The Physics Room is a non-commercial contemporary art gallery in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand, described as "one of the country's best-known contemporary experiential art spaces". It is primarily funded by

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government established in 1963. It invests in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes a ...

, one of four contemporary art spaces thus funded since the mid-1990s (the others are the Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Artspace NZ, and Enjoy). The Gallery is overseen by a charitable trust governed by a board of trustees. The Physics Room began in 1992 as the South Island Art Projects, based at the

Christchurch Arts Centre The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora is a hub for arts, culture, education, creativity and entrepreneurship in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located in the Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival former University of Canterbury, Canterbur ...

, which organised exhibitions in other galleries, published a newsletter, and hosted visiting artists and speakers. In 1996 the Physics Room Trust was formed, and opened a gallery and office in the former Canterbury College Physics? Room building. Since opening, it has facilitated exhibitions, publications, offsite projects and residencies that promote contemporary art and critical discourse. In 1999 it moved from the Arts Centre into a larger gallery space in the Old Post Office Building on 209 Tuam Street. The Christchurch earthquakes forced a temporary relocation to Sandyford Street in Sydenham under recently appointed director Stephen Cleland. In 2013 the gallery returned to 209 Tuam Street with new director Melanie Oliver, formerly of Enjoy and the Govett-Brewster Gallery. Since Oliver left in 2016 to become Senior Curator at the Dowse, the Physics Room has been run by Jamie Hanton, former director of the Blue Oyster in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

. In January 2018 the gallery relocated to 49–59 Worcester Boulevard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Physics Room Contemporary art galleries in Oceania Arts centres in New Zealand Art galleries in New Zealand Art museums and galleries in Christchurch 1992 establishments in New Zealand