3 December 2013
Office stationery defies gravity in new Courtenay Place Park light box exhibition
Daniel von Sturmer is the latest artist to have his work showcased in the Courtenay Place Park light boxes. Von
Sturmer's Production Stills will be on display throughout the summer and into early April. The series features photographs of collections of
cast-off office supplies and recycled objects assembled in gravity-defying piles.
Uncomplicated images at first glance, the photographs invite a longer look, working against our instinctive
understanding of physical forces and prompting questions about everyday digital manipulation. There is also a distinct
element of tension and slapstick humour - the sculptures forever on the brink of an inevitable collapse.
Although appearing to conform to some of the conventions of advertising product shots, the collection of images offer no
easy takeaway concept or proposition. Nothing is being pushed, and there is no message to receive, only questions to be
asked.
"Daniel von Sturmer’s works use a collection of found objects and recycled materials to form improbable sculptural
stacks. The works defy logical reading because they confound our everyday understanding of gravity, friction and
balance. They invite the viewer to pause and consider what it is they are seeing, and how they may be seeing it" says
curator Rob Garrett. "Von Sturmer's playful works have the potential to turn us into witnesses of our own senses."
New Zealand born von Sturmer studied at RMIT University and is currently based in Melbourne. He has exhibited at
galleries around the world and was nominated for the 2004 Walters Prize. Daniel von Sturmer represented Australia at the
Venice Biennale in 2007; and has exhibited at numerous national and international public venues including the Australian
Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; the Gothenburg Museum of Art,
Sweden; the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum, Berlin and Auckland Art Gallery. Production Stills is a fantastic opportunity for
Wellington audiences to see von Sturmer's latest work.
The exhibition is curated by Rob Garrett, who has an extensive background in public art. Garrett recently curated the
5th edition of Narracje (Narratives) with a series of temporary installations and interventions in public space, in
Gdańsk, Poland and has curated numerous public art projects in urban spaces as well as city-wide public art plans and
policies.
Production Stills will be on display in the Courtenay Place Park light boxes from 6 December 2013 - 6 April 2014.
The project is supported by Wellington City Council’s Public Art Fund.
ENDS