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The Chartwell Chair Project

C CFCA 1990

A Chartwell Chair, Centre for Contemporary Art, Hamilton 1990.

The Chartwell Chair Project

The Chartwell Chair is a no-cost participatory project for galleries, from dealer galleries to public galleries in New Zealand and Australia, who may wish celebrate Chartwell’s 50th Anniversary in 2024-2025.

Rob Gardiner, the founder of the Chartwell Trust and Collection, loves the chance to sit down in art galleries, to slow down and really look at an artwork. He often asks why we are offered a seat at the cinema, theatre, concert hall and sports stadium, and applaud at the end of a performance, but in art galleries, we are conditioned to stand silently in front of a work and move on.

The Chartwell Chair gives gallery visitors the time to relax, feel and be with an artwork, allowing the viewing experience to unfold.

Chartwell would like to thank Amy Malcolm for her wonderful chair idea and for her work over the years with the Creative Thinking Project at the University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau.

Contact us for more information and to learn how your gallery can host The Chartwell Chair Project.

chanel.duff@chartwell.org.nz

We would like to thank the 13 galleries across Aotearoa New Zealand who have participated in celebrating Chartwell’s 50th Anniversary with us so far: 

  • Tauranga Art Gallery, Tauranga 

  • Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Wellington

  • NORTHART Gallery, Auckland 

  • Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru 

  • City Gallery Wellington, Wellington 

  • Forrester Gallery, Oamaru
  • Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland 

  • Te Atamira, Queenstown 

  • Left Bank Art Gallery, Greymouth
  • Bergman Gallery, Auckland
  • Föenander Galleries, Auckland
  • Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland
  • Muse Art Gallery, Havelock North 

A Chartwell Chair at Tauranga Art Gallery in the exhibition Tauranga Moana Waterscapes: 1800s – Present, 2024.

Installation view Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Installation view of work by Judy Millar (2005) in the exhibition ABSTRAXT ABSTRAXT (May-July 2024) and The Chartwell Chair by Bradley Pearless (2005).

The Chartwell Chair, ‘Linea Chair’ (2006), designed by Bradley Pearless for the exhibition ABSTRAXT ABSTRAXT (May-July 2024).

The Chartwell Chair paired with Gretchen Albrecht. Godwits, 2016. Oil and Patina on Copper. Aigantighe Gallery 2017.2.1.

The Chartwell Chair at Generation X: 50 Artworks from the Chartwell Collection. Andrew Barber has a slow look at Michael Parekowhai’s ‘Elmer Keith’ (2000).

A vinyl 70’s Chartwell Chair at Forrester Gallery to celebrate the decade The Chartwell Trust was established and first acquisition made into the Collection, Bill Suttons’s Threshold VIII (1973). Photo courtesy of Forrester Gallery.

Sue Gardiner, Co-Director of the Chartwell Trust in The Chartwell Chair and Director of Sanderson Contemporary Art Lydia Cowpertwait viewing Julia Holderness’ exhibition Botanical Pursuits (2024).

Sue and Karen Gardiner with artist John Reynolds at the Chartwell 50th exhibition, Lyrics and Lines at Te Atamira, 2024. Photo credit David Oakley courtesy of Te Atamira.

A Chartwell Chair Cushion embroidered by one of Left Bank Art Gallery’s committee members, with the work of Anthony Apirana Manuel in the background, 2024.

The Chartwell Chair paired with a Garth Chester 'Curvesse Chair' courtesy of Art+Object at Bergman Gallery for Luise Fong’s exhibition Nexus, 2024.

Co-Director of The Chartwell Trust, Sue Gardiner in the Chartwell Chair at Foënander Galleries in the exhibition The Daylight Show, 2024.

Melanie Roger in one of two Chartwell Chairs by Danish furniture company Fritz Hansen made in 1984 at Melanie Roger Gallery during Stanley Palmer’s solo exhibition, 2025.

Artist John Parker seated in a Philippe Starck, Costes Chair during the exhibition Dark Materials at Muse Art Gallery, February 2025. Photo by Stephen Robinson.