Currently logged in. Logout
Visitors to the National Gallery of Victoria are invited to pick fresh flowers from an artwork and give them to someone they’ve never met in Lee Mingwei: The Moving Garden.
Tens of thousands of flowers will be gifted between strangers as part of Taiwanese-American artist Lee Mingwei’s ‘The Moving Garden’, at the National Gallery of Victoria. Lee is internationally recognised as one of the leading creators of art which invites audience participation, and this acclaimed artwork will create unexpected encounters for visitors to the gallery.
Lee says of the work, “In this project I present a space with beautiful, fresh flowers. Museum guests are invited to take one of these flowers with them when they leave the museum, if they will agree to do two things: first, to make a detour from their intended route when leaving the museum for their next destination; second, along this detour, to give the flower to a stranger who they feel would benefit from this unexpected act of generosity.”
Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV, said, “Lee’s artwork inspires contemplation of social themes like trust and self-awareness, by encouraging one-on-one interactions between strangers. The Moving Garden will also challenge the traditional relationship between art and audience, with each flower picked adding the story of the participant to that of the artwork.”
Leading Melbourne florist Flowers Vasette has partnered with the NGV to provide 1,000 fresh flowers for each of the 106 days of the exhibition, totalling 106,000 flowers.
This exhibition is part of the inaugural Asia TOPA: Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts.
NGV International
Until 29 January, 2017
Melbourne
Lee Mingwei, The Moving Garden, 2009/2014, mixed media interactive installation, granite, fresh flowers, 1200 x 134 x 60cm
Installation view at Lee Mingwei and His Relations, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2014
Photograph: Yoshitsugu Fuminari
Courtesy of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
A playful reinvention of the suburban car wash is the vision for the NGV’s 2016 Architecture Commission, designed by Melbourne-based M@ STUDIO Architects.
Through this surreal structure, visitors are prompted to rethink the design of the urban fringe, where car washes, petrol stations and retail outlets often form the basis of town centres. The 2016 Architecture Commission will play host to events, talks, live music performances and more over spring and summer as well as provide a place for Melburnians to gather, play and daydream.
Inspired by an existing car wash in Blackburn, the design reimagines a familiar destination and brings it into the unfamiliar surroundings of the NGV Garden at NGV International. Transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary, the structure has a lightweight steel body with porous walls made of layered cricket netting which shimmer and shift from different perspectives. Titled Haven’t you always wanted…?, the 23m-long, hyper-colour slice of suburbia features five lanes of bright pink astro-turf, complete with rubberised waves and road markings, water misters and walls made of cricket netting, topped with a mirrored ‘car wash’ sign.
The commission explores the scale and appearance of the suburban landscape and invites visitors to think about building on the urban fringe, where retail outlets and supermarkets often form the basis of town centres. Through the work, M@ STUDIO Architects highlight their interest in exploring new models for the design of Melbourne’s outer suburbs, and the value of design in facilitating community engagement with the natural and built environment.
Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV, said: “The NGV Architecture Commission has quickly become an iconic space for Melburnians, and this year’s design by M@ STUDIO Architects is sure to ignite the imaginations of visitors. A dreamlike interpretation of the suburban car wash, it will offer an interactive structure for all to enjoy over spring and summer.”
NGV International
Until April, 2017
Melbourne
Haven’t you always wanted…? by M@ STUDIO Architects for the 2016 NGV Architecture Commission
Photograph: Sean Fennessy
