Home New Zealand – August 01, 2019

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Lost and found

BehindthescenesatPosthocbyDaneMitchell,

New Zealand’srepresentativeatthe58thInternational

Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

TextAnthonyByrtwithDaneMitchell

PhotographyDavid Straight

AboveleftOutsidethePalazzinaCanonica,thehomevenue.

AboverightThe colonnade links the Palazzina itself and the out-building that houses Mitchell’s anechoic chamber.

Overthepast 20 years,DaneMitchellhas
establishedhimselfasoneofourmostintriguing
contemporaryartists. Heisknownforhisrigorous
conceptualthinking,butalsohisdeepinterestinhow
spiritualandunseenforcesshapeourexperienceof
theworld.HeisNewZealand’sofficialrepresentativeat
the58thVeniceBiennale,andhisexhibition,Posthoc,
isa monumentalexplorationoftheunseen.Atitsheart
isanenormouslistof“things”thathavedisappeared
fromourworld– notjustphysicalobjectsandspecies,
butesotericenergies,meteorologicalevents,languages
andideas.Theselistsarethenbroadcastaroundthe
cityfroma centralvenue,thePalazzinaCanonica,via
celltowersdesignedtolooklikepinetrees.Anthony
ByrtwasatPosthoc’s openinginMay,andspoke to
Mitchell about his ambitious exhibition.

I wasveryinterestedinhowPosthocseemedto

expandandclarifysomeofyourcentralinterests

• particularlyaboutmemory,lossandtheunseen.
  Howdidtheideaevolve?
  Whatreallystartedthisformewasa consideration
  oftheinvisibleforcesthatchurnandmovearound
  us– howtheyhavea kindofseethingpresence.The
  invisibleimpingesonourlivesinallkindsofways,
  beit technological,spiritual,orthroughlanguage.
  Thebordersorboundariesofobjects,whichtransmit
  immaterialforces,arealwaysmoreslipperyorblurred
  thantheirvisibleedgessuggest.Forme,thisisan
  interestingsculpturalproposition.
  I cametothisthinkinginquitea formalway,
  consideringwhatkindsofforcesextendobjects
  outward from themselves to touch us in ways both