SCAPE 2006 eZINE no: 8

Tena koutou. Kia ora.

Time is running out! If you have yet to experience the wonder that is SCAPE 2006, you are leaving it awfully fine as there are only 16 days left to immerse yourself in this celebration of art in public space.

SCAPE 2006 don’t misbehave! incorporates two distinct experiences through new temporary outdoor works in Christchurch’s inner city and an indoor show at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu; presenting a diverse mix of media and messages which contribute to a complex and comprehensive understanding of this biennial’s theme.

Some of the indoor works relate directly to outdoor interventions such as Jeroen Jongeleen’s video animation for Influenza/a little movement, Otto Karvonen’s Urban Space Occupation Kit and Liz Allan’s Tales Illustrated which serves as an important link between the two components of SCAPE 2006.

While Emil Goh’s Mapkin Christchurch can be taken away by the visitors, Mladen Bizumic’s 2000 jigsaw pieces of the Christchurch sky, entitled Only Heaven Knows are not meant to be carried home, but to be put together in the gallery. Only heaven knows if it will be completed by November 12! The complex net-based installation maintenance of social solidarity – instance, 5 by Et al. constantly evolves over time and thus invites repeat visits.

The video works include pieces by Denis Beaubois, Kah Bee Chow, Niklas Goldbach, Kim-Joon,, Yoshua Okon, Anu Pennanen, Mike Stubbs, Laurent Vicente, and Miyeon Yoon (Dorothy M). Displayed both via projection and monitor these time-based works are best viewed during a longer visit to the Gallery.

Finally, the photographs and digital prints by Michel de Broin, Miguel Calderon, Kim Joon and Muchen and Shoa Yinong impressively capture moments of a real, virtual and fictional world.

For more information click on www.scapebiennial.org.nz

No reira, nga mihi kia koutou.

Andrew Paul Wood

Editor, eSCAPE

ARTISTS PROFILE

Just outside the Christchurch Art Gallery in the sculpture garden and forecourt are works by two New Zealand artists: Dane Mitchell’s Self Help and Ronnie van Hout’s Shift. Around the corner on Gloucerster Street you can find Australian artist James Angus’ Soccer ball dropped from 35, 000 feet.

Mitchell’s provoking audio work probes museum and gallery culture, taking its cue from the self-help industry. A motivational recording along the lines of what is often spouted by people on telephone hotlines and infomercials, is reworked to speak directly to art galleries.

Van Hout who is originally from Christchurch and currently lives in Melbourne has achieved international reputation as an artist. In Shift, his first work in a public space, he has taken an old shed from his parents’ market garden in east Christchurch to the more upmarket ‘cultural’ area of Christchurch’s inner city, inside, providing a temporary video wormhole to the suburbs of his origin.

James Angus Soccer ball dropped from 35, 000 feet, 2006

Angus was born in Australia in1970 and graduated with an MFA (sculpture) from Yale in 1998. His work playfully explores whimsical “what if?” scenarios. As the title of his work for SCAPE suggests, Soccer ball wonders what would happen to a soccer ball dropped from an airplane at an altitude of 35,000 feet. Using predictive digital technology and foundry engineering, Angus preserves this paradoxical moment in cast metal, thus creating a modern ‘momento mori’ through the depiction of an unlikely event.

SUPPORTER PROFILE: RDU

RDU98.5FM is SCAPE’s official Media Partner and presents The Insiders Guide to SCAPE 2006 at 9:10am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Richard Dean Anderson and Jonathan Quayle Higgins the Third bring you art criticism and witticism on SCAPE 06. The segment features artist interviews, news and hijinks from two guys who'd be pretentious if only they knew what that meant!

Remember to tune in and enjoy live and pre-recorded interviews and reviews with the artists, curators and supporters of SCAPE 2006.