2021 Gallery

Commissioned as part of the 2020 NGV Triennial, the Outdoor Pavilions were envisioned both as an “escape” from Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, and as a response to an adjacent JR artwork about the plight of the Murray-Darling Basin. The jury appreciated the project’s sense of place: set amid a grove of trees in the NGV gardens on a series of raised decks with canvas roofs slung between a repeated A-frame structure. The Outdoor Pavilions had the feel of an outback riverside campsite at night, an effect driven home by the hanging glow lights. “I would love to be there on a summer’s night,” said one juror, “especially in that setting.” During the day, the roofing was removed to create a more informal picnicking experience designed to encourage gallery goers to dwell before or after visiting the exhibition. It’s that flexibility, charm and less-is-more approach to design that the jury felt set this project apart.