Art & creativity  |  8 May 2019

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A family-friendly exhibition illustrating how light can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary opens at Christchurch Art Gallery this month.

Wheriko – Brilliant! features light-based works by artists from around the world and explores the many roles light can play in the making and experiencing of art.

A boy views one of the art works in Wheriko - Brilliant! exhibition.

Installation view of Reuben Paterson's Te Pūtahitanga ō Rehua 2005. DVD. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2009.

“In te reo Māori, 'wheriko' can mean to sparkle, flash or glisten,’’ says exhibition curator Felicity Milburn. “It can also describe something dazzlingly beautiful or brilliant.

“This exhibition features works where artists play with shadows, throw glittering shards of colour and transform the everyday into the extraordinary,’’ Ms Milburn says.

Visitors to the exhibition will be invited to step inside a fully immersive light environment and discover new ways to experience light as an art form.

Eye-catching exhibits include a robotic light specially programmed by artist Daniel von Sturmer and a kaleidoscopic digital landscape by Reuben Paterson that is inspired by Maori mythology connected with water, cleansing, transformation and stars.

The exhibition also includes a very special sculpture by US-based artist Anila Quayyum Agha.  Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Agha grew up yearning to see inside the most sacred rooms of the mosques that only males were allowed to enter.

Her work, Shimmering Mirage, combines light and shadow to create an immersive space to welcome all visitors and celebrates Islamic and Western cultures co-existing in harmony.  It has been brought to New Zealand with the support of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

Wheriko – Brilliant! is on display at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū from 17 May to 16 February 2020. Entry is free.

To celebrate the opening on the new exhibition, the gallery is hosting an After Dark party on Friday 24 May. There will be bands, DJs, food and beverages as well as an opportunity to tour the new exhibition. The event starts at 7.30pm and entry is free.