The National Gallery of Victoria proclaims its third “blockbuster” Triennial to be a “powerful and moving snapshot of the world today through the work of 120 artists, designers and collectives at the forefront of global contemporary practice” from robotics to tapestry, weather patterns to war, mysticism to megacities, offering its audience a “valuable opportunity to experience new and surprising forms of creative expression”—the now expected museum PR spiel for our existential reflection and something for everyone entertainment. Judging by the success (read audience numbers) of the first two iterations, the 2023 Triennial has all the effects to make this a happy trifecta.
When the first iteration of Sydney’s was announced in 2017, I wrote that given the already existing Biennale of Sydney, the , Brisbane’s , Darwin’s and Melbourne’s imminent inaugural there seemed to be a nationwide rivalry in city-based museum one-upmanship. Following the expansive in 2014 and endless headlining as Art Central, Melbourne’s ambitions were further identified through the first in 2017, with over 100 artists
