Dane Mitchell
Radiant Matter Part II
May 28–August 28, 2011
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
30 the Octagon
Dunedin, New Zealand
www.dunedin.art.museum
In Radiant Matter Part II, Mitchell’s investigation focuses on liminal spaces where occult activities, transformative materials and shadowy elements coalesce. The artist conjures up an assortment of seemingly eclectic substances; from a witch’s spell to a splinter of volcanic glass, through to a synthesised scent designed with French perfumer Michel Roudnitska, the base notes of which allude to a bodily (ghostly) presence, and a lingering hint of dust. Under these conditions the gallery becomes the storehouse for a collection of curious specimens and objects; vials of dirt make reference to genealogical lines, globules of glass are literal renderings of speech bubbles (in which the artist speaks into molten glass) or the fragile remains from a musical lament (bagpipes are connected to the glassblower’s blowpipe), and a seemingly empty museum cabinet contains a perfume the artist describes as a molecular sculpture—a hologram of an object that takes shape in the brain.
This is a speculative and provocative exhibition that raises questions about systems of belief and frames the unseen, without providing a clear pathway of solutions or resolutions. In this exhibition, museology, science and the dark arts co-exist on the same plateau; they converge, feed back and fold into one another. This is most clearly articulated in Gateway to the Etheric Realm 2011, where multiple enclosures barely contain, or conversely come to embody, the unknown and imperceptible sphere they are designed to protect. In Mitchell’s hands the most ephemeral states and conditions are momentarily captured, given form and displayed, so that audiences can wonder, desire and ruminate over the remains.
Dane Mitchell was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1976 and works in Auckland and Berlin. He was a 2009/2010 resident on the Berliner Kunstlerprogramm DAAD, Berlin, Germany; 2010 resident at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand and part of the Visiting Artist Programme at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand in 2011.
Selected solo exhibitions include Radiant Matter Part 1, 2011, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand; Minor Optics, 2009, DAADGalerie, Berlin, Germany; Bending Light, 2009, Starkwhite, Auckland, New Zealand; Conjuring Form, 2008, Art Statements Art39Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Invocations, 2008, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Australia; A Guest, A Host, 2008, Galerie West, Den Haag, The Netherlands; A Abrigo, 2007, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Selected group exhibitions include Singapore Biennale, 2011, Singapore; Busan Biennale, 2010, Busan, Korea; For Keeps, 2010, Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand; Casa Sem Dono, 2008, Casa Triangulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Toi Te Papa, 2007, Te Papa/Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand. He is represented by Starkwhite, Auckland, NZ and A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Dunedin Public Art Gallery has been operating the Visiting Art Programme since the mid-nineteen nineties with the support of Creative New Zealand. One of the longest standing short-term visual artist residency programmes in New Zealand, it has produced stunning projects by a number of highly regarded artists including; Ricky Swallow, Peter Robinson, Spencer Finch, Judy Millar, Mikala Dwyer, Simon Denny, Nina Katchadourian, Alicia Frankovich and Peter Wegner.
*Image above:
Photo by the artist. Courtesy of Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Starkwhite and the artist. Copyright the artist.
