Public Programme: The Future is Unwritten

NIGHT TALKS
Adam Art Gallery

Thursday 16 July 2009
6pm

Ray Spiteri – Art history and the political
Raymond Spiteri, Lecturer in Art History explored the role of the institution in creating a space for the event to take place, and how in doing so also seeks to contain and incorporate the unforeseen consequences of that event.

Thursday 30 July 2009
6pm

Paul James – Architecture and latency
Paul James from the School of Architecture discuseed two questions raised by the exhibition project The Future is Unwritten. How can artworks activate the latent cultural content of a site? And, how have the artists in this exhibition negotiated the legacy of institutional critique generated by conceptual artists and art theorists during the 1960’s and 70’s?

Thursday 13 August 2009
6pm

Minette Hillyer – Media after modernity
Minette Hillyer, Lecturer in Media Studies asked the question: What is at stake in claiming an ‘after’ to modernity, politically and historically? While modernity, or rather the myth that it has become, depends on the idea of a rupture, or radical break with the past, an experience of the modern also suggests the persistent significance of local interventions. Hillyer used the specific context of New Zealand, founded on a process of colonisation, to consider other ways to represent narratives of historical change.

Thursday 27 August 2009
6pm

Ralph Chapman and Andrew Wilks – The environment and energy use
Ralph Chapman, Director of Postgraduate Environmental Studies, and Andrew Wilks, Environmental Manager of Facilities Management at Victoria University of Wellington discussed how their research and work on energy efficiency, renewable energy and other sustainability actions is both aligned with, and addresses different questions from, the intentions of contemporary art. In keeping with the premise of the exhibition project, this talk considered how the implementation of their work looks to various timeframes – including a long future that we may not get to see.

WORKSHOP
State of curatorial practice in New Zealand

Adam Art Gallery
6 August 2009
4-6pm

Heather Galbraith, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Mercedes Vicente, Hamish Win
Chaired by Christina Barton and Laura Preston

This workshop on curatorial practice was intended for students of Art History and Museum and Heritage Studies at Victoria University of Wellington and Critical Studies, Massey University. It was also open to students from other programmes, as well as members of the public interested in the subject.

The aim of the discussion was to bring together a range of perspectives and approaches to the role of the curator, and provide insights into the practicalities, theoretical concerns and developing methodologies that inform curatorial practice in Aotearoa, New Zealand today.

WEB CAST
Ice Melt

Adam Art Gallery
Sunday 30 August 2009
7pm

“What’s the alternative to optimism? Unless we act as if we can sort this out you might as well just get a hat and some sun tan lotion and write a letter of apology to your grandchildren.” Nicholas Stern

A series of performances at the Adam Art Gallery featuring Martin Poppelwell (Napier), Murray Hewitt and Andy Hummel (Wellington), Sarah Jane Parton (Rarotonga) and Sam Hamilton (Auckland).

Curated by Sophie Jerram and Dugal McKinnon.