With less than three months to the symposium now, plans are firming up nicely, as are registrations. Announcements on keynote speakers, the programme, and the exhibition are coming soon, but before you book your travel, you might like to know what else you should allow time for. Below, some details of the exhibitions planned by our big three – Otago Museum, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, and Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, and advance notice of a serendipitously on-theme NZ exclusive Otago Arts Festival production. We’ll post more information and links as information becomes available.
There will be other exhibitions at smaller galleries and archives around town, details yet to come. Other activities around the time are Christine Keller’s weaving workshop, offered in response to requests at last year’s symposium – places are strictly limited, but we look forward to seeing some of the finished work at the symposium.
Dunedin Public Art Gallery has just announced Space Suit. Curated by Lucy Hammonds, this exhibition looks at contemporary sculpture and installation in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery collection to consider the changed (or unchanged) role of fabric and textiles in recent artistic practices.
Ronnie van Hout
Spacesuit
1996
Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection
Dunedin Public Art Gallery – Space Suit
The art gallery is a couple of blocks from Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, which in September opens Suffrage & beyond: 1893 – 2018, which looks back to the events of 1893 and at aspects of progress and change in the lives of New Zealand women over the ensuing 125 years.
Closer to the symposium, the Otago Museum is marking its own significant milestone: 150 years since its foundation. The celebrations will include Est. 1868, featuring highlights from the Museum’s significant collections, including some of its textile treasures.
The symposium weekend is also the opening of the Otago Arts Festival. While the full programme has yet to be announced, we can offer a heads-up on Beloved Muse, which is right up the symposium alley, being a one-woman show on the life of early 20th century Viennese fashion designer, Emilie Flöge. Presented by Maxi Blaha and written by British playwright Penny Black, the show at Dunedin’s beautiful Savoy is a New Zealand exclusive for the festival.
More announcements to come.