14 August 2012
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New curator arrives at the Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi
Victoria University’s Adam Art Gallery is pleased to welcome Michelle Menzies as its new curator.
Ms Menzies has recently returned from Chicago, where she has been studying towards a PhD in the Department of English at
the University of Chicago. Her dissertation, ‘Archives of Experience: Toward a Digital Aesthetic’, argues a theory of
digital aesthetics through an expanded definition of cinema, with case studies taken from early film and photography,
modern poetry, poetics, expanded cinema, animation, science-film, and contemporary art.
“I’m very excited to join the Adam, and look forward to extending my research interests and the implications of my
doctoral work into the conception and realisation of the Gallery’s programme,” says Ms Menzies.
While completing her Bachelor of Arts in English and Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) at the University of Auckland, Ms
Menzies co-founded Window with Stephen Cleland and Luke Duncalfe, a contemporary art and project space which she
co-curated until 2006.
The initiative had a dual on-site and virtual presence on campus, and ran parallel programmes of experimental media and
virtual art. Window is still running today and continues to act as an incubator, critical forum and experimental
platform for artists, musicians, curators, critics and gallerists.
Relocating to the USA as a Fulbright New Zealand Graduate Fellow in 2006, Ms Menzies continued to be involved in the art
scene in addition to her studies. She was the Chicago correspondent for print arts magazine Flash Art and contributed to the University of Chicago’s New Media Workshop, which was set up to bring people working with
digital media in different disciplines together.
Most recently Ms Menzies conceived and coordinated a two day event at the University of Chicago Film Studies Centre
devoted to the works of Anthony McCall, a seminal figure in American avant-garde cinema. Featuring works in celluloid
film and digital media, the exhibition and its related symposium placed the artist into conversation with a panel of
distinguished curators and scholars to consider the implications of McCall’s transition between media formats, offering
a critical assessment of his future-oriented legacy.
Director of the Gallery Tina Barton says Ms Menzies will be working on the gallery’s exhibition, public and publication
programmes and assisting with the presentation, interpretation and development of the Victoria University art
collection. “I am delighted to welcome Michelle to Wellington and look forward to seeing her apply her ideas to the
Gallery and Victoria’s art collection.”
Adam Art Gallery
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
Open Tuesday – Sunday, 11am - 5pm (closed only on Monday)
Free entry
+ 64 4 463 5229
Please note: Access to the Adam Art Gallery is via Gates 1, 2 and 7 on Kelburn Parade or via pedestrian footpath from
Mount Street. Gate 3 is currently closed due to construction. Visit www.adamartgallery.org.nz for a map and route information, which is also available at Gate 3.
ENDS