Art seen: 'Collecting culture'

Jo Campbell looks at the latest
exhibitions in Dunedin. 

"Instructional Models", Blue Oyster Art Project Space

"Instructional Models" is a collaborative project involving more than 20 artists from Australia and New Zealand.

It was instigated by two Melbourne-based artists and facilitated by Neil Emmerson in Dunedin.

The artists here, many of whom are associated with the Otago Polytechnic School of Art, were sent instructions for potential artworks.

These were then interpreted, resulting in fascinating works that explore the idea of exchange.

The inclusion of the original instructions in the gallery helps elucidate the process and allows the viewer to engage more deeply with the work, by revealing the parameters that were initially set.

Many of the works highlight the transtasman nature of the project.

In Collecting Culture local artists Clare Fleming and Rohana Weaver respond to Alex Rizkalla's interest in the culture of display using familiar cultural kitsch produced for the tourist market.

The work draws attention to the way in which museums have taken items and displayed them without concern for their original purpose or cultural context.

The signs and language of museums are also interrogated.

I particularly enjoyed the small typed signs interspersed throughout the display stating: "we have removed this object due to its offensive content".

My personal favourite is the large cube covered in photographic images that is suspended between the two larger gallery spaces, by Dunedin artists Ali Bramwell and Lars Preisser, in clever response to instructions devised by Melbourne-based artists Raafat Ishak and Tom Nicholson.

The wires that hold the work in place divide the gallery, forcing viewers to bend and manoeuvre around them.

The work is dramatic and literally transformative.

"Te Karaka ki Te Tai o Arai-Te-Uru", Temple Gallery

Dunedin artist Simon Kaan is the curator of the impressive "Te Karaka ki Te Tai o Arai-Te-Uru".

The exhibition highlights the longstanding relationship between Ngai Tahu artists and the Otago Polytechnic School of Art.

Works by established senior practitioners are complemented by those of talented emerging artists.

Kaan has made excellent curatorial choices, bringing together works from a wide range of media and genres to create an intensely satisfying exhibition experience.

The difficulty I have had in choosing which works to mention is a testament to the quality of the show.

The elegant twisting forms of Ross Hemera's Matariki show the influence of traditional Maori design executed in a modern industrial material, aluminium.

Hemera creates subtle tonal variations in his circular form, which is clearly reminiscent of relief carving.

Hana Rakena's ceramic vases appear delicate in the thinness at their rims.

The grainy textural quality of her surfaces is enticing.

These curved forms are elemental and organic and seem to pay tribute to the earth from which they were created.

Textile artist Kirsten Kemp's Mere Te kaehe Karetai evokes the cultural adaptability of Maori who were able even during the early colonial period to interweave the two cultures.

The organza dress is incredibly detailed and in some of the patterns the influence of Jacqueline Fraser's sculptural installations can be discerned.

This remarkable exhibition also features fabulous works by many other well-known artists, including Fiona Pardington, Rachel Rakena, Marilynn Webb, and of course, curator Simon Kaan.