing light. Meanwhile, Lebanese-French artist Najla El Zein presents a major outdoor limestone sculpture. Made from stone quarried outside Beirut and carved by master artisans — sit, touch, rest and recline before you head inside.
Delving into just some of the exhibition's many, many highlights, you'll have the chance to see a new iteration of Swiss multimedia artist Pamela Rosenkranz's 7.5-metre Old Tree. Originally conceived for NYC's The High Line, this radiant installation explores humanity's relationship with nature. Then, the NGV Triennial presents American neo-conceptualist Jenny Holzer's WTF, a kinetic sculpture that unpredictably oscillates between online posts by a conspiracy theorist and tweets from United States President Donald Trump.
Jenny Holzer, WTF 2022. Photo: Flip Wolak, © Jenny Holzer.
German fine-art photographer Wolfgang Tillmans will display a never-before-seen collection of images, Love Life Installation. Spanning 25 photographs at varying scales, this whole-room piece brings together abstractions, intimate portraits, club scenes and still-life images, depicting the themes that shape the artist's practice in a single spatial experience. Plus, decorated photographer Zanele Muholi will showcase her recent move into sculpture with a 3.3-metre installation, Umkhuseli (The Protector), which portrays the artist as the Virgin Mary and offers commentary on gender-based injustice.
"Every three years, the NGV Triennial gives audiences the chance to reflect on our rapidly changing lives and culture through the work of some of the globe's leading practitioners. Through art and design, the Triennial presents an opportunity to learn, understand and contemplate a world in flux, as well as our place within it," says NGV Director Tony Ellwood.
Zanele Muholi, Umkhuseli (The Protector)II, 2025. Photo © Hayden Phipps; courtesy of Southern Guild.
Wolfgang Tillmans, 2024. Photo: Mustafah Abdulaziz.
NGV Triennial 2026 runs from Sunday, December 13–Sunday, April 11, at NGV International. Head to the website for more information.
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Top image: Najla El Zein, NGV commission work in progress, 2026. Photo: © Bachar Srou.