Saatchi & Saatchi Design Worldwide gave New Zealand’s museum of contemporary art, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, a new global brand in advance of the opening of its Len Lye Centre.
The centre opened on July 25.
The Len Lye Centre is the new and permanent home for the collection of one of New Zealand’s most well known filmmakers and sculptors, Len Lye (1901–1980)…
Len Lye curator, Paul Brobbel, with Len Lye’s photograms. Photo by Glenn Jeffrey
…a collection of 18,000 items – Lye’s kinetic sculpture, film, painting, drawing, photography, batik and writing, as well as related work by contemporary and historical artists.
Len Lye in studio 1958
Lye exhibited at the Govett-Brewster in 1977 and fell in love with the energy and landscape of New Plymouth. That is why he chose the contemporary art museum to be the home of Len Lye.
Simon Rees, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery director, commented, “The centre’s expansive exhibition spaces, research archive, learning centre, and 62-seat cinema provides the Govett-Brewster the means to truly research, exhibit and disseminate the unique work and vision of Len Lye”.
In 1964 Len Lye said, “Great architecture goes fifty-fifty with great art.”
And so, one of New Zealand’s most internationally recognised architectural firms, Patterson Associates, was commissioned to create ‘his’ centre as “a temple for art.”
The external stainless steel façade echoes the artist’s use of the metal in many of his kinetic sculptures, and the futuristic style of the building stands out against the Govett-Brewster’s more traditional lines, next door.
The centre also houses a state-of-the-art 62-seat cinema that will screen Len Lye’s films, local and international cinema, arthouse and experimental films, and regular film festival programming.
In 1964 Len Lye said “Great architecture goes fifty-fifty with great art.”
Lye’s sculptures are held in the collections of the world’s top institutes of modern art, such as the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago. Lye’s film work is included in the New Zealand film archive, the British Film Institute and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.
Lye exhibited at the Govett-Brewster in 1977 and fell in love with the energy and landscape of New Plymouth. That is why he chose the contemporary art museum to be the home of Len Lye.
