So I finally made it to Wellington and to Te Papa to see what all the hype was about. The middle of the school holidays was perhaps not the best time to go as I was knee deep in over zealous children. It had been years since I'd set foot in a museum and realised perhaps the novelty had worn off for me but regardless, I wandered around the first two or three floor and about three or four exhibitions and displays.
The most interesting one was perhaps an the interactive multimedia adventure called 'Ourspace'. A large floor area laid out a 14 metre long satellite map of New Zealand which when walked over, triggered sensors which would then project images "moments of New Zealand culture, identity and geography" onto display screens. Similarily there was also 'The Wall' of digital images where anyone could use the touch screens to add their own depiction to a "collective and creative space about who we are and what we do." The wall can also be viewed and submitted to online anytime.
In this exhibition, I saw a parallel to my last studio project where I looked at the triggers of memories, nostalgia, thoughts and emotions and how we then conveys these visually. I really liked the idea to bringing this individual experience together into a collective and further reinforced by the shared space and interaction with the map. I saw people walking along the map in groups, pointing out places that perhaps were significant to them, marking journeys and paths from their lives. I looked at the distance between Auckland and Wellington, the furthest I've ever deviated from where I've lived a good 15 years of my life. Even on the small scale, it seemed like a huge distance and difficult to corellate with the barely one hour flight to get there. Some days it takes longer to get home from the city on the bus!
Whilst wirting this entry, I chose to upload one of the photos I took whilst down in Wellington as I felt it was a pretty significant visit for me. I took lots of photos whilst there and chose one of the ones I took at the Botanical Gardens because it was the first time since last year when I lost my motivation for photography that I finally felt myself getting back into it.
Upon wondering upstairs another floor, it was then I finally found what I knew I was looking for in Te Papa. I can across the art. Though I could still hear the noises of the excited children downstairs floating up, the topmost floors were more still with fewer people. I discovered a fantastic exhibition which was on - We are Unsuitable for Framing. The title derived from a work by Barbara Kruger and exploring similar themes around aspects of identity, gender, sexuality, and mythology, "our ideas about how we behave, and about how we represent ourselves" in " a refusal to be defined or pigeon-holed into any particular framework."
Studying feminist art can be interesting as it is often satirical and sarcastic and incorporating nontraditional materials. Prominent in the 70s, it was aligned with the feminist movement and the methods incorporated by artists were rich in symbolism to achieve their aims in challenging at patriarchal society. This exhibition was rich in this use of unusual materials, in particular a series of works called by Vivian Lynn called Guarden Gates.
Image: Differentiation 1982)
I am finding recently that I am engaging a lot more successfully with sculptures and installations in that they have that physicality of space. It takes talent to convey the physicality of an object through a painting or photograph but it also takes a different kind of talent to pull of a successful 3D composition. Where the gate and hair motif if relatively simple, it is rich in symbolism in its scope of possible methods of treatment. Each gate serves as the canvas on which the hair and materials are weaved and composed just like brushstrokes on a canvas. The gallery space too is cleverly put together work with the series, closed off from the rest of the exhibition, the works are in a circular space so the viewer feel encompassed and closed in by the gates which then brings it back to the theme of the works and the exhibition.
Image: Daughter of the Father 1982
It was good to be able to have that space and quiet to wander around and absorb the art, away from the hordes of children. Despite the signs around the exhibition stating that some of the works contained explicit content, it didn't deter one parent whose child then ran around the exhibit screaming "it's disgusting!" I enjoyed this exhibition as once again there were a few artists and works I was familiar with from having studied and it is always so much more worthwhile seeing works, even just within the branch of feminist works, in person as the impact is so much more. It was well worth the visit halfway down the country.
The most interesting one was perhaps an the interactive multimedia adventure called 'Ourspace'. A large floor area laid out a 14 metre long satellite map of New Zealand which when walked over, triggered sensors which would then project images "moments of New Zealand culture, identity and geography" onto display screens. Similarily there was also 'The Wall' of digital images where anyone could use the touch screens to add their own depiction to a "collective and creative space about who we are and what we do." The wall can also be viewed and submitted to online anytime.
In this exhibition, I saw a parallel to my last studio project where I looked at the triggers of memories, nostalgia, thoughts and emotions and how we then conveys these visually. I really liked the idea to bringing this individual experience together into a collective and further reinforced by the shared space and interaction with the map. I saw people walking along the map in groups, pointing out places that perhaps were significant to them, marking journeys and paths from their lives. I looked at the distance between Auckland and Wellington, the furthest I've ever deviated from where I've lived a good 15 years of my life. Even on the small scale, it seemed like a huge distance and difficult to corellate with the barely one hour flight to get there. Some days it takes longer to get home from the city on the bus!
Whilst wirting this entry, I chose to upload one of the photos I took whilst down in Wellington as I felt it was a pretty significant visit for me. I took lots of photos whilst there and chose one of the ones I took at the Botanical Gardens because it was the first time since last year when I lost my motivation for photography that I finally felt myself getting back into it.
Upon wondering upstairs another floor, it was then I finally found what I knew I was looking for in Te Papa. I can across the art. Though I could still hear the noises of the excited children downstairs floating up, the topmost floors were more still with fewer people. I discovered a fantastic exhibition which was on - We are Unsuitable for Framing. The title derived from a work by Barbara Kruger and exploring similar themes around aspects of identity, gender, sexuality, and mythology, "our ideas about how we behave, and about how we represent ourselves" in " a refusal to be defined or pigeon-holed into any particular framework."
Studying feminist art can be interesting as it is often satirical and sarcastic and incorporating nontraditional materials. Prominent in the 70s, it was aligned with the feminist movement and the methods incorporated by artists were rich in symbolism to achieve their aims in challenging at patriarchal society. This exhibition was rich in this use of unusual materials, in particular a series of works called by Vivian Lynn called Guarden Gates.Image: Differentiation 1982)
I am finding recently that I am engaging a lot more successfully with sculptures and installations in that they have that physicality of space. It takes talent to convey the physicality of an object through a painting or photograph but it also takes a different kind of talent to pull of a successful 3D composition. Where the gate and hair motif if relatively simple, it is rich in symbolism in its scope of possible methods of treatment. Each gate serves as the canvas on which the hair and materials are weaved and composed just like brushstrokes on a canvas. The gallery space too is cleverly put together work with the series, closed off from the rest of the exhibition, the works are in a circular space so the viewer feel encompassed and closed in by the gates which then brings it back to the theme of the works and the exhibition.Image: Daughter of the Father 1982
It was good to be able to have that space and quiet to wander around and absorb the art, away from the hordes of children. Despite the signs around the exhibition stating that some of the works contained explicit content, it didn't deter one parent whose child then ran around the exhibit screaming "it's disgusting!" I enjoyed this exhibition as once again there were a few artists and works I was familiar with from having studied and it is always so much more worthwhile seeing works, even just within the branch of feminist works, in person as the impact is so much more. It was well worth the visit halfway down the country.
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