Galleries collaborate for new festival
There are hopes the capital’s visual arts scene may get an overdue profile boost by a new festival which will see galleries collaborate in a partnership that has been described as ‘‘unusual’’ for businesses normally viewed as worlds unto themselves.
The Face to Face festival runs May 27-30 across Wellington and will see nine dealer and six public galleries come together to showcase work by some of Aotearoa’s most celebrated portrait artists in a series of exhibitions, artist talks, studio visits, workshops and collection tours.
On May 29 there will be a late-night event, with galleries staying open after dark and hosting live performances. The idea is to replicate art-crawl models which have found success overseas, such as London’s Art Night, or Paris’ or Berlin’s Art Week.
‘‘It is quite unusual for dealer and public galleries to collaborate in this way,’’ said Grace Ridley-Smith, festival co-ordinator and manager of Wellington’s McLeavey Gallery.
While some of the capital’s gallerists came together last year for Fired Up, a ceramics festival within the wider New Zealand Festival, Ridley-Smith said Face to Face would boost Wellington’s visual arts profile even more.
Portraiture was selected as the festival’s focus because it was a ‘‘human’’ form of art, Ridley-Smith said.
‘‘Especially in the digital age – we can all take a selfie, [we are all] artists.’’ The idea of the self was also topical with ongoing global conversations concerning identity, belonging and representation.
With a multilocation, multievent premise, Face to Face will see most – but not all – of Wellington’s dealer galleries, as well as a handful of public galleries including Te Papa, The Dowse, City Gallery and Toi Ma¯ ori Aotearoa, come together to feature free exhibitions to do with portraiture.
‘‘There is this traditional, inherited idea that each gallery is a world unto itself, or its own island and repository for knowledge. What is exciting about this event . . . [is] opening up those channels of communication,’’ Ridley-Smith said. ‘‘We are all stronger together. We are colleagues, not competitors. And we are all fighting the good fight.’’
The building of relationships between galleries would result in more opportunities to collaborate, Ridley-Smith said.
While there were some private galleries which were not participating for various reasons, including timing and conflicting schedules, Ridley-Smith was hopeful if the festival was successful enough to return in coming years its list of participants could grow.
Another premise of Face to Face is accessibility.
It is hoped that live music performances, which have been married up to works on display in various venues, will create comfort and vibrance for festival-goers, and remove any hesitance which might exist for someone unsure whether they can enter a gallery.
‘‘We hope people take away a sense of pride and ownership in these galleries being their spaces – they belong there . . . These institutions are us and they are for us.’’
Ridley-Smith said the festival’s decentralised model was particularly relevant in a post-Covid world, with smaller ‘‘cellular’’ groups of people being able to form across several venues, versus big clusters.
The festival coincides with the New Zealand Portrait Gallery’s inaugural $20,000 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award, which recognises emerging Ma¯ ori artists.
The winner from the award’s 50 shortlisted finalists will be announced on May 27, with an exhibition of the finalists’ work running at the Portrait Gallery from May 28 to August 15, before touring nationally.
More festival details, including full programme and map, to come at portraitfestival.co.nz.