Cinematic Installations Emerge From UC Collaboration

Promising young artist Christian Lamont features in an innovative screen-based collaboration with his former University of Canterbury (UC) lecturer Steve Carr at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland, from Saturday [27 February].

The creative relationship between the two has produced Fading To the Sky, an exhibition featuring cinematic installations that stand alone and overlap, exploring themes of light, atmosphere and grief.

Carr lectures in film at UC’s School of Fine Arts and recently completed a prestigious McCahon House residency. He was keen to collaborate with his former student whose work Carr finds “totally innovative, in the way that he uses the camera as a medium to create colour field projections and screens of light that fills the space”.

“In this exhibition at Te Uru, Christian has created a space for contemplation that is lyrical yet temporary, shifting and fading throughout the day and the course of the exhibition as it moves through the autumn season,” Carr says.

Lamont, who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from UC last year, was delighted to join creative forces.

“The chance to collaborate with Steve is great knowing his profile and being able to feature in a show and gain exposure,” Lamont says.

“The collaboration came about quite easily as Steve was quite familiar with my practice. There are formal connections with our works and also conceptual narratives that underpins the works.”

Lamont was well prepared for the arts sector by his time at UC, he says. “Over the course of my study Steve has helped me to organise and run exhibitions with other students, which was a helpful learning experience.

“Having studied at UC’s Ilam School of Fine Arts and being able to collaborate on projects with other students really helped develop my art practice – from creating short films to formulating exhibitions, then being able to have critiques and input from your lecturers and peers to further push your creative capabilities.”

In the midst of a global pandemic, both artists are grateful to be able to get together with others for the official opening on Saturday 6 March and for a public talk on 27 February at 2pm.

“There is something to say about the luxury of being able to have a shared experience with others these days, and my work is a way of highlighting and celebrating this space,” Lamont says. “This is why I’m very excited for the opening, being able to be surrounded by friends and strangers experiencing something physically together.”

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