Tuatara Open Late Returns To City Gallery Wellington In December

City Gallery Wellington will be serving up a banquet of culturally enriching multimedia events, food and drinks when the Tuatara Open Late programme makes its long-awaited return this coming December. Happening in conjunction with the currently running Terminal exhibition "of international art made about the airport, not for it", the very first Open Late evening since lockdown gets rolling with a 6pm book launch for Tina Barton’s book Billy Apple® Life/Work, chronicling the famed pop / conceptual NZ artist’s career, along with a discussion between Barton and gallery Chief Curator Robert Leonard and a screening of British filmmaker Midge MacKenzie's 1966 experimental documentary Neon Dreams. Keeping on the topic of Terminal, writers / speakers Steve Braunias, Rajorshi Chakraborti, Freya Daly Sadgrove, Jordan Hamel, and Melissa Laing will deliver five "requiems for an airport" at 7pm.

Shifting focus to the auditory realm, Open Late concludes with performance event Itinerarium at 8.30pm, featuring sound artists Emma Bernard (Ludus), Dugal McKinnon, Jim Murphy, Thomas Voyce (Rhombus Productions), Sonya Waters and Jack Woodbury, paying homage to Brian Eno’s (who also has work featured in the exhibition) 1978 ambient interstitial masterpiece Music for Airports. With entry by donation, there'll also be beer, wine, and yum food for attendees to tuck into, DJ Dan Aikido (Radio Active, The Jewel School) will be spinning tunes all evening, and Simon Ingram’s painting machine Monadic Device will be making new artwork on-site right before your very eyes — mark these details in your diary...

Tuatara Open Late: Terminal
Thursday 3rd December - City Gallery Wellington

5pm to 10pm: Exhibitions open, DJ Dan Aikido (Radio Active, The Jewel School)
5pm to 9.30pm: Supper treats from House of Dumplings and cash bar
6pm: Billy Apple® Life/Work by Christina Barton, Book Launch  
7pm: Requiem for an Airport: Steve Braunias, Rajorshi Chakraborti, Freya Daly Sadgrove, Jordan Hamel, and Melissa Laing  
8.30pm: Itinerarium: live music performances by some of New Zealand’s finest sound-based artists in response to Terminal feat. Emma Bernard (Ludus), Dugal McKinnon, Jim Murphy, Thomas Voyce (Rhombus Productions), Sonya Waters, Jack Woodbury

Entry by donation / full event details HERE (event bookings available or turn up on the day)

Listen to Ludus' 'Makes Like Footprints' from this year's Artists In Residence compilation of tracks made by artists during lockdown...

Press release:

Art, music, film, talks, beer, wine, and food. Celebrate the return of Open Late—our changing programme of late-night events on the first Thursday of the month—our first since lockdown.

Space in the Gallery is limited. Come early to avoid disappointment or reserve your spot via the event pages for Requiem for an Airport, the Christina Barton Billy Apple® Life/Work Book Launch, and Itinerarium.

At 6pm, we launch Tina Barton’s book Billy Apple® Life/Work, chronicling the pop-conceptual artist’s sixty-year career. Barton discusses this epic project with Chief Curator Robert Leonard. We will also screen Neon Dreams, a 1966 experimental documentary on the new phenomenon of light art in New York in the late sixties, by British filmmaker Midge MacKenzie. Thanks to Auckland University Press and Ngā Taonga.

At 7pm, writers Steve Braunias, Rajorshi Chakraborti, Freya Daly Sadgrove, Jordan Hamel, and Melissa Laing deliver Requiem for an Airport—in response to our show Terminal.

At 8.30pm, local sound artists—Emma Bernard (Ludus), Dugal McKinnon, Jim Murphy, Thomas Voyce (Rhombus Productions), Sonya Waters, and Jack Woodbury—present Itinerarium, paying homage to Brian Eno’s Music for Airports and offering an auditory portal into Terminal.

Throughout the evening, enjoy DJ Dan Aikido (Radio Active, The Jewel School) and observe Simon Ingram’s painting machine Monadic Device make a new work. Bar closes at 9:30.

With support from Tuatara, Seresin Estate, and RadioActive.