Gallery A-Go-Go. City Gallery Wellington Open

On Sunday 27 September, 12noon to 5pm, City Gallery Wellington is hosting a public celebration in Civic Square for its much anticipated reopening.  Jo Randerson will lead the afternoon’s festivities which include bands Rosy Tin Tea Caddy (12:30-1:15pm), Little Bushman (2-3:30pm) and The Hardy Ha Ha’s (4-5pm). There is also FREE entry to the newly renovated City Gallery, closed since October last year, and the chance to be one of the first to experience the spectacular Yayoi Kusama Mirrored Years.

Throughout the open day celebrations, children can enjoy free Kusama-inspired badge making (inside Capital E if raining). Open day admission is FREE and the Gallery will also be free every second Wednesday. Admission charges of $10/$8  per person and $25 for families (2 adults and 2 children) will apply during the remainder of the Kusama season, which runs until 7 February, 2010.

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is in hot demand globally and it is a major coup for Wellington to have the work of this extraordinary artist in town.  One of the most respected and influential contemporary artists living today, Kusama is highly sought after by international galleries and museums. Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years recently broke all attendance records at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art where it closed in June. Now it’s Wellington’s turn to discover the strange and dizzying world of Yayoi Kusama! 

Sunday is also the chance to see inside the Gallery’s striking new tower development, home to the Gallery’s two other opening exhibitions. Exquisite poi works by Parihaka artist Ngaahina Hohaia will hang upstairs in the Roderick and Gillian Deane Gallery, a dedicated exhibition space for M?ori and Pacific arts, and Make Way: Regan Gentry will be next door in the Michael Hirschfeld Gallery. Previously housed in a former bar, this popular gallery returns in its own purpose-designed exhibition space. Downstairs is the Denis and Verna Adam Auditorium which will be screening a Yayoi Kusama documentary and be used for  special events and public programmes.  

The creative drive behind City Gallery’s additions is award-winning Wellington architect Stuart Gardyne of Architecure+, who has again collaborated with Director Paula Savage to work magic on the Gallery’s landmark building. In 1993, Gardyne and Savage were responsible for the conversion of the former Wellington Public Library into City Gallery, achieving a national award for architecture.  Savage says it’s been an amazing opportunity to work with Gardyne again and complete her vision of a more inclusive and flexible City Gallery. It’s welcome-back to Wellington’s favourite gallery café, Nikau, sorely missed during City Gallery’s closure.