''Attachment Drawing: Interface'', Ali Bramwell (Blue Oyster Art Project Space)
Ali Bramwell's installation at the Blue Oyster is technically impressive and conceptually intriguing. Bramwell, who has proved herself an adept metal welder and electronic artist, has created across the two rooms of the main gallery space a large sculptural theremin, an electronic instrument that is controlled without physical contact.
A metal sculpture found in each room provides the two controls for the theremin, one changing the frequency and the other adjusting the amplitude of a tone emitted by an amplifier wired to the sculptures.
Hanging near doorways and corridors, the art objects are obtrusive and the viewer must come close to, or even contact, the items.
It is in this accidental proximity the viewer discovers the functionality of the art object, as the viewer's body triggers the theremin receptors.
The individual sculptures are stylistically similar but not the same.
Polished and suspended from the ceiling by thick metal chains and bolts, both are created of blunted barbed wire wrapped around steel tubing and gleaming shopping carts.
The familiar materials become icons of society and social interaction and in the gallery space they demand contemplation.
Zach Williams and gallery director Chloe Geoghegan write in an essay accompanying the show that the work is a ''performative installation'', and when the gallery is occupied by more than one viewer, this description is fully realised.
Multiple viewers occupying the space may randomly adjust the frequency and tone emitted by the sculpture, or they may work together and consciously create a desired noise.
''Message Beacon'', Zena Elliott (Milford Galleries Dunedin)
Zena Elliott's first solo exhibition at Milford Galleries Dunedin features her ongoing exploration of biculturalism and identity across new colourful abstracted works.
The large-scale paintings encourage a dialogue between the artists, art institution and the public audience as binarisms between Maori and Pakeha, high and low art, and traditional and digital meet in the works' aesthetics.
Stylised mouths, pukaea (trumpets) and kowhaiwhai (rafter patterns), are notably drawn from traditional Maori art but are found in these works among precise fluoro patterns that give an impression of digital image-making.
Elliott's use of spray paint with acrylic makes a street art aesthetic, yet by hanging on the walls of a fine art establishment the works seem to comply with typical fine art traditions.
The multiple and characteristically oppositional readings found across these works will fluctuate between viewers, depending on their background and identity, and therefore encourage ongoing discussion among the audience.
As the viewers progress through the gallery developing an impression of the show, they approach the more figurative mouth paintings, including Disseminate, which shows a mouth open and ready to be part of the continuing conversation.
The works are mesmerising, regardless of any associated meanings and readings, and the alternating colours create a visual push and pull which gives a certain dynamism to the paintings.
Like a ''beacon'', the works are intended to attract attention and from the street they certainly draw the eye of any passerby.
''Peeps of Life: Photographs by John Halliday Scott'' (Hocken Library Dunedin)
One hundred years since the death of John Halliday Scott, the first dean of the Otago Medical School, the Hocken Library presents ''Peeps of Life'', a delightful collection of photographs by Scott, his family and his associates from the Dunedin Photographic Society.
Scott, who was secretary of the Otago Arts Society for more than 30 years, was a known and competent watercolour artist. In this exhibition his pursuit of photography has been unveiled through the bequest of family photographs to the library's collection by his eldest daughter, Marion Scott.
The exhibition provides insight into the life and creativity of a prominent Dunedin figure and the photos, dated c.1893-1914, are of interest historically, depicting landmarks around Dunedin and the wider Otago region, along with original interiors of historic Dunedin homes.
Alongside the photographic collection are several small watercolours by both Scott and family friend Francis Hodgkins, who is seen in at least one of the exhibited photographs.
The watercolours reflect scenes from the photographs and tie together Scott's creative pursuits.
One charming pair of images is the painting titled Fanny Wimpole, a portrait of Scott's wife, and Scott's photograph Marion Scott Playing the Piano: the painting that is on exhibition now is seen hanging in the c.1904 photograph.
The exhibition is extremely enjoyable to view as a Dunedin resident and University of Otago graduate.
The photographs are small yet inviting, and encourage the viewer to stand close and examine the historic scenes from Scott's life.
- by Samantha McKegg
