Mention in The Dominion Post

Thanks to Mark Amery for the mention of shows at Suite Pop Up Gallery and JJMorgan & Co.

Art is invading Wellington, with new galleries, artist-run-spaces, windows... and there is more to come!

'Doing Art Politically: What Does This Mean?'

Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn delivers the annual lecture at the Royal Academy Schools, London.

http://www.artreview.com/video/thomas-hirschhorn-doing-art
http://www.artreview.com/video/thomas-hirschhorn-doing-art-1
http://www.artreview.com/video/thomas-hirschhorn-doing-art-2

Ragnar Kjartansson

"Ragnar Kjartansson is a musician, actor and an artist. As for his motivation, he says: “Art is for me like the Blues: I use it to purify my soul. Maybe I’m a romantic on a hungry pursuit for the ultimate art kick.” This is what distinguishes him: one who loves the show element, constantly slipping into new roles, changing his identities and realities, will basically always remain authentic. Wherever Kjartansson is at any one time, is also where his stage is". (Christian Schoen, CIA.IS – Center for Icelandic Art)

Ryan Trecartin: it's good because it's awful...

"Camp proposes a comic vision of the world. But not a bitter or polemical comedy. If tragedy is an experience of hyperinvolvement, comedy is an experience of underinvolvement, of detachment". (Susan Sontag, Notes on Camp, 1964)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR4sHDR-1XE

Sleepless nights

Two festivals will take place for one night only, from sunset to sunrise: Glow in Santa Monica (25 Sept) and Nuit Blanche in Toronto (2 Oct). Glow 2010 will commission 20 original artworks specifically for this one-night event. Artists include Anne Bray (Los Angeles), Céleste Boursier-Mougenot (Séte, France), Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (Montreal, Canada), Yoshua Okón (Mexico City) and Steve Roden (Los Angeles) . Nuit Blanche Toronto will organize more than 130 free and accessible contemporary art projects within 3 zones. Each zone features a mixture of Exhibition Projects and Independent Projects.

Experience art in unexpected places...

Exhibition of the week: Lisa Munnelly

The artist is interested in providing a ‘temporal and corporeal account of the drawing process’; that is, in investigating the relationship between drawing, time and the body. These are works which acknowledge that seeing takes time; the title of the exhibition refers not only to the work involved in their conception and realisation, but also to the physical experience of seeing them. Rather than re-present an image or idea, according to the practice of conventional drawing, these works operate in the immediate tense, to present energy, time and space on visual terms.

Compelling, mesmerising... pure poetry. Don't miss out on her performance films too.

Exhibition of the week: Brit Bunkley

Sure, terrorism, impending nuclear war, Stalinist infiltration, fascist dictatorship, the neoliberal war on democracy, global warming, the end of oil, stock market crashes, destruction of the biosphere and rogue asteroids are all realities. They have been for decades. These threats are also ameliorated by the possibilities of innate human creativity, critical thinking, the thirst for freedom, courage, the ability to adapt and change and the catharsis within real tragic drama. (Brit Bunkley)


Brit Bunkley, Don't Worry Be Happy
Wednesday 18 August - 12 September @ Mary Newton Gallery

The Pop-Up Phenomenon (3)

Suite Gallery is the latest one to pop-up a temporary space. Their aim is to supplement shows on at their main gallery in Newtown and provide them with an opportunity to host projects they wouldn't ordinarily be able to host.

Opening this Sunday... Suite Pop-up Gallery @ 108 Oriental Parade...

Ursula Mayer @ City Gallery

Don't miss out the brilliant Austrian artist and filmmaker Ursula Mayer at The City Gallery, with Art in the Auditorium.

Ursula Mayer works primarily with film and photography. Her films are shot in interiors, often using iconic architectural locations, and focus on the interaction of female figures. Her films show the interweaving of space and time as well as the seduction of the image as the essence of film and cinema. She explores performative staging and perception patterns in photography and film, referencing popular music, avant-garde and classical hollywood films as well as architecture.

Her latest showings included ICA, LUX, Whitechapel Gallery...

Art in the Auditorium, Ursula Mayer, 7 June - 11 July 2010

The Pop-Up Phenomenon (2)

LETTING SPACE is a public art programme in Wellington New Zealand in 2010 that seeks to transform the relationship between artists, property developers and their city. It commissions temporary art works from leading New Zealand contemporary artists for commercial CBD spaces.

The first works were "pop-up" installations by Dugal McKinnon (18 April - 9 May, 141 Willis Street) and Kim Paton (21 May - 6 June, 38 Ghuznee Street).

"The projects all revalue things which have been regarded as worthless,"say curators Mark Amery and Sophie Jerram. "The usefulness of unemployment, the beauty of throwaway packaging, the past history of commercial real estate and the potential for occupation of Mars, all these projects cunningly analyse what is typically considered unuseful and is lying fallow.”

The next two are The Beneficiary's Office by Tao Wells in October and Taking Stock by Eve Armstrong in November. They will be followed by projects by Colin Hodson and Bronwyn Holloway-Smith in 2011.

The Pop-Up Phenomenon (1)

From art projects to restaurants, the pop-up phenomenon is the latest creative initiative in the face of the recession. Empty shops, ex-warehouses, and other deserted spaces are now transformed into temporary art galleries, restaurants, shops, etc.

The French House, proclaimed undeground restaurant and social experience, has launched is first supper Sunday 23rd May. They propose "to invite you to debate ideas and meet people, sharing table and dishes, in a cosy and intimate environment, that will change for each event". You won't know where it will be and what the menu will be until a few days before. Because of its underground nature, it works on bookings-only basis, and you have to be a friend to be part of the experience.

They also propose to collaborate with artists, and welcome proposals from all practitioners.

I Shall Spit on your Graves

With Jonathan Campbell, Andrea Du Chatenier, Jason Greig, Peter Madden, Ricky Swallow, Ronnie Van Hout and Wayne Youle.

Third and final part of the pilot, Loss, Death & Memento, organised at JJMorgan & Co.

The Diana Suite, Burnt with Tea Mix

LoveLab Projects is pleased to present the first LoveLab Initiative: the Diana Suite, a new installation by Mark Curtis at J.J.Morgan & Co; a glamourous show that experiment the boundaries between popular culture and social norms, art and crafts, and in/authentic experiences.

Case by Case

The Case is dedicated to promoting and publicizing contemporary work from across a wide range of New Zealand’s creative sectors. As well as profiling established names we will showcase outstanding recent graduate work and highlight emerging talents from around the country. Case by Case. We also understand the importance of design and creativity on a global scale so there will certainly be some relevant international content.

In addition to the website The Case will also include a shipping container converted into a exhibition/creative space within the Wellington CBD. The Case will offer an unconventional space to exhibit art, products and ideas to the public.

To be continued...

THERE IS A NEW ART SPACE IN TOWN

JJMorgan and Co. officially opens its doors to the public this February with a Lovelab Projects 'Spreading blankets on the beach' curated by Melanie Moreau

Spreading Blankets On The Beach

Victoria Birkinshaw

Steve Carr

James R Ford

Maria Hegedus

Peter Miller

Geoffrey Notman

Mark Ussher

Splash, 2007, still from the series Smoke and Mirrors,

Courtesy of the artist and Michael Lett Gallery

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DATE

Preview Saturday the 13^th of February 5pm onwards

Show runs from the 13^th till 27^th of February 2010

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Residency at JJMorgan & Co

During its residency at JJMorgan & Co, LoveLab Projects was particularly interested to use the space as a catalyst and influence for the concept of shows, by means of finding different ways to present and experience contemporary art, and engage with the public and the artistic community.

The starting point was to link the space with its immediate surroundings, being, but not exclusively, the beach and the funeral home. Two projects were created, referencing them directly: “Spreading Blankets on the Beach” and “I Shall Spit on Your Graves”.

The second idea was to create associations between the shows, in order to establish a pilot for LoveLab Projects: a program that will address relevant issues about our contemporary condition as well as contemporary art, through phases, by means of crossing boundaries between art and life.

LoveLab Projects was interested too to test LoveLab Initiative (to create exhibition opportunities for innovative artists) and invited Mark Curtis to develop a new project-installation at JJMorgan & Co, in parallel with the International Arts Festival 2010 in Wellington.

Finally, it was also important to develop connections, as much as possible, with the local art scene (artists, galleries and institutions), in order to participate and support their efforts. In this instance, most of the artists presented here are either based in Wellington or represented by Wellington galleries.