Blue Oyster - Listing information

Listing information:

Exhibitions running 20 June – 21 July:
Museum of True History in collaboration with Karl Chitham and Jack Ross: “Fallen Empire,” Chris Hargreaves: “Notable Serenity,” Caroline McQuarrie: “Artifact,” at Blue Oyster Project Art Space, 24b Moray Place, Dunedin.
Exhibition previews: Tuesday 19 June, 5.30pm.

Exhibition running 22 June – 28 June:
Offsite Exhibition: “The Stars Have Always Risen.” Art by Laura Marsh and Ed Lust. Curated by Jamie Hanton.
10am - 5pm daily at the Dunedin Community Gallery, 20 Princes Street (next to the iSite).
Exhibition preview: Thursday 21st June, 530pm.

Fallen Empire: Museum of True History in collaboration with Karl Chitham and Jack Ross

For Blue Oyster the Museum of True History [MOTH] has invited artist Karl Chitham along with writer Dr Jack Ross to explore the collections of the little known Society of Inner Light.

Although few relics of this reclusive group of esoterics and mystics survive, a small, fragmentary collection of plays was found in the back of a Raetihi storehouse in 2010. These plays represent what may be the only existing examples of pseudo-religious works that aspired to combine classical mythology with Maori legends. The three plays that exist in any substance are titled "Maui in the Underworld," "Hatupatu and the Nile-monster" and "Kupe and the Fountain of Youth."

“Fallen Empire” features works recreated by Karl Chitham, including a paper theatre used by Society of Inner Light member Bertolt Wegener to compose his works, a moving image work interpreting some of the recovered scenes and a small collection of costume sketches. Also accompanying the exhibition is a limited edition MOTH publication with excerpts from the manuscripts alongside interpretation by Dr Jack Ross and Karl Chitham.

Karl Chitham has a Masters in Sculpture from Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland and is currently the Art Collections Curator for the University of Waikato. He has collaborated with the Museum of True History since early 2010 and is also a member of MOTH’s programming advisory committee.

Dr Jack Ross is an academic and author who has written and edited more than twenty books to date. He has a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Edinburgh, and currently lectures in English and Creative Writing at Massey University.

This exhibition runs until June 20 - July 21.

Notable Serenity: Chris Hargreaves

In this new sculptural sound installation by Auckland-based artist Chris Hargreaves, “Notable Serenity,” participants are invited to visually and audibly contemplate an experimental composition that describes our geographic home in the South Pacific. Consisting of a quartet of speakers surrounding a central “conductor”. Each speaker plays a discrete channel of the audio as individual parts combined together to complete the ensemble. Viewers are confronted by the discordant narration of the audio which conveys descriptive aspects of geography. These narratives, borrowed from scientific texts, are defined in musical terms as: Soprano (Clouds), Alto (Resource Management Act), Tenor (Geology) and Bass (Tectonics). While “Notable Serenity” may be intended as a tool for considering our physical environment, it also serves as a reminder that it is beneficial to get lost occasionally in contemplation.

Chris Hargreaves was born in 1981. In 2003 he graduated from UNITEC with a Bachelor of Design (Sculpture) (Hons). He lives and works in Auckland and regularly exhibits throughout New Zealand. Additional text from Matt Blomeley.

This exhibition runs June 20 - July 21.

Artifact: Caroline McQuarrie

As Walter Benjamin states in “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” reproductions of objects cannot represent the object’s place in time in space. We cannot make out their change in condition, or their physical use. According to Benjamin the reproduction of an object is inauthentic. And yet since this was written mechanical reproduction of both objects and images has become ubiquitous. “Artifact” extends McQuarrie's ongoing investigation and combination of craft based practices and photography in contemporary art. Both mediums have highly sentimental connotations due to their inextricable connections with memory.

The images in “Artifact” were created in the time it took for the flatbed scanner head to move across each object. Each scan comes out differently because of the movement and therefore each is a unique image. However due to its digital nature it can be endlessly reproduced. This reproducibility is a key aspect to the work as the objects that are being scanned have also been mass-produced. The collection of objects has been put together from items found in second hand shops and despite their similarity they were found in five different places, indicating the ubiquitous nature of this type of object. The style of the objects emulates the handmade, mimicking embroidery, and the text refers to the domestic nature of the objects, using clichéd messages to reinforce a "happy home" stereotype. The messages include: "Happy Anniversary", "A Home is a House With Love", "King of the Castle", "Lady of the Manor" and "True Friends". The mass production of the objects along with the clichéd nature of the messages wipes away any personalisation, yet it is the personal nature of the handmade that the creators of these objects are attempting to exploit.

Caroline McQuarrie graduated with a MFA from Massey University in 2004 and has exhibited both nationally and internationally. She is currently Senior Tutor in Photography at the School of Fine Arts at Massey University.

This exhibition runs June 20 - July 21.

Offsite Exhibition: The Stars Have Always Risen

10am - 5pm daily at the Dunedin Community Gallery, 20 Princes Street

Laura Marsh and Ed Lust have created a space to contemplate the significance and beauty of the Matariki constellation at the Community Gallery on Princes Street (next to the i-Site). Come in, lie back, and take part in some very special stargazing. This exhibition will run for one week only.
“The Stars Have Always Risen” refers to the fact that although the Matariki constellation has always been marked and celebrated as the beginning of the Māori New Year since pre-European arrival, celebrations dwindled in the 1940s. In 2000 celebrations were reinvigorated - and this exhibition seeks to re-emphasise the importance of the event in our cultural history, suggesting that even if something goes ignored, its significance does not change.

The exhibition comprises one installation of two pieces of work. Lust's contribution to the exhibition will focus on the changing night sky and the characteristics of the Matariki stars, which have been described by scientists as young, hot and blue; their relative youth in astronomical terms means that they are hotter and therefore burn a bluish colour. While Marsh will be providing an environment for visitors to enjoy the night sky - viewers will be able to lie back on her work and gaze at the stars.

Laura Marsh graduated from AUT with a Masters in Art and Design in 2010 and is the 2012 Olivia Spencer Bower resident. She is currently based in Dunedin. Ed Lust has recently graduated from the Ilam School of Fine Arts with a Masters in Fine Arts and recently exhibited in the Christchurch Centre of Contemporary Art's Window Projects series. The exhibition is curated by Jamie Hanton, director of The Blue Oyster Art Project Space.

This exhibition runs Friday 22 June - Thursday 28 June.

ENDS

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