The Piranesi Effect

The exhibition juxtaposed contemporary artworks by Australian artists Rick Amor, Mira Gojak, Michael Graf, Andrew Hazewinkel, Peter Robinson, Jan Senbergs and Simon Terrill with a selection of prints by Giovanni Battista Piranesi to highlight the many ways in which the strategies and devices used by the eighteenth-century artist and architect are still very much a part of the way artists work today.

Piranesi's work has many aspects: it is both Venetian and Roman, Baroque and Neo-Classical, imaginative and scientific. His training as an architect and stage designer meant that he was highly skilled at drawing the viewer in and manipulating their emotional response to his imagery.

Piranesi's legacy for contemporary artists also takes many forms, including his poetic use of the fragment, his ominous spaces, dramatic lighting, restless line, and most importantly, the creative license he takes with the art and architecture of the past. The contemporary works in this exhibition have been chosen for the way in which they interact and intersect with Piranesi's eighteenth-century prints. There are echoes of Piranesi, correspondences and resonances rather than any direct influence.

The exhibition also included objects from the University's Classics and Archaeology Collection, the University of Melbourne Art Collection and the Baillieu Library Special and Print collections together with works from the State Library of Victoria and private lenders.

The Piranesi Effect was a companion exhibition to a large survey of Piranesi's work at the State Library of Victoria titled Rome: Piranesi's Vision (22 February to 6 July).

Curated by Jenny Long.