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.

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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.

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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.

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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.