Angela Kilford, Tangaroa ā mua, 2019. 100 X 70cm, digital media.
An art exhibition dedicated to the unseen – sounds cryptic? Invisible is an international travelling exhibition where 21 artists from Polish, North American, and New Zealand universities have come together to answer the question: “how can artwork portray invisibility?”
The show includes artists from Massey University’s Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts, the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland and the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Detroit, USA.
After an extended journey navigating the global pandemic with exhibitions at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and the BWA Gallery of Contemporary Art in Poland, it opens at Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts in Wellington on 22 April.
Exhibiting artists and co-curators of the New Zealand exhibition, Lisa Munnelly and Angela Kilford of Ngā Pae Māhutonga Wellington School of Design, said the exhibition has offered a valuable opportunity of cultural, social and academic exchange for staff between the participating universities.
The artists in the exhibition have responded to the idea of invisibility through a diverse range of media. The selected works depart from scientific narratives to also cover philosophy, mathematics, love, mythology, ecology, technology and communication. Playing with the macro and micro and with time – both its duration and cycle – the exhibition speaks to the idea that the invisible is something that can become present with technology; that technology has allowed us to see the unseen.
In connecting with the idea of invisibility the curators state that the exhibition presents an inspired and insightful use of both media and process. These works ask, for example, how might thousands of ngaio flowers suggest a lunar surface? How might Blu-tack, tinfoil and toothpicks portray molecular structures? How might technology transport us into another world?
Ms Munnelly and Ms Kilford say they welcome the Invisible Exhibition to Aotearoa with great pleasure. “As the third and final showing of the work, we celebrate the sense of community created by the coming together of artists from around the globe.”
The artists from Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts showcase the cross-disciplinary nature of creative arts and feature faculty from Ngā Pae Māhutonga Wellington School of Design who have each responded to the question. The artists from New Zealand are Kerry Ann Lee, Simon Eastwood, Lisa Munnelly, Lee Jensen, Angela Kilford, and Jason O’Hara.
The exhibition opens to the public on 23 April and runs until 20 May in Gallery C, Te Ara Hihiko, Block 12, Massey University, Wellington.