The space age

Has the venue for NZ's next Venice outing in 2017 has been nailed? A couple of OTN readers have suggested so. We do know Commissioner Carruthers (hereon ComCar) was always keen to get a venue that could give some certainty to NZ going to Venice on the long term, given the possibility that Creative NZ could bail on major funding in the future. Now it sounds as though his desire for a permanent space within the Arsenale has been fulfilled. But, we're not talking King Hit venue like Simon Denny at the Marciana Library or tourist trap like Bill Culbert's Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà and it would be behind the Biennale's paywall. If it's sharing the building that the Vatican and Turkey were in last year, it’s somewhat off the beaten track but given ComCar 's focus on continuity for the future it’s probably the safe bet. Ideal of course for 2017 as Lisa Reihana's projection with its complex technical backup will suit a more conventional space. The other possibility CNZ and ComCar might have had eyes on is one of the spaces right down the end of the Arsenale exhibition hall, but let’s not go there (no-one else does). The downside of the Arsenale overall is that most of the recently made available spaces are around the back of the huge exhibition hall and most people get there via the long trek through the acres of art that go to make a Venice curator’s exhibition. We’ve been tinkering with the venue thing since we first went to Venice in 2001 with mixed results, not all of them the fault of the venue. Will moving into the Arsenale be the best way to go? It depends on how you weight the logic of pragmatism against the serendipity of opportunity.

Water world: the adventure continues

For the pedants among you (and given some of the responses we get we know you’re out there) today is the middle of the month of October. Ok. midday today will be. So given that Creative NZ announced it would announce the artist/artists to represent NZ at Venice in 2017 in mid October, we can expect that to happen today or maybe Monday. We figure that at this moment probably about 50 or so people know who's been selected (that's counting Creative NZ board members, selection panelists, best friends, staffers and maybe artists) so we're counting down on your behalf. Whatever happens the choice can’t have been easy. Simon Denny highlighted some factors that were essential to his success that Creative NZ will have noted as new must-haves.

•   A dealer/ dealers who can stump up with some serious cash (which makes group shows a problem).

•   An NZ art institution to take up some of the admin and servicing (something that has only come from institutions in Wellington and Christchurch so far).

•   An overseas curator or someone with international pull to validate and promote the NZ presence (a factor strongly favouring artists with a major career outside New Zealand)

Which artist of those we suggested have thrown in their hats could deliver all three? Kate Newby probably and Dane Mitchell, Alicia Frankovich, Ruth Buchanan, but it makes it hard for NZ-based artists. Maybe the selection panel will take a chance and break away from the successful international formula and push NZ's own agenda which would help open up the game for artists like Lisa Reihana and Fiona Pardington.

As for the suggestion of a group show, it's difficult to imagine how the sort of show that would turn heads in Venice will ever get past first base. An isn’t-NZ- art-interesting exhibition isn’t going to do it nor is an isn’t-NZ-art-interesting-seen-alongside-non-NZ-art. In 2011 Denmark presented an exhibition of 12 international artists on the theme of censorship in the context of its own major controversy over the publication of cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. It's hard to see NZ taking such a strong curatorial line, but you never know.

One thing we do know is that for everyday we have to wait for an announcement after midday today, the more likely a group show will be.

Best bets

The proposals for who's to represent NZ at the 2017 Venice Biennale are all in. Now it's up to a panel to choose the lucky winner and made an announcement in around three weeks.  Then it will be off to Venice for the chosen team to check out the current Biennale and get into the endless, stressful search for an NZ venue.

Maybe you remember that for the 2015 outing we asked for a list of who'd applied and after a year of wrangling were refused it. This time round we'll forgo the wrangling bit and offer a list based on gossip, horse's mouth, second, third and even in one case fourth-hand information. In general we have to hear something from three different sources to think it has a chance of being true. Some of the combinations here are common knowledge; Auckland has been in awe watching Auckland Art Gallery director Rhana Devenport’s campaign for Lisa Reihana's wide-screen spectacular In pursuit of Venus, recently on show at the Gallery. In general terms the male/female balance runs slightly against selecting another guy, especially as three of the four women selected previously have had to share the space. There are probably a few more proposals being put on the table but we reckon this list is getting close.

Billy Apple with curator Adnan Yıldız, Artspace


Ruth Buchanan curator Axel Wieder(Director of Index - The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm

Alicia Frankovich with curators Abby Cunnane, St Paul's St Gallery and Chiara Giovando, Disjecta, Portland Oregon

Group show (involving McCahon) Simon Rees, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery

Kate Newby with  curators Natasha Conland, Auckland Art Gallery and Nicolaus Schafhausen, Kunstshalle, Vienna

Seung Yul Oh with curator Andrew  Clifford, Te Uru

Dane Mitchell with curators Zara Stanhope, Auckland Art Gallery and Mami Kataoka, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Fiona Pardington with curator Aaron Lister, City Gallery Wellington

Lisa Reihana with curator Rhana Devenport, Auckland Art Gallery

Other possibilities include another group show from Te Papa Senior curator Sarah Farrar (last time she put up five young artists from Michael Lett and Hopmos) or something from Lara Strongman, another Senior curator who'll be looking to make an impact as the Christchurch Art Gallery reopens. There's been chatter about a proposal putting Rohan Wealleans together with Sarah Lucas, last year’s Venice hit and past co-exhibitor with Wealleans, a stunning idea but probably too good to be true. Still waiting for someone to propose Shane Cotton. He could do a terrific show as our first painter but not a murmur on that front.

We’ll make changes and additions if they come to hand.

Some grist for the rumour mill

After the selection of Simon Denny for the last Venice Biennale we tried to get a list of the curator/artist teams that had put in proposals to be considered. Two years later the Ombudsman finally told us that as Creative NZ had confidentiality agreements with all concerned, this information could not be released. So there you go. If you want to keep your selection processes secret all you need to do is put a gag on the participants. For now, it’s back to rumours, guesses and stabs in the dark. We’ll come up with a list of who we think has applied (you’re welcome to put in your 10 cents worth) shortly after 16 September when proposals have to be with Creative NZ. By that time Creative NZ will have announced who's on the selection panel. In the meantime, after scanning the proposal form, what will they be looking for?

A new work made specifically for Venice. As in the past, the work shown at Venice will have been made for Venice. “The artist(s) will be responsible for the preparation of new work within the nominated timeframe.” That is “suitable for the Venice Biennale context.” Nothing new there, apart from the work.

Agreement to the et al. clause. Creative NZ never recovered from et al’s refusal to talk to the media in 2005 and since then specifically requires the artist to “participate in publicity and promotion activities, which includes media interviews, media launches”.

Funding opportunities. The last Biennale made it clear that Creative NZ expects significant funding via the artist’s dealers. The last Venice outing saw Denny’s dealers make significant contributions to the production of the work, the publication, administrative support and entertainment in Venice. It's also hard to imagine a successful proposal that did not bring with it (probably via the curator) major institutional backing. The usual suspects include Auckland Art Gallery, City Gallery Wellington, Christchurch Art Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery and Te Papa. Untapped so far but definitely a possibility is the tertiary sector via one the art school universities

Looking at the pool of likely contestants it's interesting to ponder on how these requirements will impact on the panel’s final decision when they are applied to specific artists.

Image: Rumour mill, operating model

Hide and seek

Back in August 2013 when Simon Denny and Robert Leonard were selected by CNZ as the team for the Venice Biennale 2015 we asked Creative NZ if we could have the names of the other artists and curators who submitted projects. Creative NZ said no. We argued that the decision making process could not be properly evaluated unless those who had put themselves into the running were known. Creative NZ said no again. The names, we were told, were confidential. Creative NZ believed that people would be put off applying if their names were made public and suggested we take the question to the Office of the Ombudsman if we wanted to take it further.

So on 13 September 2013 that’s what we did. After six months of silence we emailed the Office of the Ombudsman on 16 March 2014 to see if there had been progress. There hadn’t. Six months later again, on 15 October 2014, the Office of the Ombudsman emailed us. Our request was now with a new officer who would be ‘assisting in the investigation’ and who would ‘keep us up to date with progress’. Four months later, we are now at the begininging of February 2015, the Office of the Ombudsman wrote to say that our request was ‘still under consideration’. 

Finally, two months later on 24 March (19 months after our original request), the Ombudsman sent us her report. It turns out that Creative NZ asks anyone who it deals with it to sign confidentiality agreements and the Ombudsman felt these agreements took priority over public access to information. Now you know. The Ombudsman asked us to comment before the final report was signed off which we did, arguing that using confidentiality agreements as a gagging device was not in the spirit of open government. This response still waits somewhere in the Ombudsman’s long, dark cave.

So there you go. By tactically using confidentiality agreements Creative NZ can block attempts by taxpayers to examine or assess its selection process, a process that involves the expenditure of $700,000 of public funds. And remember all that was requested was names not the discussion or deliberations that went toward the decision.

So should we just trust Creative NZ and its current processes to give us a fair result? Well no, not if the selection of Judy Millar/Francis Upritchard (additional representative added after the panel had made its decision) and Michael Parekowhai (no selection panel) are anything to go by. And is it reasonable to believe that the Official Information Act is designed to 'promote access to information held by various Government agencies'? No, it really isn’t.

Water world

What would it take to make someone who has been Commissioner, lead patron and key sponsor for New Zealand’s presence at the Venice Biennale spit the dummy? In the case of Jenny Gibbs it sounds like it was a return airfare to Venice. Oh, did we mention it was for Nicky Hager who is also an advisor for the Simon Denny project. Gibbs along with the Friedlanders has left the patrons group only months before the Denny project launches in Venice. Ironically this odd gesture comes at the same time as Charles Esche has been lecturing the Auckland art scene on the perils of mixing patronage and the public purse in art’s name. All this is hardly likely to worry Simon Denny who has just had a survey exhibition confirmed with MoMA PS1 for next year. Creative NZ seems to be taking things in its stride and the rest of the other patrons seem to be staunch. The fact is over the years the Venice boat has been rocked too many times for it to be swamped by a couple of the crew jumping overboard.
COMMENT 02:10:14 CNZ has emailed to let us know "Dame Jenny Gibbs is supporting the Assistant Curator role (Alex Davidson) for the NZ at Venice 2015 project."

Cash offer

We can all agree on one thing, the NZ at Venice Patrons know how to raise money. They can usually anything up to $400,000 to the $650,000 that the Government puts into Venice via Creative NZ. While there are a few very generous patrons most of the 63 listed last year stumped up with $5,000. It’s a sweet deal. Patrons usually get a free signed limited edition print donated by the artist, a copy of the catalogue, a couple of free tickets to the hard-to-get-into Biennale opening days, access to other elite Venice events as well as glam lunches put on by the dealers and others trying to leverage their good favour. You can join up here.

Potential patrons are traditionally wooed at functions held around the country with drinks and nibbles in a palatial residence and the artist and curator in tow to sweet talk the crowd. There not being so many rich people in Dunedin the usual thing has been to hold functions in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland but this year in preparation for Venice 2015 word is that Wellington will be given the swerve. You can see the logic when you look at the patron list. It’s pretty much an Auckland club with a few heavy hitters from Christchurch. Wellington’s contribution has tended to be in the less sexy area of administration and intangibles of influence on the Government's $600,000 although this year both the commissioner (Heather Galbraith) and the curator (Robert Leonard) are based in Wellington. In earlier times patronage used to include a wide range of support for a project along with the financial but for Venice you get the feeling cash is clearly king.

On the QT, and very hush-hush

In what now feels like a Quixotic quest we tried some time ago to get Creative NZ to release the list of who put in a proposal to be NZ's representative at the 2015 Venice Biennale. As you all know Simon Denny was selected but CNZ refused to release who else went for it. Denny was a great choice from our perspective, but how could you know if this was the best choice unless you also knew who else was in the running?

So we asked the Ombudsman whether the privacy of the people who have entered what amounts to a competition overrides the public interest in the range of options available to the panel. That didn’t turn out too well either. We learnt that the Ombudsman’s office has 2,000 outstanding complaints and has yet to allocate 450 of them to investigators. As one of the noble 450 we are not expecting an answer this year (which is just as well because we haven't had one) or most of next.

While this must be a distressing situation for people who have important issues to be considered, it's still annoying when you want a ruling on a point of principle. What's worse in the balancing of privacy and public interest is that our public servants will no doubt be emboldened to keep more secrets knowing there is unlikely to be any speedy push-back for the public.

Let them beware though. Recent research demonstrates that secrecy is bad for you (we’re looking at you too Walters Prize panelists).

Having secrets makes us feel sad: Professor Tom Frijins in the International Journal of Behavioural Development.

Sharing secrets makes you healthier: Professor Anita Kelly  “Revealing Personal Secrets” 

Secrets make us feel burdened: study published in Social Psychology and Personality Science

Our brains won’t let us keep secrets for too long: Assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience Laura Smart

This from Sarah Sloat’s excellent The Secrets We Keep (Are Making Us Sick and Screwing With Our Brains) in the Pacific Standard.

By the numbers: Venice 2013

Creative New Zealand announced yesterday that 218,000 people had visited the Bill Culbert exhibition over its six and a half month run at the Venice Biennale. Given that it also reports 14,000 of these people came in the first week alone, that’s 1,250 a day for every single day of the following 163 days. To put that into perspective, it’s over twice the number of people who go to regional galleries like the City Gallery Wellington, the Dowse Art Museum and the Govett-Brewster in a full year.

How do they count these people? As it happened we know as we visited the Culbert exhibition and saw the staff member at the door recording everyone who stepped inside. At one second per visitor that’s over 60 hours of work just there.

NZ’s 218,000 total tops Australia’s Simryn Gill presentation (in the Giardini and therefor subject to ticket sales) by 18,000 visitors and means that nearly half (45.9 percent) of the total visitors who attended the Biennale (475,000) went to the New Zealand pavilion. This hopefully also included half of the 4,655 journalists representing the foreign press.

The only other comparative stats we could find on the CNZ site for New Zealand at Venice was that 114,000 people visited the two exhibitions (Upritchard 21,642and Millar 92,914) in 2009.

The takeaway? Location, location, location. A prime spot on the promenade leading to the Giardini not only hooks in Biennale visitors but also gets the added values of tourists doing the stroll thing along the Riva degli Schiavoni from the Bridge of Sighs.

Simply Simon

No sign of a media release so far this morning (CNZ eventually got round to announcing the news of Denny's selection mid afternoon) but there is a lot of talk going round in Wellington that the Denny/Leonard combo has got the nod for Venice. That would makes Denny the ninth person to represent NZ and the youngest by a couple of years. This would also be good news for the City Gallery who are getting Leonard in as their senior curator next year. It would be Leonard’s second Venice stint – he co-curated Michael Stevenson in 2003.

Denny is certainly the front runner (we called it a slam dunk back in July) but always a chance of a compromise candidate when a large committee sits down to talk. We will confirm this rumour just as soon as we sight the CNZ announcement that is expected this morning. In past years take up by the press on art news is somewhere between slow to complete indifference.

The name game

Last week we put in a request to the Ombudsman that Creative NZ release the names of curator/artist teams who made proposals for the Venice Biennale 2015. Our argument was that it is impossible to evaluate the final decision without knowing the options on offer.

The Ombudsman’s Office will no doubt report back in due course, but as the Creative NZ panel has now met and made its selection to be probably announced next week, here's what we have pieced together from what is already known around the traps. There are still a few gaps so when (and if) we get them out of CNZ we'll let you know.

Robert Leonard curator / Simon Denny and Yvonne Todd artists (two separate proposals)
Rhana Devenport curator / Lisa Reihana and Alex Monteith artists (two separate proposals)
Aaron Kreisler curator / Dane Mitchell artist
Tina Barton curator / Billy Apple artist
Natasha Conland curator / Kate Newby artist
Sarah Farrar curator / Group show
Andrew Clifford curator /  Seung Yul Oh artist
Charlotte Huddleston curator / Paul Cullen artist
Anthony Byrt curator / Steve Carr artist
Emma Bugden curator / Ronnie van Hout artist
Vera May curator / Hye Rim Lee artist
Mary Kisler curator / Gretchen Albrecht artist
Mercedes Vincent curator / Maddie Leach artist


Of the other four curator/artist teams we have heard not a word, however as all but one of the artists living in NZ are from Auckland perhaps they are all from the South Island (just kidding).
Image: Secret Squirrel

Spam

unvarnished facts, reckless guesswork, insinuations and possible inventions that have come the way of otn via its readers: rhana devenport the new director of the auckland art gallery was in new plymouth last week as a member of the panel selecting the new director of the govett-brewster  • applications from just about every curator you have heard of (and one who isn’t) have all passed to the next stage in the who-will-go-to-venice race run by creative nz • if you are anywhere near the hamburger bahnhof in berlin eight euro will get you in to see simon denny’s entry into the national gallery prize to be awarded 19 september • two and a half years after the departure of heather galbraith te papa has still not advertised for a senior art curator • when auckland university was out chasing up students to bulk up numbers at its  elam art school last week, it entertained the shanghai university delegation at dealer gallery starkwhite • francis upritchard has a work featured in the first exhibition held on new york’s high line • the auckland city council has launched a survey and the line of questioning suggests that a city artist in residence is in the wind • any missed details, indignant denials or additions gratefully received, and any that makes us laugh out loud will be suitably rewarded.

Old school

Last week Hamish Keith tweeted, “My Listener column on Bill Culbert choice for Venice Biennial will not make me popular but I think it has to be said.” If only. Instead the selection has been swallowed whole without so much as a burp. 

Exactly when was it that we decided to change why we send artists to the Venice Biennale? Who was it that decided we stop supporting and internationally spring-boarding artists in mid or early career as we have done so far, and instead artistically ‘knight’ an artist at the end of his working life? 

Stumping up with over $600,000 (44 percent of the entire CNZ international budget) to give a one-off honour to an artist at the end of his career (Bill Culbert will be 78 when representing us at Venice) can hardly be described as either a medium or long-term investment in our contemporary culture. Wasn't that what Venice was supposed to be about? When you consider that the Laureates Awards are only $50,000 each and the Icons are just given a gong and a pin for the honour of it, this is a huge call.

While on one hand CNZ constantly tells us they are investing in the future of New Zealand art, Commissioner Jenny Harper claims that "Venice is a wonderful platform for us both to celebrate his [Culbert's] individual achievements and to continue to present the richness of this country’s visual arts practice." In reality Culbert is to all intents and purposes an 'English' artist who hasn’t lived in the country for over 50 years and didn’t start regularly exhibiting in New Zealand until he was 65. This surely undercuts his ability to present that richness.

And if we're talking about celebrating the individual achievements of our senior artists there's a long queue of worthy candidates starting with Apple (Billy) and heading right through the alphabet to Webb (Boyd). Then if we step back from the seniors (sorry about that Boyd), there is a whole raft of established artists who would benefit long-term from such a huge investment. 2013 is the final year that the Government has committed to supporting Venice so there is more than a good chance we can wave attending post 2013 Biennales goodbye. It's a failure of nerve that artists like Shane Cotton, Brett Graham, Gavin Hipkins and Fiona Pardington to name just a few are now unlikely now to be given this opportunity. Any one of them would certainly better deliver on CNZ’s requirement that Venice participation ensures “New Zealand’s distinctive voice is heard overseas.”

Water level

News from CNZ that “venues for the exhibitions of the two artists representing New Zealand at the 2009 Venice Biennale have been confirmed” indicates that Judy Millar and Francis Upritchard will not share a single space. The decision to send two artists came after pressure was applied from outside CNZ, and splitting venues is possibly a continuation of this tension. How it will impact on staffing, costs and an identifiable New Zealand presence is unknown.

Replacement for Terry Urbahn as Production Manager is Bruce Edgar who, back in the day, worked with Neil Dawson in his studio and now has a retail refitting business.

Secrets

Well, we tried and failed. Our appeal to the Ombusdsman to require CNZ to let us have the tripofalifetime reports has been rejected. Strangely it wasn’t CNZ that thwarted us. The Ombudsman made it clear that “The [CNZ] Memorandum did not offer any expectation to the delegates that their reports as a whole (or personal opinions contained therein) would be confidential…” and that “I was not satisfied that it imposed a blanket condition of confidentiality for the entirety of any reports that might be submitted by the delegates.”

So far, so good.

Later in her response, however, the Ombusdman says she felt a later CNZ meeting while not “creating any obligation of confidence…” was “consistent with an understanding on the part of the delegates that their reports would be kept confidential.”

And this is where we came unstuck.

The Ombudsman consulted with all the tripofaliftimers and, what-do-you-know, “each delegate made the point that their reports had not been drafted with the idea of public release in mind.” and “Given that they had not expected public release, certain delegates concerns extended to their grammatical style as well as the sentiments expressed.” So, in the end private interests prevailed over the public interest.

And that was that.

On appeal, we made a compromise offer to the Ombudsman suggesting that the reports be made public with 1) the names of the delegates removed, 2) with anything they didn’t want made public blacked out and 3) that an opportunity was given to delegates to fix any problematic grammar. This was not acceptable and our final request for the release of the reports into the public domain was denied.

Their secrets will go with them to the grave.

Three card trick

These installation shots have just reached us from Venice where the Brett Graham and Rachael Rakena installation Aniwaniwa is on course to open this Friday at the Venice Biennale. The project could still use any help it can get, but the invitation indicates at least eight sponsors (excluding Creative New Zealand) are already involved.

In a stroke of bureaucratic genius, however, CNZ satisfied its undertaking not to fund a project to Venice this year and managed to slip Aniwaniwa $24000 at the same time! The money, approved in the latest funding round, is pegged to bringing the work back to New Zealand after the Biennale has ended.

CNZ Trip of a lifetime panel slashed

News in that John McCormack is bailing on the CNZ Trip of a Lifetime Tour to Venice, Basel, Muenster and Kassel. McCormack had already told CNZ he would travel on his own dime but is now also withdrawing from the reporting functions and will no longer travel with the delegation. That leaves Natasha Conland, Gavin Hipkins, Gary Langsford, Lisa Reihana and Undine Marshfield left to report on what the Venice Biennale, Documenta, Sculpture projects at Muenster and Art Basel, the Basel Art Fair, could possibly have to offer New Zealand.

Your tax dollar at work

To help them develop an international strategy for the visual arts, Creative New Zealand is sending the following people on an expenses paid trip to the Venice Biennale, Documenta and the Basel Art Fair. John McCormack, who was also listed, will in fact be paying his own way.
Natasha Conland – curator
Gavin Hipkins – artist
Gary Langsford – art gallery dealer
Lisa Reihana - artist
Undine Marshfield – Creative New Zealand