Ronnie and Robot take on Cult Status at The Dowse

Ronnie and Robot take on Cult Status at The Dowse

Melbourne-based New Zealand artist Ronnie van Hout is known for creating endless, intriguing versions of himself in his exhibitions and in I’ve Seen Things, from 7 July, he takes on the role of cult leader, inserting himself into the larger story of Canterbury religious cult, The Full Gospel Mission. The exhibition coincides with the unveiling, just in front of The Dowse, of another crazy Ronnie creation.

Fallen Robot is a public sculpture that lies in a shallow pool in Lower Hutt’s new Civic Square. While I’ve Seen Things closes on 11 November, a little piece of Ronnie will remain with the Hutt as Fallen Robot will be on permanent display.

While children will delight in Fallen Robot, his size, his eyes and the fact that he has ‘fallen down’, adults will question the meaning of a fallen industrial giant. Commissioned by the E Tu Awakairangi Hutt Public Art Trust, the trustees expect people will return again and again to look at and reflect on the robot and that it will delight residents and visitors for generations to come. Fallen Robot is an evolution of Van Hout’s ‘failed robot’ story and a reminder of the industrial history of the Hutt Valley.

Lying beneath an artesian water tap, the robot also harks back to the pre-industrial age in the Valley, when locals collected water, grew and gathered their food and built by hand. People will again be able to collect artesian water from the tap near the artwork. The water, drawn from the underground aquifer to the surface, will also serve as a drinking water supply in civil defence emergencies.

Inside the gallery, I’ve Seen Things features models of The Full Gospel Mission’s (also known as the God Sqaud) compound as well as several video works, like King I and King II in which van Hout plays the role of cult leader, Douglas Metcalf. Based at Camp David near Waipara, cult members shunned contact with non-believers to follow the teachings of Metcalf, believing him to be Jesus Christ. In 1977 and 1987, police raided the camp believing arms were being stockpiled. It’s was only after Metcalf’s death in 1989, and subsequent revelations of his adultery with women followers, that the sect finally collapsed in 2002.

I've Seen Things documents the members’ story, already filtered through rumour, scandal and intrigue, as a tale of epic downfall. The title, taken from a scene in the film Blade Runner, hints at secrets and insider knowledge. Van Hout was drawn to it for its references to seeing and remembering, implying, ‘the need for the listener to have empathy’. The show brings together two bodies of work never before seen in New Zealand; Compound and Brood. The two works present similar but different accounts of the cult’s story, exploring the idea of a fictionalised narrative of real events.

Christchurch-born Ronnie van Hout has worked with a wide variety of media including sculpture, video, painting, photography, embroidery and sound recordings. His haunting video projection, The Creation of The World, was recently seen projected in window opposite the Christchurch Art Gallery. Also at the Christchurch Art Gallery, his 2009 exhibition Who Goes There encompassed ‘peepholes, failed robots, doll-sized portraits of the artist and something strange and new from Antarctica’. A loss, again (2008-2010) at Te Papa examined loss and memory with the locked tool shed of van Hout’s father.

Ronnie van Hout: I’ve Seen Things
7 July – 11 November 2012
The Dowse Art Museum | FREE ENTRY
www.dowse.org.nz

ENDS

© Scoop Media