Please join us on Friday 2 June for the opening of Utterance, an exhibition of moving image works by Natalia Mann and David Long which compliment their recent musical collaboration with taonga pūoro master, Richard Nunns.

The collaboration which informs these works allowed Nunns, Mann and Long to engage in a musical dialogue at a very high level, enabling extension into what Mann describes as the domain of unknowing. She described the experience as follows: “While the recording was a physical challenge for Richard, he more than made up for it with the essential artistry and conception that has resonated throughout all of his work: the courage to walk into unknowing […] and to hang out there. […] Our music is inherently experimental in its approach. […] The process is both exploratory and revelatory. […] The aim is to put our consciousnesses together into a parallel dimension of sound and reception. Collectively, we make a sort of ‘brain satellite dish’ for information to pass through and form into ‘music’. When we listen back and discuss the properties of the music, we also receive information about the world around us, our environment. We intuit images and words which appear spontaneously and seem to ‘fit, altering and increasing the dimension of the artwork.”

Natalia Mann is a contemporary harpist & film artist originally from Wellington, now based in Cairns, Australia. She uses harp as an interface, collaborating internationally, composing and producing projects with visual artists, weavers, dancers and poets. Mann has worked closely with sound artists Richard Nunns, David Long, Ros Bandt, Lila Meleisea. In Aotearoa she’s worked with Bic Runga, Riki Gooch, NZSO, Stroma, Black Grace, and premiered the Bull-Lyre of Tauranga. Influential time overseas included street, world & hiphop scenes in Melbourne, classical Turkish music in Istanbul, jazz in Macedonia and time as principal harpist of the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra.

While he is perhaps best know for his extensive background scoring documentary and narrative films, or as a founding member of rock-band The Mutton Birds, David Long has a extensive parallel history. Fundamental to this ‘second-history’ is Long’s work as a composer for orchestras, as well as large and small experimental ensembles: in 2016, following his time as composer in residence at Victoria University, he premiered a piece for orchestra, electric guitar and robotics (working with Jim Murphy of the NZSM). Additionally, David has also had a long association with contemporary dance, writing many pieces for New Zealand’s pre-eminent choreographer Douglas Wright.

Richard Nunns is one of New Zealand’s most respected performers and researchers of Māori music and instruments. He has performed and recorded widely both within New Zealand and internationally and with a wide range of musical genre from Moana and the Moahunters, through jazz to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Richard began his research and collaboration with Hirini Melbourne in the 1990s. Their recordings Te Ku Te Whe and Te Hekenga-a-rangi have become the seminal works of traditional Maori instrumental music.

Opens – Friday 2 June, 5.30pm (w. refreshments from Liberty Breweries and a live performance by Natalia Mann & David Long.)
Hours – Tuesday – Saturday, 12.00pm – 4.00pm.
Closes – Saturday 1 July, 4.00pm.