Contemporary Culture

July 2020: Things to do

Written by Adam Bryce

Despite unrest, the art industry’s determination to carry on, allows us to either schedule a local visit or a digital look at some of the world’s best exhibitions. See below.

Local—

Sum of Sound Waves by Séraphine Pick
Wellington-based Séraphine Pick presesnts her latest works in an exhibition entitled Sum of Sound Waves. The exhibition is Mossman Gallery’s first solo exhibition of paintings by the artist.

3 JULY – 1 AUGUST 2020
MOSSMAN.GALLERY

Places, ‘in-between’ by Yukari Kaihori
Ponsonby’s newly opened Public Record presents a new series of works by Japanese artist, Yukari Kaihori. Kaihori, who works primarily as a painter, is currently enrolled in the masters programme at the Elam School of Fine Arts. The exhibition “arose with the artist’s interests in our consciousness. We exist in the same world, yet no one is living in the same world. Even living in the same city, we interact with different communities, shop at different stores, and see the world through ourselves and the different perspectives”.

10 JULY – 1 AUGUST 202O
PUBLIC RECORD

1984 – 1987 by Julian Dashper
Michael Lett brings us an exhibition of the late Julian Dashper, entitled 1984 – 1987.

15 JULY – 15 AUGUST 2020
MICHAELLETT.COM

Iris by Andrew Beck
The newly opened Visions gallery present new works by Wellington-based photographic artist, Andrew Beck, in an exhibition entitled Iris. Beck uses a technique popularised by the early 20th-century avant-garde with photograms seaming the present with stitches from the past in a way that points to the aesthetic inertia of contemporary culture.

16 JULY – 8 AUGUST 2020
VISIONS.ART

Notes & Methods by Areez Katki
Areez Katki presents his first solo show at Auckland’s Tim Melville Gallery. In Notes & Methods, Katki presents a suite of seven new embroidered hand-loomed khādī cloth panels, alongside a selection of works from 2019.

7 JULY – 1 AUGUST 2020
TIMMELVILLE.COM

New Works by various artists
Melanie Roger presents a selection of new work by artists Sandra Bushby, Tessa Laird and Rozana Lee in the form of a group show simply named, New Work.

22 JULY – 22 AUGUST 2020
MELANIEROGERGALLERY.COM

Zine Workshops at the Auckland Art Gallery
The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is offering two zine-making workshops to coincide with the school holidays. Under the guidance of dedicated zinefest artists, the workshops give you the chance to learn the art of lino printmaking and zine binding.

AUCKLANDARTGALLERY.COM

Letters and Documents by Dane Mitchell
Letters and Documents brings a key element of Dane Mitchell’s 2019 Post Hoc installation for the 58th Venice Biennale together with works produced by the artist between 1998 and 2005.

2 JUNE – 16 AUGUST 2020
ADAMARTGALLERY.ORG.NZ

Zombies Everywhere by various artists
Zombies Everywhere is Sumer Gallery’s first physical exhibition post lockdown. It features recent work by Yolunda Hickman (Auckland) and Michael Kennedy (Melbourne). “Deserted streets and the walking dead: the end of capitalism as dreamed in our collective imagination.”

1 – 25 JULY 2020
SUMER.CO.NZ

International—

WORDS by various artists
London’s Simon Lee Gallery continues to operate online due to Covid-19 restrictions. WORDS, a group exhibition that explores the function of language and the role of text in art making, includes pieces by Jenny Holzer, Cy Twombly, George Condo, Richard Prince, John Baldessari and other greats.

22 JUNE – 22 JULY 2020
SIMONLEEGALLERY.COM

An-My Lê: On Contested Terrain by An-My Lê
An-My Lê: On Contested Terrain is the first comprehensive survey of the politically charged work by photographer An-My Lê. Featuring over 100 photographs, this exhibition presents seven of Lê’s series, providing insight into her evocative images that draw on a landscape tradition to address the complexity of war.

14 MARCH 2020 – 18 JANUARY 2021
CMOA.ORG

Cruising Utopia by Peter Hujar
New York’s Pace Gallery presents Cruising Utopia, an exhibition of New York icon Peter Hujar’s photography. The artists portraits capture the city’s queer pantheon of artists and drag performers, poets and writers, celebrities and deadbeats, strangers and lovers, acquaintances and friends.

30 JUNE – 14 JULY 2020
PACEGALLERY.COM

i-D summer school with Alastair Mckimm
i-D magazine present a series of free online courses to help young creatives better understand the industry. Starting on 9 July, with a video teaching the art of pitching to a magazine, you’ll get the advice of i-D editor-in-chief and legendary stylist Alastair Mckimm.

STARTS 9 JULY 2020
I-D.VICE.COM

800 Jahre by Adam Golfer and Daniel Shea
Daniel Shea, one of photography’s rising stars travelled with photographer/film-maker Adam Golfer to the small town of Gernsbach, Germany. The result of this journey is the film, 800 Jahre, available to view online now.

“We can both trace our family histories to Germany. I am the grandson of Jewish Prussian/Lithuanian Holocaust survivors and Daniel is the grandson of a soldier of the Third Reich. From opposite ends, we are connected to this country whose Nazi ideology defined the parameters of Aryan Whiteness, which sought to annihilate all other peoples as less than human.” — Adam Golfer.