{"id":1323,"date":"2025-01-29T04:53:41","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T17:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/?p=1323"},"modified":"2025-01-29T04:53:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T17:53:41","slug":"observer-the-arts-with-peter-kemp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/2025\/01\/29\/observer-the-arts-with-peter-kemp\/","title":{"rendered":"OBSERVER: The Arts with Peter Kemp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

YAYOI KUSAMA RETROSPECTIVE AT NGV
Yayoi Kusama<\/strong>
From polka dots to pumpkins and more: Australia\u2019s largest Yayoi Kusama retrospective exhibition opens exclusively in Melbourne with new, world-premiere work.
The NGV celebrates the illustrious career of iconic artist Yayoi Kusama with a world-premiere blockbuster exhibition spanning her eight-decade practice, including the global unveiling of the artists most recent immersive mirror room work.
Curated by the NGV especially for Australian audiences, the exhibition Yayoi Kusama features 200 works, including many never-before-seen in Australia and a record breaking number of the artist\u2019s showstopping immersive works.
Displayed across the entire ground floor of NGV International, Yayoi is one of the most comprehensive retrospective exhibitions of the artist\u2019s work ever presented globally and the largest ever mounted in Australia.
The exhibition also includes the Australian debut of Dancing Pumpkin, a towering five-metre-tall yellow-and-black polka-dot bronze sculpture newly acquired by the NGV.
Conceived by the artist in 2020, Dancing Pumpkin takes her iconic motif to new heights, allowing audiences to walk under the towering sculpture.
The exhibition also features the Australian premiere of The hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe, 2019, which visually entangles viewers within six-metre-high tentacular forms covered in yellow-and-black polka dots.
Another highlight is Narcissus Garden, a new variation of the installation Kusama first presented unofficially at the Venice biennale in 1966. This installation comprises of 1400 stainless silver balls, each 30cm in diameter and presented en masse as visitors enter the Gallery.
As the metallic speres reflect one another, they create an infinitely recurring landscape that envelopes the spectator.
NGV International\u2019s public spaces have also been transformed by Kusama\u2019s signature polka dots, extending the sensory experience of Kusama\u2019s work beyond the exhibition galleries t include a site-specific artwork for the NGV\u2019s iconic waterwall, and Dots Obsession, an installation of enormous, inflated spheres that will float playfully over visitors\u2019 heads in the Great Hall.
Extending Kumasa\u2019s kaleidoscopic worldview beyond the walls of the NGV, Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees envelopes more than 60 plane trees along Melbourne\u2019s iconic grand boulevard St Kilda Road in a pink-and-white polka-dotted artwork.
Exhibition closes April 21.
National Gallery
of Victoria (NGV)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MAPh
Sculpture Park: Renaissance: A Journey of Transformation
Sonia Payes.<\/strong>
In this site-specific installation MAPh\u2019s sculpture park, Sonia Payes embraces the sculptural possibilities of photographic medium. Payne\u2019s interpretation of possible future examines the impact of human intervention on the planet.
These otherworldly and yet familiar landscapes may seem apocalyptic but they illustrate Payes\u2019 unwavering faith in our species capacity to adjust and preserve.
Exhibition closes March.
MAPh
860 Ferntree Gully Rd.
Wheelers Hill<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bunjil Place<\/strong>
May our Frock, greet your Frock \u2013 Frock A Whanaungatanga<\/strong>
An exhibition and workshop by legendary T\u00e2gata Moana (People of the Pacific) art collective, the Pacific Sisters.
Bringing to life the artistic traditions of te\\he Moana, as you move through the exhibition visitors will encounter nui aitu (new ancestors) avatar adorned in the Sisters\u2019 intricate handmade garments alongside ancestral taonga and measina (treasured cultural items) drawn from collections of Museum Victoria.
Exhibition closes Sunday March 9.
Bunjil Place
2 Patrick Northeast Drive
Narre Warren<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OPERA
Die Meistersinger von N\u00fcrnberg<\/strong>
Presented by Melbourne Opera.<\/strong>
Billed as the opera event of 2025, Melbourne Opera\u2019s multi-million dollar production of Die Meistersinger von N\u00fcrnberg will see opera lovers converge in Melbourne from February 16 -22.
Audiences will experience a 4.5-hour production of Wagner\u2019s epic \u2013 and only \u2013 comedy with multiple intervals across the afternoon and evening Themed catering will be available.
Staged at the resplendent world heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Buildings the production comes from the visionary Suzanne Chaundy, the visionary director behind he groundbreaking internationally acclaimed Ring Cycle Cultural Festival in 2023.
Season: February 16 \u2013 22. Venue: Royal Exhibition Buildings Carlton. Time start 3pm. Tickets available at Ticketmaster.
On Friday February 21 there will be a special celebratory Wagnerian dinner on stage. For more details and to book your table, please email info@melbourneopera.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Kemp<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

YAYOI KUSAMA RETROSPECTIVE AT NGVYayoi KusamaFrom polka dots to pumpkins and more: Australia\u2019s largest Yayoi Kusama retrospective exhibition opens exclusively in Melbourne with new, world-premiere work.The NGV celebrates the illustrious career of iconic artist Yayoi Kusama with a world-premiere blockbuster exhibition spanning her eight-decade practice, including the global unveiling of the artists most recent immersive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_siteseo_robots_primary_cat":"none","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-observer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1329,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions\/1329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dindi.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}