"ST@RT_UP"
2002-08-03 until 2003-01-01
Te Papa
Wellington, , NZ New Zealand (Aotearoa)

A new and innovative exhibition combining art and technology opens at Te Papa on Saturday 3 August. ST@RT_UP - new interactive media presents an exciting range of works by artists who use technology, and in some cases audience participation, as a feature of their work. Visitors are encouraged to use their creativity to manipulate different media, using a range of technologies.

The exhibition includes the world premiere of the major new work by one of the most important new media artists of our time - American Bill Seaman. Hybrid Invention Generator is an interactive video work where visitors will be able to select known inventions, such as cameras and engines, from a touch-screen menu, and cross-breed them into new and unexpected mutations. This work is enormous fun, as well as thought-provoking, and is your chance to build a Frankensteins monster or a work of genius - or both!

The binney project is a work specially commissioned for the exhibition from Auckland artist Sean Kerr. Kerr uses the iconic New Zealand painting, Pacific frigate bird I, by Don Binney to create an interactive work that the audience can activate in two ways. The public can make their own bird glide and perform different moves across seven monitors within the exhibition, either via a website or by using their cellphone.

ST@RT_UP represents a developing phase in contemporary art practice, said Te Papa Concept Leader Ian Wedde. Advanced technology is now part of everyday life, and artists are exploring imaginative worlds in which artificial intelligence, virtual reality, cyborgs, wireless communications, and microscopic nanotechnology are defining what it means to be human. We have moved beyond science fiction.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for New Zealand

Other Important Exhibitions in Wellington