Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery

Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination 

Matthew Galloway

Doris Lusk

Raúl Ortega Ayala

19 April – 30 June 2024

Infrastructure brings together three discrete exhibitions tracing moments from the 1980s: Matthew Galloway examining the socio-political climate surrounding the Clyde Dam, a legacy of Robert Muldoon’s ‘Think Big’ initiative; Doris Lusk’s Imagined Projects series painted in 1983/4 depicting fictional industrial sites in the landscape; and Raúl Ortega Ayala’s documentation of the exclusion zone around Chernobyl—a landscape rendered uninhabitable by the nuclear power plant disaster of 1986—and the impact of this on its former residents.

These exhibitions all focus on power: both in the sense of the physical creation of energy and the political thrust behind large infrastructural projects. They consider the landscape and how environmental conditions are altered through these extractive processes. They think about the people, both the key political players who make decisions and those whose lives are irrevocably changed through their actions. Brought together in this way these exhibitions call attention to how we might imagine our futures by thinking about the recent past.

Matthew Galloway: The Power that Flows Through Us
Level 3 Window Gallery & Congreve Foyer
Level 2 The Landing
Level 1 Stairway Gallery & Lower Chartwell Gallery

The Power that Flows Through Us explores the construction and political context around the Clyde Dam, Aotearoa’s third-largest hydroelectric plant, a legacy of Robert Muldoon’s ‘Think Big’ initiative. Playing off the architecture of the gallery to help us reflect on the monumental physicality of the dam, Galloway uses poetry as sonic interventions, large-scale projections of drone footage and archival political cartoons blown up into sculptural form, to locate us within the narratives and perspectives swirling around the Clyde Dam since its inception. The exhibition invites us to consider not only the physical generation of electrical power but also the distribution and implementation of political power.

Matthew Galloway's research-based practice uses the tools and methodologies of design, repurposed for a gallery context and emphasising design and publishing as an inherently political exercise. His work investigates issues of identity, sense of place and the political implications of both, proposing open-ended research questions through his practice. He holds an MFA from Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (2012) and currently lives and works in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. Galloway is currently a doctoral candidate at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau.

Doris Lusk: Imagined Projects: Forty Years On
Level 3 Upper Chartwell Gallery

Doris Lusk’s Imagined Projects & Imagined Views (1983/4) is one of the artist’s last major series. It is a culmination of six decades of Lusk’s practice and thinking around landscape in Aotearoa. This exhibition focuses specifically on the Imagined Projects works, gathering five of the seven paintings together for the first time in forty years. The paintings depict delicately coloured opaque washes of imagined industrial sites inserted into fictional earthy landscapes. The architectural sites in these paintings do not sit in harmony with nature but are juxtaposed with it. They illustrate the tensions at play when large extractive infrastructural interventions are made in the landscape.

Doris Lusk (1916-1990) was born in Ōtepoti Dunedin and studied at King Edward Technical College in Ōtepoti from 1934-1939. She is known for her landscapes and their idiosyncratic inclusion of industrial structures, a subversion of the naturalistic genre that speaks to the complexity of personal responses to the environment. She exhibited with modernist art association The Group regularly from the early 1940s till 1977 and taught at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts from 1966 to 1981. Her work is held in major public art collections around Aotearoa. Substantial exhibitions of her work have been held at Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 1966 and 2016; the Dowse Art Museum, 1973; Auckland City Art Gallery, 1979; and Christchurch Art Gallery, 1996 and 2016.

Raúl Ortega Ayala: The Zone
Kirk Gallery

Raúl Ortega Ayala’s The Zone (2013-2020) documents the legacy of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident through video, photographs and firsthand accounts of former residents of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Shot over four years, the work speaks to the repercussions of failed technological development at a monumental scale—exploring the ongoing impact on the lives of those affected, the visual impact of an abandoned city given over to nature and decay, and the lingering paraphernalia of an expired political system.

Raúl Ortega Ayala was born in Mexico City in 1973, where he studied painting at La Esmerelda, before completing an MFA at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland in combination with Hunter College in New York in 2003. His practice is comprised of periods of sustained immersion into different contexts, during which he employs anthropological methods (such as participant observation, fieldwork and embodiment of knowledge) as artistic practice. He is currently Associate Professor at Whiti o Rehua School of Art at Massey University Te Kunenga ki Purehuroa in Te Whanganui a Tara Wellington.

Media fact sheet

Public Programme April-June 2024

Events:

Reading Environments | Deluge: Present Absences

30 May 2024

"Wednesday to come": Mana wāhine and poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand

29 May 2024

Tony Simpson and "The Sugarbag Years" (1974)

22 May 2024

"Dare to Struggle, Dare to Sing": Protesting Poverty through Song

15 May 2024

Of Influence and Impact: political cartooning in Aotearoa

14 May 2024

Languages of Design

11 May 2024

Reading Environments | Deluge: Anticipation

09 May 2024

"Tooth and Nail": Mary Findlay’s Modernist Realism

08 May 2024

“Washday: A Short Film”, Reframing the narrative through cinema

03 May 2024

Revisiting “The Folk Culture of the Dispossessed”

01 May 2024

Reading Environments | Deluge: Inundation

25 April 2024

"Poverty and Progress in New Zealand": thoughts on WB Sutch’s work in historical and intellectual context

24 April 2024

Exhibition tour - Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination

20 April 2024

Exhibition opening - Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination

19 April 2024

Exterior installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Matthew Galloway, Think Big (after Bob Brockie), 2024, acrylic on MDF, painted steel, vinyl, courtesy the artist; and Flyover, 2023, 4K drone digital film, with cinematography by Jon Wilson, Shine on Films, courtesy the artist. Exterior installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker

Matthew Galloway, Think Big (after Bob Brockie), 2024, vinyl on lightbox, courtesy the artist. Exterior installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Installation view Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Matthew Galloway, Power Hall (still) 2022, 4K drone digital film with cinematography by Jon Wilson, Shine on Films. Image courtesy of the artist.

Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us, 2023, 48 page newspaper, edition of 2000, courtesy the artist. Installation view Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Installation view Doris Lusk Imagined Projects: Forty Years On in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Doris Lusk, Imagined Projects II, Limeworks, 1983, acrylic, graphite and coloured pencil on canvas. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 1984.

Doris Lusk, Imagined Projects III, Dam with Lake, 1983, acrylic, graphite and coloured pencil on canvas, Private collection, Auckland. Installation view Doris Lusk Imagined Projects: Forty Years On in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Doris Lusk, Imagined Projects III, Dam with Lake, 1983, acrylic, graphite and coloured pencil on canvas, Private collection, Auckland.

Doris Lusk, Imagined Projects VII, Bush Project, 1984, acrylic, graphite and coloured pencil on canvas, collection of Grant Banbury and Mark Hornby, Christchurch. Installation view Doris Lusk Imagined Projects: Forty Years On in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Installation view Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Matthew Galloway Muldoon (after Sid Scales), 2024, acrylic on MDF, painted steel, vinyl, courtesy the artist. Installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Matthew Galloway Muldoon (after Sid Scales), (reverse angle), 2024, acrylic on MDF, painted steel, vinyl, courtesy the artist. Installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Matthew Galloway, Dam Wall, 2023, 4K drone digital film with cinematography by Jon Wilson, Shine on Films, courtesy the artist. Installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Matthew Galloway, Megawattasaurus (after Sid Scales), 2024, acrylic on MDF, painted steel, courtesy the artist. Installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Matthew Galloway, Megawattasaurus (after Sid Scales) (detail),2024, acrylic on MDF, painted steel, courtesy the artist. Installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Matthew Galloway, The Power that Flows Through Us (still),2022, 4K drone digital film, with cinematography by Jon Wilson, Shine on Films. Image courtesy of the artist.

Matthew Galloway, Lifesaver Part I (after Gordon Minhinnick), 2024, acrylic on wall, courtesy the artist; and Lifesaver Part II (after Gordon Minhinnick), 2024, acrylic on MDF, painted steel, vinyl stickers, courtesy the artist. Installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Matthew Galloway, Lifesaver Part II (after Gordon Minhinnick), 2024, acrylic on MDF, painted steel, vinyl stickers, courtesy the artist. Installation view Matthew Galloway The Power that Flows Through Us in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Raúl Ortega Ayala in collaboration with Roberto Rubalcava and Peter Miles, Field note 10-05-16— 64324 (Wallpaper, Pripyat, Chernobyl), from the series The Zone, 2022, pigment inks on photographic paper, courtesy the artist. Installation view Raúl Ortega Ayala The Zone in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Raúl Ortega Ayala in collaboration with Roberto Rubalcava and Peter Miles, Field note 10-05-16—4485 (Interior, Pripyat, Chernobyl), from the series The Zone, 2022, photographic print adhered to wall, courtesy the artist. Installation view Raúl Ortega Ayala The Zone in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Raúl Ortega Ayala in collaboration with Dmytro Konovalov, Valerii Savytskyi, Roberto Rubalcava, DmytroTiazhlov, Iain Frengley, Undergroundsound and Tim Prebble, The Zone, 2020, Single channel HD video, 5.1 audio, 36 minutes, 2 seconds, courtesy the artist. Installation view Raúl Ortega Ayala The Zone in Infrastructure: power, politics and imagination, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.