Stefan Wirihana Mau
June 8 - June 25, 2023


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Stefan Wirihana Mau is an artist of Māori (Ngāpuhi) and Eastern European descent. Born inFrankston, Mau lives and works on BoonWurrung and Wurundjeri Country. His practice spansacross painting, printmaking and sculpture, exploring cultural concepts as he seeks to connectwith his Māori heritage. Growing up away from his ancestral lands in Aotearoa (NZ) and havinglimited access to cultural practice, Mau’s work draws from his growing understanding ofmātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) which he has begun weaving into his art practice as helearns. Mau’s work has recently been exhibited at NGV as part of Melbourne Now (2023), hehas also been shortlisted for the Doug Moran Portrait Prize (2022) and the Experimental PrintPrize (2021) at Castlemaine art Museum.design.

The word waewae, in te reo Māori has multiple meanings but most commonly relates to themovement of legs and feet. The artist came to find significance in waewae through learning maurakau (Māori weaponry practice) and kapa haka (Māori performance) as finding your feet andestablishing a core foundational position from which to progress.


Photography by;
Annika Kafcaloudis
 

DESIGN HOUSE
By Appointment  
May 18 - May 21, 2023

VOLKER HAUG STUDIO
BRUD STUDIA 
OLIVIA BOSSY
STUDIO HENRY WILSON 
LAKER 
DANIEL POOLE 
BRAHMAN PERERA 
CORDON SALON 
LEX WILLIAMS
ANNA VARENDORFF
FLETCHER BARNES
MICHAEL GITTINGS STUDIO
DENHOLM

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NGV MELBOURNE DESIGN WEEK 
Exhibition 

Design House is a celebration of conceptual design in context. Functional art, performing its function.

After a long, and sometimes painful restoration of OIGÅLL PROJECTS UPSTAIRS, we wanted to celebrate this newly finished domestic space by offering it up to our design family to explore new works and concepts within their practices. Work created for living.

Design can often fall victim to a fate of ironic relinquishment. Left for dead on a glowing pedestal, or kept out of arms reach through cautiously guarded arrangements. This preciousness and neutrality frustrates the purpose of great design, distancing it from those who seek to truly possess and enjoy it by making it a valued part of their home and everyday life.

We want to place design in a considered and liveable context. Let it be fussed over, touched and tried, wiped down, shuffled around and switched on and off at the end of a day. These forms and objects are created with the intention to interact with hands and bodies, with light and space, with rituals and needs that reflect their inception. Design, at least for us, is informed by a perfectly installed zetr power point, a skirting board and an overly considered conduit coupling that Mitchell made Pete - our builder - drive all over Victoria to find. Design objects are made to exist in design spaces with opinions too.

So this is design house. Ten of our favourite designers existing in an inhabitable space. Opening MAY 25th with an invitational dining event focused at press and industry - we come together to examine and critically analyse the work as we use it, explore it and potentially break it.


Photography by;
Annika Kafcaloudis