NGV announces second Triennial blockbuster exhibition to welcome visitors back to gallery

The NGV is hoping ‘Buttpus’— a giant art installation made from cigarette butts— will lure punters to the gallery for its reopening and its first blockbuster art show post-COVID.

Nui Te Koha

less than 2 min read

October 8, 2020 - 7:00AM

South African designer Porky Hefer's work, Buttpus, will feature at the NGV Triennial exhibition. Picture: Supplied

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The NGV — and the tentacles on this giant octopus featured in a new show — will welcome art lovers back to the world-renowned space on December 19.

NGV Triennial will present a free exhibition of 86 projects by more than 100 artists, designers and collectives from more than 30 countries, with some works including now-themes like isolation, representation, and speculation about the future.

NGV director Tony Ellwood said: ‘The NGV Triennial offers visitors a significant opportunity to explore how we use art to express ourselves, communicate and consider the world as it is, while also asking how we would like it to be.

“We are all living in a world in flux: there has never been a more important moment to celebrate human capability than now.”

Misaki Kawai’s Arty 2011 will be shown at NGV Triennial. Picture: Supplied

It is the second instalment of the NGV Triennial, which is held every three years.
The inaugural exhibition, held in 2017, set records as the NGV’s most-attended exhibition to date, with 1.23 million visitors.

Highlights in the upcoming event include an entire floor dedicated to works about light and illumination, US artist Jeff Koons’ larger-than-life mirror-finished sculpture of Venus, and South African designer Pork Hefer’s imaginary sea creatures, evolved and mutated due to ocean pollution.

South African designer Porky Hefer's work, QTip, will also be shown at Triennial. Picture: Supplied

His 14-metre wide octopus, Buttpus, is made giant hand-felted cigarette butts. Another pieces, Q Tip, reimagines a marine animal affected by cotton swabs. Hefer’s work also uses plastic bags and coffee cups.

“If people walk away from the show saying, ‘Oh what beautiful pieces, then I’m a bit worried because I want them to understand the message I’m trying to get across,” Hefer said.

“The Earth will be here in millions of years, but we might not be on it. My work is asking, ‘What is the world going to look like, and more importantly, what are the organisms, animals and creatures going to look like after they deal with all our pollution?

“The products we use every single day are becoming a big problem.”