Time Out Arts & Culture Awards 2024: Best Art Exhibition Nominees

After being postponed for three years, the NGV's 2023 Winter Masterpieces paired Pierre Bonnard's paintings with India Mahdavi's immersive scenography. The blockbuster exhibition displayed more than 100 works by the beloved 20th-century French painter, who was revered for his iridescent palette that used colour to convey fleeting emotions, moods and moments. Paris-based architect and designer India Mahdavi then created an immersive environment that perfectly complemented the painter's wistful use of colour and texture.

Connection at the Lume provided an opportunity to experience the sights and sounds of Australia’s First Nations artists like never before. From intricate dot paintings to watercolours and wood carvings, the immersive exhibition explored themes of Land, Water, Sky and Country. It spanned 3,000 square metres of gallery space and featured projections four storeys high from celebrated artists like Tommy Watson, Gabriella and Michelle Possum Nungurrayi, Clifford and Emily Kame Kngwarreye. And it was all set to a soaring score of First Nations music.

Robotic dogs. Yoko Ono. A dragon-imprinted McDonald's sign. Paris haute couture house Schiaparelli. The NGV's Triennial returned bigger and better in late 2023, an electric fusion of contemporary art, design and architecture. It featured creations from 100 artists, and included more than 25 world-premiere projects commissioned exclusively by the gallery. The exhibition allowed leading and emerging artists and designers to creatively respond to the most relevant and critical global issues of our time.

Traversing time and space, Wurrdha Marra celebrates the diversity of First Nations art and design. Opening in October 2023 on the ground floor and foyer of the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, the title translates to ‘many mobs’ in the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung language. The exhibition showcases pieces from emerging and established artists from across Australia and a highlight is a large-scale installation of fish traps produced by Burrara women from Maningrida – the objects have been crafted over weeks using vines from the bush. 

*Wurrdha Marra is showing at the Ian Potter Centre until October 12, 2024.