Shout Whisper Wail!

Where

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
When

20 May 2017 - 15 October 2017

Shout Whisper Wail! featured works in the Chartwell Collection as well as works commissioned by Chartwell especially for the exhibition.

The exhibition was curated by Natasha Conland and artists included were: Juliet Carpenter, Biljana Popovic, Stuart Ringholt, Luke Willis Thompson, Marco Fusinato, Alicia Frankovich, Janet Lilo, et al., Julian Dashper and Jacqueline Fraser.

Jacqueline Fraser's work, The Making of Mississippi Grand, 2017, went on to be nominated in the 2018 Walters Prize while Luke Willis Thompson's work, Cemetary of Uniforms and Liveries, went on to be exhibited as part of his Turner Prize exhibition in 2018.

Natasha Conland, Auckland Art Gallery’s Curator of Contemporary Art, explained that while the idea of audience is often explored by cultural institutions and organisations, it is more uncommon to explore how visual artists actively investigate and articulate the concept of ‘talking’ to an audience. "An artist’s conception of audience has the potential to be much more poetic, political and directly compelling, and this will be woven throughout this exhibition," she said.

The exhibition featured new commissions by emerging New Zealand artists Juliet Carpenter and Biljana Popovic; a new installation by Auckland-based artist Janet Lilo; the first new work shown at the Gallery in 12 years by Jacqueline Fraser; and a new work by Australian artist Stuart Ringholt.

There were recent acquisitions not previously shown at the Gallery by New Zealand artists Luke Willis Thompson, Julian Dashper, et al. in collaboration with composer Samuel Holloway, Alicia Frankovich, and Australian artist Marco Fusinato. Marco Fusinato also presented his renowned Spectral Arrows performance at Auckland Art Gallery on Saturday 22 July 2017.

In association with the exhibition a short experimental documentary was commissioned which includes interviews with the artists to examine the themes of the exhibition.

Installation Images

The image shows the corner of a gallery room. On the left hand wall, far left, is a tall framed photograph depicting orange peels scattered across dark grey tarmac. To the right of the photograph in front of a tall wooden column is a small cube television set on a plinth, playing a blue tinted film. To the right of this in the corner is a large black sphere attached to string, which is moving in an agitated manner. On the right hand wall hangs a large horizontal photograph in black and white of a man with his back to the viewer, facing a crowd of people and a stationary car in a street.

Left to right: Alicia Frankovich, I-r, Mars, 2016; Volution, 2012; and Man Walked on the Moon, 2012. Far right: Marco Fusinato, The Infinitive 4, 2015. Chartwell Collection.

The image shows a wall in a gallery space. Leaning against the wall are two oversized wide red ladders. In between these ladders is some blue neon text mounted on the wall, which reads in capital letters 'No one puts baby in a corner'.

Janet Lilo, Nobody puts baby in a Corner, 2017. Commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2017. Supported by the Chartwell Trust.

The image shows a gallery space. In the centre of the image on the floor is a large rectangular neon sculpture, comprised of a rectangular black platform outlined in white neon tubing, with a smaller rectangle in white neon in the middle. A circle of bright orange neon stands up at a 45 degree angle from this platform. On the wall behind this sculpture are three televisions, each with an image of a gold picture framed against a background of fluffy white clouds and blue sky.

Janet Lilo, Nobody puts baby in a Corner, 2017. Commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2017. Supported by the Chartwell Trust.

The image shows a long, white vitrine table filled with ephemera. Items in the vitrine include vinyl records and covers in a variety of bright neon colours. In front of the table are two small interactive touchscreens and a pair of headphones.

Installation View of works by Julian Dashper.

The image shows a large, dark room. In the centre of the room projected onto the back wall is a black and white image of a man with facial hair staring intently at the viewer, wearing a white shirt with collar. Only the head and shoulders of the man are visible, and he stands close to the camera taking up the frame.

Luke Willis Thompson, Cemetery of Uniforms and Liveries, 2016. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Chartwell Collection.

The image shows a large atrium space. Multiple freestanding temporary walls in grey are positioned in a staggered fashion. The two outside walls have promotional posters for the show on them in yellow and bright orange, while the two inner walls have small television screens mounted on them with headphones. A person in a blue shirt can be seen on the screens, taking up the whole frame so that their head and shoulders are the only parts of them visible.

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki foyer.

The image shows a large dimly lit gallery space. In the centre of the space stands an upright piano, facing away from the viewer so that its unpainted wooden back is exposed. At the other end of the room on each side of the piano stand two easels, which each hold neon lightboxes with headphones next to each. The floor of the space is covered with pieces of yellow tape which circle the installation multiple times. Some small drawings in plastic protectors are pinned to the left hand gallery wall, with chairs below them.

Centre: et al and Samuel Holloway, Upright Piano, 2013. Left and right: et al., DE NIEUWE STEM series, 2006. All Chartwell Collection.

The image shows the same installation depicted in the previous image, but taken from the other side. In the centre of the image stands a large upright piano painted entirely in grey paint, with sheet music propped up on a stand above the keys. The sheet music is fragmented and has scrawls and scribbles all over it. Around the piano on the floor are the yellow off-cuts of tape circling the room, while on the wall behind the piano are multiple small drawings and prints in plastic protectors all in a row. To the right of the piano is one of the easels holding a large print.

Centre: et al and Samuel Holloway, Upright Piano, 2013. Right: et al., DE NIEUWE STEM series, 2006. All Chartwell Collection.

The image shows a rectangular tall gallery space. The walls of the gallery are covered in long strands of gold tinsel, from ceiling to floor. On each of these walls hangs a large white frame filled with collaged photographs of people, landscapes and patterns cut from magazines. In the centre of the room a large rectangular curtain of bright pink tinsel is suspended from the ceiling, floating like a large glitzy rectangular structure with a three dimensional appearance.

Jacqueline Fraser, The Making of Mississippi Grind, 2017. Commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2017. Supported by the Chartwell Trust.

The image shows a small enclosed gallery space. A large metal structure fills the space, with thin columns rising to the ceiling and a grid-like metal roof with the words 'sectional' running along the edges of the roof on each side. A flight of large dark stairs lead the viewer up to a hologram of a smiling comedy mask which floats in a rectangular recess, with blue light surrounding it.

Biljana Popovic, Andromeda, 2017 and Juliet Carpenter, Cast out of Heaven, 2017 (centre). Both commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2017. Supported by the Chartwell Trust.

The image shows a very dark gallery space. In the centre of the space, lit by a spotlight is a large white ute with an open trailer on the back. The ute is facing away from the viewer. On the wall behind the ute is a large white rectangle of text with instructions, which read: 'Love implies anger. The [soul] who is angered by nothing cares about nothing'. Below in smaller text are instructions for how to interact with the installation, which include asking a gallery attendant for privacy in the room alone, sitting on the ute and meditating about an anger inducing event in the participant's life, and then screaming and venting the anger verbally afterwards.

Stuart Ringholt, In Loving Memory of Osho (Love implies anger. The (soul) who is angered by nothing cares about nothing. Edward Abbey), 2017. Commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2017 and supported by the Chartwell Trust.