The concept of curating and directing CoCA has now become a reality. I have said my farewell to Plymouth in the UK and flown across the globe and landed in Christchurch. I am now well into my second week of work on New Zealand soil.

On route to Christchurch I was fortunate to experience the Venice Biennale. Located in a sensational, historic setting, this is the largest of the world’s biannual contemporary art events. Okwui Enwezor is the renowned curator of the main exhibition All the World’s Futures. On for another five months, the exhibition is essentially about the state of the world today and how artists are reacting to and making sense of global issues. The exhibition is spread across two sites: the Arsenale, a beautiful former rope and ship building yard; and the well-maintained Giardini (gardens), surrounded by 29 pavilions built from 1907 onwards by the various nations participating in this enduring Biennale. There is also a surprisingly extensive collateral programme of creative projects and exhibitions around the city.

Experiencing so much artwork in one place left me with many highlights and potential resonances for CoCA. The pavilions give you a sense of global contemporary art, some of the works clearly defining the state of artists’ respective countries.

Artist Simon Denny, who is representing New Zealand, was extremely well received. His project Secret Power was partly prompted by the impact of whistleblower Edward Snowden’s leaks of National Security Agency (NSA) PowerPoint slides which outlined top-secret US telecommunications surveillance programmes. These slides highlighted New Zealand’s role in US intelligence work, as a member of the US-led ‘Five Eyes’ alliance. Now out in the open, the slides have come to represent international surveillance work and its impact on individual privacy. Denny’s ‘Biennale Arte 2015’ project has gained lots of international press and put New Zealand in the spotlight in the ‘art world’.

For me, Chinese artist Xu Bing’s Phoenix (above) most powerfully aligned with the curator’s concept for the Venice Biennale. Throughout China’s history, every dynasty has had its form of phoenixes. Representing luck, unity, power and prosperity, these mythological birds have, for the most part, been benevolent, gentle creatures. The pair in this exhibition, made out of materials used for China’s commercial development, reflects the grimmer and grittier face of China today. Essentially, the phoenix expresses unrealised hopes and dreams.

An opportunity that I hope to bring to CoCA from Venice is a fantastic work by British/Ghanaian artist John Akomfrah. I have worked with Akomfrah and the production team Smoking Dogs over the last few years, resulting in commissioned work. Akomfrah is a polemic artist, and working with him has definitely impacted on my thinking as a curator.

Akomfrah’s presentation Vertigo Sea is on display in the Biennale’s Central Pavilion. It is a new three-screen/channel film installation about whaling, the environment and our relationship with the sea. For the last 30 years, spanning cinema, television and gallery-based installations, Akomfrah’s work has engaged with questions of memory and identity, creating moving-image works, which give a voice to African migration in Europe. He fills gaps in history using archival material to create documentary-style ‘film essays’ and speculative fictional stories about our past. He is renowned for pushing the boundaries of documentary film.

During my quick four days in Venice, I enjoyed making new connections and developing existing relationships, both with the art and with the people. I am looking forward to applying this learning to CoCA’s projects here in Christchurch.

I am a firm believer that to make knowledge and skills relevant to a location you have to first experience the place. I’m really looking forward to experiencing and learning about the city so I can get a sense of how CoCA can once again become a key focal point and resource for the public and local art communities. I am extremely excited to be here!

Kia ora koutou.

Paula Orrell
Director & Principal Curator, CoCA

Image: Xu Bing’s Phoenix (2015) hanging between two boathouses at the Arsenale. 

CoCA has officially appointed Paula Orrell as the new Director & Principal Curator. She will be responsible for developing and leading the gallery’s programme of exhibitions, projects and events.

The Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA) gallery on Gloucester Street has been closed since the February 2011 earthquake for major strengthening and repair work and is set to reopen in Spring this year. Paula Orrell currently based in Plymouth, UK, will move to Christchurch to take up the role of Director & Principal Curator with CoCA next month.

“I am really excited about this opportunity to create a new experience of contemporary art for Christchurch audiences – particularly for people who might not have ever been to a contemporary art show. Good art programmes can stimulate debate and conversations about key issues that affect us all. I’m also looking forward to being exposed to new artists and exploring what this incredible country has to offer through its bourgeoning arts scene,” says Orrell.

“I want CoCA to become a centre of excellence in commissioning and supporting the ideas of artists and I hope to curate an exciting and engaging programme that captures the imagination of people in Christchurch. I last visited Christchurch nine years ago and I can’t wait to come back and get started and for CoCA to launch its first exhibition.”

Orrell brings a wealth of experience to the role. In London she curated exhibitions and commissioned new work for the Barbican Curve Gallery, Beaconsfield, the British Museum. She has also worked as a lecturer, curator and researcher at the London College of Fashion to develop and deliver an MA in Curating; curated and established a new contemporary art programme as curator of the Plymouth Arts Centre; and currently curates and directs a public art programme across South West England called the River Tamar Project.

Chair of CoCA’s Board of Trustees, Kristina Pickford, says the gallery’s closure for four and a half years has been frustrating but has given the Board the opportunity to develop a new vision, which Orrell is the ideal person to lead.

“CoCA has a long and proud history pioneering contemporary art in Christchurch for over 130 years. We’ve used this forced time-out following the quakes to look carefully at CoCA’s future and the Board’s role in that. We’re an independent charitable trust and we need to have meaning and relevance for people today to attract their support and have a healthy future here in Canterbury,” says Pickford.

“We want CoCA to encourage people to think and talk about contemporary life and culture in our rapidly changing city and country and we want to reach out beyond the gallery’s walls to do that. Paula’s experience and passion for bringing art to diverse communities is one of the reasons we’re so excited to have her join us.”

CoCA will encourage people to think and talk about contemporary life and culture in our rapidly changing city and country. Through off-site projects CoCA’s programme will extend beyond the gallery walls to engage with the broadest possible audience. Orrell’s experience and passion, combined with her commitment to bring art to diverse communities, will ensure CoCA is well-positioned to champion contemporary art locally and nationally. She will be assisted in developing CoCA’s exhibition programme by a curatorium of curators from New Zealand and overseas who were selected late last year. Members of the curatorium are:

• Emma Bugden, Senior Curator, The Dowse, Lower Hutt
  
• Gregory Burke, Director of Remai Modern Gallery, Canada
  
• Abby Cunnane, Assistant Director, St PAUL St Gallery, Auckland
  
• Blair French, Director, Curatorial & Digital, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
  
• Zara Stanhope, Principal Curator, Auckland Art Gallery
  

Biography

Paula Orrell is an independent curator with diverse experience across Europe, China and the UK. For the past 15 years, she has championed and created new roles for the visual arts. Paula studied fine art at Sheffield Hallam University and then received an MA in Creative Curating from Goldsmiths College, London. She spent six years as the Curator at Plymouth Arts Centre, which she put firmly on the cultural map, transforming a regional arts centre into an internationally acclaimed venue by commissioning radical and significant artists. In Plymouth, Paula developed Take A Part, a socially engaged public art programme in partnership with the Plymouth City Council. She is also a director of Alias, an independent artists development programme that mentors individuals and groups. Most recently, Paula designed, developed and was the artistic director of the River Tamar Project, a contemporary public art programme and festival at Plymouth University. It is a biannual programme that explores the significant history of the area, linking three distinct regions across a significant river.

Paula has worked with a diverse range of well-known artists and helped to establish the careers of many younger artists, to name a few: Marina Abramovic, Lucy Orta, Roy Ascott, John Akomfrah, Melanie Manchot, Tom Dale, Cadu, and Ultra Red. The Director of the Tate, Sir Nicholas Serota, has praised Paula for her excellent programme, including works that went on to show at much bigger galleries. “It shows how relatively small organisations can be fleet of foot. You can have new ideas, break new ground and show the way to big organisations.”

This weeks blog is inspired by London based artist Dryden Goodwin. Dryden is a British artist whose works often encompass intricate drawings in combination with photography and live action video. He creates films, gallery installations, projects in public space, etchings, works on-line and soundtracks. His works practise reflects of the ethical dimensions of looking at the world and beyond. Dryden’s work Breathe is currently being showcased in our exhibition Precarious Nature here at Toi Moroki Centre of Contemporary Art .

Dryden Goodwin’s Breathe is an animation of over 1,300 pencil drawings of his five year old son, inhaling and exhaling. The boy progresses through fluctuating breathing patterns, at some moments regular, and at others more laboured as he stares out from the frame. Through emphasising the physicality of the act of breathing it the work draws attention to the vulnerability of children, whose developing respiratory systems are is most at risk from pollution, and who will live with the long term physical and environmental effects of our current lifestyles.

This work is taking a critical stance on air pollution and air quality, particularly in London, but it also has significance for us here in Ōtautahi. London, a much larger and condensed city, is the one of the most polluted cities in Europe, with it costing the population approximately £2 billion annually. The air pollution in London is so uncontrollable that it has been shown to cause more premature deaths than both smoking and traffic incidents combined. 

The guideline for pm10 in Ōtautahi had been exceeded an average of thirty times a last year, whilst the carbon monoxide guideline is often exceeded ten times a year. Similarly to Christchurch, London has consistently exceeded its yearly limits of PM10 emissions and nitrogen dioxide. An article released 6 days into 2017 reported that London has already breached its annual air pollution limit for the year, which highlights how toxic the air pollution is in the highly condensed city. 

Image Source:  Putney High Street on 3 January 2017

Air pollution in Ōtautahi (Christchurch) is the worst in Aotearoa New Zealand, with majority of it coming from domestic use of wood and coal burning for heating. The impacts of air pollution are not only damaging on the environment, but also people’s well-being and health - in particular, children. Clean air is made up of approximately 78% Nitrogen, 20% Oxygen, .9% Argon and .03% carbon dioxide. When the air is polluted, the levels of toxins increase, which increase the likelihood of morbidity and mortality. Pm10, also known as particulate matter, is a particle that comes in a variety of sizes and has the ability to travel deep into your lung. People in areas less socioeconomically advantaged are more likely to live next to hazardous sites in comparison to those in areas that are socioeconomically advantaged - this is often referred to as environmental racism.

Environmental racism is a type of discrimination that is closely tied to residential segregation, where people who are of low-income or minority communities are more likely to live or be forced to live in areas that are in close proximity to hazardous sites and toxic waste due to race, class and gender. These areas have much higher levels of air pollution, with people, particularly children having ongoing health implications because of it. As mentioned, children and infants are much more vulnerable to the risks of morbidity due to air pollution. The effects that high levels of air pollution can have on children are often long lasting, and can decrease the quality and length of a persons life. The risks associated with air pollution include the increased likelihood of strokes, asthma, cancer, wheezing, bronchitis, reduced lung development, high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis and heart attacks.

Above is a map highlighting the geographic distribution of PM2.5 air pollution levels at a global scale. The full sized interactive map can be found here where you can zoom into countries or cities you are curious about. It also allows you to see where the dirtiest power plants are situated. Along with this, it gives you a more in depth explanation of what Particular Matter is (PM) and the harmful effects it can have on peoples health and wellbeing. 

Some Ōtautahi Christchurch based not-for-profit organizations we are working with include 350.org and Generation Zero. 350 Christchurch are a local group of volunteers committed to taking action on climate change. Generation Zero is a nationwide movement of young New Zealanders working together to get our country on the path towards a zero carbon future.

350.org focuses on the wider social and economic changes we now urgently need to tackle climate disruption. They are a global grassroots climate movement that can hold our leaders accountable to the realities of science and the principles of justice. Their core goals include hitting the 90% renewable energy by 2025, cute green house emissions, improve insulation levels and many others. Generation Zero is a nationwide movement of young New Zealanders working together to get our country on the path towards a zero carbon future. They campaign for smarter transport and urban planning, and independence from fossil fuels. Both organizations have a central goal of New Zealand becoming less or completely independent from fossil fuels as it is a major factor in carbon emissions and our high levels of air pollution. You can support them by going to their website and signing petitions, donating or volunteering