Die, blockbuster, die

Nicholas Penny, new director of the National Gallery, London, has told the press that it's time for the institution to re-assume its role of showing audiences work that they are unfamiliar with, rather than staging rote shows based on well-known names. From the Times:

“The responsibility of a major gallery is to show people something they haven’t seen before,” [Penny] said. “A major national institution should be one that proves a constant attraction to the public. What is important is encouraging historical and visual curiosity in the general public.”

Jonathan Jones has written a long and interesting response in the Guardian. He notes that it's not the 'blockbuster' that's at fault:

A blockbuster suggests to me a mighty, epic - and yes, crowd-pleasing, why not? - romp through a great artist or period or theme. Britain's galleries don't do exhibitions like that - they do squibs that sound good on paper, and in the paper, whether it's a Caravaggio show with no Bacchus or Medusa, or a Duchamp exhibit that prefers to dwell on his snapshots than explore the mysteries of the Large Glass. By the time anyone notices the exhibition is actually a bit shallow, it's too late to ask for your money back.

By the by - the term 'blockbuster' dates from WWII and colloquially referred to bombs big enough to wipe out an entire city block. On that sobering note - thanks for reading, enjoy your weekend, get out to Waikanae if you can!

The Olympics of the art world

This morning Over the net posted about CNZ's refusal to provide them with a list of the proposals put forward by artist/curator teams for selection to represent New Zealand at the next Venice Biennale.

16 proposals have been submitted. The Selection Advisory Panel will winnow these down to a shortlist, and the CNZ Arts Council will make the final decision, 'taking into consideration advice from the Selection Advisory Panel'.

Over the net argues that

there is a clear public interest in the Venice artist/curator list. It is a perfect opportunity to have some conversations about what they may be proposing, how they might be regarded in the Venice context, who has not submitted a proposal, and why etc. All the usual exchanges that make for an engaged and committed art community.

The Venice Biennale is often referred to as the Olympics of the art world. It's interesting then to think about the application process for the Biennale compared to the Olympics. Athletes have to compete, in the public eye and before the media, to represent New Zealand at the Olympics: they have to beat times, beat other countries' teams, and beat each other.

There's been considerable coverage about Rowing New Zealand's attempt to exclude the media and the public from this weekend's trials at Lake Karapiro, where Rob Waddell and Mahe Drysdale are facing off as part of the long qualifying process for the only single sculls position in the rowing squad that will be sent to Beijing. However, 'huge public interest' appears to have forced Rowing NZ to back down from this position.

Thoroughly decent

The net is awash this morning with the news that London dealer and collector Anthony d'Offay is semi-gifting his huge collection to the nation.

I say semi-gifting, because d'Offay is selling the collection, valued at around £125m, for £28m: the original purchase price of the works, plus a fee to cover the administration of the acquisition. The British and Scottish governments are each putting up £10m; the Art Fund is stumping up £1m and National Heritage Memorial Fund £7m. Work on the deal apparently began in 2006.

The collection - to be known as 'Artist Rooms' - will be administered by the Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland, but is intended to be shown throughout Britain.

Read more about it at the Guardian site, Adrian Searle's view on the Guardian blog, Ed Winkleman on his blog.

On the way to work

A long , long time ago

A year is a long time ago in blog land. This time last year:

Over the net were posting copy-cats

Peter Peryer was in the archives

Onemomentcaller was disregarding speed limits

David Cauchi was at a Gordon Crook opening

Best of 3 was wittering on about web accompaniments to exhibitions

John Hurrell was still hanging out on Artbash

All go this Sunday

Sunday 2nd March will be a big day for people who like (a) Seraphine Pick (b) Frances Hodgkins or (c) swear words.

After Image: Seraphine Pick and Frances Hodgkins opens at Mahara Gallery on Sunday. That was going to be my Sunday art-event, but holy toledo - how can I forgo an event as beguilingly titled as this:

There's fuck-all to see

In 1952 Bill Pearson, in his seminal essay Fretful Sleepers, wrote ‘… If a NZ’er goes to an exhibition or a museum he withholds his interest, grudgingly stumps around every stand for fear of missing something, but comes away with relief, 'There’s fuck all to see.' 50yrs on have we woken from our restless slumber?

Chaired by Phillipa Tocker (Museums Aotearoa CEO), speakers: Tommy Honey (architecture and design), Jo Randerson (writing & theatre), Philip Norman (music), and Roger Blackley (art history).

Image: Seraphine Pick, The perfection of an outdoor day, 2006. Oil on linen. From the Michael Lett Gallery website.

Welcome to the blogosphere

Auckland Art Gallery has opened up its blog

http://aucklandartgallery.blogspot.com/

Tidying up after myself

The three works by Julian Dashper mentioned yesterday are collectively titled 'Here I was given' (1990-1991).

And still can't find the dates for Rose Nolan's Sydney show ....

Writ large

UPDATE
Thanks for the image, J.

Reboot: The Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection, the touring exhibition from the DPAG, opened on Friday night at City Gallery.

Once again, Rose Nolan walked away with the exhibition, with her huge wall painting SELFDOUBT filling the longest wall of the West gallery. This part of the exhibition takes its tone from Colin McCahon's I am Scared / I Stand Up; Nolan's statement might seem a little abject in this context, if you didn't know that in the Dunedin installation the work was SELFLESS, and in Christchurch the cheeky SELFISH snuck round the wall to invade Michael Stevenson's hanging space.

[Side-bar: Nolan is having a solo show at Sydney's Artspace later this year - I can't find the dates online (anyone?) but it must be quite soon, as the show travels to the IMA in Brisbane at the end of June.]

Another highlight for me were three works by Julian Dashper that have been added for the Wellington installation (absent from the Christchurch installation as they were needed for Dashper's CAG show 'To the Unknown New Zealander'). I'd round out my top three with the un-monumental room in the South gallery.

However, I think I preferred the Christchurch installation: the gallery proportions seemed better suited to the scale of the work, or to function better to create small groupings of works. The piece that suffers the most, I think, in Wellington is Don Driver's With Spirit - which was my revelatory experience in Christchurch (more Don Driver, I say). City Gallery's foyer also doesn't appear to have been able to accommodate Michael Parekowhai's Jim McMurty, who's recently been vacationing at the Māori Hall in Auckland, courtesy of Michael Lett.

Don't let any of my quibbling put you off though - get along and see the show.

Final thoughts

City Gallery: any chance you could talk to Robert Leonard and bring Nolan's show out here, as you did with Hany Armanious?

And: apologies for their not being any images here, but I can't find any installation shots online. Anyone else find it weird on Friday night that while we the audience can't take shots of the galleries, the Gallery was photographing us?

Image
Most of Rose Nolan's Selfdoubt. Also in the picture: Michael Parekowhai's I Am He.

Two forums make a quorum?

On the Auckland Art Gallery development front: a new forum section! where you can share information and memories about the 1958 exhibition of contemporary Māori art at Auckland Uni, or 1950s fashion & culture .

While it might have been safer to launch on a topic that more people (like people under the age of 50) could really get stuck in to, good on them for having a go at fostering community participation and gathering information for a project in a new way. I wonder how they'll repurpose it?

And, via the ever-insightful New Media blog at the Walker Art Center, the (American) Museum Computer Network's Muse Tech Central site is a forum where members can share information (including budget range) about tech-related museum projects, like using tech tools to streamline the production of wall labels and using cell phones to deliver audio tours.

IMPORTANT NOTES

There doesn't seem to be a homepage link where you'd expect it on the Muse Tech site: use the 'projects' link at the top right to get back to the list.

And regarding the AAG site - here's how to increase your font size:

In Firefox
# Increase font size by pressing CTRL +
# Reduce font size by pressing CTRL –

In Internet Explorer

1. Open the View menu by pressing ALT + V.

2. Select Text Size by pressing X.

3. In the Text Size list, move to the text size option you want using the UP and DOWN ARROWs

4. Press ENTER.

Doozy

Opening tonight at Enjoy is Joanna Langford's new installation 'Brave Days'. I haven't enjoyed an Enjoy email so much in ages:

Like the Doozers of Fraggle Rock creating their intricate architectural constructions, Langford’s primary activity is doing. Structures are built intuitively and re-enforced as necessary. Her work also shares a symbiotic relationship to its environment, as she utilises cast-off materials to create new environments. While Langfords work is more complex than the doozers compulsive behaviour ­– building ad infinitum – there are similarities. The Doozers said they actually want the muppet Fraggles to eat their constructions because "architecture's supposed to be enjoyed" and also so they can go on to build again.

For those of you not watching children's TVin the mid-1980s (they were good times, I tell you) the Doozers page on the Muppet wiki may be illuminating.

Calling Langford's work more complex than the Doozers could be taken as a slight. Fraggle Rock, was a very deliberate consideration of the different ways of building and living within society, and the Doozers and the Fraggles had a symbiotic relationship: the Doozers live to build, the Fraggles eat their constructions, and thus the Doozers have room to keep building. So, my question is: if Langford is a Doozer, and the audience is a Fraggle - who is Majory, the sentient trash heap?

PS I forgot to say - I'm looking forward to seeing the show, after enjoying the Sarjeant Gallery installation linked to above.

Image: Doozers. From the Muppet wiki.

oh so close

There will be some art here again soon, I promise, but I want to hark back to Webstock one more time first.

At the conference, both Nat Torkington (possibly one of the most famous Kiwis you've never heard of) and Russell Brown talked about the relationship and differences between mainstream (ie print, radio, TV) media and online journalism: the words I wrote down were denser, richer, debateable, updateable, shareable, real-time.

Today Brown pointed to an article by Philip Matthews about political blogging. It's a great article, but here's the kicker: it's all about blogging, it mentions like a dozen sites, and there's not a single link in there - not even a plain text URL. How hard would it be for Stuff to employ someone to add links to print articles when they've posted online?