More than 75 creative projects by 100 artists, designers and collectives from over 30 countries will be on display at the NGV Triennial 2023, scheduled to open in December at NGV International, Melbourne.
From robot dogs that can paint autonomously, multimedia displays and photographic presentations of megacities to sculptural and immersive installations, NGV Triennial 2023 is a powerful and moving snapshot of the world today, and brings contemporary art, design and architecture into dialogue with one another through these extraordinary projects.
With more than 25 world-premiere projects commissioned by the NGV especially for this presentation, the NGV Triennial reveals the extraordinary ways in which leading and emerging artists and designers have responded to the most relevant and critical global issues of our time.
NGV Triennial 2023 highlights
Polish-born Agnieszka Pilat will train Boston Dynamics robot dogs to paint autonomously. Audiences can witness the robot dogs painting a monolithic durational work. Pilat imagines that in a distant future these paintings will be revered as the first primitive art-making of AI enabled robots.
Paris haute couture house Schiaparelli’s artistic director Daniel Roseberry will present a selection of works from recent collections alongside a collection of gilded surrealist accessories and body adornment. The display highlights Roseberry’s interest in pushing the boundaries of couture practice, and his view that art and fashion can question, shape and address the concerns of contemporary life.
Counter-culture icon and multimedia artist Yoko Ono will present a large-scale text-based work on the NGV International façade. Ono will draw upon her Instruction Pieces and major public art commissions around the world for this poignant work.
NGV Triennial will also present an exciting selection of recently acquired work by British artist Tracey Emin including a five-metre-high text-based neon light installation of Emin’s own handwriting, abstract and tactile bronze sculptures, plus gestural and figurative paintings that confront moments of extreme emotion, anguish, elation or pain.
Senior Paris-based and American-born sculptor Sheila Hicks presents Nowhere to Go, 2022, a major sculptural installation utilising Hicks’ signature bulbous forms of brightly coloured fibre. Stacked high against a wall, the forms gather to create an imposing and yet playful installation that celebrates the experience of architectural space and the emotional potential of colour.
David Shrigley OBE, known for his darkly humorous artworks that reflect on the banality and absurdity of everyday life, presents his monumental public sculpture, Really Good, 2016. Originally conceived for the Fourth Plinth in London’s iconic Trafalgar Square, in the immediate aftermath of the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the sculpture takes the form of a seven-metre-high thumbs-up, and is characteristic of the self-conscious irony often found in Shrigley’s work.
Mun-dirra is a monumental 100-metre-long woven fish fence produced over two years by ten artists working with apprentices in Maningrida, Arnhem Land. The immersive installation, which invites audiences inside it, represents one of the two common types of fish traps produced by weavers from the Burarra language group from the east-side Arnhem Land. The artists use the woven form to tell a powerful story of matrilineal knowledge transference, as well as how Yolngu people have lived sustainably with the land for generations.
Tokyo-based artist Azuma Makoto will present a room-sized installation that not only pays tribute to the magical beauty and life-force of plants but also explores the complex and fragile relationship between humans and plants. After freezing a multitude of Australian flowers and botanicals into crystalline acrylic blocks, the artist places these jewel-like sculptural elements in dialogue with a beguiling multi-screen film depicting the life and death of flowers.
American artist Hugh Hayden’s 2022 installation, ‘The end’ takes over an entire gallery space to depict an apocalyptic elementary school classroom – replete with desks and chairs – that has been overrun with branches and dodo skeletons.
Megacities is a large-scale, NGV-commissioned presentation that invites ten leading street photographers to capture the urban environment of ten global megacities, with a population exceeding 10 million: Cairo, Dhaka, Jakarta, Delhi, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Seoul, Lagos, Tokyo and Mexico City. Exhibited in a dynamic, immersive environment, Megacities will present a thought-provoking fact of the 21st century – that for the first time in history, the dominant human habitat is the city, and that we are rapidly becoming an urban species.
“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,” NGV director Tony Ellwood AM 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,” he added.
The NGV Triennial is on display from 3 December 2023 – 7 April 2024 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Entry is free.
For more information on NGV Triennial 2023 including commissions, acquisitions and large-scale presentations, please visit the NGV website.
