31 May – 24 June 2023
Opening Wednesday, 31 May from 6:00pm
An epoch in stone
Emme Orbach
Crystalline Matters
Artist talk with Emme Orbach and Shelley Simpson Thursday, 1 June 2023 6:30pm
“Artistic form emerges out of a chaos which seeks its own shape. The role of the artist or poet is not to impose a pre-existing form upon senseless matter but to allow the material to find its own sense. What is primary is what is given, a chaos of meanings which demands assistance in order to come-into-form. The poet is thus the mediator or facilitator who lends a hand to the process of formation, not the demiurge who creates ex nihilo.”
Levine. S. 2004. Principles and Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward a Therapeutic Aesthetics. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
An epoch in stone explores the history of local minerals and stones, from geological creation through to industrialisation. Emme Orbach investigates elements and resources native to Aotearoa from research collected in 2022-23 from site visits across the North Island.
The exhibition explores themes of impermanence and the passage of time. The artist is curious about the awe inspiring yet existential predicament of comprehending nature that surpasses the human lifetime – of minerals that span thousands of years in creation.
An epoch in stone examines the agency of organic and inorganic forms. Orbach’s sculpture is constituted of pine wood, pumice stones and copper sulphate crystals, a topographical installation that evolves throughout the duration of exhibition. The artist plays the role of facilitator in poiesis, a balancing act of coaxing material into being, yet rescinding control to see what occurs.
31 May – 24 June 2023
Opening Wednesday, 31 May from 6:00pm
Castle Mall
Bene Jackson
Anything can become a car park—terms and conditions sign, a swampy puddle, barely a fence. Even now, the gravel lots litter the city. Time will tell which are permanent and which are placeholders.
I walk the same route each day, seeing the supermarket trolleys make their way up the street with the free sofa and a broken bottle. Last week I noticed someone clearing out the carport that had become a dumping ground for street debris. The shattered flatscreen was swept away, the recovered space filled with new intent.
We still call the renovated pedestrian mall hack circle. The name stuck long after the undesirable youth element had been removed—replaced by a paved area with some seating, standard street lighting and bins for litter and recycling. A turret and a bollard.
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Bena Jackson lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, where she is finishing her Masters of Fine Art at Massey University. Bena lived in Ōtautahi Christchurch from 2006-2014. Recent exhibitions include Camera phone, at play_station (2021) and Bound in secret knots with Teresa Collins at Enjoy (2021).
