Surprises in perspective

By Rhonda Dredge

The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is a haven for those who have an artistic take on life and the curators are clever about the way they present work.

The closure of the gallery during the lockdowns was tragic for this reason.

And the quick re-opening between the lockdowns, a bruising reminder of the loss.

The 2020 NGV Triennial, which opened in December, is a welcome reintroduction to the crucial role of art in society.

The Triennial attempts to engage with a larger percentage of the population than the more modest Winter Masterpieces, which was postponed in 2020.

Can this blockbuster style of exhibition with name artists and amusing installations also be memorable?

An exhibition needs to work with the expectations of the viewer, be beautiful, sensitive and provocative. Too much extraneous detail can kill it, so curators have used the floors to guide visitors towards a message.

The best commentaries on the ground floor are drawn from life, in that they speak directly to contemporary concerns.

My votes go to the display apartment Walls 4 Sale by the Swiss design team BTW and to Coloured In by Melbourne designer Danielle Brustman.

We’ve all been trapped inside the shells of our apartments and homes and we’ve seen their faults, these exhibits seem to suggest.

Do our decors truly reflect us or are we dominated by the dimensions of stoves and air conditioners? Do we feel trapped in the toilet? Is white on white really practical? Could we be creative with colour instead of relying on views of the city as backdrops?

What about our ceilings? Why are they all 2.4 metres high? Is this because plasterboard sheets come in this size? Who says that benchtops should be 900 mm in height and balustrades 1.1 metres? Does the house fit us or do we fit the house?

Walls 4 Sale is a satire about the normalising impact of the ubiquitous “normcore” apartment and Brustman extends this argument by using colour charts to visually blend carpet with furniture.

The BTW team won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale two years ago and were commissioned to take advantage of the great position on top of the NGV art collection to create their display home.

John Macarthur, in an essay in the catalogue, called the installation “cuttingly critical” and “Instagrammable” in that it dealt with both the normalisation of domestic life and our constant desire to document it.

He raises some important points about minimalism, the usual justification for seeing homes in terms of grids. Does this program us to think in a certain way?

The exhibits on the third floor using natural materials such as kelp and sea urchins offer a different way of thinking that feels its way forward rather than proclaims it.

2020 NGV Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, until April 18.

Ngv.vic.gov.au •