Twenty-one years after representing New Zealand at the Venice Biennale, et al.’s the fundamental practice is being shown in its entirety in Aotearoa for the first time. Five moving autonomous systems, computer-generated voices and sound form what feels like a dystopian orchestra. What interests me is how easily machines can borrow the language of authority. A synthetic voice does not need to understand an idea to repeat it convincingly. The work turns technology into a strange theatre of belief, obedience and doubt.
New Zealand Art
Steel Learning to Perform
Len Lye treated movement almost like musical composition. In works such as Universe, flexible steel does not simply form a sculpture. It bends, vibrates, produces sound and traces temporary shapes through space. What interests me is that the object is never really the whole artwork. Energy completes it. Without movement, part of the sculpture is still missing.
https://govettbrewster.com/exhibitions/2024/len-lye-motion-compositions
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre Len Lye: Motion Compositions | Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre New Zealand's most courageous contemporary art museum and home to the collection of modernist filmmaker and kinetic artist Len Lye.