An art exhibition you can play with

Main photo: Squidsoup Submergence is coming to Tauranga for the Light Touch exhibition. Photo/Future Sun Films

After the success of Paradox Street Art Festival in 2017, the next big thing for Tauranga Art Gallery (TAG) is a major interactive art experience which presents artists, software developers, designers and scientists from New Zealand and around the world.

Officially launched yesterday, Tauranga Art Gallery's 2018 Art Loves You programme will showcase immersive digital and interactive experiences across three exhibitions and 14 individual projects.

It will feature light installations, virtual reality, sensory experiences and augmented reality.

"This will be a fun day out for all the family and an opportunity to experience work by local and national artists as well as a number of international projects from China, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and the United States," says gallery director Karl Chitham.

"The entire gallery will be dedicated to art that people can touch, feel, instagram, play, listen to, smell and even take home," he says.

The first element of the six-month long Art Loves You campaign starts mid-February, when the exhibition Art That Needs You opens. It will bring, among others, works by Tiffany Singh, and Shanghai-based design collective Super Nature to Tauranga alongside local artists Scott Brown and Kereama Taepa.

In early April, the second part of Art Loves You named Light Touch will begin. This exhibition will showcase Hueue by Chin-En Soo, Submergence by United Kingdom-based Squidsoup and United States-based Brian Knep's installation Healing Pools.

Swedish/New Zealand artist Jeanette Shäring brings a major site-specific installation to the gallery's atrium space a few weeks later called Whose Water Are You. As part of the project the artist will be inviting the local community to participate by collecting water samples that will then be used in the installation.

She will also be collecting stories about how people connect and engage with water. Using science, Jeanette will be working with various organisations to look at water quality and mapping to help in protecting our local environment.

Art Loves You can be experienced at Tauranga Art Gallery from February 24 until mid-July. You'll find the gallery on the corner of Wharf and Willow Sts in central Tauranga. More details on artgallery.org.nz

the fine print
Exhibition dates
Art that Needs You: February 24 - June 3
Light Touch: March 31 - June 17
Whose Water Are You: April 14 - July 15