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Discover the art of the future at The Physics Room

The Physics Room

Left to Right: Kate Montgomery, Vanessa Coxhead and Jamie Richardson work at The Physics Room.

Kate Montgomery is the director of The Physics Room, a contemporary art project space based in central Christchurch. She “runs the joint” and it’s her job to make sure that a really interesting range of shows pass through The Physics Room’s doors.

Kate describes the work you see at The Physics Room as “the museum art of the future”.

“The Physics Room’s been running approximately 13 years now, and what we’ve found is that the artists that were previously considered quite experimental in the early days, have become the senior artists of today.”

“A lot of the people who show with us are going to go on and have good relationships with other people in the art world and eventually end up doing their own thing on the national and international stage.”

You can get a pretty good idea of the range of offerings on the gallery’s website, but the best way to appreciate the art is heading into the gallery, which is on the corner of High and Tuam Streets, above Alice in Videoland.

“Pretty much all the exhibitions do rely on that playful exchange between the art and the audience, so to get a true sense of what the artists are trying to achieve you should always try and pop by.”

sign

The Physics Room

Tues - Fri: 10am - 5pm
Sat, Sun: 11am - 4pm
(closed Monday and public holidays)

View The Physics Room exhibition programme. Exhibitions are free to view.

Read about Lectures and performances

Street Address:
Second Floor
Old Central Post Office Building
209 Tuam Street
Christchurch
ph. 379-5583

Email The Physics Room.

Exhibitions

Physics is Pâté is the September and October 2009 offering in the gallery’s main space, by Sydney-based artists Ms. & Mr. The show combines moving image art and a selection of drawings. Exhibitions are on for four weeks.

The gallery’s back room space also hosts DANCE SONS AND DAUGHTERS DANCE! THE FUTURE IS OURS TO SHAPE AND MOLD! Put together by the ex-pat New Zealand artist Martin Basher, the show profiles five American artists whose work has not been shown here before.

Kate makes it clear that viewing art is no homework exercise - it’s an experience that can be enjoyable and challenging, and is often both.

“If you’ve got some understanding of the artists and their work before you come, all that’s going to happen is that you learn a bit more about them. If you have no understanding, sometimes I think that’s more exciting because you’re coming to it fresh.

“You have the chance to be a little bit thrown, you get challenged—you might be appalled, or excited, or all of these kinds of things.”

She also encourages visitors to knock on the office door and ask questions.

“There’s no trouble in that area, and for these shows, because the artists are not from New Zealand, there’ll also be supplementary information available.”

These room/exhibition sheets will detail the way the works were made and what the artists were intending with it.

Free viewings

All exhibitions are free and visitors are welcome “pretty much any day of the week”. Some public programmes, such as screenings, or specialist performances are charged, but these are few and far between. The focus is on getting interesting art in front of Christchurch audiences.

“It’s amazing the kinds of people that have passed through The Physics Room programme over the years.”

Want to exhibit? Get a portfolio

The Physics Room aims to allow artists to develop professionally, and “more often than not” they show artists who have a catalogue of back projects and works.

However artists interested in exhibiting should get in touch, Kate says.

“If people have an artist’s CV and good documentation of their work, they can make a time and come and talk to us about the kinds of things they’d like to propose.”

“Some of our programme is put together by proposals, some of it is by invitation, so people who might be interested really need to come and talk to us.”

If work isn’t suitable for the gallery, they may be able to offer alternative strategies and advice, she says.

booksWorking in the art world

Kate says the gallery is “the best” environment to work in—one she enjoys immensely.

“I didn’t go through fine arts training. I had an art history and English language focus—training at university for me was really more around language and communication than technical skills in producing work.”

She came into contact with The Physics Room after writing for different art publications.

“In the art world, if people are thinking about careers and ways of training up, there’s a variety of roles. Technical people, organisational people, logistics—all of these things are really necessary in terms of getting things to function smoothly. It’s all part and parcel.”

Meet Vanessa

Vanessa Coxhead is “the other one” at The Physics Room. Her official title is Programme Coordinator. It’s a job that demands flexibility, she says.

“We work quite closely together, roles shift and change.”

When we met, she had been Skyping artists to talk to them about the exhibition and finalising details for the show.

“It’s all the logistical side of it at the moment—getting the work here and ready, sourcing screens for them—with lovely sponsorship from Powerstore—and telling everyone that they’re coming.”

Vanessa also helps arrange the artist’s itineraries—arranging accommodation and introductions to the local art community.

“Ms. & Mr. are only here for four days, so they have to make the most of it.”

Vanessa says she studied fine arts, but decided a career working as an artist wasn’t for her.

“I went to art school in Auckland and decided that I didn’t want to make fine art myself any more. So I started helping everyone [else] with theirs, doing their research for them, and talking to them about things. The job at The Physics Room came up and … I moved to Christchurch.

“There’s a really great poster we used to have - it was a diagram that showed you all the things you could become if you went to art school. It was huge and spanned so many different professions.”

A waka in the window?

The work is challenging, and not in a hurt your brain way…

“The funniest thing we’ve done recently would be lugging canoes up the outside of the building on ropes. You face difficulties when you’re on the second floor of a building and the door’s only so wide … but we work around that.”

Shows at The Physics Room run for four weeks. Check out their website for current offerings.

September 2009