Gallery running on empty
With the 10-month closure of Te Manawa’s art gallery, talk has turned to what it all means. Carly Thomas went through the closed doors to find out.
When you close a door and tell someone they can’t come in for 10 months, not only does the dust start to settle but feelings of unrest do, too.
The public hasn’t been allowed over the threshold of Te Manawa’s art gallery for a month. Repairs are being carried out on the over 40-year-old building in Palmerston North and parts of the community are asking questions. A petition calling for the gallery building to be ‘‘saved’’ has been doing the rounds, an art exhibition of protest has been in the public eye and people are talking.
So a look behind the closed door and into the reasons has become necessary. Te Manawa’s chief executive Andy Lowe was the one turning the key.
It doesn’t look much different inside. It is empty – this is stage one of the project, which means the space has been cleared, artworks have been returned or stored away and the ancient airconditioning ducting and lighting are being removed. In the behind-the-scenes rooms, work is taking place to go through what is held there. It is basically spring-clean time in preparation for the more intensive work that is to proceed.
Lowe says the impetus for the renewal project came when they were investigating the replacement of the old security system.
‘‘But to do that work we knew we had to drill into the asbestos ceilings, which would have become hazardous. Then it was this whole domino effect where we thought ‘well, we could do some muchneeded tidying up at the same time’. After 41 years of service the gallery deserves this attention.’’
The Palmerston North City Council allocated funds for an upgrade, which includes removal of the asbestos ceilings. Te Manawa has committed budget and staff resources, too.
Graeme Beal, Te Manawa’s marketing and communications manager, says the petition reflects the passion that people feel for the art gallery.
‘‘People care about art and that is a great validation for us to know the work we are doing is important. If people weren’t uncertain or worried – if people didn’t care – then we would have to ask ourselves if it was worth the investment. And they do – this shows that people care.’’
Palmerston North City councillor Rachel Bowen says this work is not to be confused with the TM2025 proposal, which is a business case for creating an arts and cultural powerhouse by 2025.
‘‘We are trying to do so much so quickly and things get mixed up in people’s minds.
‘‘We still have seven years to go and 2025 will probably be about turning soil – it’s not a finishing time. It will be more like 10 years before we see what the new thing looks like, assuming we get the funding for that. We can’t leave the art gallery in limbo for the next decade.’’
Lowe says the TM2025 proposal is exactly that, a proposal. ‘‘Nothing has been decided, nowhere near it.’’
With everything gone, the building looks very exposed. Every flaw in the patched-up and continuously painted walls shouts out and the floor can clearly not be sanded back any more – its decades of being trodden on are there for all to see.
In an online petition named ‘‘Save the Art Gallery in Palmerston North’’, started by the owner of a private gallery in the city, Bronwyn Zimmerman, a statement is made about the art gallery building being ‘‘under threat’’.
‘‘With an uncertain future ahead, the art gallery building may be demolished, despite being structurally sound.’’
Almost 1000 people had signed the petition when this story was being written. Zimmerman declined to be interviewed but was calling for the city council to remove the art gallery from the control of Te Manawa Museums Trust and to appoint a new trust board to take care of the gallery and look after the valuable art collections inside.
Bowen says she has looked at the petition, read the comments and has talked to some of the people who have signed it. She believes the petition should be seen as positive.
‘‘If there were any real secret plans to knock the art gallery down, we wouldn’t be doing all of this work to bring it up to a modern standard. There is a positive reality to it – it’s not being mothballed and it’s not being closed down as a premise to being knocked down. It’s to get it into a situation where it can be a facility that can take modern exhibitions with the things that they need.’’
What, then, lies behind unease about the way Te Manawa manages art?
Te Manawa houses an art gallery, but it is also a museum of science and history, and the New Zealand Rugby Museum is there, too. Historically, the Art Society has a lot invested in the gallery. The society raised money and managed it until 1994, when it became part of Te Manawa Museums Trust. The society still owns part of the permanent art collection and is consulted and helps in displaying it.
Lyn Low and Raemon Rolfe from the Te Manawa Art Society say they can both see merit in having the running of the art gallery separated from Te Manawa.
‘‘Architecturally, I think we benefit greatly from being part of the bigger concept,’’ says Low. ‘‘But I think from a governance and definitely from a management level it would be better to have our own.’’
Rolfe agrees a standalone art gallery can be a focus for activities and events. ‘‘Quite often now they are centred over at Te Manawa and it would be nice to do more within the gallery.’’
Lowe says it would be a terrible shame to have the art gallery run as a separate entity.
‘‘It’s silo thinking, in a way. If you separate things off, then only certain people will feel that they are allowed to be a part of that and I don’t think that separation is a good way forward. It doesn’t fit in with our no-boundaries way of thinking.
‘‘There are a lot of advantages, including a resource of expertise wider than art. To have people with a broad set of skills and having among those people art specialists and champions is really important. It’s the way the world works now as well. There’s a lot of flexible environments that enable us to respond to changes in trends and changes in culture. That’s what we want the building to reflect. We want the ability to be responsive.’’
The Art Society, says Low, needs to keep its line of communication with Te Manawa open. ‘‘We are not averse to change.’’ Rolfe says it supports the renewal works, and the society looks at the future in a positive light, with hopes that the collection will be seen outside of its room more often.
‘‘People have always said they want to see more of the collection. ‘Where is it?’ they say. We have a nationally significant collection here that’s been built up since 1959 and people want to see it. But it’s all packed away.’’
Lowe acknowledges there is some concern about the collection during the renewal project but he gives his assurance that it is ‘‘safe and cared for’’. He also says he wants to see more of the collection on display.
Bowen wants moves towards the future facility to be well informed and to reflect what people want.
‘‘I absolutely hear what the community’s concerns are. It’s scratched the surface of how we view art. Has art become the poor cousin of Te Manawa? I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s what the statistics show but what the stats show and how people feel are not always the same thing.
‘‘Personally, I think the art gallery has suffered a little by the comparison with the openness and accessibility of the rest of Te Manawa. That’s not intentional – they are run by the same people doing the same things, but there is a contrast there. So for some people it’s about their view of art.’’
And how that art is viewed by our region is important. For now, the closure is a facelift and it is temporary. But what the next decade has in store is uncertain.
What has been made clear, while the doors of the art gallery have been closed, the story of its future is only just beginning.