For immediate release: 14 January 2014
Everyday Fiction: Artists imagine the world this February at The Dowse Art Museum
What would you pack in an apocalypse toolkit? How would the heroes of Greek mythology fare in colonial New Zealand? A
new exhibition at The Dowse brings together ten New Zealand artists' speculations on history, memory, and how we might
live: right now, back then, and in the future.
Curated by 2013 Blumhardt Curatorial Intern Emma Ng, Everyday Fiction includes works of design, decorative art and
contemporary art. DIY-style structures sit next to small, beautifully crafted objects, threaded together by an urge to
make everyday life more thought-provoking.
Emma says, "I was interested in how we are always dreaming beyond the bounds of our own lives - venturing further and
further in search of fresh starts and opportunities to reshape the way we live."
Auckland architect Sara Lee's collages imagine her grandparents' house in colonial Taiwan, and the domestic details that
shaped their lives. Artist-designers SWAMP & Tiago Rorke use portable computing technologies to play on that ubiquitous 1990s toy, the tamagotchi. Their version
tests our attachment to digital technologies, bringing together a living organism and a virtual pet.
Dunedin artist Bekah Carran welcomes visitors to the space with a contemplative installation inspired by philosophies
that embrace simplicity, impermanence and imperfection. How might these philosophies sit amongst the chaos of throw-away
culture and natural disasters? At the other end of the gallery Andy Irving & Keila Martin's Apocalypse Tent invites visitors inside to ponder a life of isolation and self-sufficiency, in a land
made unfamiliar by some distant apocalypse.
Jeweller Kirsten Haydon explores an unfamiliar land of a different kind, inspired by a visit to Antarctica. Beautiful,
icy and mysterious, her work imagines the form Antarctic souvenirs might take, channelling both the landscape and human
histories of Antarctica.
New Zealand's own history is reimagined by printmaker Marian Maguire in three striking lithographs. She brings together
the imagery and characters of Greek myth, colonial settlers and contemporaneous Maori to suggest new ways of telling the
stories of New Zealand's settlement. New Zealand's formative years are also reworked in the intricate textile work of
Wellington artist, Jo Torr. Exploring mutual cultural exchanges between Europe and Polynesia, Torr has crafted an
exquisite set of 1770s-style European undergarments from tapa cloth, embroidered with New Zealand flora.
Emma Ng is the sixth recipient of the Blumhardt Foundation's Curatorial Internship, funded by Creative NZ. A legacy of
New Zealand potter Dame Doreen Blumhardt's commitment to arts education, the internship provides a rare opportunity for
an aspiring curator to develop their skills alongside professional museum staff, in a contemporary gallery setting. Emma
has been working under the mentorship of Dowse Senior Curator, Emma Bugden.
Everyday Fiction
22 February - 25 May 2014
The Dowse Art Museum | FREE ENTRY
ENDS