Melbourne Now
22 November 2013–23 March 2014
National Gallery of Victoria
NGV International
180 St Kilda Rd
Melbourne VIC 3004
Australia
Closed Tuesdays
Free entry
The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
Federation Square
Cnr Russell & Flinders Streets
Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia
Closed Mondays
Free entry
Melbourne Now celebrates the latest art, architecture, design, performance and cultural practice to reflect the complex creative landscape of Melbourne.
Melbourne Now—the National Gallery of Victoria’s most ambitious exhibition to date—explores the idea that a city is significantly shaped by the artists, architects, designers, intellectuals and creative practitioners who live and work in its midst. This expansive and far-reaching project runs across both sites of the National Gallery of Victoria: The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia and NGV International and presents the diverse ways in which visual artists and creative practitioners profoundly contribute to the society in which we live, and to Melbourne as a city with a dynamic cultural identity.
Melbourne Now represents a new direction for the National Gallery of Victoria and the first of many steps to activate new models of art and interdisciplinary exhibition practice, and new modes of audience engagement. Encompassing over 175 individual presentations and projects, and over 300 artists and creative practitioners, Melbourne Now seeks to harness the energies of Melbourne’s art and design communities, and to celebrate and analyse their creative activities.
The complex shape of the exhibition is itself informed by the city and its urban plan. The collaborative curatorial structure of Melbourne Now has seen more than twenty curators working across disciplines and departmental areas in collaboration with exhibition designers, public programs, publications and education departments.
Melbourne Now also involves a number of guest curators contributing to specific contexts, including architecture, design, performance and sound, as well as artist-curators invited to create ‘exhibitions within the exhibition,’ develop off-site projects, commissions for children and families, and to work with the National Gallery of Victoria’s collection. Examples include Sampling the City: Architecture in Melbourne, curated by Fleur Watson; Drawing Now, curated by artist John Nixon, bringing together the work of forty-two artists; ZOOM, an immersive data visualisation of cultural demographics related to the future of the city, convened by Ewan McEoin, and Melbourne Design Now, which explores creative intelligence in the fields of industrial, product, furniture and object design, curated by Simone LeAmon. Other special projects present recent developments in jewellery design, fashion, publishing, choreography and sound; and a suite of new commissions and works by indigenous artists which reflect upon the history and legacies of colonial and postcolonial Melbourne.
Community Hall, situated in the foyer of NGV International and designed by architectural practice McBride Charles Ryan, is the site of a rotating program of events over the four months of Melbourne Now, presenting performances, workshops, talks and show-and-tells. Over summer, the NGV will present a range of programs and events, including a Children’s Festival, dance program and late-night music and performance program.
Melbourne Now is supported by a suite of dedicated publications, including a limited-edition catalogue, exhibition guide, a children’s book, and an ebook which will be updated over the course of the exhibition. In addition, a Melbourne Now app has been developed that allows visitors to explore the exhibition and public programs—to plan itineraries, discover multimedia content and find out where and when special events and new activities are happening. Download your free app and e-book from ngv.vic.gov.au.
