DANE MITCHELL

The original installation, presented at Singapore’s Old Kallang Airport, was made active through the production of a spell produced by a medium and feng shui geomancer, which channelled the energies of the room and imbued the space alongside selected objects and forms with ‘Qi’. In its re-presentation, the unseen activity surrounding the various forms and objects radiate their mystery as ‘charged’ relics.

In his introduction to the work, Singapore Biennale co-curator Russell Storer wrote: “Intangible materials and forces are the stuff of Dane Mitchell’s work. From dust, scent and light to the presence of spirits and the dynamics of human interaction, Mitchell attunes us to the life of spaces, in the here and now and in the past. His work always involves intensive research, and often collaborations with specialists, including French perfumiers, glass blowers, and spiritual mediums. For his work The Dragon, The Purple Forbidden Enclosure, the special energies of a room at the Old Kallang Airport have been identified and channelled with the help of a local medium, mapped by the artist’s astrological sign, delineating a conversation between cul­tures and a threshold between worlds.”

A text by Rosanna Albertini will accompany the exhibition (available via email by request).

Dane Mitchell lives and works in Auckland and Berlin. Selected recent solo exhibitions include: Radiant Matter III, Artspace Auckland (2011); Radiant Matter II, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin (2011); Radiant Matter 1, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth (2011);); Minor Optics, daadgalerie, Berlin (2009); Bending Light, Starkwhite, Auckland (2009); Conjuring Form, Art Statements, Art39Basel, Basel (2008); A Guest, A Host, Galerie West, The Hague (2008); Invocations , Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne (2008).

Recent group exhibitions include: Simultaneously Modern: Three Art Installations from the Contemporary New Zealand Art Collections, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland (2011); Singapore Biennale 2011 Open House, Singapore (2011); 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana 2011, Ljubjana (2011); Afterlife , Tot Zover Museum, Amsterdam (2011); The Matter of Air, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne (2011); Busan Biennale, Korea (2010); Measuring Potential, Pots­dammer Strasse 88, Berlin (2010); For Keeps, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland (2009); Casa Sem Dono, Casa Triangulo, São Paulo (2008); Mystic Truths, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand (2007).

In 2011 he was artist in residence at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery; 2010 artist in residence at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery; 2010/2009 artist in residence on the Berliner Künstlerprogramm DAAD, Berlin; 2008 artist in residence at Gasworks, London.