Cities shift and change, for better or worse, and if we don’t step back and look it’s easy to forget how things used to be. This is the backdrop of Melbourne Now, the NGV’s survey of Melbourne’s contemporary art, architecture and design, currently on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square until August 20. Ten years on from its first incarnation, the return of the exhibition checks the pulse of Melbourne artists and creators in 2023.
There’s a lot of stories to tell. “If we think about what’s changed in the last decade, we’re far more sophisticated in our thinking about First Nations content as a city,” says Ewan McEoin, the NGV’s senior curator of contemporary art, design and architecture. “We’ve got much more awareness of climate change, of how technology affects us all. You’re looking for artists whose work touches on some of these concerns so you can actually tell a story about the city and what matters and what’s shaping our lives."
That was a cornerstone of the first Melbourne Now – the importance of art reflecting the here and now. McEoin worked on the survey in 2013 and remembers it as a pivotal moment for the NGV. “It sort of began the journey for the NGV on the Triennial and NGV Contemporary," he says. "It catalysed a sense of the institution’s responsibility to represent contemporary art, design and architecture more vigorously.”
Melbourne Now 2023
Each individual exhibition within Melbourne Now has its own narrative. Community Hall, a space designed by local architecture studio Board Grove that, like real community halls, is a hive of diverse expression, returns from 2013. The space will host workshops, film screenings and talks but it’s also evolved to include a focus on performance art, with commissioned pieces from Aphids, Joel Bray, Alicia Frankovich and Jo Lloyd. “The principle is a lot of collaborative programming with all kinds of organisations across, not only the art community, but more broadly,” says McEoin. “Organisations working with migrants and refugees, organisations working with mental health and other things.”
The Civic Architecture exhibition turns the spotlight on ouur physical city, displaying the work of five local architects and landscape artists. As Melbourne grows – in 2023 the population has increased by one million since 2013 – the way we navigate and interact with the city becomes increasingly important. “What we’re talking about [here] is the role architecture and urban design plays in enhancing the quality of life for Melburnians and how important it is to continue investing in this urban renewal and quality architecture and design in the public sphere,” says McEoin.
Meanwhile No House Style looks at the evolution of Melbourne’s furniture, lighting, interior and architecture brands, and the shift away from a global style to something more distinctly local. Once preoccupied with impressing at events like the Milan Furniture Fair, according to McEoin local artists are now turning inward. “We’re not really looking as much globally," says McEoin. "It's more having a very vibrant, healthy design and manufacturing ecosystem locally, which is a conversation between the local architecture, interior and design industries working together. It’s really evolved over the last decade.”
Also on display will be Melbourne’s contemporary jewellers, graphic designers and the changing shape of local fashion.
In each field, the NGV will be looking to acquire much of the commissioned work. “In 10 years’ time, we can look back on the work that was commissioned for Melbourne Now and [see] how that show helped foster the careers of artists and designers at that time,” says McEoin. Meaning, Melbourne Now.
Melbourne Now is currently on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square until August 20. See details.
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