Unfinished Business: Experimental Art in Aotearoa New Zealand
Despite reaching its half-century milestone, the recognition and acquisition of conceptual, time-based, ephemeral and site-sensitive art works by public art museums in Aotearoa New Zealand remains piecemeal, with little effort–other than the important work undertaken by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and its E. H. McCormick Research Library–to establish and document the rich histories of practice dating back to the late 1960s. Further, while the forms and procedures associated with experimental art continue to manifest in artist-run and contemporary art spaces across the country, it is unclear if the intentions of younger artists working in these spaces are the same as those of earlier generations, or, given the state of art education currently, if they are even aware of the lineages they share.
