Gavin Hipkins: The Habitat

Gavin Hipkins, The Habitat (detail) 1999-2000

In The Habitat, a photographic frieze of late modern and New Brutalist New Zealand university buildings, Gavin Hipkins continued his exploration of the legacies of modernist utopianism. Hipkins’ grainy, grey prints emulate the New Brutalists’ ‘truth to materials’ dictum, expressing their preference for visible steel and primitive concrete, yet also signalling that times have changed, and so has the ‘truth’ of these buildings.

Gavin Hipkins: The Habitat was accompanied by a well-illustrated exhibition catalogue with an essay by Paul Walker, and is available for purchase here