Ron Mueck chicken / man 2019. Mixed media. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2019 by Christchurch Art Gallery Foundation with assistance from Catherine and David Boyer, Friends of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Charlotte and Marcel Gray, Ben Gough Family Foundation, Jenny and Andrew Smith, Gabrielle Tasman and Ken Lawn, Christchurch Art Gallery Foundation’s London Club along with 514 other generous individuals and companies
Tony Oursler Sang 2008. Fibreglass, gesso, audio, video projection. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna oWaiwhetū, purchased with the support of ChristchurchCity Council's Challenge Grant to the Christchurch ArtGallery Trust, 2013
Tia Ranginui Taniwha 2020. Photograph. Courtesy of the artist
Francis Upritchard Eeling in the Ōtākaro 2021–3. Bronze (from balata rubber), limestone. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2023 with the support of the Ngarita Charlotte Hounam Johnstone bequest
Ronnie van Hout Quasi II 2018–20. Paint, rigid polyurethane, expanded polystyrene, fibreglass, stainless steel. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2020
2 November 2024 – 23 March 2025
The unforgettable art of being someone else.
Full of humour, surprise and heart, this exhibition reveals how borrowed or re-imagined bodies can help us explore what it means to be human. Dummies & Doppelgängers combines sculpture, video, photography and more from the Gallery’s own collection and around Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, including captivating works by artists including Sarah Lucas, Yuki Kihara, Patricia Piccinini, Ah Xian, Michael Parekōwhai, Tony Oursler, Ron Mueck and Ronnie van Hout. It’s an exuberant and unexpectedly touching selection that will take you from the hyper-real to the surreal, and from the tender to the absurd.
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Location:
Borg Henry Gallery Touring Gallery A Touring Gallery B Touring Gallery C -
Curator:
Felicity Milburn -
Exhibition number:
1091
Collection works in this exhibition
Related
Artist Profile
Unfamiliars
One size doesn’t necessarily fit all. Amongst other ideas, our current exhibition Dummies & Doppelgängers explores how imagined or altered identities can help artists construct worlds that better accommodate them or others. Here, the exhibition’s curator Felicity Milburn considers how this dynamic plays out in the work of two of the featured artists.
Commentary
Turn Around and I’m Gone Again
The public lives of artworks can be occasional and itinerant—they emerge from the cosy sameness of storage into fresh locations and contexts. Many make their first public appearances alongside siblings from their maker’s studio, but later find themselves in very different company. While some resolutely maintain their identity no matter how or where they are shown, others open up to additional associations and meanings. Fittingly for a show about the power of alternative identities, several of the works in Dummies & Doppelgängers have evolved over time, shapeshifting into new lives or likenesses.