The National Gallery of Victoria in Australia is offering free virtual tours!
The closure of museums, galleries, and venues across the globe has led to a surprising benefit. It’s no reason to jump and shout for joy of course, considering the trying circumstances that we are all facing, but due to the initial closure of the National Gallery of Victoria, people from all around the world find themselves fortunate enough to view the NGV’s new virtual programming. This includes the unprecedented and world premiere exhibition Crossing Lines, showcasing the works of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. (Featured image: @ngvmelbourne)
Arguably two of the most influential and significant artists of the late 20th century, the exclusive exhibition has focused on the unique visual languages—the use of signs, symbols and words to convey strong social and political messages in unconventional ways—of the two artists while revealing, for the first time, the many intersections between their lives, practices and ideas.
Australian and international audiences have the opportunity to browse through more than 200 artworks on display, showcasing Haring’s and Basquait’s beginnings in NYC subways, their early collaborations, and the creative social circles in which they later found themselves in. This is an exhibition not to be missed.
Also currently online and available to explore on the NGV website is the Collecting Comme exhibition, ideal for lovers of fashion and haute couture as it displays the work of one of the most visionary and influential fashion designers working today: Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons.
Featuring more than fifty examples, Collecting Comme examines the radical concepts and design methods that have informed Kawakubo’s practice since 1981, the year she first presented in Paris, as well as the work of her protégés.
Online audiences are additionally graced with the aptly titled Companionship In The Age Of Loneliness, the exhibition for New York-based artist Brian Donnelly, aka KAWS. The collection on show brings together his multiple disciplines, as well as the worlds of art, fashion, and design.
Taken from the NGV website, ”KAWS celebrates generosity, support for others and the deep need we have for companionship … his work presents an antidote or rejoinder to the increasingly toxic nature of public discourse and social media, and division within and across societies. He reminds us we need one another and that life should be lived as compassionately as possible to combat this ‘Age of Loneliness’, in the face of fear and hatred.”
Companionship In The Age Of Loneliness just might be the perfect exhibition to visit now that we find ourselves practicing social distancing and self-isolation.
To access the NGV digital displays as well as other online material, visit their website here.