Past Event

Please join Blue Oyster co-founder, Steve Carr and our most recent directors, Chloe Geoghegan (2013-2016) and Grace Ryder (2017--) for a discussion on the history of the space and trust from 1999 to 2019. Looking to the original intentions and visions for Blue Oyster, the three speakers consider the early moments of the space as well as the more recent periods, using this public discussion as an opportunity for reflection on the spaces direction, on changes and developments within the space and the environment surrounding it.

We acknowledge that between 1999 and 2019, histories, people and narratives can be forgotten or misread, therefore, we invite everyone who have played a role in the colourful history of the space and/or trust to join us for this discussion and lunch to follow.

Steve Carr was born in Gore, New Zealand in 1976, and graduated with an MFA from the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts in 2003. He was the co-founder of the Blue Oyster Gallery in Dunedin, a board member of Auckland’s Artspace (2002-04) and a board member of Christchurch's The Physics Room (2016-19). Recent solo exhibitions include Chasing the Light, City Gallery Wellington (2019)/National Gallery of Victoria (2019)/Christchurch Art Gallery (2018), A Manual for Small Archives, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (2016), Bullet Time, Wellington City Gallery (2016), Stretching Time, Dunedin Public Art Gallery (2014).

Steve Carr currently lives and works in Christchurch, New Zealand and is represented in New Zealand by Michael Lett, Auckland and in Australia by STATION, Melbourne/Sydney. He has been a Senior Lecturer at the Ilam School of Art since 2016.

Chloe Geoghegan holds a BFA(Hons) in Graphic Design and Art History, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Art Curatorship (UC). She has held positions at Blue Oyster Art Project Space (2014-17) and Hocken Collections (2019) and will be taking up the position of Curator at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Art Gallery in February 2020. She has travelled to China and Korea on the CNZ Asia NZ Curators Tour, and to New York for an ICI Curatorial Intensive, and written for several platforms including: HUM, Pantograph Punch, Hue & Cry, un Magazine, Journal of Curatorial Studies, On Curating and HAMSTER. She is interested in furthering curatorial discourse around art in Aotearoa through critical writing, exhibiting and publishing.

Grace is a curator and arts administrator currently based in Ōtepoti, where she is the director of Blue Oyster Art Project Space (2017—). Since graduating from Ilam School fo Fine Arts, University of Canterbury (2015) she has worked at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu (2014-2015) and Toi Moroki Centre of Contemporary Art (2016). From 2014 to 2016 Grace co-founded and co-curated North Projects, an artist-run initiative which supported the development of new and experimental work by local and international practitioners.