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What possible right would New Zealand have to create a world-class contemporary art museum?

We’re world-class when it comes to growing stuff.

And we’re world-class when it comes to knocking people over, rowing quickly and throwing things a long way. So why set out to build a world-class contemporary art museum in New Plymouth?

Because there’s no point wasting everyone’s time creating one that’s average. And because art makes the world a bigger place. It lends you someone else’s brain for a minute. It throws your gaze on places you wouldn’t otherwise see. The job of the Govett-Brewster is to provoke. The point, surely, of visiting an art museum is to feel something. We get that you can live a life that’s insulated but we just can’t see the point. The value of experience lies in the depth of feeling.

So we want to make you angry. In fact, we suggest you stop by Giovanni Intra’s Needle in Glove.

Get angry. Get annoyed. Get delighted. But get something. Then visit the Len Lye Centre. Spend some time with his Universe. It’s beautiful and it’s puzzling and that’s ok. Then spend some time with Ngahina Hohaia’s I am your Lord. Poignant, sad and inspiring. We believe the point of art is to challenge people’s perceptions. To challenge them. Not to gently nudge them. Art isn’t mild.

Art is full-fat. Art isn’t polite. Art punches, screams and kicks. We are the Govett-Brewster.

Provocateurs since 1970.

New Plymouth, Aotearoa New Zealand govettbrewster.com