Feel the

Energy

David Haines and Joyce Hinterding Encounter with the Halo Field 2009/2015. Singlechannel video, sound, 3.38min. Commissioned by the Australian Network for Art and Technology and Art Monthly Australia, supported by the Australia Council for the Arts. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, purchased 2015.

By Kate Pierson

The exhibition features large-scale, immersive virtual-3D environments for visitors to explore and navigate.

David Haines Electrostatic Wavefront 1 & 2 2012. Image courtesy the artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney. © the artist. Photo: Jamie North

Energy has seemingly talismanic qualities. Abstract and intangible energy – the unseen kind – is the focus of an upcoming Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu exhibition.

E

nergies is a comprehensive presentation of the multi-sensory art practices of two Australian creatives – artists, David Haines and Joyce Hinterding. Full of sensory stimulants, Energies will show from 26 November 2016 to 5 March 2017. Featuring collaborative projects and solo works by both artists, this the first major New Zealand survey show of the artists. Curated by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia’s Anna Davis, the exhibition features large-scale, immersive virtual-3D environments for visitors to explore and navigate. Working in a synergistic partnership, the artists - who hail from the mystical Blue Mountains - are both educators at the University of Sydney and have been creating together for more than 15 years. Inspired by unseen energies that surround us – including very

10 October 20, 2016 Metropol

low frequency radio waves, television signals, paranormal events, satellite transmissions and psychic forces – their mission is to illuminate these energies, visualising them in work that draws upon aspects of science, the occult and philosophy. Building on earlier game-based works, Haines’ and Hinterding’s latest work, Geology (2015), utilises computer-game technologies and a motion-detection system to create powerful and interactive simulations of the natural and supernatural world Geology was inspired by a research trip the artists made to Christchurch Art Gallery after the earthquakes of 2011. They describe it as an investigation of “how culture interacts with chaotic forces”. Projected at more than 11 metres wide in high (4K) resolution, Geology is an amplified, interactive, cinematic experience. Its imaginary terrain is multi-faceted with multiple levels open for adventure, each one taking the audience deeper underground to discover hidden arcane energies.