Darcy Lange
Work Studies in Schools
December 4, 2009 – January 16, 2010
Cabinet
300 Nevins Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 12–6 pm
www.cabinetmagazine.org/events/lange.php
Curated by Mercedes Vicente
Opening reception: December 3, 7–9 pm
Cabinet is pleased to present “Darcy Lange: Work Studies in Schools,” an exhibition that draws from a series of videos by New Zealand artist Darcy Lange (1946–2005) which examine the processes of teaching and learning. In 1976, Lange videotaped a number of classrooms at three schools in the English city of Birmingham, carefully choosing institutions that would represent different social classes. Focusing on the teaching of art, history, and science, Lange first filmed each class in action. Afterwards, he would watch the tapes with the teachers and then the students, each time recording their reactions. The following year, Lange continued the project, this time in four Oxfordshire schools. Lange saw his tapes as material for “research,” an “educational process” in which the reactions of his subjects to the footage were just as important as the original films.
About Darcy Lange
A graduate of Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland, New Zealand and the Royal College of Art in London, Darcy Lange (1946-2005) established a career in the late 1960s as a sculptor with large, hard-edge abstract works but soon turned to photography, film, and video. In 1972, he began videotaping and filming under the general theme of “people at work” in English factories, mines, and schools and continued documenting workers’ lives after returning to New Zealand. In the late 1970s, Lange joined Maori activists’ struggles to establish land rights during what became known as the Maori Renaissance when bicultural policies in New Zealand fully came into place, and developed his ambitious Maori Land Project (1977–1981). Beginning in the 1980s, Lange became increasingly involved in the study of music, especially flamenco, and created several multimedia performances involving music, poetry, and art. He died in Auckland in 2005.
This exhibition is presented by Cabinet in collaboration with Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and with the support of the Darcy Lange Estate and New Zealand Film Archive.
About Cabinet
Featuring exhibitions of both contemporary art and historical materials, as well as an eclectic schedule of talks, screenings, and events, Cabinet’s space was inaugurated in the fall of 2008 to extend the award-winning magazine’s engagement with art and culture into the public realm. Located at 300 Nevins Street (between Sackett and Union) in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, Cabinet’s space is open Tuesday to Saturday 12–6 pm and by appointment, and is fully wheelchair-accessible.
For further information, contact Cabinet at + 1 718 222-8434 or via email at press@cabinetmagazine.org.
