LIGHT SWITCH AND CONDUIT
The Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection
9 Apr 2016 – 14 Aug 2016
This exhibition explores the relationship between artworks and the domestic context by delving into the personal collection of Jim Barr and Mary Barr. Light switch and conduit focuses on their recent period of collecting and brings together works by key figures in the rising generation of contemporary New Zealand artists, alongside more established New Zealand artists and several international artists as well. This exhibition includes work by Dan Arps, Fiona Connor, Simon Denny, Oscar Enberg, Glen Hayward, Kate Newby, Campbell Patterson and Luke Willis Thompson. Link
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
*Michael Parekowhai Canis Minor 2016 (detail), Axminister carpet, brass, bronze, c-type photograph | Photo: Max Bellamy
TaylorSwiftVEVO Published on Dec 31, 2015 Taylor Swift – Out Of The Woods
The new video “Out of the Woods” is off Taylor’s multi-platinum release 1989.
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Out of the Woods Lyrics
Songwriters: Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift
Looking at it now, it all seems so simple
We were lying on your couch, I remember
You took a Polaroid of us
Then discovered (then discovered)
The rest of the world was black and white
But we were in screaming colour
And I remember thinking
Are we out of the woods yet?
Are we out of the woods yet?
Are we out of the woods yet?
Are we out of the woods?
Are we in the clear yet?
Are we in the clear yet?
Are we in the clear yet?
In the clear yet, good…..
Looking at it now, last December
We were built to fall apart, then fall back together…..
### NZ herald Online 5:16 PM Friday Jan 1, 2016
Sources: nzherald.co.nz and Daily Mail Do you recognise the location? Taylor Swift releases New Zealand-filmed video for song ‘Out of the Woods’
Popstar Taylor Swift has released her latest video clip featuring our very own New Zealand sand, sea and possibly even some mountains. The clip, to the singer’s latest single Out Of The Woods, was filmed here in November and was released today. It opens with a shot of Auckland’s Bethells Beach. […] Out of the Woods is widely thought to be about her past romance with One Direction band member, Harry Styles. Read more
HAIL y’ballers on a budget bitches [greenie-cyclists @ #DUD]
Ain’t no down economy.
Lexus UK Published on Dec 21, 2015 Lexus on Ice: NX Ice Wheels
The Lexus hallmarks of expert design, sublime style, and supreme craftsmanship have driven their ethos of Creating Amazing for years, both in their production vehicles and their concepts. For Lexus’s latest project, they put a team master craftsmen to the test as they tackled their coolest concept yet: the ice-tyre Lexus NX. Driving on four perfectly-finished, hand-sculpted tyres made from optically perfect, crystal-clear ice, the Lexus NX emerged from its own test of craftsmanship and quality – a five-day deep freeze at -30 degrees Centigrade that left it clad in a thick layer of ice.
Taking three months from start to finish, the ice-tyre Lexus NX is the product of a collaboration between Lexus UK and the ice-sculpting experts at Hamilton Ice Sculptors. The challenge was two-fold: how to recreate the Lexus five-twin-spoke alloy wheel and its Yokohama winter tyre with incredible precision, while also making a wheel and tyre that would support the NX’s 2.2-tonne mass. Like the highly-trained Lexus ‘takumi’, Hamilton Ice Sculptors combine generations of experience using traditional ice-sculpting methods with the latest technology to design and produce their works of art. Employing advanced techniques like laser-scanning, three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD), and multi-axis machining equipment, they could produce consistent wheel and tyre combinations ready for hand-finishing with traditional tools and techniques.
With the ice tyres ready and the NX suitably chilled in its icy chamber, the moment of truth saw the wheels and ice tyres mounted onto the frozen Lexus hybrid (which started first time, of course) ready for its first attempt at driving on ice. Part engineering, part art, this unique project came together to prove that anything is possible with the right combination of desire, skill and dedication.
While tires made entirely from ice may not get the best traction, they certainly look cool. To start, the car’s actual wheels were laser-scanned to ensure the rolling ice sculptures were a perfect match for the vehicle. After the wheels were set in place, the NX sat in -22°F conditions for five days before it was finally unveiled. The ultimate test drive is far from the high speed, closed-course stunts you usually see in car commercials, but given that the NX has a curb weight of about 4000 pounds, the journey is plenty impressive on its own. (The glowing blue back lights are also a nice touch.) You can watch the full process in the video above. [msn motoring]
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Lexus UK Published on Oct 5, 2015 Lexus – Making the Origami Inspired Car
There’s never been a Lexus quite like it: sheet metal, glass and plastics have been set aside for the creation of a one-off, life-sized recreation of the Lexus IS…. Crafted in precision-cut card. Pushing the boundaries of design, technology and craftsmanship, this driveable, full-sized sculpture explores Lexus’s promise of Creating Amazing. Comprised of some 1700 individually shaped pieces of cardboard, this origami-inspired car is a faithful replica of the Lexus IS saloon, and is produced as a celebration of the human craftsmanship skills that go into every car Lexus makes. Many thanks to NVDK, a design and production agency, providing services for the industries of art, design and architecture, from concept right through to final production. NVDK specialises in digital craftsmanship, mixing cutting edge digital technologies with artisanal skills and traditions to achieve forward-looking results.
Lexus UK Published on Apr 24, 2015 How to fold an origami cat with your non-dominant hand
The people that work at Lexus’ factories aren’t just employees. They’re craftsmen and women that take considerable pride in the standard of their work. But not all Lexus craftsmen are equal. At the top of the tree are artisans known as ‘takumi’. Their goal is simple – the pursuit of perfection in their chosen field, whether it be paintwork or welding, vehicle dynamics or interior crafting. They are responsible for keeping up the high standards Lexus demands of its vehicles. Becoming a takumi is no easy task. All takumi have at least a quarter of a century of experience, time spent honing their skills to a fine point. Several takumi have had their skills digitised and programmed into robots that recreate actions repeated thousands of times, so it’s vital that they’re up to scratch. Before becoming a takumi, candidates are assessed in a number of ways, but one is via a decidedly non-digital method – the Japanese art of paper folding, origami. Before they graduate to takumi status, candidates are challenged to fold a relatively simple origami cat. But here’s the catch – they have to fold the cat with just one hand, and in under 90 seconds. Oh, and it has to be their non-dominant hand. Challenging? To find out, we went to see Mark Bolitho. A respected name in the world of origami, Mark works full time creating paper masterworks for corporate clients, advertising and events, and is also the author of several books on the art. In short, he knows what he’s doing when it comes to folding paper.
Lexus UK Published on Oct 5, 2015 Lexus – The Origami Inspired Car Revealed
Lexus UK Published on Oct 8, 2015 Kevin McCloud drives Lexus Origami Car at Grand Designs Live 2015
Design guru Kevin McCloud launched the 10th anniversary of Grand Designs Live today by driving a unique, origami-inspired Lexus into the show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. The car is a life-size replica of the new Lexus IS saloon, created from 1,700 fully recyclable laser-cut cardboard sheets, capturing every design detail, inside and out. It has been commissioned by Lexus as a celebration of the human craftsmanship skills of the takumi, the men and women who work on the company’s production lines in Japan.
Lexus UK Published on Jun 29, 2015 How to draw a car – designing the Lexus LF-SA
Lexus’ striking design has always been a fundamental part of its appeal – it’s what sets it apart from other premium marques. And there’s no better way of getting a deeper understanding of how Lexus is designing for the future than by watching the process from start to finish. This video goes behind the scenes at ED², Lexus top secret design studio in the south of France, to show you how to draw a car.
UK Lexus Published on Apr 21, 2015 Lexus at Milan Design Week 2015
A closer look at Lexus, A Journey of the Senses at Milan Design Week 2015.
“Because of its dairy and gas industries stainless is, in architectural terms, Taranaki’s local stone. The finished building is a showcase for this expertise.” –Andrew Patterson, Len Lye Centre architect
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The Len Lye Centre, which opens in New Plymouth today, is a world-class building dedicated to our most innovative, versatile artist.
### NZ Herald Online 11:00 AM Saturday Jul 25, 2015 Len Lye: The father of invention
By Adam Gifford
If Len Lye didn’t exist, you couldn’t have invented him. Born at the dawn of the 20th century, he was the inquisitive kid from the wrong side of the tracks who got thrown out of Samoa for being too friendly, then shovelled coal on a steamer to get to London where he hung out with poets and painters and looked for ways to make art that moved.
In England it was film. In the United States, after he was head-hunted in 1944 to work for the March of Time newsreel service, he made sculpture. He became one of the pioneers of what was dubbed kinetic sculpture, making some works and planning many others beyond the technology of the day.
A visit back to his homeland, New Zealand, brought him into contact with engineers immersed in working steel for the dairy and oil industries, who embraced his vision and set about realising his designs. In the workshops of Taranaki he found not underlings but fellow explorers who strove to understand the properties of the metal.
It was to Taranaki that he left his life’s work on his death in 1980 and it is there, in New Zealand’s first gallery dedicated to the work of a single artist, that the work will continue to cement his position as an artist of influence. Read more
Because….
He was reluctant to sell beneath his value, a lot of the material stayed with him and ended up with us. So his time as a kinetic sculptor is coming again because the material is well-maintained here. Because….
Lye expected many of his works could not be made with the technology available to him, he endowed the Len Lye Foundation with a licence to create unrealised work or reconstruct existing work.
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25.7.15 @ New Plymouth
The public has had its chance to take a first glimpse inside the new $12 million Len Lye Centre. The building has already earned notoriety for its stunning 32-tonne, 14m-high mirror-grade stainless steel facade.
### radionz.co.nz 25 July 2015
RNZ National – Saturday Morning with Kim Hill Paul Brobbel, Len Lye
9:40 AM. Paul Brobbel is Len Lye Curator at the Govett Brewster Art Gallery, supporting the development and delivery of Len Lye exhibitions and looking after the Len Lye Collection. (slideshow) Audio | Download: OggMP3 ( 20′ 03″ )
LEN LYE CALLED THE GOVETT-BREWSTER THE SWINGINGEST GALLERY IN THE ANTIPODES
█ The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is relaunching with an exhibition entitled Our Hearts of Darkness, which is an examination of violence in New Zealand through the lens of contemporary art from the gallery’s collection
█ The Len Lye Centre’s first ever exhibition is a “best of” called Len Lye’s Jam Session, both shows run until December.
Govett- Brewster Published on Aug 27, 2012 Len Lye Centre
An experimental film-maker, poet, painter, kinetic sculptor, eccentric and ebullient personality, Len Lye is on of New Zealand’s most widely-known modernist artists. The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is home to the archives and studio collection of the Len Lye Foundation.
Born in Christchurch in 1901 and largely self-educated, Lye was driven by a life-long passion for motion, energy and the possibility of composing them as a form of art. Lye’s interests took him far from New Zealand; after sojourns in the South Pacific, Lye moved to London and then New York, where he became known as an intensely creative film-maker and kinetic sculptor.
In 1977, Len Lye returned to his homeland to oversee the first New Zealand exhibition of his work at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Shortly before his death in 1980, Lye and his supporters established the Len Lye Foundation, to which he gave his work. The Gallery is the repository for much of this collection, employing a full-time curator to ensure its preservation and appropriate exhibition.
Lye’s sculptures are also held in the collections of several major art museums, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Whitney Museum in New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Major repositories of Lye’s film work include the New Zealand Film Archive, the British Film Institute and the Museum of Modern Art.
Govett- Brewster Published on Sep 16, 2013 Len Lye Centre – New Plymouth, Aotearoa New Zealand
Opening 2015. Since 1970, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery has continued to be a beacon for contemporary art. A new phase in the Govett-Brewster’s history begins with the construction of the Len Lye Centre as well as earthquake strengthening, Gallery upgrades and building compliance on the original building. The new combined facility, reopening in 2015, will extend the Govett-Brewster’s ability to offer extraordinary experiences with contemporary art while offering a new permanent home for the art and ideas of Len Lye.
Govett- Brewster Published on Dec 14, 2014 Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
It’s been ten years down and just six months to go on the fundraising and building of Aotearoa New Zealand’s newest cultural icon – the Len Lye Centre, combined with the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery here in New Plymouth. The Len Lye Centre is the first piece of destination architecture linked to contemporary art in New Zealand, unique for its architecture, vision and the fact that building of this sort hasn’t been done before in our island nation. –Simon Rees, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre Director
Govett- Brewster Published on May 17, 2015 The inspiration behind the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre brand identity
New Zealand’s museum of contemporary art, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery unveils its new brand as it prepares to open its doors with the Len Lye Centre, 25 July 2015.
DiabolikDanger Published on Jul 11, 2014 Len Lye – Exact from Free Radicals
Filmed in Tate Liverpool
An example of direct film – making.
Free Radicals is a black-and-white animated film short by avant-garde filmmaker Len Lye. Begun in 1958 and completed in 1979, Lye made the film by directly scratching the film stock. The resulting “figures of motion” are set to music by the Bagirmi tribe of Africa.
In 2008, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
*Images: (from the top) Govett-Brewster Art Gallery – Len Lye Centre; whatifdunedin [BW screenshots] – Len Lye Centre architectural renders; Glenn Jeffrey – Len Lye Centre [via Stuff]; Brittany Mackenzie – Len Lye Centre [via Stuff]; Stuff – Len Lye Centre illuminated; Stuff – Len Lye, artist (archival)
23 Nov & 25-28 Nov, Dunedin School of Art (DSA), Riego Street (off Albany Street)
Art lovers will be engaged and inspired by a varied range of unique artworks in this celebrated end-of-year exhibition from the Dunedin School of Art. The featured artists are all final year undergraduate students and each of the School’s studio areas are represented. Prepare to be impressed by the talents of this next generation of artists. Many works will be for sale. See SITE 2013 Event on our facebook page
See ODT article with a glimpse of works by Tara James and Cheriene Singer in the upstairs gallery. (image: Tara James, Dumb Animals, 2013 installation from SITE 2013 – Tara is currently on a work placement at the DPAG)
To Everyone who enjoyed the sight of artist Shane McGrath’s Gelber LuftBallon flying HIGH over Customhouse Quay on Monday 15 April
AND
To ALL Submitters on the (LUC-2012-212) Betterways Advisory Ltd application to construct a 28-storey hotel and apartment building at 41 Wharf Street
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You are warmly invited to the forthcoming exhibition hosted at Blue Oyster Art Project Space | Basement, 24b Moray Place, Dunedin
[public domain] Submitters may find their submissions pinned to the wall.
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Gelber LuftBallon (Dunedin Research Project) is a series of new work created by Melbourne-based artist Shane McGrath.
McGrath’s practice has used rockets, planes and zeppelins as metaphors for escapism, exploration, memory and tragedy. For this series McGrath has been investigating the public debates around Dunedin’s proposed wharf hotel development. McGrath sees the issue as one that concerns the city as a whole, which has the potential to impact dramatically on the city’s future.
During the public submissions process there were calls for an on-site, tethered balloon to be used as an indication as to how tall the hotel would be. Using this suggestion as an entry point for his investigation, McGrath launched a balloon near the proposed site on Monday 15 April. In this context the balloon is not only a practical object for measuring height, but also references times of conflict (barrage balloons) which were designed to allay fears of attack and also to indicate that the city was under attack.
Gelber LuftBallon is not a didactic work or a protest, but simply a catalyst to encourage debate and add to the ongoing dialogue. The results and ephemera of the research project and balloon launch will form the core of the exhibition at the Blue Oyster which opens on Tuesday 23 April.
Shane McGrath has a BFA and an MFA from Massey University. In 2011 he was commissioned by City Gallery Wellington to create a permanent sculpture in Wellington’s Glover Park as a part of the The Obstinate Object exhibition. He is represented by Bartley and Company, Wellington.
Blue Oyster Art Project Space
The Blue Oyster Arts Trust (BOAT) was founded in Dunedin in 1999 as the governing body of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space that provides a high quality, dynamic program of experimental and innovative contemporary art practice. BOAT is a non-profit and non-commercial organisation that is made up of practicing artists, curators and other creative professionals. The art project space allows a diverse range of artists to work experimentally, free from commercial restraints and irrespective of the stage of their career. Blue Oyster aims to broaden the interest and understanding of contemporary arts by providing a forum for discussion and debate regarding contemporary art issues.
The Blue Oyster is supported by Creative New Zealand | Toi Aotearoa and Dunedin City Council | Kaunihera-a-rohe o Otepoti
![DPAG web banner 1.1.16 [dunedin.art.museum]](https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/dpag-web-banner-1-1-16-dunedin-art-museum1.jpg)
![DPAG 1.1.16 [detail of email]](https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/dpag-1-1-16-detail-of-email1.jpg)
![Len Lye Centre New Plymouth [Govett-Brewster Art Gallery]](https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/len-lye-centre-new-plymouth-govett-brewster-art-gallery.jpg)
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![Len Lye Centre, New Plymouth - Mirror image [Glenn Jeffrey]](https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/len-lye-centre-new-plymouth-mirror-image-glenn-jeffrey.jpg)
![Len Lye Centre [Brittany Mackenzie]](https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/len-lye-centre-brittany-mackenzie.jpg)
![Len Lye Centre illuminated [Stuff]](https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/len-lye-centre-illuminated-stuff.jpg)
![Len Lye artist [Stuff]](https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/len-lye-artist-stuff.jpg)
What if? Dunedin... 