Thursday, October 24, 2013

Boy oh boy

All the publicly funded art museums in the Wellington region are now run by women, but if you think that’s going to give women artists a break, think again. The 2014 New Zealand Festival programme has just been announced in Wellington and if you love what one man can do in a gallery space, you’re going to be like a pig in visual arts muck at this Festival (also directed by a woman).

City Gallery: a Noel McKenna show and a Laurence Aberhart show and William Eggleston show and a Simon Starling show


The Engine Room: a Paul Cullen show


Pataka: a Jens Parkitny show


The Adam is doing a group show but don’t hold your breath on the representation thing: 10 of the 12 artists are male. The Dowse is only down for Shapeshifter which it claims is “One of summer’s most keenly anticipated arts events. “ Although this outdoor sculpture display hasn’t exactly been a female fest in the past, you never know your luck.


So is there any chance of seeing the art of the fifty percent? There is, but apart from a commissioned work from Yuk King Tan at Te Papa, it’s out on the geographic edges that another bunch of women directors have brought a little balance to the overall programme:
 

Pataka, Porirua: Tiffany Singh

Expressions, Upper Hutt: Tracey Moffat


Mahara, Kapiti: Frances Hodgkins