Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Imagining Auckland: no thanks, actually ...

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  • Russell Brown,

    But one of the goals of the project was also to popularise the museum, which is hardly achieved by sticking paintings on walls. You need to provide a cultural context, and that's a hard thing to do.

    As a curated exhibition, sure. But as the permanent context in which works are displayed, it's just shouting the same thing at me every time I visit, when perhaps I'm capable of having my own thoughts.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    As a curated exhibition, sure. But as the permanent context in which works are displayed, it's just shouting the same thing at me every time I visit, when perhaps I'm capable of having my own thoughts.

    I think it needed to be a permanent curated exhibition, and I suspect that was the original idea. As I say, it's a hard thing to do. But there's a reason why not a lot of people go to traditional art galleries, and the Art of the Nation section is so poorly attended.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    By permanent curated exibition I meant something that would change regularly.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    But does he go see the art? Because I think that's the rub at the moment. Now that they've largely gone back to compartmentalising and separating the gallery from the cultural exhibits, I think they've made both a lot less interesting.

    But, but ... you're hankering for a time when only a tiny fraction of the national art heritage was actually on display. It was awful.

    There's plenty there for a kid to enjoy, but an entry point to the art of the nation it isn't.

    And it's great that there's so much there for kids (Auckland's museum too, for that matter). But does the entire museum have to be designed for a nine year-old?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    But, but ... you're hankering for a time when only a tiny fraction of the national art heritage was actually on display. It was awful.

    I'm not saying it was done well. I'm saying it was the way to go, to introduce art in an engaging cultural and historical context. It could have been done much better, no question. And that could have been a stepping stone into the art gallery section with all the art of the nation you could possibly want. Now it's just a failed hybrid - if we want to see interesting exhibitions we'll go to Pataka.

    (Pataka rocks.)

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    I was a big fan of the old buckle street art museum.

    Hmm! I remember my children complaining, 'Do we have to go see those fish on sticks, again!!', when another wet Sunday afternoon in Wellington loomed.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    As an aside, designing art galleries for nine year olds wouldn't be such a bad idea, at least from time to time. I grew up visiting museums like the Uffizi, a succession of paintings and sculptures next to white pieces of cardboard that tell you the name of the artists and when they lived. The Uffizi are still pretty well attended because, well, it's freaking Duccio da Boninsegna, right? But they could do so much more.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    They can't all be winners, but the average is very good.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    (Pataka rocks.)

    So does the Dowse

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    But does he go see the art?

    Art? Man, you haven't met my son.

    (I find museums having vast collections of art bizarre, as I think that's what art galleries are for, and never the two should meet. But I recognise that I'm a little unusual there.)

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Caleb D'Anvers,

    I think Tessa Laird puts it best:

    I hate the over-mediated nature of much of Te Papa .... The museum is no longer a place of meditation, it's not a haven, it's not sacrosanct in any way. It just gives us what we know already, only more so. Sure, there's something for everyone...to hate.

    The Ian Wedde quote that Russell links to expresses everything that's wrong with the Te Papa approach to cultural guardianship. The museum experience as television or mall shopping; the museum as pure commodity (exemplified, of course, in its excellent gift shop).

    But it's more than that too, I feel. In its veneration of the untutored child's perspective, its celebration of the kinetic and the loud, its equation of silence with boredom, and its fear of anything that resembles independent thought, there's something truly authoritarian about Te Papa. Wherever you go inside, there is only one message, one interpretation, and it's the one the exhibits are screaming at you with all possible force.

    It's elitism posing as cultural democracy.

    London SE16 • Since Mar 2008 • 482 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    It's elitism posing as cultural democracy.

    Whereas the retrenched art gallery is elitism posing as elitism. You've got to give them points for honesty, I guess.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    I find museums having vast collections of art bizarre, as I think that's what art galleries are for, and never the two should meet.

    You're not a fan of the Louvre, then?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    there's something truly authoritarian about Te Papa

    It's true. If Helengrad had been elected for a fourth term, she was going to incarcerate all the ACT MPs in a room within Te Papa. One of the smaller ones.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    But seriously, Roger Douglas could have been put in a bottle. Then we could have marveled about how his head managed to fit.

    A lamp would work better. Rub it and ask him three wishes, and he'll magically tell you that the market will provide them and vanish back in again.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    You're not a fan of the Louvre, then?

    Dunno. If someone would fly me there I'll give you my unqualified opinion :)

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    But seriously, Roger Douglas could have been put in a bottle. Then we could have marveled about how his head managed to fit.

    How about a suitcase? They float better than Wall St is right now ;)

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Graham,

    Yeah, don't elections suck shit when the results aren't to your liking?

    Well, yes, actually. What's your point? Your reply isn't exactly addressing the problem of Cit-Rats.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 218 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Graham,

    Richard Florida has a very pertinent article in The Atlantic regarding successful cities. Well worth the read:

    How the Crash Will Reshape America

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 218 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    I would be interested to know how Simon Prast has calculated that of the $68 million available each year to major arts organisations from the Ministry of Arts & Culture and Creative NZ, only $9.5m makes it out of Wellington. It looks like he's arrived at that $9.5m by adding up the annual Creative NZ grants that go to Recurrently Funded Organisations outside of Wellington -- eg Artspace in Auckland, the Court in Chch, Fortune in Dunedin, etc -- and decided that the remaining $58.5m has stayed in Wellington because it has gone to Wellington-based organisations. But these organisations include the Film Commission, Music Commission, NZSO and Royal NZ Ballet, who are national bodies. You would expect that much of the film spend, for example, goes north to Auckland. Both the NZSO and the Ballet, Simon would know, are mandated to have national reach and both play Auckland as often as they play Wellington. Yes, they are based in Wellington but why is that in and of itself a problem?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    "...Both the NZSO and the Ballet, Simon would know, are mandated to have national reach and both play Auckland as often as they play Wellington. Yes, they are based in Wellington but why is that in and of itself a problem?"



    Because the discussion was about where the dollar are SPENT. The rent, the wages, etc etc all go into the WELLINGTON economy, even though the dollars were leeched from Auckland pockets.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I'm guessing that when the ballet, NZSO etc go on the road, they spend some money out of Wellington.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    But that's not how the model works. The spend is designed to be spread evenly across arts consumers in Auckland, Wellington, Chch, etc. If your desire to be a ballet dancer means you have to move to Wellington, why is that any worse than your desire to be a Shortland Street actor means you have to relocate to Auckland?

    Or should national arts organisations be moved out of the capital simply because an Aucklander resents money being spent elsewhere?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    The above addressed to Tom, not Kyle of course.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Samuel Scott,

    Oh my goodness. I did care one bit about the "cultural capital" debate until I saw that clip. What a load of rubbish.

    For one thing, most people I know can not stand the term "cultural capital", it has a pompous marketing sound to it that rubs me up the wrong way.

    Auckland is not the capital of the Asia/Pacific region. I think it might come in about 7th behind say, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Jakarata, Sydney, Melbourne.

    Auckland has lots of art, Wellington has lots of art.
    Auckland is big, Wellington is small.

    South Wellington • Since Feb 2008 • 315 posts Report Reply

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