The National Gallery of Victoria is planning to welcome back Victorians in spectacular style with NGV Triennial, a free contemporary art, design and architecture exhibition.

Minister for Creative Industries Danny Pearson today confirmed that the exhibition will run from 19 December to 18 April 2021 as part of the NGV Summer program. The exhibition will take over NGV International on St Kilda Road, showcasing works by more than 100 artists, designers and collectives from 30 countries.

Artists based locally and from across the globe have been preparing work for the show for the past few years, with 34 newly commissioned works set to have their world premiere as part of the Triennial exhibition.

From sculptures to painting, video artworks, architectural installations, photography and more, the exhibition will explore the issues of our times seen through the eyes of artists from places including Yolngu County in Arnhem Land, continental Europe, the UK, South Africa, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the USA, Japan, Turkey – and Victoria.

Visitors can expect to see a 10-metre high video work that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and quantum computing by Turkish artist Refik Anadol and a giant mirrored sculpture of Roman goddess Venus by American artist Jeff Koons, alongside work from Melbourne’s own Sibling Architecture and photographer and artist Atong Atem.

This year’s summer exhibition follows the 2017-18 NGV Triennial which attracted more than 1.2 million people and set a record as the most popular exhibition in NGV’s history. The exhibition will take place across all floors of NGV International which will see showstopping contemporary works positioned alongside NGV’s 17^th and 18^th century Flemish, Dutch and British collections.

The NGV team has been working from home to prepare the exhibition and will put in place public health measures to ensure the gallery is ready to welcome back visitors, including a COVIDSafe plan, timed ticketing, hand sanitising stations and increased cleaning.

Free and exclusive to Melbourne, NGV Triennial will run from 19 December to 18 April 2021 at NGV International, St Kilda Road. For more information, visit ngv.melbourne.