FIRST EXHIBIT AN EMPTY ROOM

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31084, 13 June 1966, Page 14

FIRST EXHIBIT AN EMPTY ROOM

When guesa turned up for the opening of the 20/20 Vision art exhibition at the Durham Street Art Gallery on Saturday evening they were ushered into the room behind the town hall competition wall. The wall had been built by the Christchurch City Council for the town hall competition so that everyone but the judges could be kept out of that part of the gallery, but as the designs were still locked up elsewhere and judging would not start until today, everyone was allowed in. Apart from some chairs, a few wheelchairs, and some supper-laden tables, the room was empty. However, with food and drink, and with plenty of other people to talk to, no-one seemed dissatisfied with the arrangement. “This is the sort of art I like to see,” one man said, waving a piece of cheese at the bare walls. “Any more would spoil it.” About half an hour later, one of the organisers climbed a 10ft stepladder, announced that some North Island works had not arrived, and recalled a Paris precedent for exhibiting any empty room before saying that the main gallery was open.

So everyone went in, making their way past the startling entrance pieces, the 15ft “Mother, Pal and Sweetheart” and a half-mutilated dummy entitled “Schizophrenia.” Besides the works along the walls, there were paintings and assemblages hung from the ceiling, and a sculpture grouped in the centre of the floor. “It’s just like a fun fair with side show after side show,” one person described it. With some difficulty a man

rode through the crowd on a bicycle. He was to open the exhibition. He spoke of art and artists, and tossed in every platitude in the exhibition opener’s book. As a loudspeaker quoted Sir Charles Wheeler, president of the Royal Academy of Art, at length, the man mounted his bicycle and, with some difficulty, rode away. Later, a film made by Murray Reece on that classic subject, the chase, was shown. Opening night audiences usually disperse quickly, but this one relished the carnival atmosphere and showed a reluctance to go. “Will there be another happening?” inquired one young man. It was only by turning out the lights and shouting “Go home!” that the artists finally emptied the gallery.