Drawing Room was an exhibition for Ōtautahi Christchurch gallery Toi Moroki – Centre for Contemporary Arts developed by Aaron Paterson and Sarosh Mulla (Pac Studio), and Marian Macken from the University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning, along with other collaborators.
The exhibition consists of three parts, each exploring experimental mediums of drawing and suggesting drawing practices that could integrate with professional practice.
Part one is a kinetic sculpture – a 12m long, 3.2m high rotating aluminium arm that filled the gallery. The Drawing Machine glides across the floor, passing through beams of light, creating shapes and shadows that appear accidental but are purposefully designed. This full-scale drawing with light moves to the accompaniment of a generated soundscape – the mechanics of movement recorded and replayed to establish another rhythm over the movement of the frame.
Part two is ‘Edge of Shadow’, a VR artwork that uses the geometry of CoCA gallery to propose a shadow-filled alternative where projected shadows are both materialised and cast their own shadows. Each new drawing created is generated by the physical context of the gallery, but it expands beyond these bounds.
Part three is ‘Penumbral’, a short film collaboration with filmmaker Brendan Donovan and actor Katie Elliot. Set in a gallery space with a large stainless-steel convex mirror (a Claude glass) within a skeletal aluminium frame, the film begins with the exhibition of the work in a gallery then departs into a speculative realm that is both temporal and spatial.
Collaborators: Fabio Morreale (music and sound design); Clovis McEvoy (music and sound design); Xiaoling Cheng (research assistant); Brendan Donovan (writer & director); Katie Elliot (actor).
