What do URBNSURF and NGV have in common?
Last weekend, I had very juxtaposing plans; Friday night at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and a surf lesson on Sunday at URBNSURF - Australia's first machine-made surf park. I was taken back at how they both inspired me in such similar ways.
The NGV Triennial event promised to bring ‘contemporary art, design and architecture into dialogue, offering a visually arresting and thought-provoking view of the world at this time’ and that it did.
I don’t profess to be an art expert - far from it. I’m the first to admit ‘I don't understand it’, but for the first time in a long time, I felt a sense of letting go, not trying to analyse, allowing the emotion to hit via the use of colours, textures and space.
Enjoy a virtual tour here.
My favourite pieces were quite different. Firstly, the Fallen Fruit, by David Allen Burns and Austin Young, an immersive installation artwork that utilises photographs of Australian flora and selected artworks from the NGV permanent collection to respond to history and the environment. The artwork is a triptych composed of asynchronous repeat patterns printed onto fabric wall coverings. It really made the sculptures come to life and I had great fun creating my own narratives here.
I have been ‘surfing’ before in Bali (rented a board after a few daiquiris), but being knocked out by waves for an hour, with the board 10 metres upstream didn’t constitute as surfing to me.
URBNSURF Melbourne is Australia's first surf park, with mechanical-made waves that get up to 4ft tall, making it perfect for the pros to get practise in but also a great intro for a beginner. Although it’s hard-work having to wade through the current to get into the right positioning, catching a wave was one of the most exhilarating experiences I have ever had. I knew from then on this would be a hobby I would carry on for life.
It felt like my senses were telling a different part of a story to create a whole. Hearing the wave catching up to you, paddling furiously in the cool water and lifting your whole body up to ride a wave for a few seconds felt like reaching Everest. My body felt weightless, I had a sense of deep connection to water and earth and in that moment I was completely content, just like the day prior at the NGV.
Both experiences were second to none and ignited a feeling and source of inspiration that had been dormant for a while, I’m very grateful for this. I think the learning is; very different sources of creativity can inspire you in very similar ways, so get out and do something new and out of your comfort zone.
Some additional commentary on NGV:
My second favourite piece from NGV was the short film by Hannah Brontë, ‘EYE HEAR U MAGIK 2020’. The film explores how ancestral intuition has been passed down through Aboriginal people in the wake of colonisation. She uses music and film to unblock intuitive beliefs and tune into a deep sense of knowing, which she refers to by many names including ‘the knowing’, ‘the cunning’ and ‘illpunja’. It made me feel spiritual and grounded, something I needed.
Enjoy a short snippet here.
Lastly but by no means least, the Salon et lumière. It captivates you from the moment you walk in. The room mimics the exhilaration experienced by nineteenth-century audiences in a twenty-first-century context, utilising modern illumination and projection techniques and an immersive soundscape to capture for today’s audiences. It made me feel like I was floating in a different timezone. I stood with my jaw dropped for at least 20 minutes, it was enchanting.
Enjoy a short snippet here.