Plans for The Planet: Olaf Breuning for Kids

Plans for The Planet: Olaf Breuning for Kids is an exclusive NGV exhibition by Swiss contemporary artist Olaf Breuning that invites kids and families to explore their relationship to the world.

The interactive exhibition, set within nature, is populated with Breuning’s irreverent illustrations and characters, including a forest and a floor of lava, and places kids at the centre of the conversation around sustainability and how we can create a better planet for humans and animals alike.

Championing children’s love of the natural world, the exhibition touches upon key issues including the environment, pollution and wildlife in a manner that empowers children’s voices and offers hope for a better planet. Using a specially-designed swipe card, kids will activate multi-media activities and animations, including an interactive ‘self-portrait’ photo booth and a virtual gallery where kids can draw and display their own digital artwork.

Plans for The Planet: Olaf Breuning for Kids will surprise and delight children as they venture along paths of discovery beginning in the Nature and Us room, inviting them to use their imagination and love for drawing to ‘save the forest’. Children’s drawings will transfer from the interactive screen they are drawn on and be displayed on the walls of the exhibition, presenting their creative vision for the planet.

Inspiring children to participate in conversations and come up with ideas for the future of the planet, children can share their ideas by typing on an interactive device, which then displays their plans on the digital walls of the exhibition. Inside the Just a Person space, children are invited to capture a self-portrait in an interactive photobooth, then visually annotate their portrait with fun virtual objects, chosen from a catalogue of everyday items that help to explain who they are.

Inspired by his drawings, paintings, sculptures and photographs which explore the nature of the world, Breuning has designed a playful and thought-provoking experience for children seen through unique graphics, floor designs and animations. The exhibition will encourage children to contribute by sharing their thoughts, hopes and ideas for the world they live in, and collectively make plans for a better planet.

Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV said: ‘Plans for the Planet: Olaf Breuning for Kids offers children an interactive and inspiring space to think about the world around them. The NGV is dedicated to providing year-round programming tailored to children and families, and this exhibition provides a unique opportunity for children to participate in and deeply engage with the change they would like to see in the world.’

Olaf Breuning, artist, said: ‘For me, drawing is a way to visually illustrate my thoughts on our world in a humorous and playful way. I hope Plans for The Planet will provide a platform for the next generation to think about their planet, and feel empowered to share their voices and play a part in shaping the world they live in.’

About Olaf Breuning:

Born in Switzerland and based in Upstate New York, USA, Breuning has held exhibitions at public institutions, including a retrospective at the NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, and solo exhibitions at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Chisenhale Gallery, London; and Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg.

Public exhibitions of his work include the Public Art Fund commission Clouds, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park, New York, as well as the Public Art Fund exhibition Lightness of Being, City Hall Park, New York.

Breuning has participated in group exhibitions, including the 2008 Whitney Biennial in New York and exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; and Whitechapel Gallery, London. This is Breuning’s first exhibition for children in Australia.

Plans for The Planet: Olaf Breuning for Kids will be on display at NGV International from 28 June – 3 October 2021. Free entry. Further information is available via the NGV website.