scholarly journals After McCahon at Auckland City Art Gallery: Canonisation and the Market in the 1980s

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Parlane
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Institutional Critique ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Critical Response ◽  
Institutional Authority ◽  
Poststructuralist Theory ◽  
Blue Chip

Can New Zealand postmodernism be described as a post-McCahon condition? Curator Christina Barton’s exhibition after McCahon: some recent configurations in art (1989), at Auckland City Art Gallery, was a critical response to McCahon’s canonisation, registering internal diversity within an institution deeply invested in this status. Strategically invoking McCahon’s name enabled Barton to smuggle a group of younger artists into ACAG’s exhibition programme. The artists in After McCahon explored poststructuralist theory, an expansion of institutional critique, post-punk practices and decolonial politics. These discourses of the 1980s supported the production of works dripping with postmodern irony and acutely conscious of the institutional authority amplifying McCahon’s voice and certifying his blue-chip status.

scholarly journals "... ponderously pedantic pediments prevail ... good, clean fun in a bad, dirty world": New Zealand Architecture in the 1980s

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Architectural Heritage ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
New Era ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
Post Offices ◽  
High Inflation ◽  
Conflicting Messages

The 1980s in New Zealand started with Robert Muldoon as Prime Minister: "Think Big," the Springbok Tour, the price freeze, and the establishment of Kōhanga Reo. These conflicting messages of expansion, contraction, and of race and politics were contextualised by high inflation (15.7% in 1981, 17.6% in 1982) and increasing unemployment (over 70,000 in 1981; c130,000 in 1983). In 1983 the CER (Closer Economic Relations) agreement with Australia was signed. In 1986 a GST (Goods and Services Tax) was first introduced. In October 1987, the sharemarket crash devastated many and reduced the number of cranes dominating the skylines of New Zealand's major cities. Building sites became car parks, and a new era of economic rationalisation would occur. In 1988 Broadcasting was de-regulated, NZPost (now an SOE) closed 432 post offices, and the selling of state assets to private interests was put in train. In 1989 GST increased to 12.5% and the Serious Fraud Office was established.It was also a decade of drama in New Zealand architecture. Significant controversies arose over buildings being built or being demolished, the economies of land value and building worth were in constant comparision. Of note were the discussions around the unrealised National Art Gallery, Roger Walker's now demolished Wellington Club the Aotea Centre in Auckland,the destruction of William Pitt's His Majesty's Theatre, and finally the National Museum of New Zealand, known these days as Te Papa. Controversies included protests against the recurring lack of open competitions for major public buildings, as well as the dominant disregard for architectural heritage.

scholarly journals Contemporary Debates: The Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Maori Art Gallery

2017 ◽  
pp. 5-25
Author(s):  
Imogen Van Pierce
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Art ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Civic Architecture ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The People ◽  
Artistic Representation ◽  
History Of

What began as a humble sketch on the back of an envelope, the Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery project has evolved into a unique and ambitious quest for artistic representation in Northland. The history of this controversial public art project, yet to be built, has seen a number of debates take place, locally and nationally, around the importance of art in urban and rural societies and the broader socio-economic context surrounding the development of civic architecture in New Zealand. This project has not only challenged the people of Northland to think about the role of art in their community, but it has prompted New Zealanders to question whether there is an appropriate level of investment in the arts in New Zealand.

scholarly journals A Matter of Taste: the Fate of the Archdeacon Smythe Collection of British Watercolours in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Sippel
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Public Art ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Art Collections ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Impact

<p><b>Francis Henry Dumville Smythe, a humble clergyman from England, spent a lifetime amassing his private collection of watercolours. During the 1950s, he decided to gift them to two art institutions in New Zealand – Dunedin Public Art Gallery and the National Art Gallery in Wellington. They were welcomed with open arms and celebrated as “the finest collection of water colour pictures in the Southern Hemisphere.” However, they soon fell out of favour: rarely exhibited, the collection remains poorly understood and unexplored to this day. Was their initial praise simply a matter of taste?</b></p> <p>This project looks at the rise and fall of the Smythe collection and aims to reveal the circumstances that led to its current low profile within its respective institutions. The collection itself will be analysed in depth for the first time, and the impact that changing artistic tastes have had on its status will be examined. In New Zealand’s case, these shifting tastes are symptomatic of the redefinition of national and cultural identity during the 1950s-1980s. How did this redefined national and cultural identity contribute to the continued drop in status of the Smythe collection in New Zealand? This dissertation considers the geographical contexts of both Britain and New Zealand and seeks to explore new ways of engaging with New Zealand’s public art collections, through combining the different research fields of watercolours, taste, and identity. While British watercolours are now mostly considered old fashioned, this thesis will find new ways of making them relevant again.</p>

Neoliberal Pleasure: Intimate Talk about Female Sexual Experience

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Couper
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Sexual Experience ◽  
Sexual Pleasure ◽  
The Political ◽  
Critical Response ◽  
Significant Contributor ◽  
Conflicting Discourses

Sociolinguists have investigated the language of sexual violence and consent at length, but sexual pleasure remains largely overlooked. Sexual pleasure has often been forgotten in the battle against rape culture, but this discussion centers it. First, relevant concepts from the sociolinguistic scholarship are positioned alongside queer feminist conceptions of sexual pleasure. The discussion then turns to New Zealand case studies of conversations in intimate friendships about sexual pleasure to demonstrate how navigating conflicting discourses transforms sexual pleasure into a neoliberal project. A critical response is offered in a consideration of pleasure activism and how further sociolinguistic attention can harness the political power of pleasure. Sexual pleasure is a significant contributor to advancing sexual liberation, and sociolinguistic efforts to understand these complexities are important. Without paying attention to how sexual experiences are made sense of in intimate conversations, there is a risk of ensnaring pleasure in traps of faux empowerment discourse and neoliberal constraints.

scholarly journals A Matter of Taste: the Fate of the Archdeacon Smythe Collection of British Watercolours in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Sippel
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Public Art ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Art Collections ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Impact

<p><b>Francis Henry Dumville Smythe, a humble clergyman from England, spent a lifetime amassing his private collection of watercolours. During the 1950s, he decided to gift them to two art institutions in New Zealand – Dunedin Public Art Gallery and the National Art Gallery in Wellington. They were welcomed with open arms and celebrated as “the finest collection of water colour pictures in the Southern Hemisphere.” However, they soon fell out of favour: rarely exhibited, the collection remains poorly understood and unexplored to this day. Was their initial praise simply a matter of taste?</b></p> <p>This project looks at the rise and fall of the Smythe collection and aims to reveal the circumstances that led to its current low profile within its respective institutions. The collection itself will be analysed in depth for the first time, and the impact that changing artistic tastes have had on its status will be examined. In New Zealand’s case, these shifting tastes are symptomatic of the redefinition of national and cultural identity during the 1950s-1980s. How did this redefined national and cultural identity contribute to the continued drop in status of the Smythe collection in New Zealand? This dissertation considers the geographical contexts of both Britain and New Zealand and seeks to explore new ways of engaging with New Zealand’s public art collections, through combining the different research fields of watercolours, taste, and identity. While British watercolours are now mostly considered old fashioned, this thesis will find new ways of making them relevant again.</p>

scholarly journals Stories of Victorian Paintings at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki – Navigating Intersections between Past and Present

2021 ◽  
pp. 95-111
Author(s):  
Anya Samarasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Shifting Boundaries ◽  
Victorian Painting

Victorian painting featured strongly in Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki’s early collection and continued to be acquired well into the twentieth century. These artworks have tendedto be displayed through the lenses of theme and narrative. However, the need to invigorate this format is gaining momentum as curators are exploring ways to navigate intersections between past and present. Te Haerenga/The Passage, currently on display at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, is in keeping with the drive towards enabling historical, international artworks, such as Victorian painting, to be displayed in connection with contemporary New Zealand and Māori art, thus shifting boundaries between traditional perceptions of the art historical canon and contemporary notions of identities and ideas.

scholarly journals Art Gallery Education in New Zealand during COVID-19

Museum Worlds ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-148
Author(s):  
Esther Helen McNaughton
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Critical Points ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Professional Group ◽  
Professional Support ◽  
Mutual Support ◽  
Art Gallery

This article describes the unprecedented coming together of New Zealand art gallery educators to respond to the challenges of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This newly formed community of practice met virtually three times at critical points. At each stage, new concerns were discussed and understandings evolved. The gallery educators were able to approach shared issues cooperatively, enabling mutual support to a degree that had hitherto not been possible. By the end of these meetings, gallery educators were reestablishing their regular teaching practice with the integration of many of the innovations of the period. Additionally, the meetings fulfilled a preexisting desire for closer contact and professional support, and thus proved to be the foundation of an ongoing national professional group for New Zealand art gallery educators.

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