City Gallery

Is it just me, or is the exterior of City Gallery Wellington's new extension completely heinous?

While putting the ace interiors aside, and not wanting to jump on the 'New Local Architecture Bashing Bandwagon' (refer Wellington Airport Development debacle), I find it looks like a rusty box! I'm struggling to find its appeal, to connect it with the artist's impression (see below), and to imagine how it might contribute to making City Gallery more approachable for the Wellington community (most famous for its intimidating entrance). And oh yeah, thanks for spoiling the view from the formerly tranquil seats of the City Library's upper floors, too.


Browsing CGW's website, they state of the addition: '...simple, bold, yet unexpected, supporting City Gallery’s role to challenge preconceived notions of art and design'.

Images: 'Rusty Box' credit SarahJean365: thanks! & 'External View of City Gallery Wellington's New Tower', City Gallery Wellington: thanks! Posted by Jeremy

Requiem for set

An essay by Rachel O'Neill, on the occasion of the opening of Role. Play , at Enjoy. The show runs until 17 October.

'a pile of rubbish'

Sometimes it's easy to see just why the public enjoys such a hostile relationship with contemporary art. Take Dane Mitchell's wining piece in the recent Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Award: literally a 'pile of rubbish', as Paul Henry so readily observed both last night and this morning on TVNZ. So after re-hashing Et Al's 'Braying Portaloo' for some years as an example of how art is a waste of time and money (notice how this always gets a mention at the end of Dominion Post articles on contentious art issues), they now have a new point of public reference.

It seems that contemporary art is just too easy to poke fun at, to not understand, and to twist into negative spin; resulting in people being quite content to not even want to engage, or begin to understand it.

I'm not saying that Mitchell's piece is not deserving of the award, or that contemporary art needs to satisfy on grounds of aesthetic of inherent 'value'. Only that this time I can understand where the media is coming from.

image: Collateral by Dane Mitchell. 2009 Judge, Charlotte Huddleston gives her judge's talk. Courtesy of Waikato Museum, 2009 (cheers). Posted by Jeremy

transmission

Some images from Radio Cegeste's first transmission to the Radia Network, from Enjoy the Sunday just gone. A project by Sally Ann McIntyre, with James R Ford's show Too Orangey for Crows as the backdrop.

www.r1.co.nz

www.myspace.com/radiocegeste

www.radia.fm
photographs by Sarah Loh