David Shrigley’s Latest Exhibition Is a Tennis Ball Exchange Program

While usually known for his cheeky wordplay and sometimes nonsensical visual pairings, David Shrigley‘s latest exhibition is a noticeable departure.

Little illustrations and messages are still there, but instead of a print or painting, the British artist has used the fluorescent surface of a tennis ball to invite audiences into Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) to trade in their own for one on display. The Melbourne Tennis Ball Exchange comprises of 8,000 such objects that Shrigley lined up to represent an ever-changing artwork. At the core of the show is the aim to spotlight the joys that can be had while trading everyday goods.

Shrigley was first inspired by his own dog, who “loves tennis balls,” he said in a statement. “Dogs and human beings have different relationships to objects. My dog will fight over a tennis ball at one moment and then be completely uninterested in it the next.” From inspiration to execution, the Brighton-based artist debuted the first Tennis Ball Exchange in London back in 2021, where he was surprised that people brought in freshly drawn balls, instead of raggedy ones chewed by a pet. “So it became a sort of free-for-all open exhibition,” he added.

The latest Tennis Ball Exchange is free to the public and will go on view in Melbourne from January 19 to 28 until 11pm each night.