Thursday 30 January 2020
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki presents four new projects by international artists in the exhibition Honestly Speaking: The Word, the Body and the Internet, open from 22 February 2020.
Works by artists Shahryar Nashat (Switzerland), Sriwhana Spong (NZ), Frances Stark (USA) and Martine Syms (USA) reflect on the relationship between the human body, technology and language.
In an era dominated by digital image making, each of these artists engages us in important questions about our own subjectivity, often at its most visceral – the body itself. In doing so, they reignite questions of gender and cultural politics and their relationship to new technologies. This attention to body and language raises important questions about personal truth and power in the digital age.
The exhibition includes a major new work by UK-based New Zealand artist Sriwhana Spong, Now Spectral, Now Animal (2019/2020), which has been co-commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery and the Edinburgh Arts Festival in 2019.
Auckland Art Gallery Director Kirsten Paisley says: ‘Honestly Speaking invites visitors to consider how our increasing reliance on digital technology influences our identity and understanding of the world around us.’
Curator Natasha Conland says: ‘For many years now, we have lived with the phenomenon and fascination of the digital world presented in moving images. Honestly Speaking shares the interests of four prominent artists from a variety of global positions who want to reinstate the relationship between the digital image and the human subject – often through references to the body itself, and our own position in relation to media and its compelling language.’
Honestly Speaking: The Word, the Body and the Internet is presented by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in association with Auckland Arts Festival 2020.
Exhibition details
Honestly Speaking: The Word, the Body and the Internet
When:
Saturday 22 February 2020 to Sunday 2 August 2020
10am–5pm daily
Where:
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Cnr Kitchener and Wellesley Streets
Auckland, New Zealand
Admission:
FREE with Gallery entry
