Tableau
NGV Architecture Commission Design Competition
2023
The proposal seeks to harness the universal power of the everyday table. As both socially charged object and subject, the table has long functioned as a stage for both domestic and civic rituals. The table is not passive. It facilitates the cross pollination of ideas and enforces certain forms of courtesy. ‘Tableau’ places a large bronzed table within the NGV garden, allowing visitors the chance to both appreciate the table as art and, in the process of inhabiting the installation, partake in the artwork themselves: to meet, to convene, to deliberate, to study and to feast become acts of beauty.
The notion of a table providing common ground is now as relevant as ever. ‘Tableau’ is intended as a forum to bring the people of Melbourne together, to celebrate diversity and to soften perceived social divisions through shared experience, irrespective of culture, age and accessibility.
Whilst the installation may be temporary, the social interactions and new bonds afforded by it have the capacity to extend beyond the confines of the NGV and into the greater city.
Upon entering the garden, visitors behold a large, floating bronze wall, whose materiality and stature liken it to the surrounding sculptures. Perched atop smaller bronze plinths, Tableau invites exploration beyond the wall and rewards visitors with a long singular table and an assortment of permanent benches. One then perceives the wall as screening device, canvas and backdrop to the live artwork. The new landscape encloses the bronze elements and meanders into the garden. Loose furniture is dispersed amongst a layered mix of native grasses and flowers, encouraging visitors to adventure, forage, collect and return to the communal table.
3D Visualisations by Davidov Architects
Designed in collaboration with Brud Studia
