Gus Fisher AMPED

Group Architects

Group Architects – “the Group” for short – are New Zealand’s most mythologised firm of mid-twentieth century architects. They are known for their provocative calls for a specifically New Zealand architecture and for their modern houses, often characterised by exposed timbers, open-plan interiors and new attention to indoor-outdoor living.

Group Architects: Towards a New Zealand Architecture reveals the many different building types the Group produced, from gabled, courtyard and geometric houses to recreational, industrial and commercial buildings. The exhibition combines drawings, photographs, models, furniture, paintings and sculpture by members of the Group. Houses, the building type for which these modern architects are best known, are depicted in photographs and models. The exhibition also draws new attention to the firm’s non-residential work.

Simon Esling: Six Obstructions

Six Obstructions is an exhibition of models and paintings that examine the intersection of the body with machines, architecture and the environment. Dating from Le Corbusier’s 1923 statement that “a house is a machine for living in”, and evolving since World War Two, there has been an ongoing interest in architectural paradigms relating to the body. In recent times the advent of nanotechnology has opened the discussion further, heralding a new age of construction. Through an exploration of art historical references and architectural practices, Six Obstructions (Cutting; The Body; Pouring; The Wall; Abstraction and Negation) seeks to address the point at which evolution and entropy take effect.

Attempts at Imperfection an essay by Anna Parlane.

This work has been generously supported by Creative New Zealand

Artist talk:Saturday 20 November, 1pm
Simon Esling and Anna Parlane will discuss the themes and ideas present in Six Obstructions, analysing the relationships between cutting, the body, pouring, the wall, abstraction and negation.

Ruth Cleland: Mall

Ruth Cleland’s exhibition Mall features a series of works on paper that document suburban shopping malls located around Auckland and Hamilton. This exhibition represents two years of work, including drawings that were completed during a three-month artist residency at the Vermont Studio Centre, USA in 2009.