NGV , design? Lightworks...

Does the NGV have an area for design?

I would say yes, but design is a broad term. There is furniture, various objects and fashion pieces and jewellery, but I'm not sure its a really good dedication specifically to design. You have to ask, what defines design, and what specific design are we looking for. There is design in everything.

Lightworks:

This was a small exhibit dedicated to works on photographic paper and substrates that react to light. In my view the image created with just a hanging light bulb to form the concentric circles on the paper, was quite clever. I think if you didn't know that, the image itself would be ho-hum.

Bill Henson's images to me are like underexposed photos I have thrown away, so its curious to look at this and feel it's importance as an image depicting the late hours of a day, the sun being swamped by thick clouds, taking the light away... ? It has a morose feel to it, take away light, and we have darkness, uncertainty, fear?

I found the exhibit somewhat boring and uninteresting, (perhaps due to my own ignorance on the subject), lacking purpose I thought, and dark in subject although it's meant to be about light. It just didn't capture my imagination at all. I guess this is why I didn't see the "quote" here.It just didn't really "intrigue" me on any of those levels. I have played with photographic paper and light, creating shapes, black on white, for a bit of experimentation, I guess it could develop further if given a chance.