The False Demographic Curated by Ted Whitaker and Chloe Geoghegan
7 October 2015 - 31 October 2015
Robert Carter, Brendan Jon Philip, Stella Corkery, Ondřej Vicena
The solemnly proud New Zealander looks out over a long white cloud, sipping a mug of warm Milo. Marmite and Weet-Bix every morning. A good serving of Wattie’s tomato sauce a mince pie for lunch.
The call to “design your own flag” aligns with a proud DIY culture, modern democracy and a wry antipodean humour. What does the referendum mean to Aotearoa’s largely apolitical and globalised youth? How does it affect the current nature of post-colonial dialogue? Is New Zealand the perfect sized soapbox for political empowerment or disempowerment? Does the referendum consider the ‘otherness’ that many if not most New Zealanders identify with? Isolated geographically to the rest of the world and living in a destination country (unless en route to Antarctica) demands an outward perspective.
Exploring an alternative voice within the mainstream flag debate, The False Demographic reflects the diverse potential of socio-political dialogue within art practice. Questioning the debate as an automatic discussion, Robert Carter’s installation ‘The Voice of Authority II’ (2015) will embody and distort the forceful nature of political dialogue. Enclosed by a border of quiet but invasive Kikuyu grass, Stella Corkery’s painting ‘Ears Burning’ (2015) accompanies ‘Stateless Vexilla’ (2015) a series of new drawings from Dunedin based artist Brendan Jon Philip exploring the indeterminacy of individuation in post-global society. Prague based Czech artist Ondřej Vicena’s sculptural installation ‘I saw how tourist view burnt a spoon’ (2015) intersects the gallery space; hyperreality and reality interweave to offer a much needed viewpoint from the outside looking in.
Positioning 40 responses from a constructed demographic as the interactive architecture of the exhibition, visitors will be able to access and view any of the interviews in any order. This structure aims to delineate the flag debate in order to create diverse pathways that reflect the complex nature of the referendum process. Seen as only the beginning of an ongoing project that will move with the shape of the continuously unfolding argument, forming an online publication in 2016.
The call to “design your own flag” aligns with a proud DIY culture, modern democracy and a wry antipodean humour. What does the referendum mean to Aotearoa’s largely apolitical and globalised youth? How does it affect the current nature of post-colonial dialogue? Is New Zealand the perfect sized soapbox for political empowerment or disempowerment? Does the referendum consider the ‘otherness’ that many if not most New Zealanders identify with? Isolated geographically to the rest of the world and living in a destination country (unless en route to Antarctica) demands an outward perspective.
Exploring an alternative voice within the mainstream flag debate, The False Demographic reflects the diverse potential of socio-political dialogue within art practice. Questioning the debate as an automatic discussion, Robert Carter’s installation ‘The Voice of Authority II’ (2015) will embody and distort the forceful nature of political dialogue. Enclosed by a border of quiet but invasive Kikuyu grass, Stella Corkery’s painting ‘Ears Burning’ (2015) accompanies ‘Stateless Vexilla’ (2015) a series of new drawings from Dunedin based artist Brendan Jon Philip exploring the indeterminacy of individuation in post-global society. Prague based Czech artist Ondřej Vicena’s sculptural installation ‘I saw how tourist view burnt a spoon’ (2015) intersects the gallery space; hyperreality and reality interweave to offer a much needed viewpoint from the outside looking in.
Positioning 40 responses from a constructed demographic as the interactive architecture of the exhibition, visitors will be able to access and view any of the interviews in any order. This structure aims to delineate the flag debate in order to create diverse pathways that reflect the complex nature of the referendum process. Seen as only the beginning of an ongoing project that will move with the shape of the continuously unfolding argument, forming an online publication in 2016.
Our False Demographic:
Ella Grace MacPherson, Miri Davidson, Piupiu-Maya Turei, Catherine Griffiths, Bruce Connew, Tim Wong, Matt Galloway, Ron Bull, Dr. Martin Tolich, Emma Ng, Simon Kaan, David John Hall, John Bellamy, Ema Tavola, Cr. Mike Lord, Fiona Clark, James Dignan, Professor Kevin Clements, Tuafale Tanoai aka Linda T, Dudley Benson, Samuel Montgomery, Mya Morrison-Middleton, Hon. Michael Woodhouse, Dr. David Clark, Suzanne Menzies-Culling, Elisabeth Wildling, Kristin O'Sullivan Peren, Frank Geoghegan, Francis Whitaker, James Bellaney, Paul Roper, Vicki Lenihan, Robert Fraser and more to be added as the exhibition progresses.
