Exhibitions
Events
On display
Preserve / Observe: Michael Morley in P.R.O.P.
Michael Morley, Garden Kōpūtai 2019
Event
Past event
Meet in the exhibition
Free
Sound artist Michael Morley will be unleashing a work exploring the demolition of Observation Point in Kōpūtai Port Chalmers.
Taking place within the exhibition Ralph Hotere: Ātete (to resist) this performance revisits original sound recordings made in 1993 at Observation Point while Morley lived at Willowbank, a large substantial building opposite Ralph's studio. All of the homes and buildings at Observation Point have been demolished by Port Otago from 1994 until the present day, with further demolition planned to happen for the next few years.
Michael Morley (MFA University Canterbury and BA University of Otago) has been an exhibiting artist since 1986. He has been performing and producing sound recordings since 1979, first as Wreck Small Speakers On Expensive Stereos, then from 1986 as a member of the Dead C. He has also been performing and producing sound recordings as Gate since 1989, a solo project with periodic collaborators, and under his own name.
Michael Morley has also toured the USA and Europe extensively, producing concerts and recordings in collaboration with Keiji Haino, Faust, Tony Conrad, Lee Ranaldo, Kim Gordon, Bill Nace, Tom Carter, Gabie Strong, Bill Orcutt and many others.
Related reading: Music
Exhibition
Ralph Hotere: Ātete (to resist)
25 July 2021
Celebrating the artistic vision of one of Aotearoa’s most significant artists.
Event
Rangatuone: Music from The Collective Imagination
A collaborative project between composer Riki Pirihi and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.
Notes
Countdown to Fifteen
Fifteen is our birthday party (guess how old we are…) and it’s less than two weeks away! It’s also the opening event for Tony de Lautour’s US V THEM, which is our big winter exhibition. We asked curator Peter Vangioni and visitor programmes coordinator Amy Marr what they’re most excited about in the incredible line-up for this grand birthday bash.
Notes
Been to some lame ‘youth’ events lately?
Now’s your chance to help create a cool event for you and your friends!
The Mix is Christchurch’s Art Gallery bi-monthly late-night event – an interactive mix of art, music, film and good people. We want to run a Mix designed, curated and for under 18s – ReMix.
Commentary
Laurence Aberhart
New Zealand artist Laurence Aberhart is internationally regarded for his photographs of unpeopled landscapes and interiors. He photographs places redolent with the weight of time, which he captures with his century-old large-format camera and careful framing. But he’s always taken more spontaneous photographs of people too, particularly in the years he lived in Christchurch and Lyttelton (1975–83) when he photographed his young family, his friends and occasionally groups of strangers. ‘If I lived in a city again,’ he says, ‘I would photograph people. One of the issues is that I even find it difficult to ask people whether I can photograph a building, so to ask to photograph them – I’m very reticent. I also know that after a number of minutes of waiting for me to set cameras up and take exposure readings and so on, people can get rather annoyed. So it’s not a conscious thing, it’s more just an accident of the way I photograph.’
Notes
Gallery Happenings: Grayson Gilmour
In early March we were lucky enough to have the incredibly talented Grayson Gilmour performing at the Gallery, supported by the equally talented Purple Pilgrims and New Dawn. I love these gigs, but there is a lot of work to be done behind the scenes to make sure that, by the time the public walk in the door, the foyer is gig ready. The process normally feels like a long, slow marathon with a sprint at the final corner. So here’s a guide to how you too can get the NZI Foyer gig-ready in five (or six) easy steps.
Interview
J.G. Thirlwell
J.G. Thirlwell is man of many monikers and even more projects: from the epic avant-garde electro-rock of his thirty-five-year Foetus act to scoring orchestral work; creating sound installations to writing cartoon soundtracks. Fellow sonic artist, Jo Burzynska caught up with the Melbourne-born but long-time New York-resident composer/producer/performer at the Gallery before the opening performance of his first ever New Zealand tour.
Notes
What's the difference between a piano and an onion?
Answer: No one cries when you chop up a piano.
Apparently that's only the third worst piano joke of all time...
Notes
Getting Older - Flying Nun
November sees the 30th anniversary of my favourite record label, Flying Nun Records.
Notes
Playing to the Faithful
The 2011 Christchurch Arts Festival has been full of highlights, from theatre to dance to the visual arts. However, it's been the music that has made the biggest impression on me.
Notes
Number 1 Evil, Number 2 Evil, Number 3 Evil…
Finally, the chance to listen to some loud rock music!
Notes
The Satara Player by Petrus van der Velden
Things are not always what they seem. What looks like the result of an artistic foray into exotic lands is, in fact, an 1894 portrait of a Christchurch busker who posed in the studio of Petrus van der Velden.