Lottery Grant Raises the Roof for the Len Lye Centre

The Len Lye Centre has secured another half million dollar investment with a grant from the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board’s Environment and Heritage Committee.

The Len Lye Centre will be a new home for the care, research, preservation and engagement with the art and ideas of pioneer New Zealand-born modernist filmmaker and kinetic artist Len Lye (1901-1980).

Lance Girling-Butcher, New Plymouth District Councillor and Chair of the Len Lye Committee, says the Lottery grant is tagged specifically to building construction costs so it will go directly towards making the Patterson Associates’ designed building a reality in New Plymouth.

“We are extremely grateful to the Lottery Grants Board for their valued contribution to this unique and nationally significant project,” says Mr Girling-Butcher.

The Len Lye Collection and Archive has been cared for and exhibited by the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery since it was gifted by the artist to the Len Lye Foundation ‘for the people of New Zealand’ in 1980.

“The building itself will showcase Taranaki’s role as a leader in engineering innovation and workmanship nationally and globally in its highly innovative use of stainless steel in the building’s structural exterior,” says Mr Girling-Butcher.

New Plymouth District Council Chief Executive Barbara McKerrow says the project partners are delighted with the successful funding grant.

“The importance and value of this project for New Plymouth District and indeed for all of New Zealand has again been recognised,” she says.

The Len Lye Centre project is a collaboration between the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand’s foremost contemporary art museum, its owner and operator NPDC, and the Len Lye Foundation.

Gallery Director Rhana Devenport says the Lottery grant is absolutely critical to the success of the Len Lye Centre project.

“The combined facility of the Govett-Brewster and Len Lye Centre aims to offer audiences from New Plymouth, New Zealand and the world an outstanding opportunity to engage with the inspirational art and ideas of Len Lye while continuing to offer exceptional encounters with contemporary art,” says Ms Devenport.

The momentum for the Centre accelerated with the recent announcement that it received support of $4 million over two years from the Government’s Regional Museums Policy for Capital Construction Costs. This was announced at the Govett-Brewster on 25 June 2011 by Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, the Hon. Christopher Finlayson. This support builds on significant and early support of $1m from the TSB Community Trust in 2009.

If the remainder of the fundraising is successful, construction of the new building, adjacent and connected to the existing Govett-Brewster, is planned to start in late 2012 and be completed late 2014.

As part of its regular series of Len Lye exhibitions, the Govett-Brewster will present New Zealand’s most comprehensive Len Lye exhibition to date, Len Lye: All Souls Carnival, from 10 September to 27 November 2011. For the first time, Len Lye will inhabit all spaces of the Govett-Brewster. The exhibition, curated by Curator Len Lye Tyler Cann, will include many of Lye’s most memorable works, as well as important new reconstructions and restorations as yet unseen. Len Lye: All Souls Carnival is included in the Rugby World Cup 2011 REAL New Zealand Festival.

Len Lye

Len Lye (1901-1980) is one of the most important artists to have emerged from New Zealand. Legendary amongst experimental filmmakers, his ‘direct’ films made by painting and scratching on celluloid were part of Lye’s prescient vision for a new ‘art of movement’. His dynamic, motorised steel sculptures of the 1960s express a creative energy that Lye brought to film, painting, photography and poetry. The Len Lye Collection and Archive is housed and cared for by the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in partnership with the Len Lye Foundation. Lye's sculptures are found in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Berkeley Art Museum.

His films are held primarily at the New Zealand Film Archive in Wellington and also in archives at the British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley.

Lye’s 45m-high kinetic sculpture Wind Wand has featured on New Plymouth’s Coastal Walkway since 2000, and Water Whirler has featured on Wellington’s waterfront since 2006.

Patterson Associates

Patterson Associates are acknowledged as New Zealand’s most internationally known architects. Their projects range from complex developments and urban infrastructure through to bespoke residential homes and three-dimensional strategic thinking. Established by Andrew Patterson in 1996, the firm is committed to sustainable methodology, innovative use of materials and creating simple, beautiful projects that encourage people to engage on many levels.

Pattersons, based in Auckland, designed the Michael Hill Clubhouse in Wakatipu which was selected as one of the nine best sports and leisure buildings in the world at the Barcelona World Architecture Awards in 2008. Pattersons are also multiple recipients of The New Zealand Institute of Architects’ NZ Supreme Award for Architecture.

Another of Pattersons’ recent projects, the Geyser building in Auckland, has achieved New Zealand’s first six Green Star – Office Design certified rating. Six stars signify world leadership in sustainability.

Patterson Associates was named in May 2011 by prestigious publication World Architecture News in their 21 for 21 programme as one of five selected international architectural practices that are “set to shape the future of architecture in the 21st Century”.
Renowned New Zealand architect Sir Miles Warren, often cited as the father of New Zealand architecture has said: “Pattersons have designed a stunning building, a superb concept worthy to house and enhance Len Lye’s work.”

The Len Lye Centre is a partnership between NPDC, the Len Lye Foundation and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. It will be run as a combined facility with the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and will offer a unique and complimentary programme of exhibitions and public engagement. The centre and gallery will share management team and operating costs as well as facilities such as the education suite and commercial facilities such as the art and design shop and cafe.

Len Lye Foundation

Shortly before Len Lye’s death in 1980, arrangements were made to establish the Len Lye Foundation. In accordance with the artist’s Deed of Trust, his collection of work returned to New Zealand, the country of his birth.

Lye’s archives, sculpture, painting, textiles, and photographic work are housed at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, where regular exhibitions of his work are held. The New Zealand Film Archive is the repository of the Len Lye Foundation’s film collection.

The Foundation is registered in New Zealand as a non-profit incorporated society. Its function is to provide for the conservation, reproduction and promotion of the works of Len Lye and to make facilities available for research. The foundation holds copyright for much of the material it owns, and is empowered to issue prints of the artist’s films (where copyright and licence allow), authorise the publication of his written work, and to develop and edition reconstructions of his kinetic sculptures. From a vitally creative life of exploration and experiment, the foundation has inherited a substantial body of work. The existence of the Len Lye Foundation ensures that this work remains an active cultural force.