2007
Thresholds: Rita Angus Cottege
Litmus Foundation, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
Thresholds: Rita Angus Cottege, 2008
Litmus Foundation, Massey University
Wellington, New Zealand
Artist Dane Mitchell has brought Rita Angus back from the dead. Hear for the first time a communion between a reputable clairvoyant and Angus, recorded by Mitchell in the deceased artist's old Wellington residence.
The potential paranormal scope and history of the Rita Angus Cottage in Wellington forms the basis of Thresholds: Rita Angus Cottage, a body of work by Dane Mitchell undertaken during the 2006 Massey University/Rita Angus Visual Artist-in-Residence. It is now exhibited in the city in which Rita Angus studied.
Paranormal response is a growing preoccupation of our times. From recent television series to the recent acknowledgement by the New Zealand Police Force of the assistance of a local clairvoyant in tracking a missing pensioner in Palmerston North, such methods of information gathering are both topical and contestable. Mixing paranormal interpretation with museological affect, Mitchell's research takes audio recordings from a Wellington-based psychic's readings of the Rita Angus Cottage and its grounds as a starting point to tactfully explore the site's history. Remarkably, Mitchell's research also unearthed Angus's gravesite, the location of which had been unknown to Angus scholars until his discovery.
Incorporating a variety of media — including sound recordings, video, and rubbings on paper — Thresholds: Rita Angus Cottage presents diverse and involving research into a sense of "presence", time, and display. For those prepared to consider the mystical through to the more sceptical among us, Mitchell's work moves reliably from considered critical enquiry to a blithe engagement with site and history.