Projects and Forums at NZ’s Premier Art Event

Media Release

15 July 2013

Projects and Forums at NZ’s Premier Art Event

With fewer than three weeks to go until opening night of the 2013 Auckland Art Fair, tickets for the highly anticipated Vernissage on Wednesday 7 August are running out fast. In addition to exhibiting the region’s best contemporary art under one roof at The Cloud from 7 – 11 August, the fair will showcase invited projects from some of New Zealand’s foremost artists. A forum of thought-provoking talks, panel discussions, and interviews also complements the event.

Artists invited to exhibit projects are Bill Culbert, Alex Monteith, Scott Eady, Niki Hastings-McFall, Seung Yul Oh, Dan Arps, Rohan Wealleans and Israel Birch. From video to vinyl and plaster to plastic, the projects will be displayed both inside and outside The Cloud.

“It is very cool to have the space and scope to show solo projects by some of New Zealand’s most interesting and exciting artists” says Auckland Art Fair Director, Jennifer Buckley.

On approaching the venue the first project visitors will encounter is Alex Monteith’s dual channel video work based on the Rena disaster, projected on two back-lit shipping containers outside The Cloud. The work is comprised of long-take documentations of the community and NZ defence force responses’ amidst the clean-up. A highlight is a light installation by Bill Culbert, currently NZ's representative at the 55th Venice Biennale. Also fresh from projects in Venice, Scott Eady presents a body of work that explores the successful Lewis Eady company, a family business of four generations that has survived vacillating and volatile economic times.

The opportunity to encounter art and artists from around the region is augmented by a forum of talks, panel discussions and interviews focused on photography, collecting new media, and new directions in the visual arts scene locally and internationally. The 5th Auckland Art Fair also boasts its very own radio channel.

A panel highlight is What Photography Sees, featuring Keynote Speaker Sandra Phillips, senior curator of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, on Thursday 8 August 2pm.

STUDIO CHANNEL ART FAIR invites visitors to join the studio audience to explore the mysteries of the art market, with hosts Mark Amery and Sophie Jerram leading on-camera intimate short interviews with artists, dealers, collectors and the art world’s Mafioso, direct from the Art Fair floor.

Guided art tours led by artists and curators from Auckland’s visual arts community will provide insight on work on display from 11am – 4pm on the hour.

The Auckland Art Fair’s public programme has been developed by the NZ Contemporary Art Trust as part of its commitment to promote understanding, awareness and appreciation of the visual arts through engagement with artists and art professionals.

Along with the projects and forums, visitors can immerse themselves in the thriving contemporary art scene and can buy and see art from 40 curated exhibitions and projects.

Please see note to editor for detailed information on all the projects.

ENDS

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