28 July–7 October 2012
Adam Art Gallery
Victoria University of Wellington
Gate 3, Kelburn Parade
PO Box 600, Wellington
New Zealand 6140
Hours: Tue–Sun 11–5pm
Free entry
T +64 4 4635229
Curated by: Marcus Moore
The Adam Art Gallery proudly presents Peripheral Relations: Marcel Duchamp and New Zealand Art 1960–2011, a major exhibition exploring the influence of Marcel Duchamp on New Zealand art from 1960 to the present. Showcasing seldom-seen works by Duchamp held by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, particularly gifts of the Isaacs Bequest (1982), the exhibition reframes the recent history of art in New Zealand within the terms set by Duchamp’s legacy, tracing reverberations of the Sisler Collection’s ground-breaking touring retrospective of 1967 on artists in New Zealand, and reading Duchamp ‘through’ the work of three subsequent generations of practitioners in this country.
Peripheral Relations is the first exhibition at the Adam Art Gallery to draw on the scholarship of Victoria University of Wellington’s doctoral students. For guest curator Marcus Moore Duchamp is a pivotal figure around which the history of conceptual art has unfolded in New Zealand: from a focused absorption of Duchamp’s life and work in the 1960s, to an era of ‘post-object art’ in the 1970s, and the revitalisation and expansion of conceptualism’s terms and conditions in the present.
Playing on the fact of New Zealand’s peripheral location, Peripheral Relations considers ways in which key works by Duchamp have been examined, referenced, quoted and adapted according to changing concerns of artists from the 1960s to the present. While Duchamp’s notion of the ‘readymade’ plays a crucial role in the exhibition, other key works—The Large Glass and the Bôite-en-valise in particular—are explored for the myriad ways in which they inform local practice.
Peripheral Relations brings together works by 27 artists produced since 1960 and explores a rich trajectory of practice that has turned away from what Duchamp called the ‘retinal,’ to emphasise art as a mental act evading the realm of pure sensory aesthetics. As such it both aims to contribute to the formulation of New Zealand’s post-nationalist art history and to add to the sum of scholarship which tracks Duchamp’s international impact.
The artists represented are: Jim Allen, Billy Apple, Bruce Barber, g. bridle, L. Budd, Bill Culbert, Paul Cullen, Andrew Drummond, Julian Dashper, et al, Merit Gröting, Adrian Hall, Terrence Handscomb, Christine Hellyar, Giovanni Intra, Darcy Lange, Maddie Leach, Len Lye, Kieran Lyons, Daniel Malone, Julia Morison, Michael Parekowhai, Roger Peters, Malcolm Ross, Marie Shannon, Michael Stevenson, and Boyd Webb.
The exhibition also presents ephemeral and archival material relevant to the subject.
Peripheral Relations is accompanied by an extensive public programme that draws out a range of themes inherent in the topic, and a catalogue with notes on each artist and an introduction by Marcus Moore.
The exhibition has received funding from the Massey University Research Fund.
If you require further information please contact Michelle Menzies: [email protected] / T +64 4 463 5229
The Adam Art Gallery is the university art gallery of Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand. It is a forum for critical thinking about art and its histories as well as the professional structure within which the Victoria University Art Collection is managed. The gallery has a considerable reputation for its programmes that explore the full range of media available to artists and which aim to test and expand art form and disciplinary boundaries. The gallery is a remarkable architectural statement designed by Ian Athfield, one of New Zealand’s foremost architects.
