Melbourne Now at the NGV Australia

From 24 March to 20 August 2023, the second edition of the ground-breaking exhibition “Melbourne Now” is presented at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia.

Source: NGV Australia · Image: Melbourne Now2023 artists and designers at the announcement event on 18 October. Melbourne Now 2023 open on 24 March 2023 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. Photo: Eugene Hyland

Bold in scope and scale, the exhibition highlights the extraordinary work of more than 200 Victorian-based artists, designers, studios and firms whose practices are shaping the cultural landscape of Melbourne and Victoria. With more than 200 ambitious and thought-provoking projects on display, including more than 60 world-premiere works commissioned especially by the NGV for this major presentation, the exhibition highlights the vibrant creativity of local emerging, mid-career and senior practitioners and collectives – including many who are presenting at the NGV for the very first time.

The large-scale exhibition traverses all levels of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, including contemporary interventions across the Australian Art and First Nations permanent collection displays, and highlights a diverse range of contemporary disciplines across fashion, jewellery, painting, sculpture, architecture, ceramics, video, virtual reality, performance, photography, printmaking, product design and publishing. Exhibiting artists including Christian Thompson, Esther Stewart, Atong Atem, Mia Boe, Kait James, Pitcha Makin Fellas, Layla Vardo, Nicholas Mangan, Fiona Abicare, Meagan Streader, Sean Hogan, Amos Gebhardt, and Lisa Reid.

Never-before-seen commissions include a room-sized ‘temple’ constructed from thousands of computer fans by emerging artist Rel Pham, which draws on the artist’s Vietnamese heritage and interest in gaming culture. Blurring the boundaries between the digital and physical realms, this neon-lit installation combines the visual language of technology, classical Asian architecture and religious iconography.

Lou Hubbard’s “Walkers with Dinosaurs”, 2021–23, sees a mass of inflatable walking frames tumbling out into the foyer of the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia’s third floor. Presented alongside two stacks of colourful, dinosaur-shaped children’s chairs, with humour, the sculptural installation poignantly evokes the inevitabilities of our shared mortality.

Made in collaboration with Kyoto-based lantern studio Kojima Shōten, Larrakia / Wardaman / Karajarri artist Jenna Lee will illuminate the gallery with a series of hand-painted paper lanterns in the shape of Gulumerridjin dilly bags, a traditional woven bag designed and used by First Nations women. “Balarr” (To Become Light) explores the relationship between light and dark and draws on the artist’s research into ancestral objects including the similarities between her own paper craft practice and the Kyoto style paper lanterns.

Welcoming visitors to NGV Australia, Lee Darroch’s 10-metre-long installation “Duta Ganha Woka” (Save Mother Earth) comprises driftwood collected on Country. Representing men and women from the 38 Indigenous language groups of Victoria, the driftwood pieces are connected by jute string which illustrates the deep connection between First Nations peoples in this region.

Also on display is Troy Emery’s largest sculptural and most ambitious work to date, standing over three metres high. In the artist’s signature soft sculptural style, the exuberant textile depicts a feline-like animal.