The impending tsunami of the digital download

Record label Flying Nun is explored visually along with other independent music labels in New Zealand in the next exhibition at Adam Art Gallery.

Opening this August, Object Lessons: A Musical Fiction explores the material and visual legacy of independent music production and distribution in New Zealand.

Five New Zealand artist/musicians have been invited to create new works that ask vital questions about the forms music has taken.

"In the era of the digital download, the exhibition looks at the relationship between the evolution of music and the way it is delivered," says Assistant Curator Laura Preston.

"It also considers how the music industry will respond to future forms of dissemination and what implications these will have for those who are involved in its production."

Object Lessons developed from investigating the history of the record label Flying Nun, and the media and fan interest directed at the label's recent resurgence. The other 'urban myth' that has informed the exhibition was the day in 1987 when the only vinyl record press in New Zealand ceased production and was dumped in Wellington harbour, forcing the production of vinyl LPs offshore.

"Although the site of vinyl production is now so distant, the ability to digitally download music has changed the face of music production and many independent artists and musicians continue to support the physical music formats for aesthetic, economic and social purposes."

This exhibition project will be presented alongside the work of London based art collective and Turner Prize 2010 nominees The Otolith Group. Exclusive to the Adam Art Gallery, their trilogy of film works A Long Time Between Suns also examines the histories of futurity and the artistic treatment of moving image and sound to give another take on the making of the 'record'.

Object Lessons: A Musical Fiction
Fitts & Holderness, DJ $1 Record (aka Bryce Galloway), Caroline Johnston, Torben Tilly & Robin Watkins, Ronnie van Hout.
Accompanying book project featuring Campbell Kneale, Antony Milton and Bruce Russell.
Curated by Laura Preston & Mark Williams

The Otolith Group: A Long Time Between Suns

Adam Art Gallery
Victoria University of Wellington
7 August – 10 October 2010

Opening: Friday 6 August 2010, 6pm

You are invited to attend a workshop run by Roger Shepherd, founder of Flying Nun Records, Annabel Youens and Jeff Mitchell from MusicHype, and music writer Simon Sweetman on the future of music distribution at the Adam Art Gallery on Wednesday 1 September at 6pm.