Dane Mitchell / Ken Friedman / Violent Legalities / Julia Morison

 

Installation view, <Dane Mitchell: Letters and Documents</i>, curated by Christina Barton, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker Dane Mitchell, <i>Private and Confidential</i>, colour digital c-type prints, 1270 x 1270mm each, courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i>Private and Confidential</i>, six framed letters each 353 x 268mm (frames), courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view, <i>Dane Mitchell: Letters and Documents</i>, curated by Christina Barton, 2 June - 16 August 2020, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i>Post Hoc Relic</i> (detail), 2019, printed paper rolls, canvas and metal strap, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i>Post Hoc Relic</i>, 2019, printed paper rolls, canvas and metal strap, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i> Line/Breath Drawings</i>, 2005, pencil and breath on paper, five sheets, each 490 x 265mm (frames), courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i> Line/Breath Drawings</i>, 2005, pencil and breath on paper, 90 x 265mm (frames), courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view, <i>Dane Mitchell: Letters and Documents</i>, curated by Christina Barton, 2 June - 16 August 2020, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i>Recent Acquisitions</i>, 2002, two framed letters each 353 x 268mm (frames), courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i>Recent Acquisitions</i>(detail), 2002, two framed letters each 353 x 268mm (frames), courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i>Recent Acquisitions</i>(detail), 2002, shredded paper in five cardboard boxes, one framed document (reassembled from shredded printed paper), boxes each: 465 x 465 x 360mm, 353 x 258mm (frame), courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i>Recent Acquisitions</i>(detail), 2002, shredded paper in five cardboard boxes, one framed document (reassembled from shredded printed paper), boxes each: 465 x 465 x 360mm, 353 x 258mm (frame), courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i>Recent Acquisitions</i>(detail), 2002, shredded paper in five cardboard boxes, one framed document (reassembled from shredded printed paper), boxes each: 465 x 465 x 360mm, 353 x 258mm (frame), courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell & Tim Checkley, <i>Artspace Totem</i>, 1999 timber and paint, found object, 750 x 690 x 620mm, collection of the artist, gift of Artspace Aotearoa. Photo: Ted WhitakerDane Mitchell, <i>The Art Loss Register</i>, 1998, two framed letters and envelopes, each 450 x 420mm (frames), courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington. Photo: Ted Whitaker

Dane Mitchell: Letters and Documents 
Curated by Christina Barton 

This exhibition brought a key element of Dane Mitchell’s 2019 Post Hoc installation for the 58th Venice Biennale together with works produced by the artist between 1998 and 2005. Focused on the printed lists that were produced during the seven-month exhibition in Venice, this gathering of works charted a particular trajectory back to Mitchell’s earlier practice, bringing together drawings, printed documents, vinyl records and photographic documentation. These formats uncannily replicate the logic of Post Hoc, but are its incipient precursor. From a stolen painting, to a lost satchel, a purloined bag of rubbish and illicitly recorded conversations, Mitchell treats his subjects and their representation as tools to reflect on how information and knowledge is conveyed, exchanged, withheld, remembered and forgotten.

Dane Mitchell: Letters and Documents Gallery Guide pdf.

Dane Mitchell (1976, Aotearoa New Zealand) lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. He completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Auckland Institute of Technology in 1998 and a Master of Philosophy from Auckland University of Technology in 2012. He has held residencies in Melbourne, Wellington, London, Berlin, New Plymouth, Dunedin and Scotland and regularly exhibits nationally and internationally. In 2019 he represented New Zealand at the 58th Venice Biennale. Mitchell is represented by Mossman, Wellington.

Image: Dane Mitchell, Installation view of Post Hoc Relic, 2019, printed paper rolls, canvas and metal strap, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi. Courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington


New Adam Art Gallery Edition

Adam Art Gallery is pleased to announce the launch of its second Artist Edition. To accompany Letters and Documents, Adam Art Gallery commissioned Dane Mitchell to produce a new 12-inch vinyl record that features the voice of ‘Amy’ the synthetic avatar who reads the ‘List of Lists’ that is the index to the contents of his Post Hoc exhibition. This is the second Adam Art Gallery Artist Edition marking the gallery’s move into its third decade of operation. This record is produced in an edition of 20. Proceeds from its sale are used to support the work of the gallery. To purchase and for more information, visit our online shop. For questions, please contact ann.gale@vuw.ac.nz.


Installation view, <i>Ken Friedman: 92 Events</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker

Installation view, <i>Ken Friedman: 92 Events</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker Installation view, <i>Ken Friedman: 92 Events</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker Installation view, <i>Ken Friedman: 92 Events</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker Installation view, <i>Ken Friedman: 92 Events</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker Installation view, <i>Ken Friedman: 92 Events</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker Installation view, <i>Ken Friedman: 92 Events</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker Installation view, <i>Ken Friedman: 92 Events</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker Installation view, <i>Ken Friedman: 92 Events</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker Installation view, <i>Ken Friedman: 92 Events</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2 June - 16 August 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker

Ken Friedman: 92 Events

92 Events presented works spanning four decades by American Fluxus artist Ken Friedman. Friedman’s instructional texts navigate a fine line between sculptural proposition, absurdist action, and concrete poetry, as is fitting given his connections to Fluxus, the international movement that developed its anarchic approach to art making from the 1950s through to the present. His exhibition had been devised to be shown in multiple venues across the globe at minimal cost, in the spirit of a movement that eschewed the idea of art having monetary value. Friedman’s playful but profound scores were a welcome respite at this time, providing a fitting model for new ways of envisaging how art might function as a mental game where the imagination can roam even if our bodies can’t.

Ken Friedman: 92 Events Gallery Guide pdf.

Ken Friedman (1949, New London Connecticut) joined Fluxus in 1966 on the invitation of Fluxus co-founder George Maciunas, as the youngest member of the group. He subsequently worked closely with artists and composers associated with Fluxus such as Dick Higgins, Nam June Paik, John Cage and others. He was instrumental in establishing Fluxus West which was designed as a gathering point for Fluxus-related activities in the western states of America, but also extended its reach to Germany and the UK in the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1971 he participated in New Zealand post-object artist and composer Philip Dadson’s Earthworks a ‘composition’ for film and audiotape realised simultaneously at fifteen locations across the globe. Friedman has pursued an academic career in addition to his art practice and is currently Professor of Design Innovation Studies at Tongji University in Shanghai, China.

Image: Installation view, Ken Friedman: 92 Events, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi


 Installation view: Fraser Crichton, Mariachiara Ficarelli, Lachlan Kermode, Bhaveeka Madagammana, Davide Mangano, Karamia Müller: Violent Legalities, 2 June – 16 August 2020, courtesy of the artists. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view: Fraser Crichton, Mariachiara Ficarelli, Lachlan Kermode, Bhaveeka Madagammana, Davide Mangano, Karamia Müller: Violent Legalities, 2 June – 16 August 2020, courtesy of the artists. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view: Fraser Crichton, Mariachiara Ficarelli, Lachlan Kermode, Bhaveeka Madagammana, Davide Mangano, Karamia Müller: Violent Legalities, 2 June – 16 August 2020, courtesy of the artists. Photo: Ted Whitaker<i>Terror Legalities</i>, 2020, TimeMap Cartographic Diagram, developed by Forensic Architecture 2014–. New features integrated into site 2019–2020 by Lachlan Kermode. All research conducted by developed by the Violent Legalities team.Installation view: Fraser Crichton, Mariachiara Ficarelli, Lachlan Kermode, Bhaveeka Madagammana, Davide Mangano, Karamia Müller: Violent Legalities, 2 June – 16 August 2020, courtesy of the artists. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view: Fraser Crichton, Mariachiara Ficarelli, Lachlan Kermode, Bhaveeka Madagammana, Davide Mangano, Karamia Müller: Violent Legalities, 2 June – 16 August 2020, courtesy of the artists. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Fraser Crichton, Mariachiara Ficarelli, Lachlan Kermode, Bhaveeka Madagammana, Davide Mangano, Karamia Müller: Violent Legalities

Violent Legalities was an interdisciplinary project that brought together contributors spanning the fields of anthropology, architecture, art and software design. The project was initiated by academic Karamia Müller, Lecturer at the School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland, and London/Boston based New Zealander Lachlan Kermode, software lead at human rights agency ForensicArchitecture, based at Goldsmiths University, London. Building on open-source software developed by Forensic Architecture, the exhibition launches new interactive maps of Aotearoa, specially developed to plot historical instances of violence and unrest and to track these against a chronology of legislative changes. This ambitious project drew on hundreds of documents and sources, including the Waitangi Tribunal, and is initiated in the wake of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. The exhibition trialed this software as a potential tool in scrutinising such law changes. It presented a case, based on the group’s initial findings, that certain changes in legislation have led to the over-policing of non-Pākehā and the under-policing of white supremacist groups.

Violent Legalities Gallery Guide pdf.

Fraser Crichton is a Pōneke/Wellington based visual artist who graduated from the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Masters at University of Arts London in 2019. His research-based practice incorporates investigative journalism, data-visualisation, video, archival imagery, still photography, and community based participatory photography projects. Crichton’s work examines the power of the state in the context of social reform and the criminal justice system.

Mariachiara Ficarelli is an Italian anthropologist and filmmaker. She is interested in the potential of open source research for ethnographic methodology.

Lachlan Kermode develops full stack architectures, manages machine learning workflows, and handles the granular details of computer infrastructure across a range of Forensic Architecture’s investigations. He has a degree in Computer Science from Princeton University, and a range of experience both in industry and as a full stack freelancer. His academic interests are generally found in and between computer science, infrastructure studies, and cultural and critical theory.

Bhaveeka Madagammana is a postgraduate student currently studying architecture at the University of Auckland.

Davide Mangano is a computer graphics generalist with a bachelor’s degree in CG animation from the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan. He has specialised in 3D environments for both real-time and rendered projects.

Karamia Müller is a Pacific scholar and feminist specialising in Pacific space concepts. Her research specializes in the ‘indigenization’ of design methodologies with a focus on indigenous spatialities.

The initial workshop, and subsequent research assistance for this project was funded by a University of Auckland, Creative Arts and Industries Faculty Research Development Fund Grant.

Image: Karamia Müller, Lachlan Kermode, et al., TimeMap Cartographic Diagram, 2014-20, software developed by Forensic Architecture

Listen to Dr. Karamia Müller on RNZ, 12 June 2020 

Watch an interview with Dr. Karamia Müller on te ao Māori News 16 June 2020.

 


Installation view, <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker Julia Morison, <i>Sybil Dreams</i>, 2018 Glazed porcelain, 330 × 170 × 195mm, in <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view, <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view, <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view, <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view, <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted WhitakerJulia Morison, <i>Shut up!</i>, 2015, Glazed stoneware, paint, tacks 320 × 160mm, <i>Senses interrupted</i>, 2014, Glazed stoneware, rubber corks, 300 × 150 × 150mm. In <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted WhitakerJulia Morison, <i>A mouthful of teeth,</i> 2018, Glazed porcelain, tiger tail, 290 × 150 × 160mm. In <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view, <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted WhitakerInstallation view, <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted WhitakerJulia Morison, <i>Ena & Min</i>, 2014, Glazed stoneware & cat fur felt, 290 × 160mm. In <i>Julia Morison: Head[case]</i>, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 June – 16 July 2020. Photo: Ted Whitaker

Julia Morison: Head[case]

Organised by Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū and toured with support from Objectspace Auckland

Christchurch-based Julia Morison is a leading figure in New Zealand art. This installation was the latest in her long series of works that draw on esoteric knowledge systems that redefine materials and images to recode their symbolic connotations. Head[case], comprised 114 unique ceramic heads made by the artist since 2011. Each sculpture is modelled on a hat-maker’s block and demonstrates Morison’s skilful deployment of a range of raw materials and firing processes, from glazed porcelain and clay to oxidised stoneware. Hovering between the surreal and the systematic, Head[case] took the fundamental attributes of the human head and playfully adjusted them to accentuate and transform the sensory portals through which we mediate our relations with the world and with each other. For this unique realisation, the artist configured the custom-built shelving system of interlocking hexagons to fit the proportions of the Adam Art Gallery and installed bespoke lighting. Morison’s installation was accompanied by a sound work by John Chrisstoffels.

Julia Morison: Head[case] Gallery Guide pdf.

Julia Morison studied at the Wellington Polytechnic, graduating in 1972 with a diploma in graphic design, and went on to gain an honours degree from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 1975. Since then, Morison has exhibited nationally and internationally and has been awarded numerous grants and awards, including the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 1989, and the prestigious New Zealand Moët & Chandon Fellowship in 1990, which allowed her to travel to France for a year’s residency. She chose to make France her base for the following 10 years, returning to take up an appointment as senior lecturer of painting at the University of Canterbury (1999–2007). Morison became a New Zealand Arts Foundation Laureate in 2005. In 2018 she was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM). She lives and works in Christchurch and is represented by Two Rooms, Auckland and Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch.

The artist acknowledges the support of Creative New Zealand in the realisation of this project.

Image: Julia Morison, Whimsy on Wheels, 2018, glazed porcelain, vintage castors, 330 x 135 mm, courtesy of the artist (photo: John Collie)

 


Read the media release for these four exhibitions here.