The F1 Sculpture Project was five weeks of installation, performance and video art held in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

in 1982. F1 was a

Conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called inst ...

event that extended sculpture into temporary, multi-part, mixed-media, performance, environmental, intervention art, placing importance on the ideas rather than the objects being created.

Background

Designed to "address the lack of support and increase exposure for sculptors", the project was initiated by Ian Hunter, an Irish-born artist and gallery professional who lived in New Zealand between 1970 and 1984. Hunter worked with the Artists' Co-op (April 1978–1980) which held several events and exhibitions, the F1 Sculpture Project (1982) and ANZART, a New Zealand-Australian artist event held in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

in 1981, Hobart in 1983 and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

in 1985. The Wellington F1 Sculpture Project was implemented by a group of New Zealand artists, including

David Mealing David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, Stuart Griffiths, Barbara Strathdee,

Mary Louise Brown Mary Louise Brown (1868 – March 9, 1927) was a physician and teacher who devoted over 25 years of her life to servicing the African-American community of Washington D.C. Brown was the first African-American woman to receive a wartime medical co ...

and

Vivian Lynn Vivian Isabella Lynn (née Robertson; 30 November 1931 – 1 December 2018) was a New Zealand artist. Education Lynn was born in Wellington in 1931 and attended Wellington Girls' College from 1945 to 1948. She completed a Diploma of Fine Arts a ...

About

The event took place in a disused factory space (hence "F1"), the Teal Lemonade Factory, on Tory Street in the central city. The project had four parts: *presentations of works by over 100 sculptors from New Zealand, Britain and Australia *workshops which included then-experimental visual art media including dance, video, sound and audio-visual works *lectures, seminars and panel discussions *performances, jazz concerts, film and slide presentations. F1 ran from 8 November to 2 December 1982 and was supported by the New Zealand Sculpture Council, QE II Arts Council and the National Art Gallery (now the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

). In an account of New Zealand performance art between 1970 and 1985, art historian Jennifer Hay described F1 as "a major event and unqualified success in building a premise with which future artists could expand", by pooling resources and time. Exhibiting artists included

Greer Twiss Greer Lascelles Twiss (born 23 June 1937) is a New Zealand sculptor, and in 2011 was the recipient of an Icon Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, limited to 20 living art-makers. Career Twiss was born in Auckland on 23 June 1937 ...

Don Driver Donald Sinclair Driver (1930–2011) was a New Zealand artist born in Hastings. Driver was self-taught and worked in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, collage and assemblage. His work was often recognized for its use of everyday or ...

Pauline Rhodes Pauline Rhodes (born 1937) is a New Zealand artist. Rhodes is known for her artworks related to the landscape, which take two forms: outdoor works, in which she makes minimal sculptural interventions in the landscape, which exist only through h ...

, Stuart Griffiths,

Jacqueline Fraser Jacqueline Fraser (born 14 March 1956) is a New Zealand artist of Ngāi Tahu descent. Early life Fraser was born in 1956 in Dunedin, New Zealand. She studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland from 1974 to 1977. Work and career ...

, Andrew Drummond, John Cousins,

Jack Body John Stanley Body (7 October 1944 – 10 May 2015) was a New Zealand composer, ethnomusicologist, photographer, teacher, and arts producer. As a composer, his work comprised concert music, music theatre, electronic music, music for film and da ...

, Chris Cree-Brown, Colleen Anstey and Paul Butt. Hay also notes that the event "provided the opportunity to debate feminist issues in the arts and to address the problem of invisibility for women artists." A two-day seminar was held on women's sculpture and a "discussion of feminist goals" saw the establishment of the National Women Artist's Association. In an article in ''Art New Zealand'', artist and event co-organiser Barbara Strathdee documented works presented at F1 by women artists including Kate Coolahan,

, Di Ffrench, Mary Louise Brown, Colleen Anstey, and Vivian Lynn, visiting Irish artist Rose Ann McCreery and Canadian artist Evelyn Roth. The archives of the F1 Sculpture Project are held in the

References

{{reflist New Zealand sculpture Art exhibitions in New Zealand Installation art Performance art festivals Feminist art organizations Events in Wellington 1982 in New Zealand 1980s in Wellington Feminist organisations in New Zealand