Projects

Breathtaking

Between the everyday and a dream

    • Shana Robbins, Axis Mundi, (2009) single-channel video and sound, 6’42”; image courtesy of the artist
inSPIRACJE 2017 Trafostacja Sztuki / Trafo Centre for Contemporary Art, Szczecin, Poland; 30 June - 30 September 2017   Artists:  Tereza Buskova (CZ-UK), Cathy Carter (NZ), Jordi Colomer (SP), Matthew Cowan (NZ-DE), Anne Ferran (AU), Zuza Golińska (PL), Eva Grubinger (AT-DE), Weilun Ha (VT-NZ), Paweł Kleszczewski… Read more

inSPIRACJE 2016

Immersions: Competition for Artists Exhibition

    • View of Immersions exhibition with works by Urszula Kluz-Knopek, Weronika Lucinska, Andreas & Nikos Guskos, and Julia Kurek
IMMERSIONS / ZANURZENIA: Competition for Artists Exhibition, curated by Rob Garrett, The National Museum in Szczecin 2016 from Rob Garrett on Vimeo. IMMERSIONS / ZANURZENIA Competition for Artists Exhibition June to September 2016 The National Museum in Szczecin / Muzeum Narodowe w Szczecinie Curated by… Read more

Curating urban art

Presentation to LUX Helsinki 2016 Conference

    • Slide1 - Rob Garrett, LUX Helsinki presentation 08.01.2016
Slides from my presentation Curating urban art as if I don't know what I'm doing ... 9 points of attraction ... at the LUX Helsinki Conference (January 2016) on the invitation of Ilkka Paloniemi, LUX Helsinki Director. Read more

NZ at Entre Islas (2016)

"Destination Pioneer City" by Bronwyn Holloway-Smith & Simon Ward selected for International Video Art Festival

    • Entre Islas 2016 Poster (A4_Web_55%)
Bronwyn Holloway-Smith and Simon Ward's Destination Pioneer City (2012) selected for 2016 International Video Art Festival Entre Islas / Between Islands Destination Pioneer City (2012) is a video made by New Zealand artist Bronwyn Holloway-Smith in collaboration with film-maker Simon Ward and commissioned by CoLab (AUT… Read more

Scape 8: New Intimacies

Public Art Christchurch Biennial

    • Collage of SCAPE8 projects and curator Rob Garrett
SCAPE 8 New Intimacies (October 3-November 15, 2015) ARTISTS: Nathan Pohio (NZ), Pauline Rhodes (NZ), Hannah Kidd (NZ), Fiona Jack (NZ), Judy Millar (NZ/DE), Peter Atkins (AU), Antony Gormley (UK) + #ThatTimeYouHelped (public PARTICIPATION project). Curator's essay: New Intimacies in a water city Dark matter now… Read more

Curating Under Pressure

Call for Conference Papers

    • High Street precinct, Christchurch, September 2014; photo by Rob Garrett
Call for Conference Papers: “Curating Under Pressure” Christchurch, New Zealand November 5-9, 2015 Opportunity for academics, curators, artists and other cultural practitioners from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific. Submissions due before April 15, 2015. The Goethe-Institut in cooperation with Creative New Zealand, ifa… Read more

Waterfront Public Art

Sounds of Sea by COMPANY

    • COMPANY, Sounds of Sea, 2011, Wynyard Quarter, Auckland; photo by Waterfront Auckland
"Sounds of Sea" (2011) by Korean/Finnish artist duo Aamu Song and Johan Olin (COMPANY) was inspired by the sights and sounds of the Waitemata Harbour beneath the artists' feet as they explored the North Wharf in Auckland's brownfields Waterfront development. "Sounds of Sea" is one of… Read more

10th Sculpture OnShore

6-16 November 2014, Auckland NZ

    • Lipika Sen and Prabhjyot Majithia, Tricky Box 5 - The Curious Indian Water Well, 2014; photo by Rob Garrett
Looking out, looking back and looking ahead Curated by Rob Garrett The NZ Sculpture OnShore outdoor sculpture exhibition and biennial sculpture trail was established by a group of North Shore art lovers in 1994 to raise funds for NZ Women's Refuges, it has grown in size… Read more

Curator in the media

NZ Sculpture OnShore 2014 highlights

    • Rob Garrett onsite at NZ Sculpture OnShore 2014-11-05
#ThePaulHenryShow came, saw and loved it! Now it's your turn @TV3nz @eyeonauckland @SculptureOnshor @LocalAuckland http://t.co/DWAbLDkxkx— rob garrett (@robgarrettcfa) November 6, 2014@TV3nz great story this morning @SculptureOnshor @robgarrettcfa #feedthekids2 @eyeonauckland http://t.co/Mbnlkll18R Thanks @FirstlineNZ— NZ Sculpture OnShore (@SculptureOnshor) November 5, 2014@robgarrettcfa #TV3 @SculptureOnshor beautiful@day… Read more

Curator on RadioNZ

Interview on 10th Sculpture OnShore

    • Rob Garrett listening to Sharonagh Montrose's sound project at NZ Sculpture OnShore 2014; photo courtesy of Rob Garrett
Originally aired on "Sunday Morning" with Wallace Chapman; 2 November 2014. "Every two years the cliffs around Narrow Neck Beach in Auckland are decorated with some of the country's sculptures - everything from 3D art installations to lightworks to traditional stone sculpture." Read more

Interview on RadioNZ

Sculpture OnShore 10th edition

    • Collage of works by Sam Harrison, Jack Marsden-Mayer and Max Ernst, with Rob Garrett at RadioNZ
Originally aired on Upbeat, Tuesday 28 October 2014. Poland-based NZ Curator for NZ Sculpture OnShore discusses the 2014 biennial event.   Read more

Public Art Policy

Auckland, New Zealand 2013

    • Auckland Council Public Art Policy publication; photo by Rob Garrett
Auckland Council public art policy project Following the amalgamation of Auckland's eight local government bodies into a single region-wide Auckland Council on November 1, 2010, Rob Garrett was engaged by Auckland Council to lead the development of a new public art policy for regional Auckland. The… Read more

Open Call: Corner

Project space in Auckland, NZ

    • Rubee Prattley-Jones, My Window 2016; photo courtesy of the artist
Seeking Project Proposals: Curator Rob Garrett seeks proposals from New Zealand and international artists with emergent practices and innovative projects for the Corner Window Gallery project space. Proposals may include solo, or collaborative, or group projects. Applications will also be accepted from emerging curators who are… Read more

Corner Window Gallery

Projects 2012 to 2018

    • Tales Frey, To Be Privy – performance photograph (2017). Courtesy of the artist.
About Corner Window Gallery Corner Window Gallery (from February 2012 to September 2018) was a non-commercial project space at the corner of Karangahape Road and Edinburgh Street in Auckland, with a programme of emergent practices by New Zealand and overseas artists, designers and architects. As a… Read more

Daniel von Sturmer (NZ/AU)

"Production Stills" 2013

    • Daniel von Sturmer, Production Still, Improbable Stack (found cardboard, sponge) and (plywood, foam tube, plastic case), 2013; courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery
"Production Stills" Courtenay Place Park Light Box Project, Wellington, NZ 6 December 2013 - 6 April 2014 Curator, Rob Garrett Daniel von Sturmer’s work uses various media to explore questions about the nature of perception, the embodiment of time and how context and framing shape the… Read more

Unearthing Delights

NARRACJE 2013, Gdansk, Poland

    • NARRACJE 5 posters on ul. Świętojańska, Gdansk, 07-11-13; photo by Rob Garrett
Unearthing Delights / Odkrywanie zachwyca Markets, Memories and Meetings / Targowiska, spotkania, wspomnienia 5th edition of NARRACJE – Installations and Interventions in Public Space 15-17 November 2013 Długie Ogrody / Long Gardens, Gdańsk, Poland Rob Garrett, Curator ORGANISER: Instytut Kultury Miejskiej / City Culture InstituteCO-ORGANISER:… Read more

Public art plan

Hamilton, 2010-2020

Rob Garrett was commissioned by Hamilton City to develop a 10-year public art plan that would assist the City Council to prioritise decision making in respect to public art acquisition and investment for the city. While public art approaches, activities and objects can be understood as… Read more

Sculpture OnShore III

NZ Sculpture Biennial 2012

    • Chelsea Rothbart, Single wax fold (detail) 2012, NZ Sculpture OnShore 2012; photo by Rob Garrett
8-18 November 2012... NZ Sculpture OnShore is a biennial outdoor exhibition of the work of New Zealand artists across all genres and disciplines. Since its inception in 1995 the exhibition has become a major event on Auckland's North Shore and one of New Zealand’s largest outdoor… Read more

Lost in a dream

International group show at Snake Pit

    • Cécile B. Evans (US / DE), “Straight Up” 2011, single channel HD video, video still; courtesy of the artist
“Lost in a dream” is an international contemporary art exhibition curated by Rob Garrett for Snake Pit, Auckland; 19 October – 3 November 2012. The catalogue: “Lost in a dream” is accompanied by a catalogue with full colour reproductions of the artists’ works; artist statements… Read more

Katrin Kampmann (DE)

Wanderausstellung in New Zealand

    • Katrin Kampmann and assistants, Die Wanderausstellung, Tyrol; photo courtesy of the artist
FORTHCOMING... Katrin Kampmann is a Berlin-based artist whose practice includes painting, works on paper and various "itinerant stagings" of her paintings. Rob Garrett is commissioning new work from the artist for presentation in New Zealand. On a recent visit to her studio in Berlin, Rob Garrett… Read more

Recalling et al. at Venice

the fundamental practice, 2005

    • the fundamental practice 2005, venue catalogue and donkey
... even in an academic context I would never talk about the work of et al., still less ‘explain’ it, except to show recorded material (video, images, sound) – the process of viewing art provides the explanation, and it is invariably particular to the viewer. The… Read more

Public art plan

Auckland's Learning Quarter

    • Francis Upritchard, Loafers 2012, Symonds Street, Auckland, photo by Rob Garrett
Francis Upritchard, "Loafers" Francis Upritchard's new artwork "Loafers" (2012) in Auckland is the latest public art work to be developed from the city's Learning Quarter public art strategy, part of Auckland Council's award-winning 30-year Learning Quarter Plan. London-based Francis Upritchard (Walters Prize 2006 and… Read more

Don’t hold your breath

Ängelholm International Video Art Festival

    • Andrew de Freitas,
The opening video in the New Zealand-Australia programme encapsulates beautifully the paradox of viewing many video artworks. On the one hand, the ubiquity of the video form creates an impression of immediacy; and the impression that we are witness to something. Yet on the other hand,… Read more

Neil Miller (NZ)

Te tiaho o Matariki, Hamilton

    • Neil Miller,
Neil Miller, “Te tiaho o Matariki” (the brightness of the Pleiades): The sculpture represents Pleiades in the form of a growing vine, with the stars of Matariki forming the fruit on the vine. It honours the city’s first inhabitants (Garden Place was first used by Maori… Read more

Gill Gatfield (NZ)

Silhouette (2011) public artwork

    • Gill Gatfield, Silhouette, 2011; Smales Farm Station; photo by Gill Gatfield
Gill Gatfield (NZ), Silhouette, 2011; Smales Farm Station Public Art Award 2011 There is something for the eye, the hand and the head. [Gill Gatfield] Gill Gatfield was jury-selected and commissioned to create “Silhouette” as the result of winning a public competition in 2010. The judging… Read more

Lightboxes brighten walk

Bledisloe walkway public art programme

    • Richard Orjis, inaugural Bledisloe walkway project, 2010; courtesy of Melanie Roger Gallery
Richard Orjis was commissioned to develop new work for the inaugural exhibition in the new public art Bledisloe Walkway Lightboxes and he created "Park," a set of five luxurious images for the walkway. "Park" featured five photographs depicting an opulent fantasy world. One image showed jewel-encrusted… Read more

NZ Sculpture OnShore II

Sculpture Biennial 2010

    • Christian Nicolson, NZ Sculpture OnShore exhibition 2010, photo by Rob Garrett
NZ Sculpture OnShore is a biennial outdoor exhibition of the work of New Zealand artists across all genres and disciplines. Since its inception in 1995 the exhibition has become a major event on Auckland's North Shore and one of New Zealand’s largest outdoor sculpture exhibitions. Rob… Read more

Paula Roush (UK)

Public art project, Auckland 2010

    • Paula Roush, A field of interconnected realities (2010), Living Room, Auckland; video still by Rob Garrett
Paula Roush was invited by Rob Garrett to participate in Auckland City Council’s Living Room 2010 public art programme. The overall curator of Living Room 2010: A Week of Kindness was Pontus Kyander, the then former Manager Public Art. Max Ernst's 1934 graphic novel Une semaine… Read more

Tweets, ticks and bangs!

Sculpture in the Park 2009, Waitakaruru Arboretum

    • Carolyn Williams, Sound Birds, 2009 (detail)
Waitakaruru Arboretum launches its annual “Sculpture in the Park” exhibition this November with two dozen new art works selected by guest curator Rob Garrett. Garrett says he was intrigued and delighted by the high calibre of works on offer, and particularly by art works that reference… Read more

Ines Tartler (DE)

Auto Garage: The Golden Garage Service 2009

    • Ines Tartler (GER),
Auto Garage: The Golden Garage Service 2009 is a public art project by Ines Tartler (DE) which took place in Auckland, New Zealand in May 2009. Berlin-based Tartler presented the project with the aid of a team of Golden Garage Service Attendants especially recruited for the project.… Read more

Joanna Langford (NZ)

The Whisper Lands Art Fair project, 2009

    • Joanna Langford, The Whisper Lands 2009, Auckland Art Fair Special Project, photo by Rob Garrett
Joanna Langford was invited to create a new installation – The Whisper Lands – for the 2009 Auckland Art Fair because of her knack at creating sculptures with uplift: towering plastic clouds, improbably delicate ladders to nowhere, stilted houses, pink mountains, and candy and cookie castles.… Read more

Alexandra Petrovic

Window gallery opened at Britomart

    • Aleksandra Petrovic, In Dark Corners, 2008-09, Stanbeth House Gallery, Britomart, Customs Street East, Auckland; photo by Rob Garrett
As part of the Bare Rock and Backbones exhibition on at Britomart, Stanbeth House Gallery is displaying work from the involved artists in the gallery window. Currently showing are sculptures and drawings by emerging artist Aleksandra Petrovic, under the title In Dark Corners Between 1865… Read more

NZ Sculpture OnShore I

Sculpture Biennial 2008

    • Gambia Castle (Dan Arps, Nick Austin, Tahi Moore) site-specific commission, NZ Sculpture OnShore exhibition 2008, photo by Rob Garrett
NZ Sculpture OnShore is a biennial outdoor exhibition of the work of New Zealand artists across all genres and disciplines. Since its inception in 1995 the exhibition has become a major event on Auckland's North Shore and one of New Zealand’s largest outdoor sculpture exhibitions. Rob… Read more

Bare Rock & Backbones

Emerging artists public art project

    • Alexandra Petrovic,
In 1840, there was sea water at Britomart. Waka (canoes) were launched from tidal mudflats, and a prominent headland stretched out into the harbour near the site of this painting exhibition by selected emerging artists. There was a Maori pa (fort) on the headland. A colonial… Read more

John Radford

Lux Flux highlights heritage, 2008

    • John Radford, Lux Flux 2008, Britomart, photo by Rob Garrett
The importance for Auckland of preserving its historic buildings is creatively highlighted in a new light-based installation artwork by John Radford in the Britomart development precinct (Auckland, New Zealand). Lux Flux consists of 200 small, clear LED lights and incandescent bulbs scattered across the façade of… Read more

Public Art Policy Project

Auckland's transformational shift 2008

    • Art in public places: Auckland City Council’s public art policy, August 2008 (author: Rob Garrett)
Auckland City Council sought our help when they wanted to take a comprehensive look at their public art activities and their role in supporting, commissioning and legislating for public art in Auckland. Rob Garrett was asked to provide advice on council policy, processes, funding and organisational… Read more

NZ's Pocket Pavilion

2007 Venice Biennale project

    • Speculation, NZ's 2007 pocket pavilion at Venice Biennale
While the big boats battled it out in Valencia, artists, curators and supporters launched New Zealand’s cheeky unofficial, portable and pocketable pavilion in Venice for the 52nd Biennale of Contemporary Art: Speculation. Floating into Venice almost as improbably as icebergs drifted past the Otago coast… Read more

Richard Crow (UK)

Artist at Work resident 1999

    • Richard Crow installation (1), 1999, Artists at Work, Photo Karl Buckley
Rob Garrett invited Richard Crow to develop a project with the Dunedin Artists at Work residency programme after seeing his performance "Theurgy - Messe Basse" at Performance Space in Sydney, in 1996. Richard Crow (b 1961) studied electro-acoustic and experimental music, with Philipp Wachsmann in London… Read more

Artists at Work

Artist Residencies 1993-2003

    • Georganne Deen, 1999, Artists at Work, Photo Rob Garrett
Artists at Work (Dunedin) was established in 1993 by Rob Garrett as an invitational artist residency programme focused on artist experimentation, by providing opportunities and the right environment for artists to develop new ideas and new work. Based in the Dunedin School of Art, supported by… Read more
1 page with 39 projects.