What do painting robot dogs, an eight-metre-long bronze eel trap and Yoko Ono have in common? They are all set to feature at the long-anticipated 2023 NGV Triennial.
Bringing contemporary art, design and architecture into dialogue with one another, the upcoming Triennial will showcase nearly 75 projects with more than 25 making their world debut.
The latest Triennial is centred around three thematic pillars: Magic, Matter, and Memory. The theme of Magic will delve into belief systems, allegory, symbolism and human spirituality, while Matter will explore nature, materials and making. Memory will shine a light on the histories of people, places and objects that have contributed to the complex tapestry of contemporary society.
Visitors will encounter an array of art forms and disciplines presented by 100 international artists. Some of the celebrated and emerging creatives on the bill include Sheila Hicks (USA), Tracey Emin (UK), Betty Muffler (Australia), David Shrigley (UK), Maison Schiaparelli (France), Maurizio Cattelan (Italy), Shakuntala Kulkarni (India), Lin Fanglu (China), Ivan Navarro (Chile), Petrit Halilaj (Kosovo), Ihor Okuniev (Ukraine), Ezz Monem (Egypt), Thomas J Price (UK), Iris van Herpen (Netherlands), Jean Jullien (France), Fernando Laposse (Mexico), Azuma Makoto (Japan), Flora Yukhnovich (UK), Yee I-Lann (Malaysia), Farrokh Mahdavi (Iran), Hugh Hayden (USA), Elmgreen and Dragset (Denmark, Norway).
Basia and Bunny collaborate on their artwork.
Image:
Pilat Studios
Highlights include an interactive display by Polish-born, LA-based artist Agnieszka Pilat who has trained Boston Dynamics robot dogs to paint autonomously – a breakthrough in her practice that explores the power of technology in contemporary society. Audiences can witness the three AI-programmed dogs paint large-scale canvases in real time. Pilat imagines that in the distant future these paintings will be revered as the first primitive art of AI-enabled robots.
Portrait of featured artist Aunty Kim Wandin.
Image:
Brett Walker
An eight-metre-long bronze eel trap by Wurundjeri artist Aunty Kim Wandin will be installed in the moat of NGV International. Visible to Melbournians twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, this major new work acknowledges the profound connections between Wurundjeri people and the lands and waterways that they have been custodians of for generations. The sculpture is a tribute to the history of Wurundjeri women, the tradition of weaving, and their relationship with the short-finned eel, known in their language as Iuk.
An exciting selection of recently acquired works by British artist Tracey Emin, whose autobiographical and confessional practice spans film, painting, drawing, installation and sculpture. Featured works include a five-metre-high text-based neon light installation of Emin’s own handwriting, abstract and tactile bronze sculptures, as well as paintings that confront intense emotions such as anguish and elation.
Azuma Makoto introduces an installation that fills an entire room with beautiful flowers and botanicals frozen into blocks.
Image:
Courtesy of Azuma Makoto
Azuma Makoto botanical display.
Image:
Courtesy of Azuma Makoto
Tokyo-based artist Azuma Makoto introduces an installation that fills an entire room with beautiful flowers and botanicals frozen into crystalline acrylic blocks. A homage to the magical beauty and lifeforce of plants, the artist places these jewel-like sculptural elements in dialogue with a beguiling multi-screen film depicting the life and death of flowers. Through the installation, Azuma invites observers to explore the complex and fragile relationship between humans and plants.
David Shrigley, known for his darkly humorous works that consider the absurdity of everyday life, will present his monumental public sculpture, Really Good, 2016. The work was conceived in the immediate aftermath of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. Taking the form of a seven-metre-high thumbs-up, the sculpture is characteristic of the self-conscious irony often found in Shrigley’s work and is intended as both a satirical and sincere gesture.
My Mommy Is Beautiful by Yoko Ono, 2004/2021 Installation View, Mutter!, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany, 2021.
Image:
Heiko Daniels
Counter-culture icon Yoko Ono will present a large-scale text-based work on the façade of NGV International. Boldly declaring “I Love You Earth”, her text works have appeared on billboards and banners across cities and public spaces around the world ahead of its Australian premiere. The NGV Triennial will also feature Ono’s participatory work, My Mommy Is Beautiful, 2010, where visitors are prompted to write or draw reflections about their own mothers or mother-like figures on the NGV gallery walls.
Kosovan artist Petrit Halilaj will create a new iteration of his installation, Very Volcanic Over This Green Feather, 2022. The installation is inspired by Halilaj’s childhood sketches that he created in the Kukës II refugee camp in Albania during the Kosovan War. Interspersing depictions of rural landscapes and birds with symbols of death and destruction, the exhibit reveals the slippery relationship between the real and the imagined, personal and collective memory, and recorded history and lived experience.
Megacities by Mas Agung Wilis Yudha Baskoro. Commuters line up waiting for a train at Manggarai Station, South Jakarta, 2023.
Image:
Courtesy of Mas Agung Wilis Yudha Baskoro
Megacities is a large-scale NGV-commissioned project featuring the work of ten leading street photographers. Invited to capture images of ten global megacities: Cairo, Dhaka, Jakarta, Delhi, São Paulo, Shanghai, Seoul, Lagos, Tokyo and Mexico City, the photographers reveal interesting differences and similarities across each location. The photographed works will be displayed in a dynamic, immersive environment.
NGV director Tony Ellwood said the three-year wait for the latest Triennial is absolutely worth it. “In the three years since the last NGV Triennial, the world has experienced a great many structural shifts, including a global pandemic. Through the work of more than 100 artists, designers, architects and collectives from Australia and around the world, the NGV Triennial offers a powerful insight into the ideas and concerns empowering creative practice in 2023,” he said.
“The artists, designers and architects of our time play an important role in helping us to understand, navigate and relate to the world around us. The 2023 NGV Triennial offers audiences a valuable opportunity to experience new and surprising forms of creative expression from around the globe, which, together, present a compelling snapshot of the world as it is, while also asking how we would like it to be.”
The NGV Triennial is on display between 3 December, 2023 and 7 April, 2024 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Entry is free. Further information is available via the NGV website.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
