NEW GOLD MOUNTAIN Mark Schroder

NEW GOLD MOUNTAIN, a new installation by Mark Schroder, repurposes Blue Oyster Art Project Space as a foyer-dairy-bank to present, in sculptural form, disparate elements drawn from a broad investigation of the intersection between art and finance, and modern notions of success and failure.

NEW GOLD MOUNTAIN looks to the lucky history of Ōtepoti; it’s development, accelerated through geographical luck with its proximity to goldfields; the merger of Hudson Bakery with English Chocolatier, Cadbury, to form Cadbury Hudson Fry, who’s regulatory luck propelled them to the top of the national food chain by circumventing import costs and local production (until recently); and finally, ELSIE, the random number generator, selecting winning numbers for Bonus Bonds, a government established lottery dressed up as savings scheme.

Raising concerns about aspirational materialism, the ebb and flow of protectionist policies, and casino capitalism, whereby speculation is preferred to entrepreneurial growth, NEW GOLD MOUNTAIN considers the roles luck and chance play in determining outcomes: career cut short by injury, scammed by a snake oil evangelist, job lost due to decisions made by the board, the inheritance of wealth, an enterprise liquidated, a market crash. Luck (or lack of) in all its guises: timing, location, birth, proximity, regulation, selection. New gold. Old gold. Fool’s gold. Invest now!

Auckland based installation artist, Mark Schroder holds an MFA from Auckland University of Technology (2015). He creates montage-spaces of aspiration and disappointment, riffing on malls, storage facilities, corporate foyers, waiting rooms, motels, parking buildings, and locker rooms, as well as banking and finance structures. Recent exhibitions include; Adjacent Industries (Rainfades), Fuzzy Vibes (2015), Swimming the 109, Glovebox (2016); The Hive Hums With Many Minds (group), Te Tuhi offsite (2016).


Read Robert Metcalf's response It only looks like the good life here.