The Clark Collection Critic/Curator-in-Residence
Helena Reckitt, Senior Lecturer in Curating, Department of Art, Goldsmiths College, London University, was the 2011 Critic/Curator-in-Residence.
Helena worked with the Art History programme from 25 July - 21 August 2011. During this time she ran a workshop on 'teaching curatorial practice' with staff and postgraduate students, participated in the third Art Forum organised by the Adam Art Gallery and City Gallery Wellington and gave a public lecture at Victoria University on Thursday 18 August.
The Clark Collection Critic/Curator-in-Residence is the first of its kind in New Zealand and has been made possible by the generosity of The Clark Collection, The Chartwell Trust, and Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa. The Art History Programme has funding to host three residencies over a period of five years. The first residency was successfully undertaken in 2006 by Singapore-based curator and writer Lee Weng Choy. Guy Brett took up the second residency in 2008.
The Residency is an excellent opportunity for anyone with an interest in New Zealand art and culture. Art History at Victoria University is a vibrant programme with a small cohort of respected scholars in the fields of New Zealand, Pacific, 18th, 19th and 20th-Century Art History. The University has a substantial art collection and a significant university art gallery (the Adam Art Gallery), which runs an important programme of exhibitions and public programmes. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and home to a number of national institutions, including Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand; the National Library of New Zealand, and the New Zealand Film Archive.
The Critic/Curator contributes on an occasional basis to the teaching programme of the university, by means of lectures, seminars and workshops, to enable students, staff, colleagues from other institutions and members of the art community to deepen their knowledge of The Critic/Curator's area of expertise and working processes. They also further contribute to knowledge of and critical debate on the visual arts by giving guest lectures in other venues around New Zealand.
While there is no requirement to produce a publication or project while they are in Wellington, it is envisaged that the outcome of the Critic/Curator's research will result in publications and/or exhibitions that incorporate elements of the work they undertake while on the Residency.
Further information contact Christina Barton.
2008 - Guy Brett
Guy Brett, Leading London-based freelance curator and critic, was the 2008 Clark Collection Critic/Curator-in-Residence. He gave the first lecture in the 2008 Art History and Visual Culture Lecture series, Words come after, on 28 February and ran a Wellington Workshop: In the face of power: strategies for art and life on 19 March.
2006 - Lee Weng Choy
Lee Weng Choy, Art critic and artistic co-director of The Substation arts centre in Singapore, gave a lecture, Biennale Time and the Spectres of Exhibition, in the 2006 Art History and Visual Culture Lecture series, in April. He also held a workshop for art writers/curators, Coincidence and Relation: Art Criticism and Heartbreak, on Friday 24 March.
Other talks by Lee Wen Choy included:
Water Essay at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery on 28 March, and Just What Is it that Makes the Term Global-Local So Widely Cited, Yet So Annoying? on 30 March, at Auckland Art Gallery.