22 Febuary 2006 PRESS RELEASE
– Curators Announced
From: Art & Industry Biennial Trust
The Art & Industry Biennial Trust is delighted to announce their curators chosen for SCAPE 2006, Art & Industry’s fourth biennial, and New Zealand’s only contemporary art biennial dedicated to public art. The selection was made from an excellent response from national and international applicants with the Curatorial Panel spending much time, expertise and enthusiasm deliberating over a suitable partnership.
The SCAPE 2006 Curatorial Panel was convened by Gillie Deans, Deputy Chair of the Art & Industry Biennial Trust and included: Greg Burke, Director of The Power Plant, Toronto Canada (former Director of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery New Plymouth); Marlene LeCren, Arts Adviser, Christchurch City Council, Deborah McCormick, Director of the Art & Industry Biennial Trust; Priscilla Pitts, Director of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and Murray Shaw, Art & Industry Trustee and CEO of the Christchurch Symphony.
The Panel is pleased to announce that the curatorial team for SCAPE 2006 is New Zealander Natasha Conland and German Susanne Jaschko. Natasha and Susanne will work together in Christchurch on a curatorial residency to develop an impressive programme for SCAPE 2006 which reflects Art & Industry’s philosophical goal of pairing art with industry – acknowledging and articulating this unique relationship while delivering a distinctive national/international outcome.
Natasha
Conland joins Art & Industry as one of New Zealand’s
most promising curators. Her recent accomplishments include New Zealand’s
representation at the 2005 Venice Biennale, a highly successful exhibition
which gained excellent international recognition for New Zealand contemporary
visual art. She is Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of New Zealand
Te Papa Tongarewa, a principal curatorial role for long and short-term
exhibitions, contributing to the research and understanding of contemporary
art. Natasha’s stand-out shows at Te Papa include a retrospective
of artist Judy Darragh, Judy Darragh: So… you made it? and
a number of site-specific sculpture commissions for the outdoor Sculpture
Terrace, which she worked to instigate.
Susanne
Jaschko is an independent German curator based in Berlin with
a doctorate in Art History. From 2001-04 she was the Deputy Director and
Curator for Transmediale, an annual international media art festival
held in Berlin and recognised as one of the most important festivals for
media art and culture in Europe. She is currently curating Open House
- Intelligent Living by Design, a traveling exhibition by the Vitra
Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany and Art Center, Pasadena/California.
Susanne also lectures in art theory and art history with a focus on electronic
arts. Upcoming projects include Urban Interface: Berlin an exhibition
dealing with the transitory spaces between public and private space and
between data space and physical realm.
We are delighted to secure the unique pairing of Natasha and Susanne
for SCAPE 2006 and see it as an opportunity for strengthening a powerful
partnership between New Zealand art and industry. Both Natasha and Susanne
will build on their distinct knowledge of contemporary art and look forward
to developing a strong programme which will bring together renowned national
and international artists. SCAPE 2006 investigates the potential of contemporary
art in public space and will regard the specific conditions of Christchurch’s
Cultural Precinct The programme will be developed in conjunction with
Christchurch’s major cultural stakeholders and will be highly visible
within the Cultural Precinct.
(Deborah McCormick, Director, Art & Industry Biennial Trust)
This unique curatorial pairing is supported through funding from Creative New Zealand, the Arts Council of New Zealand and the Goethe-Institut Wellington.
SCAPE 2006 Biennial of Art in Public Space will run for 6 weeks from September 30 2006 in Christchurch New Zealand and will feature major public and site-specific artworks from leading New Zealand and international artists, gallery partnerships as well as a comprehensive public programme all conveniently located within Christchurch's Cultural Precinct.
For information contact:
Deborah McCormick, Director
Art & Industry Biennial Trust
Room 205, Old Chemistry Building
The Arts Centre of Christchurch
P.O Box 763
Christchurch 8015, New Zealand
tel: 64 3 365 7990
fax: 64 3 365 7994
email: ArtandIndustry@xtra.co.nz
