MELBOURNE.- Today, the National Gallery of Victoria opened the latest installation at NGV Studio, The Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, a collaboration between Perth-based artists Abdul Abdullah, Casey Ayres and Nathan Beard.

Drawing on their Asian-Australian heritages, the artists have created an embassy for a fictional pan-Asian empire, located within NGV Studio, as part of the Next Wave Festival 2012.

This faux embassy is an exotic and stylised installation, embellished with kitsch objects and original artworks – the setting for a cultural program of live events where various Eastern and Western influences are brought together and confused.

The artists, in extravagant costumes and makeup, act as ambassadors for this fictional embassy, while investigating how multiculturalism operates in contemporary Australian society with humour and personal reflections on their own hybrid cultural experiences as Asian-Australians. Join the artists for the live opening blessing of The Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere on Saturday 19 May, 10:30am, at NGV Studio.

NGV Studio is a contemporary exhibition and event space that provides opportunities for audience and artist engagement. It promotes new and experimental art forms, encouraging innovation and experimentation in content, context, interpretation and display.

Frances Lindsay, Deputy Director, NGV said: “Since opening, Melburnians have embraced NGV Studio by showing their support both in presence by visiting the space at all hours of the day, and online too. The support has been phenomenal.”