The Blue Room 13 Artists Respond in a Psychic Way

Bekah Carran, e l. august and l. a clifton, Andrea du Chatenier, Violet Faigan, Lonnie Hutchinson, Saskia Leek, Louise Menzies, Dane Mitchell, Rebecca Pilcher, Johanna Sanders, Pippa Sanderson and Stuart Shepherd
Curated by Pippa Sanderson

‘When artists are asked to respond ‘in a psychic way’ to a site, city or idea, what can we expect?’ asks Pippa Sanderson, curator and participating artist in The Blue Room: 13 Artists respond in a psychic way, the latest show at the Blue Oyster Gallery. In this case, 13 artists have made work for the Blue Oyster Gallery in response to The Blue Room, a famous house in Dunedin where Spiritualists conducted séances in the 1920s.

Some are skeptics, some believers, but all have made work that raises questions about the fascination with the psychic that haunts us now. "The television programmes, the internet sites devoted to spells and spectres, the touring psychics, what are we to make of it all?" says Sanderson. A sneak preview into the ‘Blue Room’ reveals demonic chairs, spirit photography, Samoan tarot, telepathic communication in drawings and glances, and much more…