Dane Mitchell
IMA at TCB
11 April–31 May 200811 Apr–31 May 2008
New Zealand artist Dane Mitchell opens our TCB window space not with a blessing, but with a curse. A text warns us, remnants from spell are evident, and a thermometer might be there to record paranormal activity. It may be effectively invisible, yet experiencing the work provokes anything from nagging doubt to cynicism, from a sense of awakened possibilities to the impression that things are indeed beyond our immediate control. In previous works Mitchell has collaborated with mediums and psychics to explore the phantom inhabitants of art galleries and museums, created a portal to the spirit world in the Auckland Art Gallery and summoned the spirit of New Zealand painter Rita Angus via a medium. At a time when Maori take steps to make spaces ‘culturally safe’, Mitchell goes the other way, in the process drawing attention to our double standards regarding superstition.