Chartwell Notes

In 2017, artist collective Riff Raff (Li-Ming Hu and Daphne Simons) undertook the annual Enjoy Summer Residency in Wellington with the project Trust Us, transforming the Enjoy Contemporary Art Space gallery into a studio and production house for a 12-hour, telethon-style internet broadcast on Friday 17 February.

The event was modelled on the large-scale televised fundraising spectaculars broadcast in Aotearoa from the mid-1970s through to the late 2000s. Rather than seeking to raise money, the telethon assembled a diverse and egalitarian collection of donated artworks by contemporary New Zealand artists, which the collective then offered in its entirety to the Chartwell Collection.

And Chartwell said yes!

Ana Iti, Anh Tran, Janet Lilo, Judy Darragh, Kim Pieters, Miranda Parkes, and Priscilla Rose Howe are among the 62 artists who generously contributed works across a wide range of media, including paintings, videos, sculptures, T-shirts, and even bread — the latter, donated by Kate Cox, presenting a special challenge for the Auckland Art Gallery registrar team.

Chartwell was drawn to the collective nature of the project: the generation and sharing of ideas among a community of artists; the variety, joy, and collaborative creative impulse; and the ways the project engaged with notions of charity and the role of art in expressing both a creative life and a creative community.

Read Ruby Joy Eade's essay response to The Trust Us Contemporary Art Trust Collection on Enjoy's website. 

View highlights from the 12-hour online broadcast