Art, music, film, talks, beer, wine, and food. From 5pm This Is New Zealand exhibition open, cash bar and tasty kiwi fare from the Food for the People food truck, plus DJ Don Luchito from RadioActive. 5.30pm Peter Alsop talks ‘selling the dream’ with curator Aaron Lister. 6pm Peter Wells presents his short film Little Queen and discusses it with Gareth Watkins. 6.30pm This Is New Zealand exhibition tour. 7.30pm Venice Biennale. Why? A panel discussion with Anthony Byrt, Jude Chambers, Danae Mossman, Chris Sharp and Talei Si’ilata, chaired by Robert Leonard. 9pm James Illingworth plays the Parekōwhai piano. 10pm Galleries close.
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Venice Biennale. Why?
New Zealand began participating in the Venice Biennale in 2001. Ever since, it has loomed large in the New Zealand art discussion. Why is it so important for us? Hear from our panel. Anthony Byrt is an art writer and pundit. He's a regular contributor to Metro and Artforum, and the author of This Model World: Travels to the Edge of Contemporary Art. Last year, he worked with New Zealand's 2015 Venice Biennale artist, Simon Denny, on his project The Founder’s Paradox. Jude Chambers is a troubleshooter. As Manager International Services and Initiatives at Creative New Zealand, she’s responsible for delivering New Zealand’s Venice Biennale projects. Danae Mossman is co-director of Hopkinson Mossman, a gallery with spaces in Auckland and Wellington. It represents Dane Mitchell, our next artist for Venice, and Bill Culbert and Peter Robinson who were our representatives in 2013 and 2001. Chris Sharp is an independent curator based in Mexico City, where he and artist Martin Soto Climent run the project space Lulu. He's co-curating Mitchell’s Venice Biennale project and is visiting New Zealand on Creative New Zealand’s Te Manu Ka Tau/Flying Friends programme. Talei Si’ilata has been at the Venice Biennale coal face, as an exhibition attendant for Lisa Reihana’s show in the last Biennale. She already knew Venice, having interned at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. She’s just completed a master's in museum studies and is in town on a Creative New Zealand Tautai Pasifika Internship at Te Papa. The panel will be chaired by Robert Leonard, Chief Curator at City Gallery Wellington. He curated two New Zealand Venice Biennale projects, Michael Stevenson in 2003 and Simon Denny in 2015. Venice Biennale. Why? is jointly presented by Creative New Zealand and City Gallery Wellington, in association with the exhibition This Is New Zealand.
