Matria
Melbourne, Australia
21 – 24 August 2025
55 x 21 x 13 m
Invited by the Now or Never Festival, Penique productions presents Matria in Melbourne’s historic and iconic Royal Exhibition Building. The installation occupies one of the building’s two central wings with a huge pink inflatable. The color, chosen in dialogue with the Festival’s direction, seeks to connect the building’s historical institutional character with warmth and maternal comfort. Thanks to the building’s vast natural light entries, the piece transforms throughout the day. Warm light highlights the work’s most organic side, while cold white light reveals its more pop, kitsch version. This dual identity enriches the work’s complexity, further enhanced by the lighting contrasts proposed during the performances. At the entrance, cushions are offered to visitors so they can settle in, inhabit, and make themselves comfortable within the installation.
In the morning, the artwork remains open to the public, with scheduled relaxation and breathing sessions by The Breath Haus.
In the afternoon, the artwork hosts musical performances by Alex Zhang Hungtai and Roxymore, and a performance by Amber McCartney with Shapednoise.
A vast audience embraced and enjoyed this offering throughout the exhibition days—an audience that celebrated having an aesthetic experience inside this imposing building that ennobles the city’s urban landscape.
