Bugs, Beetles and Butterflies

PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release, 16 August 2010

Bugs, Beetles and Butterflies

TheNewDowse Scuttles into Summer with a New Children’s S Show how Bugs, Beetles and Butterflies examines how artists are inspired by the creepy-crawlies of the natural world. Opening on November 6, the exhibition features insect-inspired works by prominent New Zealand artists including Richard Killeen, Elizabeth Thomson, Joanna Braithwaite as well as jewellery by Steph Lusted and Tania Patterson Patterson.

A highlight will be Peter Madden’s collection of hand painted (but real) flies. The international centrepiece is the New Zealand premiere of Glowing Pathfinder Bugs, an interactive digital artwork involving virtual bugs on a real sandpit.

Glowing Pathfinder Bugs was created by Anthony Rowe, Gaz Bushell, Liam Birtles and Chris Bennewith (currently teaching at Massey University, Wellington) of Squidsoup and was originally commissioned by the Folly Gallery in the UK for its Portable Pixel Playground. The work encourages a simple form of animal husbandry; a sense of ‘looking after’, controlling and caring for the bugs. It uses equipment and technology first designed to track human gestures in an attempt to blur the boundaries between the real world and virtual space. Because its computer-generated bugs are aware and responsive to their surroundings, the work is highly interactive. There is a strong sense of communication between bug and visitor, with children able to control the bugs’ surroundings.

Bugs, Beetles and Butterflies demonstrates the links between natural sciences and the arts, allowing visitors to delve into both the beauty and the detail of the creatures that surround us. Coinciding with the exhibition is the opening of a new visitor lounge. This will be home to a changing programme of exhibitions and will include interactive activities for children, a reading corner and plenty of comfortable seating. The existing downstairs lounge will be turned into an exciting new gallery space, opening with Billy Apple’s The Bruce + Denny Show on 20th November.

Bugs, Beetles and Butterflies 6 November 2010 – 30 January 2010 TheNewDowse | FREE ENTRY

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