National Gallery of Victoria Proceeds With NGV Triennial 2020

Since mid-August, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported each day in Australia has been decreasing, 
and some cities are slowly moving out of the country’s strict stage 4 lockdown. But, as this issue went to press, entertainment and cultural venues remain closed. One such is National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, which, despite the pandemic, has proceeded with planning its NGV Triennial 2020. Presenting a star-studded array of some 100 international contemporary artists, designers, and architects, the exhibition is centered on illumination, reflection, conservation, and speculation—themes that preoccupy the participants, many of whom, such 
as Porky Hefer and Kengo Kuma, have been commissioned for site-specific installations. 
They draw on intimacy and awe, sadness and 
beauty, ruination and inspiration; Patricia 
Urquiola, for example, has fashioned felted 
wool, recycled PET bands, and recycled polyurethane foam into the room-size Recycled 
woollen island. Others amid the featured works reveal a thought-provoking view of the world at 
this unique moment, particularly a print from the Memory of Hope series by Aïda Muluneh, an Ethiopian photographer who addresses the post-colonial experience in Africa and its ongoing ramifications. Speaking of hope, the triennial is scheduled to welcome in-person visitors December 19.