The first day of rain in, like, evah!

So I headed down to the National Gallery of Victoria south of the Yarra river. We had already seen a photography exhibition there, this time I was in for there permanent collection, which is free (!) to see some of their modern art, from Warhol to Rothko, and a bit of the older stuff, the likes of Picasso, Monet and Manet, my favorites.

But they currently have a major exhibition running, entitled Melbourne NOW, which brings together artworks, installations and expositions of Melbourne artists, and beyond that, crafts.

For example they exhibited a number of shoes from local shoe makers, who had set out to revitalize the once thriving shoe industry in Melbourne, dug out old machinery, and are now producing fashionable shoes again, locally in Melbourne. Other than that, a number of Melbourne and Australia centered art, weird installations and shows…

What struck me the most was a video installation called An embroidery of voids by Daniel Crooks, who had filmed many of Melbourne’s back alleys, the ‘laneways’, small little streets that intersect the big blocks in Melbourne’s grid, and are worth a visit, or even better than the big streets themselves, as you’ll find a restaurant or little shop tugged away in there. Sometimes though they are clearly just a way through the block, with nothing special except the graffiti on their walls.

 

The camera moved through these empty lanes, but, in a continuous way, he cut a new lane in the far end of the way, that moved towards you till you were in that new lane, and at the end, already the next one. So by just standing there, you could glide through all those lanes in a continuous, endless way. It’s hard to describe and better experienced.

Melbourne NOW might lack a bit of coherence, except for the local aspect, but then again maybe that’s the fun of it: you never know what to expect in the next room, design dresses, noise, flags, clay, video screens….

It’s a great way to go through a rainy day and discover the variety of art and crafts in this rich city. The exhibition has a second installation in Federation Square, that I will discover on another rainy day…