Cover image of the review
Installation view of Design Wall on display as part of the Melbourne Now exhibition at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne from 24 March to 20 August 2023. Photo: Peter Bennetts

Melbourne Now


1 Apr 2023
National Gallery of Victoria | The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia 24 Mar - 20 Aug 2023

The NGV has been transformed into the shopping mall of the future, and design is its favoured language of commodity. For the 2023 iteration of Melbourne Now, an emphasis upon design was made apparent as soon as the viewer stepped into the atrium, with schematics for architecturally imagined dwellings and pieces from up-and-coming furniture designers paired with one another. The design aspect is peppered throughout, coming to an agonising crescendo with the design wall brimming with July suitcases and Tontine pillows. Why any of this needed to be included when Melbourne Design Week is only around the corner evades me.

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