NGV Triennial 2023

Welcome to NGV Triennial 2023. Larger than life, bold, powerful and contemplative, NGV’s newest exhibition places a timestamp on the world today through its depiction of the innovations, opportunities and crises that befall us as a populace. The breathtaking and provocative collection of art, photography, sculpture, design and architecture comprises nearly 100 projects by more than 120 artists, designers and collectives from over 30 countries and regions. Truly global, truly future-focused, and truly unmissable, Milk Bar is here to provide a run-through of the highlights.

Spanning all four levels of NGV, the NGV Triennial 2023 blends contemporary art, design and architecture into a cohesive dialogue under three thematic pillars of Magic, Matter and Memory. Interspersed between permanent art displays in the gallery, visitors will have the opportunity to gaze at works by renowned local and international artists and collectives, including Yoko Ono (Japan), Sheila Hicks (USA), Tracey Emin (UK), Betty Muffler (Australia), Maison Schiaparelli (France), Hoda Afshar (Iran Australia), Jean Julien (France), SMACK (The Netherlands) and Agnieszka Pilat (Poland).

In Federation Court – the main foyer on the ground floor – stands Thomas J Price’s large-scale sculptures that explore the inadequate and prejudiced representations of Black people today and throughout history. Ambiguous by design, the two figures are created based on an amalgamation of sources, not two individuals.

TikTok content generator Sarah McCreanor a.k.a. Smac curated a cult following through her online series Hydraulic press girl where she uses performance art, comedy and costume to match a particular object being compressed by a hydraulic press. Light-hearted and humorous, expect to see household items like Pizza Shapes or an avocado. Almost two years in the making, Mun-Dirra (Maningrida Fish Fence) is an immense, 100-metre-long, multi-panel woven artwork that reflects the creativity and collaboration that underpins Burarra art and culture.

A personal favourite is Sheila Hicks’ Nowhere to go, a large-scale, site-specific sculpture featuring (many) shades of blue – navy, royal, cerulean, turquoise – in sculptural forms of wool, linen and silk knotted, weaved and tied together. Petrit Halilaj’s Very volcanic over this green feather depicts the artist’s experiences as a refugee living in Abania as a consequence of the Kosovo War in the late 1990s and is a large-scale installation of 36 drawings that reflect his lived experience and explores relationships between reality and imagination, and personal history and collective trauma. Other highlights on the ground floor include SMACK’s SPECULUM which depicts three scenes of The Garden of Eden, Paradise and Hell through digital animation, Agnieszka Pilat’s Heterobota featuring a trio of four-legged robots creating art in their studio, and the RIFIFI: Jean Julien for Kids, an exhibition designed for children.

Step back in time on the first floor with Diana Al-Hadid’s work that draws on historical frameworks taking into consideration religious imagery, ancient manuscripts, female archetypes and folklore storytelling into a beautiful work of sculpture, wall reliefs and paper-based art. Similarly, Richard Lewer’s work examines the creation story of Adam and Eve and artistically explores ‘original sin’ and ‘the fall of man’.

The second floor is where you can find Yoko Ono’s My Mommy is Beautiful, a participatory project where visitors are invited to write their reflections, favourite memories or musings about their mothers and add them to the blank canvases* and walls. Cathartic and reflective, this work aims to celebrate the maternal love we have experienced – flaws and all. Weather events appear to be more frenzied and unpredictable and artist Franziska Furter contemplates nature in Liquid skies/Gyrwynt that depict a composite of infrared satellite images of hurricanes in the form of a soft and colourful rug. Hanging above Haku, an installation created with thousands of hand-threaded glass beads that emulate fog. Sit on the rug, look above and think about how mother nature is in its force.

On the third floor, Hoda Afshar’s The Fold is a collection of photographs of veiled Islamic women in Morocco by French psychiatrist and photographer Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault, who took his own life in 1934. This work delves into his mind and aims to explore the psychoanalytic ideas about covering and fantasy. Megacities illustrate the world’s ten most populated cities and present the work of photographers who live there.

*The canvases were blank at the time of writing.

NGV Triennial is free and runs until Sunday 7 April.