Speaking volumes: on our love affair with art books
The growing cultural interest in art books reflects the enduring power of the printed word. Jane O’Sullivan takes a closer look.
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Melbourne/Naarm NOW is returning to the The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia in 2023, in a celebration featuring innovative art and design from over 200 Victorian-based artists and makers whose work is informing cultural and social landscapes. The exhibition will also mark the 10-year anniversary of the inaugural 2013 exhibition, which was a ground-breaking survey of some of the most exciting local contemporary practitioners.
As Tony Ellwood AM, NGV director, explains, “It’s one of the most ambitious exhibitions we’ve ever mounted.” He continues, “The 2023 exhibition . . . offers an unprecedented opportunity to reflect on how Melbourne and Victoria have transformed, changed and grown over the past decade. No other exhibition series reflects Victorian life and culture with such depth, nuance and breadth.”
Spanning all levels of The Ian Potter Centre, the show traverses emerging, mid-career and senior practitioners and collectives, alongside a wide array of creative disciplines including architecture, ceramics, fashion, jewellery, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, product design, publishing, sculpture, video and virtual reality. A very small sample of the participating artists include Fiona Abicare, Atong Atem, Mia Boe, Pitcha Makin Fellas, Amos Gebhardt, Sean Hogan, Kait James, Nicholas Mangan, Lisa Reid, Esther Stewart, Meagan Streader, Christian Thompson and Layla Vardo.
Significantly, the exhibition also features contemporary interventions across the Australian Art and First Nations permanent collection displays. Lee Darroch’s 10-metre-long installation Duta Ganha Woka (Save Mother Earth) will welcome visitors into the show. Darroch’s installation comprises of driftwood collected on Country, representing men and women from the 38 Indigenous language groups of Victoria. Each of the driftwood pieces are connected by jute string and demonstrate the deep connection shared between First Nations peoples in this region.
The popular Design Wall returns with a large-scale installation celebrating products designed in Melbourne over the past decade, including guitars, ladders, pillows, luggage, motorbikes and more. Fashion Now highlights more than 30 acquisitions and loans ranging from couture to streetwear to highlight how fashion is a part of Melbourne/Naarm’s identity. Meanwhile Slippery Images challenges the representational use of photography through the work artists whose images reveal the fluid and varying elements of the photographic medium.
As Steve Dimopoulos MP, minister for creative industries, says, “Art starts with the artist, and with the help of sustained government investment, Victoria is home to some of the world’s best.”
Melbourne/Naarm NOW
Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
24 Mar 2023—20 Aug 2023
The growing cultural interest in art books reflects the enduring power of the printed word. Jane O’Sullivan takes a closer look.
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