Now that the walls are up, we begin the process of installing the art – but for Melbourne Now there is no common approach for how this should be done.
For a show with so much variety of format across art, architecture and design, the installation of the work is extremely interesting, but can also prove quite challenging. In addition to working in the gallery proper, we are also installing in the foyers, cafés, gardens and other public spaces in an unprecedented way.
In the last week we have been cabling up and tying down – in the photo you can see the steel posts which serve as the support for Josh Petherick’s elegant multimedia installation. The installation requires chasing power and data through a convoluted path (though the floor, up the wall, overhead and down the pole) to reach their destination. In the adjacent room, Simone LeAmon and her team have been tying down hundreds of objects, many six meters above the ground, to create the mammoth installation that is the Melbourne Now Design Wall.
We will continue our work busily until we open – hanging, suspending, projecting, floating and even growing the art.
Once it is all in place, we will have assembled a collection with so much variety in it, but which expresses the multiplicity of ideas contained in contemporary art and design that defines this city.
The Melbourne Now dance program is supported by the Orloff Family Charitable Trust and the Robert Salzer Foundation.