Here’s some good news for Wellington. The recent rumour that the three-yearly Prospect exhibition is to be dumped because three years have elapsed and there’s no sight of a new one, has been quashed by City Gallery director Paula Savage. She told OTN that “the Gallery's Prospect Triennial is scheduled for 2011”. While this probably makes it a Quadennial (or something like that) the exhibition is important to the City Gallery’s brand as a “leading contemporary New Zealand art institution, initiating ground-breaking exhibitions.”
Since 2000 only 14 of its 81 major exhibitions (we have not included the small trainee curator shows done in the Hirschfeld Gallery) have been group shows. And, of those group shows, only half were curated by the City Gallery. The best way for anyone who wants to, as City Gallery director Paula Savage puts it, “…ponder current art practice and consider where art might be going next….” is to see more group shows. All this obviously puts a lot of pressure on Prospect, but you’ll be pleased to hear that another group exhibition is coming up. Ready to roll, will feature eight younger artists selected by curator Heather Galbraith and will open late May, albeit in conjunction with another one-person show, this time John Pule.
Image: Empty prospecting pan
