Two Forthcoming Exhibitions At The Physics Room

The Physics Room contemporary art project space
PO Box 22 351, Christchurch, New Zealand
Tel +64 3 379 5583 Fax +64 3 379 6063
www.physicsroom.org.nz

The Physics Room receives annual funding from Creative New Zealand / Toi Aotearoa

TWO FORTHCOMING EXHIBITIONS AT THE PHYSICS ROOM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KIOSK: Modes of Multiplication
Compiled by Christoph Keller
11 May – 3 June 2006

Opening preview: Wednesday 10 May 2006, 5.30pm

After spending five weeks at ARTSPACE in Auckland, its first New Zealand destination and its first stop outside Europe, The Physics Room is pleased to introduce KIOSK: Modes of Multiplication to Christchurch.

KIOSK is a travelling archive of independent publishing projects on contemporary art. Continually growing, the non-representational and informative collection currently comprises over 4000 publications of artists’ books, periodicals, video and audio labels. The archive presents a worldwide selection of contemporary art publications which are available to browse through, making it a significant resource for students, lecturers, arts practitioners and the public.

Organised and compiled by Christoph Keller, the founder and former director of Revolver – Archiv für aktuelle Kunst in Frankfurt, the archive illuminates the possibilities of alternative publishing and distribution. KIOSK focuses on the ideas, motivation and strategies behind developing art projects in and beyond the printed form. The exhibition will provide a forum for discussion on ideas and methods of independent publishing on a more local level. At each destination KIOSK takes on a new appearance, The Physics Room has invited Christchurch-based artist Rob Hood to develop an environment in which the collection will be displayed.

The most recent of the previous fifteen stops of the travelling archive include ICA, London; the 9th Istanbul Biennial; KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Berlin; and Witte de Witte, Rotterdam. From The Physics Room the KIOSK travels to the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, Canada.

As an extension of the ideas raised by the KIOSK, The Physics Room is hosting an Independent Publishing Discussion on Saturday 13 May, 3pm, with some of Christchurch's very own independent publishers. The discussion will focus around ideas and methods of independent publishing on a local level.

For further information on this exhibition please contact The Physics Room Director, Danae Mossman, on 03 379 5583 or email danae@physicsroom.org.nz

An ARTSPACE touring exhibition with support from Creative New Zealand.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Showing in the VOLUME series:
welcome home my beautiful optimist
Bekah Carran
11 May – 3 June 2006

Opening preview: Wednesday 10 May 2006, 5.30pm

In her first solo exhibition in Christchurch, Dunedin-based artist Bekah Carran transforms The Physics Room’s project space into a shining beacon of hope with her new installation welcome home my beautiful optimist. Carran has constructed a shelter in the space, it is a meticulously crafted geodesic dome. She invites viewers to enter this home away from home, to take time out. It is a resting place for the weary.

Dome housing was big in the 1970s, when some believed it would be the way of the future, where all houses would be dome constructions. The naïve idealism of ‘energetic-synergetic geometry’ and free living never took off as anticipated, and through its own entropic combustion, these dreams died a natural death during the 1980s scramble for power and status. Carran’s installation asks us to leave the imminent threats that surround us (like terrorism, bird flu, floods, etc.) at the door. She tests whether in a world increasingly fuelled by anxiety and fear - where sarcasm is more real than sincerity - it is possible to once again embrace aspects of this nostalgic idealism to create a better way of living.

welcome home my beautiful optimist is hopeful. It is a place for us to dream, and to celebrate the simple things in life. It’s quiet, meditative function within the gallery is like panning for gold, it’s a shining spot of goodness, a breath of fresh air where the bad times can be forgotten - even if only temporarily.

Carran has a BFA from Otago Polytechnic School of Fine Art, and is currently a member of the Blue Oyster Gallery Trust. In 2003 she was the Olivia Spencer Bower Artist in Residence in Christchurch. Recent exhibitions include Welcome to Paradise, Dunedin Public Art Gallery; breathing space, The Physics Room; and Prospect 2004, City Gallery Wellington.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue available late May.

ends

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