"Surprise: New Work by 18 Wellington Designers"
2002-01-18 until 2002-02-17
City Gallery Wellington, 360-Michael Hirschfeld Gallery
Wellington, , NZ

Waiting to ambush visitors this week at the Michael Hirschfeld Gallery is a particularly viscious-looking g-string; a device that photographs then prints out images of unsuspecting members of the public, and many other surprising items.

The works have been created by 18 Wellington designers from the fields of fashion, architecture, interior, graphic, web, industrial, theatre, lighting and sound design, based on the theme of surprise.

The exhibition follows a show of the same name held in December 2000, which saw 24 Wellington visual artists working to the surprise theme. This year, both individuals and well-known local companies, such as Starfish, are involved. Newcomers such as Matt Barnes and Steve Le Marquand, who have recently started the boygirlboy web design company, exhibit alongside established designers such as Andrew Thomas (theatre design) and Tim Nees (architecture).

The brief meant the designers had to adapt and creatively stretch their design practices to fit the gallery context, says curator Rebecca Wilson. This years exhibition is distinctly fun and quirky, says Wilson, and features a number of interactive works including Origin Designs large scale plastic Surprise-a-rama, which can be rotated to reveal a range of surprising images.

Surprise is an annual group exhibition celebrating the breadth and diversity of Wellington art and design today.

Featured designers: Architecture Workshop; boygirlboy; Peter Edge; Clayton McGregor; Justin McGregor; Aaron McKirdy; Sebastian Morgan-Lynch; Trace Murdoch; New Work Studio; Origin Design; Neil Pardington; Martyn Roberts; Duncan Sargent; Starfish; Suzanne Tamaki; Andrew Thomas; Matt Trott; Phil Walters and Lee Watt.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for New Zealand

Other Important Exhibitions in New Zealand