Time-based art at Auckland Art Gallery

Assessing the physical condition of Ascents and Descents in Realtime, 2008 by Alex Monteith 

The Marylyn Mayo Internship at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki offers training and work experience for recent graduate and postgraduate students who intend to pursue a career in art galleries. As the 2014 Marylyn Mayo Intern I will be conducting a comprehensive survey of time-based artwork in the Auckland Art Gallery and Chartwell Trust collections.

My role is to scope the collection, assess the condition of the artworks and prepare a methodology for adequate documentation of future acquisitions. This includes exploring maintenance issues and working with the registration team to insure all relevant information is entered into Vernon, the Gallery’s collection management system.

I am currently undertaking a Masters of Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne. Although I am interested in all aspects of conservation, I would like to direct my studies towards the conservation of modern and contemporary art. My thesis will compare strategies employed by international organisations when collecting, storing and presenting time-based artworks.

Prior to commencing postgraduate study I was a practising artist making installation art with an electronic and/or digital component. I also have extensive voluntary experience working within contemporary art organisations, such as Gertrude Contemporary in Melbourne, and artist-run spaces, including Format in Adelaide.

The term ‘time-based art’ refers to artworks that are dependent on time for the maturation or completion of the experience. Relevant media includes audio, video, film and installation art. Auckland Art Gallery currently holds close to 300 time-based artworks. Although artwork is evenly distributed across production year, the acquisition of time-based artwork continues to grow. This is greatly influenced by the Chartwell Trust’s collection, which is cared for by the Gallery.

As shown in the chart below, 39% of all time-based artworks in the Auckland Art Gallery and Chartwell Trust collections is digital. In this context, the term ‘digital’ is used to describe audio on CD, single and multi-channel video installations. Although some work may have specific installation instructions, the presentation of audio and video work is fluid and greatly influenced by curatorial direction.

Distribution of time-based art

While 13% of all time-based artwork is analogue (film, slides and records), 15% is sculptural with an analogue and/or digital component. Generally, work of this nature is dependent on specific equipment and/or technology. Artworks such as Drunk Chimp, 2002 by Ronnie van Hout and Landscape Painting 4, 2011 by Jake Walker pose difficult questions regarding long-term preservation and access.

Ronnie van Hout, Drunk Chimp, 2002

Jake Walker, Landscape Painting 4, 2011

With the upcoming exhibition Light Show, 11 October 2014 – 8 February 2015, many of you may be interested in Auckland Art Gallery’s collection of light-based artwork. Auckland Art Gallery holds close to 60 artworks in which light, an essentially ephemeral material, plays a pivotal role in audience perception. Currently, Objects Conservator Annette McKone is surveying the oeuvre of Bill Culbert, one of New Zealand’s leading artists and the country’s representative at the 2013 Venice Biennale.

Bill Culbert, Flat Out, 2009

The final 12% of time-based artwork in the Auckland Art Gallery and Chartwell Trust collections are those with an electronic component, such as Geographer (2), 1995, by Paul Cullen, and those that are not easily classified. Crystal Enclosure, 1985, by Alan Sonfist, which examines the growth of crystals on an acrylic sheet, is an example.

Paul Cullen, Geographer (2), 1995

– Brooke  Randal, 2014 Marylyn Mayo Intern

Image credits:

Ronnie van Hout
Drunk Chimp 2002 
mixed media 
Chartwell Collection
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2002

Jake Walker
Landscape Painting 4 2011
paint on laptop 
Chartwell Collection
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2011

Bill Culbert
Flat Out 2009
wood, glass, fluorescent tubes and electrical cable
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki 
gift of the Patrons of the Auckland Art Gallery, 2009

Paul Cullen
Geographer (2) 1995
metal chair frame, globe, motor, electric cord
Chartwell Collection
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2010

Artworks on loan, October 2013

Lending artworks to other institutions allows us to share our collections with more visitors, not just in Auckland, but also around New Zealand and across the world. As one of the registrars at Auckland Art Gallery, I look after our loans programme, and work with our technicians, conservators and curators to prepare and send our artworks out on loan. I thought I'd share with you some of the artworks from our collections that are currently on loan.

Dowse Art Museum, As Many Structures As I Can: works from the Chartwell Collection

Image credit: Bill Culbert Light Plain, 1997, lamp shades, light bulbs and fittings, Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2000, C2000/1/7.1-14 

We’re all really excited about the exhibition at the Dowse opening on 12 October and running until 16 February 2014. It’s called As Many Structures As I Can: works from the Chartwell Collection and features some amazing works from the Chartwell Collection, including Bill Culbert’s major work Light Plain. If you’re going to be in (or near) Wellington between now and February, you should definitely make the trip to the Dowse to see this show! The public programmes look fantastic as well, and if you’re interested in seeing Simon Ingram create a painting or fancy a cuppa with Bill Culbert, check out the Dowse’s website for more details.

Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Hotere and Culbert

Image credit: Bill Culbert, Ralph Hotere, Post Black No.13, 1992, painted window frame, glass, and fluorescent tube, Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 1992, C1994/1/368

Opening on 12 October at Dunedin Public Art Gallery is a major exhibition of collaborative works by Ralph Hotere and Bill Culbert. Three works from the Chartwell Collection are included in this exhibition:

Post Black, Window #5
Post Black, Window #10
Post Black No.13

See the Dunedin Public Art Gallery's website for details of this exhibition.

Adam Art Gallery, John Panting: Spatial Constructions

Image credit: John Panting Untitled III , 1972, 1973, steel, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1976, 1976/51/1

We’ve lent a large sculpture by John Panting to the Adam Art Gallery in Wellington for a major exhibition of Panting’s work, John Panting: Spatial Constructions. The exhibition is curated by Sam Cornish, who is the author of a recent monograph on Panting’s work. For more details, check out the Adam Art Gallery's website.

Adam Art Gallery, State of the art: reproductive prints from the Renaissance to now

Image credit: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes Qué hai que hacer mas? (What more can be done?), c 1816, etching, lavis drypoint, burin and burnisher, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1955, 1955/42/9

Also on display at the Adam shortly is an exhibition on the history of reproductive prints. On loan to the Adam for this exhibition is Qué hai que hacer mas?(What more can be done?), by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes.

Tauranga Arts Festival, Public, Private and Pop-Ups

Image credit: Seung Yul Oh The Ability to Blow Themselves Up 2005, single channel digital video, colour, sound, Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2005, C2005/1/13

If you’re in Tauranga at the end of October, you might see some video works from the Chartwell collection on display at Sisters Boutique. Public, Private and Pop-Ups is an exhibition at various sites around the city, and features four video works:

Seung Yul Oh, The Ability to Blow Themselves Up
Daniel von Sturmer, Painted Video
Steve Carr, Tyson
Gabriella Mangano and Silvana Mangano, Neon.

Check out their website to find out more about this exhibition.

Te Papa, Nga Toi: Arts Te Papa

Image credit: Petrus van der Velden Three figures in a landscape, c 1874, charcoal, crayon and gouache, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Morris and Ronald Yock, in memory of their father, 1964, 1964/22

A work on paper by Petrus van der Velden will be on display soon at Te Papa, as part of their Nga Toi: Arts Te Papa series of exhibitions. See information on current and future exhibitions on their website.

City Gallery Wellington, New Revised Edition

Image credit: Nick Austin Fallin', 2006, acrylic and string on board, Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2006, C2006/1/14/1

New Revised Edition is an exhibition at City Gallery Wellington featuring paintings by four New Zealand artists. One of the works by Nick Austin on display is Fallin’ from the Chartwell collection. See their website for further details.

MTG Hawke’s Bay, Architecture of the Heart

Image credit: Robyn Kahukiwa Te Whenua, Te Whenua, Engari Kaore He Turangawaewae (Placenta, Land, but Nowhere to Stand), 1987, alkyd and oil on canvas, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1988, 1988/32

Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery have recently re-opened after a major redevelopment and rebranding. Now known as MTG Hawke’s Bay, they have a number of great exhibitions in their fancy new space! If you visit Hawke’s Bay over the summer, you might see a few artworks from the Auckland Art Gallery collection on show in Architecture of the Heart, an exhibition dealing with themes of 'home'.

Robyn Kahukiwa, Te Whenua, Te Whenua, Engari Kaore He Turangawaewae (Placenta, Land, but Nowhere to Stand)
Derrick Cherrie, Retroflex
Neil Dawson, Interior IX

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Oceania: Tapa – Kunst und Lebenswelten (Art and Social Landscapes)

Image credit: John Pule Polynesia migration Aotearoa ,1992, acrylic on unstretched canvas, and barkcloth, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased with funds from Reader's Digest New Zealand, 1992, 1992/21

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, a museum of ethnography in Cologne, Germany, has also recently reopened after a major building development. One of their new special exhibitions is titled Oceania: Tapa – Kunst und Lebenswelten (Art and Social Landscapes). One of the works in the exhibition is Polynesia migration Aotearoa, by John Pule.

More about Auckland Art Gallery's loans programme

If you are interested in finding out more about loans at Auckland Art Gallery, check out the following for more information on borrowing works from the Auckland Art Gallery and Chartwell collections:

Auckland Art Gallery Collection and Policies
Chartwell Collection: how to borrow works

- Fiona Moorhead, Assistant Registrar