Dusty interiors
Dane Mitchell, who will be representing New Zealand at the 2019 Venice Biennale.
Dane Mitchell Dust Archive (Tate Modern, London, UK), 2003–ongoing, © the artist. Courtesy of Hopkinson Mossman, Wellington.
A touring exhibition is coming to Auckland, bringing with it an unusual collection and a diminutive, tenacious subject.
It’s difficult to pinpoint where dust entered the realm of art. Its measureless lifespan – and, further still, its existence since time immemorial – has meant that it is not only ubiquitous but bullishly persistent. For artists as much as for interior designers and architects, it has floated down into the crevasses of projects and sat on top of surfaces, with little regard for if they’re finished or not.
Yet, in spite of all efforts to rid ourselves of the microscopic nuisance, an Auckland artist is collecting it. Since Dane Mitchell’s ongoing exhibition Dust Archive was conceived in 2003, it has built an archive of dust from 60 museums and galleries from around the world, going beyond the conceptual and forming a study of the politics of this lurking force.
The travelling exhibition will be presented by Auckland’s Hopkinson Mossman on an offsite location (level one of 106-108 Quay Street in Britomart), and will run between 12-6pm on 14 and 15 March, and between 12-4pm on 16 March.
