MEDIA UPDATE - 6TH JUNE 2025 - Tree-mendous! Kids explore nature through art in free exhibition Plans for the Planet: Olaf Breuning for Kids
Images supplied by the NGV Melbourne
6 June 2025: This winter at the NGV, Swiss artist Olaf Breuning invites kids and families to explore and celebrate the natural world through art-inspired activities in the free exhibition Plans for the Planet: Olaf Breuning for Kids, opening 6 June at NGV International. Drawing on his paintings, sculptures and photographs that explore the natural world, Breuning has created a playful and imaginative experience inspired by children’s love of adventure, playgrounds, and theme parks.
Placing kids at the centre of conversations around sustainability and caring for the environment, the exhibition explores issues such as conservation, pollution and wildlife, while fostering hope for creating a better planet for humans and animals alike. Through this exhibition, Breuning sparks meaningful conversations with the new generation about the world.
Using a specially designed swipe card kids will activate animations as they move through the space which features scenography inspired by the natural environment including a forest and a floor of lava.
Plans for the Planet will surprise and delight children as they venture along paths of discovery beginning in the Nature and Us room. At the heart of this space stands a giant tree installation surrounded by murals of Breuning’s drawings, creating an immersive forest environment. Children can sit beneath the tree and draw homes for forest animals inspired by the woodland scenography.
Inspiring children to participate in conversations and develop ideas for the future of the planet, the exhibition allows children to write out their ideas for the future on touch screens, which will be displayed on the walls as part of the installation. Inside the Just a Person space, kids are invited to capture a self-portrait in an interactive photobooth and then decorate their portrait with fun virtual objects, chosen from a catalogue of everyday items that help to explain who they are.
The exhibition is accompanied by a kid's publication, titled My Nature Book with Olaf Breuning, taking young readers on an enchanting journey through a forest where they can join in by scurrying around like a bug or singing like a bird before the sun goes down.
On 6 and 7 June, professional picture book narrator Anna Manuel will host free storytelling sessions in the exhibition to bring the book to life. Multiple sessions will be held in the mornings both days.
Plans for The Planet: Olaf Breuning for Kids is an exclusive NGV exhibition created by Swiss contemporary artist Olaf Breuning that invites children and families to explore the natural environment and consider their relationship to the world.
Inspired by the thrill and adventure found in playgrounds and theme parks, Plans for The Planet offers young people the chance to explore, be creative and share their points of view about the planet and its future. Championing young voices and a love of the natural world, children can engage with and problem-solve some of today’s environmental issues such as deforestation, pollution and loss of habitat for wildlife, while expressing their hopes for a better planet. Using a specially-designed swipe card collected at the exhibition entrance, kids can go on their own adventure activating animations and multimedia activities to help forest animals save their forest home, make a funny self-portrait and type up their solutions to issues and share their plans for
the planet for everyone to see.
This free exhibition is suitable for children of all ages, school groups and playgroups.
Event Details:
Dates: 6 Jun – 5 Oct 25 10am to 5pm
Suitable for: All ages, school groups and playgroups
Location: NGV International - Ground Level
Cost: FREE
Note: Please park pram outside of the exhibition