Australian artist Mikala Dwyer sculpts what we cannot see. She uses silver balloons to trap helium, a gas created in the Big Bang.
Zero is a number that usually describes absence – but here, it is an energising presence. The zero-shaped balloons change as helium escapes, and the sculpture gradually descends. The silverings invites us to consider the everyday forces – seen and unseen – that shape us.
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Ka whakairo te ringatoi a Mikala Dwyer o Ahitereiria i ngā mea kāore e kitea ana. Ka whakamahi ia i ngā poihau hiriwa ki te pupuri i te haumāmā, he haurehu i whaihanga i te Orokohanga.
I te nuinga o te wā kua kore te tau e hāngai ana ki te kore – engari i konei nā, he kaupapa hihiri tōna. Ka panoni te āhua o ngā poihau hanga-kore ina ka āta puta te haumāmā. Kātahi ka heke haere te whakairotanga. Ko The silverings tēnei e pōhiri nei i a tātou ki te whai whakaaro anō ki ngā mea kāore e kitea ana – otirā, ngā mea e whakairo nei i a tātou anō.
Activities
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Other: Audio descriptive introduction to Mikala Dwyer: The silverings
Audio descriptive introduction to Mikala Dwyer: The silverings
Listen to or read an audio descriptive introduction to The silverings by Mikala Dwyer. The artwork is a massive drifting sculpture installed at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, from 21 May to 18 September 2022.