Adam in the City Art Forum Series 2011

Adam in the City Art Forum Series 2011

2. Re-Construction

Adam Auditorium, City Gallery Wellington

Wednesday 18 May 2011, 5.30-7pm with a drink to follow

• What status does the reconstruction of an original artwork have?
• If it is not an authentic artefact, then can it have value? Is it still an artwork?
• What motivates the contemporary need or desire to reconstruct, and what kind of relationship to the past does it enable?
• How are we to read and ascribe value to such an object, and what is gained or lost in the attempt?
• What does the re-construction of the past mean for the future?
• How do we balance priorities such as conservation vs innovation, age-value vs newness?

How does our contemporary impulse to make things over tally with a new need for resourcefulness in addressing questions of sustainability?

These and other questions will be debated by a chaired panel of speakers in the second of a series of discussions designed to engage key topics that are galvanising thinkers and practitioners.

For further information on this event and to download the related readings: http://www.adamartgallery.org.nz/past-exhibitions/adam-in-the-city-artforum-series-2011/

The participants:
Chair John Newton was the Victoria University JD Stout Fellow in 2010. An English lecturer in New Zealand and American Literature for 15 years (Melbourne and Canterbury Universities), he is now an independent scholar. Newton has published numerous articles on mid-century New Zealand writing. The Double Rainbow, his book about James K. Baxter and the Jerusalem commune, and a volume of poetry, Lives of the Poets, were both published by Victoria University Press in 2010.
Justin Paton is senior curator at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. He is the curator of the exhibition De-building (2011) and led the curatorial group for the re-hang of Christchurch Art Gallery’s collection, Brought to light. Justin is a widely published critic and author of How to look at a painting (Awa Press, 2005), recently adapted as a TV series.

Tessa Laird is a lecturer in contextual studies at Auckland's Manukau School of Visual Arts. A former general manager of The Physics Room, Christchurch, she was co-founder and editor of Monica Reviews Art and LOG Illustrated and has contributed to numerous art publications such as the NZ Listener and Art and Australia.

Tyler Cann is curator, Len Lye at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. He has curated or co-curated a number of exhibitions of Lye’s work in New Zealand and internationally, including the 2009 retrospective at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne and, most recently, Len Lye: The Body Electric, at IKON Gallery in Birmingham, UK. Cann has lectured widely on the artist and, with Wystan Curnow, was contributing editor of the 2009 monograph published by the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and Len Lye Foundation. Tyler co-curated (with Mercedes Vicente), Points of Contact: Jim Allen, Len Lye, Hélio Oiticica, currently showing at the Adam Art Gallery.

ENDS

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