New Zealand at La Biennale Di Venezia

At the 53rd Venice Biennale - June 7 to November 22 - you can have a close encounter with two magnificent examples of New Zealand creativity: ‘Giraffe-Bottle-Gun’loops and soars through the interior of a Neo-Classical church; 'Save Yourself' is installed in a lavish Venetian palazzo.

For more than a century, the Venice Biennale has been showcasing the world’s foremost contemporary art. Since its foundation in 1895 with the first "International Exhibition of Art of the City of Venice", the Biennale has been at the vanguard of the international art movement. In 2009 the Biennale International Art Exhibition will feature work from more than 70 countries. While the event is traditionally based at the Giardini di Castello in the east of Venice, the majority of works, including both the New Zealand installations, are located beyond the Giardini in various locations both sumptuous and spartan.

Two New Zealanders on show

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Judy Millar’s installation will be at La Maddalena church, on the Strada Nova. One of Venice’s main thoroughfares, it is parallel to the Grand Canal on a prominent walking route between Venice's train station and the Rialto.

Francis Upritchard’s Save Yourself will be exhibited in the intimate venue of Fondazione Claudio Buziol within Palazzo Mangilli-Valmarana, and is located closer to the Rialto Bridge on the same route. Her second floor grand palazzo exhibition rooms look directly out at the Grand Canal and are a short distance from Judy Millar’s exhibition.

	Giraffe-Bottle-Gun by NZ artist Judy Millar

Giraffe-Bottle-Gun

The generous and unusual physical dimensions of La Maddalena are central to Judy Millar’s exhibition Giraffe-Bottle-Gun, allowing a full play of spatial disruptions, dislocations and inversions. A large visceral image will surge and loop around the circular space, channelling the path of the viewer and establishing views and vistas around and across the architectural space. Tensions between notions of inside and outside, large and small and real and illusionistic space will unfold.

Save Yourself

	Psychic Pushing
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The installation Save Yourself by Francis Upritchard will include clusters of figures and structures spread through the elegant three chambers within the Fondazione Claudio Buziol. Each grouping occupies an imaginary landscape which exists in an indeterminate historical period and combines the antique and futuristic, making the scene both familiar and unsettling.

Like what you see? Visit NZ and discover more

The character of New Zealand supports creativity in all its fabulous forms. Our culture has evolved from a melting-pot of European and Pacific Rim societies - Maori, Polynesian, English, Scottish, Irish, Chinese, Malaysian, Dutch, Yugoslav…the list goes on. This backdrop of different cultures supports free-thinking and artistic expression.

In studios and workshops throughout the country you can meet some of the people who contribute to New Zealand’s art scene. Hot spots for creative endeavour include Kerikeri, Waiheke Island, Coromandel Peninsula, Nelson and Hokitika. Armed with an art trail map, you can visit painters, potters, glass artists, sculptors and textile artists.

Every city in New Zealand has a public art gallery worthy of your attention, as well as a host of private galleries. However, art isn’t confined to traditional exhibition spaces. Neil Dawson’s work ‘Ferns’ is currently hovering above Civic Square in Wellington. In the Auckland Domain, a major city park, a permanent sculpture walk lets you experience the work of eight leading New Zealand Artists. On New Plymouth’s foreshore you’ll be spellbound by Len Lye’s ‘Wind Wand’ - a 45m-high kinetic sculpture that moves with the wind, like a giant conductor’s baton. At night, a light at the top of the wand emits a soft red glow.

Artistic New Zealand events

For nearly 20 years, the Montana World of WearableArt (WOW) Awards Show has been taking art off the wall and putting it on the body. The Wellington show, which is held every year in September, combines textile art, fashion design, sculpture and storytelling.

Another unforgettable and uniquely New Zealand event is Auckland’s Pasifika Festival, where traditional Polynesian music and dancing is juxtaposed with locally produced funk, soul and rap music. This one day event is organised into 10 cultural villages and three entertainment stages.

For more information about art and cultural events in New Zealand, browse the 'Events Calendar' on this website.