Oxford, a small town in rural New Zealand (population of country: 4 million, size of country – similar to the United Kingdom), has a five year old, purpose-built white-cube gallery. The outside of the gallery is that of a farm building – corrugated iron and weatherboard – and not particularly noticeable. Entering the gallery is, however, like walking into Dr Who’s Tardis. What they see inside is not what is expected, either from the space or its contents.
We have, in fact, plonked the urban in the rural, a city type gallery in a (what I consider) conservative farming community. Having said that, Oxford has been described to me as a place chosen by artists to live in.
Art is generally invisible in the town, though there are memorials, a decorated public convenience, and sculpture in the children’s play park. Oxford is a noted stopping point for tourists on the Inland Scenic route 72. With a farmers’ market every Sunday, plenty of restaurants, cafes and specialist shops, supermarket, museum, library, bank, postoffice, vets and medical centre, Oxford provides good amenities and quality consumer goods for locals and visitors.
Immigrants to this area – global and local – over the past few years have changed the town. Older inhabitants it seems to me are not interested in art but a new more urban set has arrived, displaced by earthquakes and who are amenable to the ‘art’ idea. We are working on it, and making some inroads into old ideas such as ‘good’ art… or landscape art…
The gallery itself is a site of contesting power to some. The gallery would want to be accepted more widely by the local community. It has held community meetings to engage with those who wish to comment and offer ideas – five people came – the others present were already part of the gallery organisation.
Entry into the gallery itself is a barrier to some who think it’s an alien, illogical space, even though we’ve held children’s art shows, treasure hunts, and art workshops. Anything challenging (even abstract works) disturbs or even angers them.
So in a way my displacement was a displacement within a displacement.
I just wish I had dumped all three bags in the gallery, and made a bit of a mess!