In May 2019, the highly anticipated fundraising event returns with a glamorous twist. Previously titled BestoftheBest2016, the National Gallery of Victoria Women’s Association (NGVWA) presents the extravagant fundraising initiative that never fails to inspire and amuse the audience. With its birth in 2013 at St Kilda Town Hall, the ArtofDining2019 will bring together over 40 of Australia’s best minds in the creative industry for the third year running. The exhibition will bring together artists, interior designers, couturiers, florists, stylists and retailers to create and challenge the idea of the dining table. The ArtofDining2019 seeks to celebrate innovation through a thought-provoking dining experience in true Melbourne fashion.
The theme for ArtofDining2019 is inspired by Giambattista Tiepolo’s piece, The Banquet of Cleopatra. Created in 1734, the painting captures a dramatic moment in a tumultuous love affair between the Roman consul Mark Antony and the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. Being a popular subject for eighteenth-century artists, Tiepolo represents a lavish banquet amidst a bet between two famous lovers, with Cleopatra coming out as victorious.
With a spectacular line-up ready, the event will bring together 45 meticulously crafted tables that will transcend the individual into a different world. “It really is a display for all the senses with no pre-conceptions of etiquette. It is both an exhilarating and entertaining exhibition from Australia’s finest designers, architects, interior designers and artists,” says a representative of the NGVWA.
The contributors include new invitees and returners such as Flack Studio, Porcelain Bear, Matilda Davis for Neon Parc Gallery, Hecker Guthrie and many more. From Flack Studio comes a table representing their work with the charity group, ‘Cubbies.’ Working closely with renowned artist Patrick Dagg of the James Makin Gallery, the design group have recycled their table from the 2016 event to create a piece of art to highlight the “awesomeness of Cubbies,” says Flack Studio. Design firm Hecker Guthrie, the prestigious Rigg Design Prize 2018 winners, has created a contemporary sculpture exploring playfulness and excess. In a quirky assemblage of stacked crockery through using a Japanese repair theme, ‘Kintsugi,’ Hecker Guthrie highlights the imperfections, celebrated in gold.
Showcasing a diverse range of inventive designs and creative works, the whimsical fundraising event opens its doors on 1st May with a fully exclusive, invitation-only event titled, ‘Un Ballo in Maschera.’ A glamorous event to mark the opening night, the NGV invites the guests for a masked, black-tie gala with 580 attendees to dine and immerse themselves into the avant-garde world of the ArtofDining2019. Setting the tone for the rest of the exhibition, the event opens to the public on 2nd and 3rd May in the Great Hall of the NGV as the stage for the much-awaited exhibition with an expected number of more than 3,000 attendees. Constantly breaking their attendance records, the National Gallery of Victoria provides a provocative and inspiring stage in the heart of Melbourne’s creative community.
The ArtofDining2019 pushes to explore the conjunction between art and drama, transcending the individual into a whimsical frenzy over three glamorous days at the National Gallery of Victoria.
The National Gallery of Victoria’s Women’s Association: The Art of Dining 2019 officially opens on 2nd May 2019 until 3rd May 2019.
National Gallery of Victoria
ngv.vic.gov.au
Photography by Timothy Grey
We think you might also like The Official INDE.Awards Shortlist 2019