City Gallery Weekly Events Update
Week: 19 - 25 May 2003
Current Exhibitions & Events At City Gallery Wellington
Free Admission
Floortalks
Moving Along
Luit Bieringa Sunday 25 May, 2pm
A foot journey through Peter Black territory by curator, art historian and former Director of the National Art Gallery,
Luit Bieringa.
Under the directorship of Bieringa, the National Art Gallery not only exhibited Peter Black's Fifty Photographs in 1981
but went on to build up the largest public collection of the artist's work in existence. Bieringa knew Black at the time
he was producing important series of work, so he is well placed to talk about the circumstances as well as the nature of
the work, highlighting in particular the affinity Black's work has with American photographers such as Robert Frank and
Gary Winogrand. Don't miss this rare opportunity to hear Luit Bieringa discuss what drew him to the work of Peter Black
two decades ago - and what he sees in the work today.
MICHAEL HIRSCHFELD GALLERY ARTIST'S TALK
Set Up Artists' Talk
Jenny Gillam, Wayne Barrar, Mary Macpherson and Ben Cauchi Tuesday 27 May, 6pm
Wellington photographers from the Hirschfeld Gallery exhibition Set Up discuss their individual contributions to the
exhibition. The exhibition features new bodies of work from each of the artists, exploring the concept of staged worlds.
EXHIBITIONS
PETER BLACK- REAL FICTION
23 March- 29 June 2003
Peter Black-Real Fiction, curated by Gregory O'Brien of City Gallery Wellington, comprises nearly 200 images from Peter
Black's career, many of which have never been shown publicly before. The images in this exhibition track the artist's
career from his first 'street photograph', taken in Brisbane in 1973, to his present 'streetworks', images taken 'from
the hip' while walking along the pavement, mainly in Auckland and Wellington.
The exhibition includes photographs of brass bands, sportspeople, fashion shows, wild-life, Springbok tour protests and
religious gatherings, alongside scenes of life in Wellington.
The exhibition is accompanied by a 168 page publication, a special issue of the literary journal Sport, which includes
171 photographs by Peter Black as well as essays and poems by 25 leading art writers and poets (including Bill Manhire,
Ian Wedde, Gavin Hipkins, Jenny Bornholdt, Dinah Hawken, Jim Barr and Mary Barr, James Brown).
NEW ZEALAND VENICE BIENNALE PROJECT 2001
23 March- 29 June 2003
Peter Robinson: Divine Comedy Jacqueline Fraser: A demure portrait of the artist strip searched with 11 details of
bi-polar disorder.
City Gallery Wellington is the first New Zealand gallery to re-present the New Zealand exhibition shown at the
prestigious Venice Biennale 2001. The exhibition showcases details of the site-specific installation work of two of New
Zealand's most internationally recognised artists.
Audiences will be familiar with Peter Robinson's work, but this is the first exhibition of Jacqueline Fraser's work in
New Zealand for several years. Peter Robinson: Divine Comedy is an outcome of Peter Robinson's residency in 2001 at the
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery as a participant in the Taranaki Artist in Residence Programme, a partnership between the
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and the Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki, Te Kura Matatini o Taranaki.
This residency was generously supported by Creative New Zealand, Toi Aotearoa.
The work from this exhibition formed the basis of Peter Robinson's installation in the exhibition Bipolar. Bipolar
represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale in 2001 and was an initiative of Creative New Zealand, Toi Aotearoa.
Jacqueline Fraser: A demure portrait of the artist strip searched with 11 details of bi-polar disorder, courtesy of
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.
SIMRYN GILL: A SMALL TOWN AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
23 March- 29 June 2003
A Small Town at the Turn of the Century is the first solo show of Australian artist Simryn Gill's work in New Zealand.
This exhibition of large photographs continues the artist's interest in exploring the relationship between nature and
culture. In these works she revisits her old home town of Port Dickson in Malaysia, and renders familiar scenarios
strange through her humorous interventions.
MONEY FOR NOTHING
10 May- 29 June 2003
Money For Nothing is an Artspace, Auckland touring exhibition. This exhibition uses artistic output to look at the
relationship between people and economy; the way artist and art deals with value, economy, and the economic impacts on
and of the art world.
The exhibition starts with small, more conceptual, works from the '60s like Andy Warhol's 'Marilyn' and 'Shopping Bag',
Billy Apple's 'FOR SALE' (1961), Robert Watts attempt to copyright 'POP' (1965), or the '70s plaque by the English Pop
artist Peter Blake. More recent works include Santiago Sierra who paid six men in Cuba USD30 each to stand in a row and
get a line tattooed on their backs. Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas present a film in which the volunteer employees of the
Lithuanian Saving Bank are singing the Abba classic 'Money, Money, Money' the day before this last state owned bank is
privatised.
SET UP MICHAEL HIRSCHFELD GALLERY
WAYNE BARRAR, BEN CAUCHI, JENNY GILLAM, MARY MACPHERSON
15 May- 15 June 2003
With photographs from four new bodies of work, this exhibition explores the concept of staged worlds. Both Jenny Gillam
and Ben Cauchi are interested in photography's role in history making. Re-photographing 1940s portraits of ordinary men
and women assuming movie star poses, Gillam explores how photography enables people to imagine themselves and, in turn,
to be imagined. Ben Cauchi also re-stages the past, constructing and preserving scenarios using 19th century
photographic methods.
In a series called At Sea Mary Macpherson constructs tiny stage sets out of junk shop maritime paintings, lace and
plastic toys, photographing them to evoke the sea as a site for adventure and imagination. This convergence of reality
and fiction is continued in Wayne Barrar's photographs of Woomera and Coober Pedy in South Australia, where interiors
carved into caves, museum exhibits and landscapes all evoke a strange version of reality.
Set Up is presented within the 360 programme - a full perspective on Wellington Art, which is generously sponsored by
Designworks.
GUIDED TOURS
Free Public Tours of current exhibitions Every Saturday, Sunday and Queen's Birthday, 1pm
These dynamic and accessible 40 minute tours are a great introduction to the exhibitions currently on at the Gallery. No
bookings required. Meet in the gallery foyer.
Free Visitor Groups & Community Education Tours - Book Now!
Bring your social or community group, your family and friends (6+ people) to City Gallery Wellington and enjoy a free 30
- 40 minute tour around the exhibitions.
Bookings are essential, contact Tracey Monastra T: 04 801 4241 or email mailto:tracey.monastra@wcc.govt.nz
CITY GALLERY WELLINGTON Civic Square Open Daily 10am - 5pm For information on exhibitions or events phone (04) 801 3952
or visit www.city-gallery.org.nz
Events Principal Sponsor Montana Wines Ltd. City Gallery Wellington is managed by the Wellington Museums Trust with
major funding support from the Wellington City Council.