Wellington's City Gallery Te Whare Toi has reopened to the public for the first time in more than two years after a $12.3 million refurbishment.
The works of world-renowned British artist Cornelia Parker are being showcased as the first exhibition in the newly renovated building.
Gallery director Charlotte Davy told 1News the exhibition is fitting for the reopening.
“We couldn't have exhibited Cornelia Parker in the old building, so it feels fitting to do a show that's challenging in terms of showing off all our beautiful new space," Davy said.
The exhibition features more than 50 artworks across two floors, exploring themes of destruction and reconstruction.
One of the artworks, titled Cold Dark Matter, sits in a wide room with objects suspended from the ceiling around a ball of light, mimicking an explosion.
"This was a piece I made in 1991, so quite a long time ago now, and I collaborated with the British Army, who blew up a garden shed for me and all these objects that I'd collected," Parker told 1News.
Other highlights include a room of steamrolled brass instruments, the deconstructed barn from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and a work called Blue Shift, which hasn’t been shown in public for the last 20 years.
The council spent $12.3 million on strengthening the gallery after it was designated earthquake prone in 2024.
It follows the reopening of the Central Library next door in March this year.
Some installations in the new exhibition took weeks to put together.
"We have to borrow works from major institutions like the Tate in London, like la Caixa in Spain, but also Cornelia's works are in private collections around the world," Davy said.
When asked what she wants Wellingtonians to take out of her artwork, Parker said they don’t have to fill it up with her ideas.
"I want them to come and experience it the same way they would a concert or a piece of music, that they’ll be moved by it and have their own associations with it," she said.
The exhibition is now open and will run until March next year.
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