Reviewed by Malcolm Calder
The Art of Black Grace 2/5
A Black Grace digital experience
Mixed Media on canvas
Double-sided, 8m x2.6m LED
Atrium on Takutai Square, Britomart
Running continuously until Sunday 3 December 2023
Director and Executive Producer Neil Ieremia
With Demi-Jo Manolo, Rodney Tyrell, Faith Schuster and Shane Fataua
Post / VFX Delainy Kennedy (Artificial Imagination)
Director of Photography Duncan Cole
1st Assistant Camera Kirsten Green
Lighting Gaffer Fraser McKay
Original Music Anonymouz, Manuel Bundy and Submarine
Review by Malcolm Calder
27 November 2023
It was a late Monday afternoon in the Atrium on Takutai Square at Britomart and the rush hour was just starting. A young bloke walked briskly through, shoulder bag dangling and footy boots casually slung around his neck with laces tied. Clearly he was a Britomart regular and knew the environment well.
His quick glance to the right on passing an 8m long LED wall probably only registered subconsciously that it wasn’t there yesterday. Perhaps more advertising, he may have thought.
But then his brisk walk missed a couple of beats. Suddenly he did a tiny skip and shuffle, paused for a moment, snuck a longer glance and half-turned towards the wall as his initial scan revealed humans in motion. He took two more steps, glanced quickly at his watch, but took a longer stare as the images on the wall scrolling through their cycle. Then, with a flicker of a smile, he hastened on his way no doubt approaching footy practice with a slightly different frame of mind.
His interest was brief, and he may never return for a longer look, but his passing interest summed up what the second room of Neil Ieremia’s 5-part The Art of Black Grace is all about. It follows the first room at Wynyard last year, where viewers were encased inside a large digitally-lined vertical tube
Yes, the location here helps, but the content is what reaches out and touches people. Put very simply, Neil Ieremia is putting his private mind on public display – in all its guises. Whereas the interior of my own mind mostly resembles a blank white room, his is one of constant three-dimensional movement and memory, colour and music.
As soon becomes clear, his single wavy blue line represents that movement. Then other shapes, lines and colours impinge, spin off and interact until they begin to form an integrated, moving whole. The influences are largely cultural ones – hibiscus and frangipani blend with water and waves. Memory introduces mu’umu’u, the shape of shirts and traditional tatau patterning. Underpinning everything is a non-synched soundtrack sourced from the 1970s and 1980s, each track timed to precisely 33.3 minutes acknowledging their origins on vinyl spinning at 33 rpm – another inspirational source.
In one sense The Art of Black Grace 2/5 is a choreographic script – reinforced and clearly stated – when excerpted overlays of the Black Grace dancers are added as a final touch.
The technique and the technology may be somewhat leading edge, yet the content of this work is surprisingly reflective. And that is perhaps appropriate. Ieremia’s body of work is considerable and his achievements are many.
Yes, it is contemporary and can be found in a contemporary part of the city, but it is also traditional. And it is saying look at me.
So, a success? Yes, for exploring a new medium. Yes, for exhibiting his mind to new audiences. Yes, for creating something new and different. It is well worth a wander past.
I wonder what Parts 3, 4 and 5 will bring.
Running 24/7 daily until 6pm, Sunday 3 December.
New Zealand Arts Review 