New Co-directors announced

After a six-month global search, which has involved local, national and international stakeholders, New Plymouth District Council has appointed Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh as Co-Directors of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre. Recent past Directors include Simon Rees, Rhana Devenport and Gregory Burke.

Over the past decade, Burns and Lundh have curated nearly 50 exhibitions and projects across Europe, North America and Australia, with an emphasis on commissioning new art works. Their projects often respond to time and place, with colonial legacies, ideas of belonging, and new technologies running throughout.

Burns and Lundh are currently Executive Directors of the Institute of Modern Art (IMA) in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 1975, the IMA is Australia’s oldest contemporary art space. At the IMA, Burns and Lundh have initiated commissions and curated major solo exhibitions with artists including Gordon Bennett, Céline Condorelli, Dale Harding, Nicholas Mangan, Amalia Pica, Slavs and Tatars, Hito Steyerl, Luke Willis Thompson and Haegue Yang. They have also edited and co-edited a number of books, including award winning titles in partnership with Sternberg Press, Berlin. Prior to leading the IMA, Burns and Lundh were Co-Directors of the Centre for Contemporary Art, in Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland, where they were part of the curatorial team for the 2013 Turner Prize.

“We are honoured to take up the Directorship of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre. We have followed its programme for many years and been impressed with its ambition. We share a passion for the artist-centred spirit of the Govett-Brewster and look forward to furthering its development, achievements and reputation,” the Co-Directors said. 

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is New Zealand’s contemporary art museum in the coastal city of New Plymouth, Taranaki on the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. Since opening in 1970, the Gallery has dedicated itself to innovative programming, focused collection development and audience engagement. It has earned a strong reputation nationally and internationally for its global vision and special commitment to contemporary art of the Pacific Rim. The Govett-Brewster is also home to the collection and archive of the seminal modernist filmmaker and kinetic sculptor Len Lye (1901–1980).