Escher x Nendo: Between Two Worlds

Overview

UPDATE: MARCH 27, 2019 — If you've been meaning to explore the NGV's mind-bending Escher exhibition, but haven't had a chance yet, you don't have much time left. — it finishes up on Sunday, April 7. Luckily, the gallery is extending its hours its final week . From April 1–7, the exhibition will open at 8am (two hours early) so you can catch a glimpse of it before work. In addition to this, the gallery will stay open until 10pm Thursday through to Sunday with live music and the bar open (including the last NGV Friday Nights for the season).

The National Gallery of Victoria has revealed its summer centrepiece: a bold new world premiere exhibition pairing the work of Dutch artist M.C. Escher and Japanese design studio Nendo.

Much like the NGV's 2016's Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei show, Between Two Worlds celebrates two very different creators, bringing them together in an assembly of immersive art and design. More than 150 of Escher's prints and drawings created between 1916 to 1969 have made their way to Melbourne from the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague for the artist's first ever major exhibition in Australia. Optical illusion is what he's best known for — his intricate pieces use patterns and design to warp space and perception. You'll need to take second, third and fourth looks at pieces like Day and night and Drawing hands.

To really mess with your mind, Nendo — led by designer Oki Sato — has created an immersive gallery space that's just as trippy. The studio has taken inspiration from Escher to manipulate geometry and space to warp perception, giving you an imagined sense of what it would be like to enter Escher's mind boggling world. Expect lots of mirrors, shrinking corridors and projections that will mess with your brain (in a good way).

The exhibition will run until April 2019 alongside a public program of talks, workshops and the NGV's Friday night parties.

Images: Eugene Hyland and Sean Fennessy.