Indonesian art collective Tromarama have created a new children’s installation, dedicated to young people interested in video art, animation or multimedia. Open House: Tromarama for Kids (23 May – 18 October) at the dedicated children’s gallery and NGV International, is an immersive exhibition where pink flamingos can speak, cheeky garden gnomes talk-back and furniture hangs from the ceiling.
Following up on the successful exhibition Express Yourself! Romance Was Born for Kids, which attracted 85,000 children, the open house features five fully-furnished rooms, including a dining room, kitchen, courtyard, bedroom and bathroom. With the rooms centered around nine amusing and thought provoking video works; this experiential exhibition shows ordinary house hold objects coming to life in astounding yet playful ways.
Tromarama take a ‘kidult’ approach to their work, with animated videos being playful and imaginative while also exploring in-depth ideas such as consumer culture, identity, materialism and the natural versus the artificial, making the exhibition suitable for both children and adults alike.
While the installation is visually stunning, each room will also include participatory multimedia elements. The courtyard section includes a gnome, drain pipes and a tree stump that will chat-back after recording the visitor’s voice. A large scale feature wall of flowers, framing a video titled Nothing Is What It Seems, shows flowers blooming then dying, capturing the time passing by revealing the videos title – reflecting on the blurred lines of artificiality and reality in contemporary culture. Children are encouraged to dance in the upside down dining room to soundtracks of the Tramarama’s video works, showing a desk lamp having an all-night party – the artists ‘kidult’ reflection on the time they received an excessive electricity bill.
Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley believes that this exhibition provides children and their families an opportunity to be an artist themselves and is “rich and imaginative exhibition is a playful introduction into the world of contemporary art.”
Open House: Tromarama for Kids is at the NGV International from 23 May – 18 October 2015. Free entry. Visit www.ngv.vic.gov.au for more information.
NGV Teens Public Program: Meet the Artists on Sunday 24th of May, 2-3pm, $13 students. This is a workshop for students to learn about Tromarama’s stop-motion practice and exhibition as well being able to be involved in creating an animation with the artist.
Words: Natasha Lutrov
