NGV Triennial 2020 Explores Some of the Most Globally Relevant & Pressing Issues of Our Time.

In December 2020, National Gallery of Victoria unveiled it’s free, large-scale exhibition NGV Triennial 2020, presenting 86 works by over 100 local and international artists, designers and collectives, taking over the entire NGV International building until 18 April 2021.

The second instalment of NGV Triennial explores some of the most globally relevant and pressing issues of our time including isolation, conservation and speculation for the future, illuminating the concerns that preoccupy the thoughts of the artists, designers and architects of today.

Related: A Celebration of the Finest Australian Interior Design at NGV’s Rigg Design Prize.

Installation view of Daniel Arsham’s work Hidden figure 2020 on display at NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Courtesy the artist and Perrotin Gallery. Photo: Sean Fennessy.

Installation view of Daniel Arsham’s work Falling clock 2020 on display at NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Courtesy the artist and Perrotin Gallery. Photo: Sean Fennessy.

Installation view of Dale Hardiman and Stephen Royce’s work Open Garden: digital mirror 2020 in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Dale Hardiman and Stephen Royce. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Alicja Kwade’s work WeltenLinie 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Alicja Kwade, courtesy König Galerie, Berlin. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Danielle Brustman’s work Chromatic fantastic cabinet 2020 and Chromatic fantastic wall light 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020–18 April 2021 presented alongside Brustman’s Coloured In 2020 installation in Spectrum: An Exploration of Colour 2020 © Danielle Brustman. Photo: Sean Fennessy

Installation view of Adam Nathaniel Furman & Sibling Architecture’s Boudoir Babylon 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020–18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Adam Nathaniel Furman & Sibling Architecture. Photo: Sean Fennessy.

Installation view of Carnovsky’s work Extinctions 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Carnovsky. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Fallen Fruit’s work Natural History 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Fallen Fruit. Photo: Sean Fennessy.

Installation view of Hannah Brontë’s EYE HEAR U MAGIK 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020–18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne  © Hannah Brontë. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Refik Anadol Quantum Memories 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020–18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Refik Anadol. Photo: Tom Ross.

Offering a visually arresting and thought-provoking view of the world at this unique moment, exhibition highlights include an entire floor dedicated to works concerning light and illumination presented in dialogue with the NGV’s historical collection; a monumental video work by Refik Anadol spanning 10 metres high and wide, which uses artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and quantum computing to visualise our digitised memories of nature; and a larger-than-life mirror-polished sculpture of Venus, Roman goddess of love, by American artist Jeff Koons.

Further highlights include a comprehensive display of works by Yolngu woman Dhambit Mununggurr, the first Yolngu artist working at Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre to depict Country in signature shades of acrylic blue paint. Comprising 15 large-scale single sheet bark paintings and nine larrakitj (hollow poles), some of which stand more than three metres high, the works have all been painted with the artist’s non-preferred left hand after a car accident left her with limited mobility.

Dhambit Mununggurr’s The hole in the wall 2019 (detail) on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Dhambit Munuŋgurr, courtesy Salon Indigenous Art Projects, Darwin. Photo: Sean Fennessy.

Installation view of Dhambit Mununggurr’s installation Can we all have a happy life 2019–20 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Dhambit Munuŋgurr, courtesy Salon Indigenous Art Projects, Darwin. Photo: Sean Fennessy.

Installation view of Erez Nevi Pana’s work Crystalline 2020 on display NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Sean Fennessy.

Installation view of Kengo Kuma, Kengo Kuma Associates and Geoffrey Nees’s Botanical pavilion 2020 (left) and Lee Ufan Dialogue 2017 (right) on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Kengo Kuma and Geoff Nees © Lee Ufan, courtesy of Pace Gallery. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Kengo Kuma, Kengo Kuma Associates and Geoffrey Nees’s Botanical pavilion 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Kengo Kuma and Geoff Nees. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Faye Toogood’s work Night tapestry 2020, Maquette 072 / Masking tape light 2020 and Maquette 248 / Canvas and foam daybed 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Faye Toogood. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Faye Toogood’s work Downtime: Daylight, Candlelight, Moonlight 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Faye Toogood. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Faye Toogood’s Tools for life mobile 4 2020 and Day tapestry 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Faye Toogood. Photo: Tom Ross.

One of the most respected figures in Japanese architecture, Kengo Kuma, has collaborated with Melbourne artist Geoffrey Nees on an architectural pavilion that acts as a sensorial walkway through which to approach and contemplate a newly acquired painting by South Korean artist Lee Ufan. The botanical pavilion is constructed from timber harvested from trees that died during the Millennium Drought at Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, some of which pre-date European colonisation.

Exploring the themes of daylight, candlelight and moonlight inspired by and within the context of the NGV’s seventeenth and eighteenth-century Flemish, Dutch and British collections, interior designer Faye Toogood has curated several gallery spaces creating a considered salon-style interior featuring newly commissioned furniture, lighting, scenography, sculpture and large-scale tapestries.

Installation view of Porky Hefer’s work Plastocene – Marine Mutants from a disposable world 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Porky Hefer. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Lara Schnitger’s work House of heroines 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Lakin Ogunbanwo’s series Are We Good Enough 2015–17 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Lakin Ogunbanwo, courtesy WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery, Cape Town. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Jeff Koons’s work Venus 2016-20 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne. © the artist and Gagosian. Photo: Sean Fennessy.

Installation view of Richard Quinn’s work Look 2, ensemble from Quinn’s 2020 autumn-winter collection on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne. © Richard Quinn. Photo: Sean Fennessy.

Installation view of Tomo Koizumi’s work Look 27, top and skirt, designed 2019 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December –18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Tomo Koizumi. Photo: Sean Fennessy.

Installation view of Yann Gerstberger’s work on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne. © Yann Gerstberger. Photo: Tobias Titz Photography.

Also making its world premiere is a work by renowned French artist JR, which brings global attention to the ecological decline of the Darling River. The work comprises a simple scaffold structure erected in the NGV Grollo Equiset Garden replete with a printed façade to house five large-scale stained-glass windows that depict orchardists who have been forced to remove and burn their families’ commercial orchards, and a senior Baakandji Elder and spokesperson for the Darling (Baaka) River. The portraits are based on photographs taken by JR when he visited the Sunraysia agricultural region of Victoria and New South Wales.

The exhibition is underpinned by four themes – Illumination, Reflection, Conservation, and Speculation – that invite audiences to embark on a journey of exploration and to discover the intersecting ideas through the works on display. The four thematic pillars have emerged from the collective work presented in the NGV Triennial, illuminating the pressing concerns that preoccupy the artists, designers and architects of our time. Drawing on intimacy and awe, sadness and beauty, ruination and inspiration, these themes present a microcosm of the current world.

NGV Triennial runs 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Free entry. Further information is available via the NGV website.

JR. Photo Tom Ross.

Installation view of JR’s work Homily to Country 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © JR. Photo: Tom Ross.

Left: Installation view of Rive Roshan’s work Colour dial table, sunrise light (table) 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Rive Roshan. Photo: Tom Ross.
Above: Installation view of Sabine Marcelis’ work Dawn XXXIII designed 2015 on display in NGV Triennial from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Sabine Marcelis. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Salon et lumière project 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Cecilie Bendixen’s Cloud formations collection 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Cecilie Bendixen © Jim Shaw / Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Cerith Wyn Evans’s work C=O=D=A 2019–20 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Cerith Wyn Evans, courtesy White Cube, London. Photo: Tom Ross.

Installation view of Tony Matelli’s work Hera (bronze) 2020 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne © Courtesy the artist and Marlborough Gallery. Photo: Tom Ross.

[Images courtesy of NGV. Photography by Sean Fennessy, Tom Ross & Tobias Titz.]