Celebrate 25 years of ARTSPACE

[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]
24 February 2012

Every cloud has a silver lining

Celebrate 25 years of ARTSPACE

16 March – 5 April

Opens 6pm, Friday 16 March

For twenty-five years ARTSPACE has been one of the leading contemporary art galleries in New Zealand. To mark this silver anniversary, Artspace will present a celebratory exhibition every cloud has a silver lining, 16 March – 5 April at 300 Karangahape road, Auckland.

From the beginning Artspace was going to be something different, its three founders: Mary- Louise Browne, Wystan Curnow and Sandi Morrison recognised the need for an alternative space, somewhere that would exhibit contemporary art work unlikely to be accommodated in the other, more conservative art galleries that were operating in Auckland at that time.

In 1987 Artspace was formed, and for a few years it ran from two venues in central Auckland, 101 Federal Street and what is now the George Fraser Gallery on Princes Street. Performance, sound, film and feminist art were all exhibited through Artspace and made available to the public via discussions, events and publications that focused on developing contemporary art within a creative, critical and non-commercial environment.

During the opening exhibitions a local newspaper ran a story declaring that the launch of Artspace was the first sign of a new era in the Auckland Art Scene. It also published some of an early manifesto, which positioned Artspace as ‘a non-profit, arts organisation dedicated to the development and exhibition of all forms of innovative art.’ 25 years later this still stands true.

There have been numerous people involved in running Artspace, over the past years the organisation has been led by eight directors: Mary-Louise Browne, Priscilla Pitts, Lara Bowen, Robert Leonard, Tobias Berger, Brian Butler, Emma Bugden and Caterina Riva, each of whom offered a passionate perspective on contemporary art and its changing conditions. Every cloud has a silver lining will present documentation as well as re-purpose elements of key exhibitions through out the years. It will focus on the many artists, curators, art critics and writers that helped shape the organisation into the major force in contemporary art that it is today and also challenge others to ensure that it remains so.

ENDS

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