CENTERFOLD

full immersion

An installation on the grounds of a Melbourne, Australia, gallery by James Carey and Taylor Knights invites visitors to wade and wonder

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15 landscapers, engineers, and fabricators led by James Carey, Peter Knights, and James Taylor

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6,000

SQUARE FEET OF RECYCLABLE CEMENT SHEETS

1 MILLION VISITORS 12,000

GALLONS OF WATER

1. For pond[er], winner of the annual NGV Architecture Commission at Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne architecture studio Taylor Knights and Sydney artist James Carey began by installing a subfloor of marinegrade plywood panels and ethically sourced pine beams in the museum’s Grollo Equiset Garden. 2. The subfloor forms a platform around Draped Seated Woman, a Henry Moore bronze that’s part of the NGV’s permanent collection. 3. The resulting 49by70foot expanse gets topped by cement sheets and then a waterproof pink cork liner before it’s filled with water pumped from an existing source on the grounds to become a “pond.” 4. Sheets of matching fiberglassreinforced plastic grating were trucked into the museum’s garden. 5. The plastic forms a pathway to the pond.

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“It facilitates an open and inclusive environment to reflect on our current ecological adversities” —Taylor Knights

A 52-foot-long bench has been made from the same FRP that forms the walkway, the color of it and the cork liner chosen to reference Victoria’s many blushhued salt lakes as well as highlight the importance of water as a natural resource. Behind the water element, a bed of over 200 species of native wildflowers by Ben Scott Garden Design is part of pond[er], which is on view at the NGV through August 28; after the installation is dismantled, the plants will be distributed to Landcare, Indigenous, and community groups.