Brit Bunkley is a New Zealand-based artist whose current art practice includes public art, sculpture, installation, and the creation of “impossible” moving and still images and architecture designed using computer 3D modelling, video editing and image editing programs. His work’s content emphasises an oblique sense of socio-political angst tempered with whimsy and irony.
Recent international group exhibitions include Sanctioned Array-Other2 Specify at the White Box gallery in NYC, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid at the Centre Pompidou and at the Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid, Spain; The Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Images Contre Nature 2011international festival of experimental video, Marseille, France, FILE 2011at the SESI' Cultural Centre Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. His most current solo exhibition was at the Suite Gallery, Wellington, NZ June-July 2012.
Bunkley has completed a dozen temporary and permanent public art projects. In the last 25 years Bunkley completed several collaborative projects integrating with monumental architecture a “system of icons" - based on regional history, geography, and culture. Most recently Bunkley completed the commission Hear My Train in Wanganui, New Zealand April 2012.
Brit is represented in numerous international collections and has completed several public art projects. In addition, he has received several grants and fellowships including a Wallace Trust grant in NZ; and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the Rome Prize Fellowship in the USA.
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GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2008 Winner of the 2008/2009 Connells Bay Temporary Installation Project, Connell’s Bay Sculpture Park, New Zealand, Primitive Accumulation
2005 Wallace Trust, Wallace Trust artist’s grant (NZ)
2009, 2008, 2005, 2002 Research Grants, research grants in digital imaging, video and rapid prototyping sculpture, The Quay School of the Arts, Wanganui Polytechnic - UCOL, New Zealand
1985-1986 Rome Prize Fellowship ("Prix de Rome"), Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome
1983-1984 New York State Council on the Arts (N.Y.S.C.A.), Project grant
1983 C.A.P.S. (Creative Artist's Program Service), N.Y. State artist's fellowship grant
1980-1981 USA National Endowment for the Arts, Artist's Fellowship
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND COMMISSIONS
2012 Fight Or Flight, Suite Gallery, Wellington, NZ
Sculpture Wanganui 2011, commission, Hear My Train, Wanganui, NZ -complete April 2012
2010 Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2008-2009 Primitive Accumulation, Connell’s Bay Sculpture Park, New Zealand, winner of the 2008/2009 Connells Bay Installation project
2007 Hear My Train a’ Comin’ Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Slow Train a Comin’, NZ Film Archive -Pelorus Trust Mediagallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2006 Rural Vignettes, Video installation, Auckland NZ Film Archive Gallery
2005 Following Gravity’s Rainbow, NZ Film Archive -Pelorus Trust Mediagallery, Wellington, NZ
I have a Feeling We Are Not in Kansas Anymore Toto, Lopdell House, Auckland, NZ
Animal Farm, Mary Newton Gallery, , Wellington, NZ
2003 Digital: Recent Work, McPherson Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2002 3D Works: Signs (“and other similar entities”), Te Tuhi - The Mark, Pakuranga, Auckland, NZ
2000 Digital Reflections, Manawatu Gallery, Palmerston North, New Zealand
1998 Monuments and Icons, Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui, New Zealand
1995 Sculpture commission at City College, NYC, sponsored by the N.Y. Dormitory Commission (a subsidiary of the N.Y. Percent for Art program)
1992 N.Y. M.T.A. Arts for Transit Commission, Long Island Railroad, Bay Shore Station, Bay Shore, N.Y.
Minnesota Percent for Art in Public Places Commission - Minnesota History Center, St. Paul, Minn., entrance and glass sculpture window commission
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS, SCREENINGS AND COMMISSIONS
2012 File Rio 2012¸ Art Galery of Oi Futuro - Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
and SESI' Cultural Centre Sao Paulo, Brazil
Oslo Screen Festival, Oslo, Norway
CologneOff 8, META House Phnom Penh (and other venues to be announced)
Full Circle, Exhibition of Rapid Prototyping Sculpture; Righton Gallery, Manchester UK
Now&After’12, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Russian Federation - 3rd prize
34rd Moscow International Film Festival
SPARK3DS, Gallery13, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Insideout, The Poly 24 Church Street, Falmouth, UK
2011
E4C: Electronic Gallery; Seattle, Washington
Rencontres Internationales Madrid; Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid, Spain
Sculpture Wanganui 2011 at the Quay Gallery, finalist public art models, Wanganui, NZ
Rencontres Internationales Berlin, The Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
FILE 2011; SESI' Cultural Centre Sao Paulo, Brazil
Dio-noia (Dioramas of Paranoia), Suter Gallery, Nelson , NZ
Bold Horizon National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Art Museum, Waikato, NZ
FULL CIRCLE, Exhibition of Rapid Prototyping Sculpture at Southwestern University, Texas
New Zealanders by Choice – Edith Gallery, Wanganui, NZ
Intersculpt 2011, Gallery Luc Monod, "The bowls players", Paris, France
Images Contre Nature 2011,international festival of experimental video, Théâtre des Chartreux, Marseille, France
2010 Hybrids, Media and Interdisciplinary Arts Centre, Auckland, NZ
Bold Horizon National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Museum of Art, Hamilton, NZ
The Slow Flow Show, The Green Bench, Wanganui NZ
90 Years, 90 Works Celebrating the Gallery’s 90th anniversary, Sarjeant Gallery, NZ
Insideout, Object Gallery, Sydney, Australia;and the Rigthon Gallery, Manchester, UK; DMU Cube; Leicester, UK
A Light at the End of the Tunnel, Scope Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Garden Safari; Percy Thomson Gallery, Stratford, NZ
From the Earth to Space: Exobiology & Biodiversity, Cité des sciences et de l'Industrie, Paris, France
Back to Front Lounge; Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
ADA Energetics & Informatics Symposium Screening, Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui, NZ
Sanctioned Array-Other2 Specify; WHITE BOX, 329 Broome Street, New York City
Rencontres Internationales Paris; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2009 Don’t Worry, It’s Only Money, City Art Rooms, Auckland, NZ
Animal Farm - One Leg, Good, Two Legs, Bad, Sergeant Art Gallery, Wanganui, NZ
File 10 Nurbs Proto 4KT, Media Arts, Galeria De Arte Do Sesi , Sao Paolo, Brazil
Wallace Trust, Auckland and the New Dowse Museum, Wellington
Intersculpt 2009, Lorraine, France
Sarjeant Review, (award), Sarjeant Gallery, NZ
Sculpture on the Gulf Archival Show, Waiiheke Art Gallery, Waiiheke, Auckland
FILE -Oi Futuro Cultural Center, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2008 5th edition of "404 Festival" in Europe: Trieste, Italy, Basel, Switzerland, Cantabria, Spain
809 International New Image Art Festival, Yichang City, China
Taranaki Whenua: life blood legacy, Puke Ariki Museum, New Plymouth, NZ
FILE - Electronic Language International Festival, in Sao Paolo, Brazil, March 2008
Urban Screens Melbourne 08, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia
Terrible Beauties, City Art Rooms, curated by Young Sun Han and Brit Bunkley. Auckland, NZ
Eform, Beijing - Today Art Museum, Shanghai - Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Chongqing - Jinse Gallery
May Contain Nuts, Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington, NZ
2007 File Rio 2007, Oi Futuro Cultural Center, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Wallace Trust Award show - Aotea Centre Gallery, Auckland, the NewDowse, Wellington
Sculpture on the Gulf, Waiheke Island (Auckland region) New Zealand, selected by Pricilla Pitts, Brett Graham, and Gregory O’Brian
Sculpture Numerique Et Biomorphisme / Digital Sculpture And Biomorphism, Département de Meurthe-et-Moselle, Nancy, France
404 Festival 4th Edition, Europe 2007 _ Trieste - Rome - Vienna - Hasselt
Migration– video projection at Handwerkergasse - Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte – Europäisches Zentrum für Kunst und Industriekultur, Völklingen, Germany
Love Me Tender: Canine Influences In Art, Artis Gallery, Auckland
2006 Pulse Caracas: Rencontres internationales Paris/Berlin/ Caracas, …at venues including The Caracas Contemporary art museum, The Alejandro Otero Museum, The National Cinématheque
Third "International Festival of Electronic Art 404", Rosario, Argentina
Not Still Art Festival, (video), the Micro Museum, Brooklyn, New York
‘perimeters, boundaries and borders’, CityLab, Lancaster, UK
FILE - Electronic Language International Festival, first edition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 2006
Videoformes – Videotheque Epemere, video/video installation festival, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Drawing II, G&A Studios Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia
Batteries Not Included, Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington, NZ
Ars Mathematica /InterSculpt exhibition at the Salon Européen de la Recherche et de l'Innovation, Paris, France
2005 Unrealized Projects (volume 3), G&A Studios Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia
Sarjeant Gallery, Return of the Hand, Wanganui, New Zealand
10th edition of Rencontres internationales Paris/Berlin, a festival of contemporary audio-visual art, Paris, France and Berlin, Germany
Along the Way: MTA Arts for Transit, Celebrating 20 Years of Public Art, UBS Gallery, NYC
Wallace Trust Finalists and Winners Show, Auckland Wallace Trust Gallery, Auckland, Pataka Gallery in Porirua, Wellington, Christchurch Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA).
10th Annual Not Still Art Festival, video at the Micro Museum, Brooklyn, New York City
Prog:ME, video at the1st Festival of Electronic Media of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
FILE 2005 ,video: Festival of Electronic Media, Sao Paolo, Brazil
Graphite 2005 Digital Art Gallery Show, University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand
UTS Gallery, Made Known: Rapid Prototyping/animation Sculpture Show, co-curator and contributor, Sydney, Australia
Auckland Art Festival 2005, Wallace Trust Gallery, Auckland, NZ, “Artists on their way”
Vodafone Digital Art Awards (finalist show), Disruptiv Gallery, Auckland, NZ
"International RP Sculpture Exhibition" and catalogue, 2002: The Rourke Museum in Moorhead, Minnesota, New York Institute of Technology, 2003: Fine Arts Gallery at Southwestern University in Georgetown Texas, 2004: University of Houston-Clear Lake Gallery, Texas, Zoller Gallery at Penn State University, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey, Chicago Institute of Technology, Chicago, Ill. 2005: University of Conn. College of Art and Architecture and the Robert v. Fullerton Art Museum. Cal State, San Bernardino
2004 Ciberart-Bilbao 2004, video: Bilbao, Spain
First international festival of electronic art 404 /astas, video: Fine Art Museum "Juan B. Castagnino", "Centro Cultural Parque de España" and "Centro de Expresiones Contemporáneas", Rosario, Argentina
Thailand New Media Festival and Art Show, video: Bangkok, Thailand
Rencontres Internationales Paris/ Berlin, video: Grande Halle de la Villette, the Cinemateque Française and the cinema l'Entrepo
2003 SIGGRAPH: 2003, art gallery show and catalogue, San Diego, California
Transference, The Manipulation Of Vision: Philip George, Ian Gwilt, and Brit Bunkley, Mary Place Gallery, Paddington (Sydney), Australia
Intersculpt:2003, Snowwhite Gallery Unitec, Auckland,& La Fnac Digitale Paris, France - video screening, and rp & Warehouse at the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester, UK - video screening & Exploratorium, San Francisco - rp
Expace[ex-space] project#002 video screening, Knitting Factory, NY, New York
Not Still Art Festival, video: May 16-17, 2003, video: The Micro Museum, New York City
2002 SIGGRAPH: 2002 Artist-in-residence ("working artist"), and SIGGRAPH art gallery show, San Antonio, Texas
"st@rt up : new interactive media and animation", video: Te Papa (Museum of NZ), Wellington, NZ
ShortFuse 32 Film Festival, 321 Queen St, Auckland, NZ. Organized by the Moving Image Centre with additional support, Creative New Zealand and the Screen Innovation Fund.
2001 Ciberart-Bilbao 2004, video: Bilbao, Spain
First international festival of electronic art 404 /astas, video: Fine Art Museum "Juan B. Castagnino", "Centro Cultural Parque de España" and "Centro de Expresiones Contemporáneas", Rosario, Argentina
Thailand New Media Festival and Art Show, video: Bangkok, Thailand
Rencontres Internationales Paris/ Berlin, video: Grande Halle de la Villette, the Cinemateque Française and the cinema l'Entrepo
2000 SCAN Small Computers in the Arts Network show, video: in conjunction with the 19th annual conference and symposium., Silicon Galleries – New York & Philadelphia
“CONVERGENCE 2000 Film/Video/Animation Festival”, Providence, R.I.
Émigrés, Te Wa, Wanganui, New Zealand
1999 Extensions…Architectural Design Competition, Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui, New Zealand
1998 Wallace Trust Finalists, Wallace Trust Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
“Icons and Architecture” (solo show), Westchester Gallery,
SUNY/Westchester Community College, N.Y.
1995 Images of Wall Stree", Michael Ingbar/Architectural Art, 568, Broadway, NYC (a collaborative work with Bill Bell)
1994 Art en Route: M.T.A. Arts for Transit, Paine Webber Gallery, NYC, and the Stony Brook Museum, Stony Brook, N.Y.
The Critics' Choice, The Police Building Gallery, NYC, curated by Rony Cohen, John Perreault and Ursula Von Rydingsvard
1993 The Public Art Fund Proposal Show, The Public Art Fund, NYC
Thomas Barry Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Solo Show)
1991 Urban Follies, The Denver Art Museum & The Robischon Gallery, Denver, Colorado
Expose/Exploit - Why War?, the Kentler International Drawing Center, Brooklyn, N.Y., B-4 Gallery, 510 Broadway, NYC
1990 Selections, at 55 Mercer St. Gallery, NYC, B.W.A.C. artists curated by Connie Butler of Artists' Space
1988 Miami Sculpture Exhibition, (temporary) commission at Kenneth Meyers Park, Coconut Grove, Florida, model at Metropolitan Museum and Art Center, Coral Gables, Florida
1987 O.I.A. Tenth Anniversary Exhibition of Outdoor Sculpture, Newhouse Gallery, Snug Harbor, N.Y. C., N.Y. curated by John Perreault and Elisabeth Egbert
Jumbo Dumbo, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Commission (B.W.A.C.), Brooklyn, N.Y., curated by Bill Arning of White Columns
1986 American Academy in Rome Fellowship Show, The American Academy in Rome Gallery, Rome, Italy
Installation of Wall Reliefs, site-specific work at the American Academy in Rome courtyard, 1986-1987
1985 Ten Downtown, Michael Katz Gallery, NYC
1984 Proposal and Proposition, Islip Art Museum, E. Islip, N.Y., public sculpture and drawings
Gate Mask, (temporary) commissioned sculpture built at Franklin and Center Streets, NYC, funded by N.Y.S.C.A.
1983 C.A.P.S. Fellowship Sculpture Show, City Gallery, NYC
Terminal New York, Harborside Industrial Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
1982 Invites Ten To Birdhouse, Central Park Annex Gallery, NYC
Ward's Island Sculpture Show 82, site sculpture, NYC
The Public Art Fund's Sculpture in Cadman Plaza, site sculpture at Columbus Park, Brooklyn, N.Y.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2012 Art News NZ, p. 24 winter 2012
2011
Artsville, TVNZ, January 2.
Artzone, No. 40 2011, page 23.
Rencontres Internationales Madrid and Berlin catalogues 2011
Bill Bollinger “Water is Life and Like Art it Finds its own Level”I by Christiane Meyer-Stoll, pp 81-82
Connell’s Bay Sculpture Park, New Works 2007-2010
2010 Hybrids Catalogue, by Ian Gwilt and Brit Bunkley; Art Zone, Sept-Nov p 87
Inside Out catalogue by Shiralee Saul & Small is Beautiful: Inside Out: http://theartlife.com.au/?p=3149
Eye Contact, Mark Amery – 11 September, 2010 http://eyecontactsite.com/2010/09/dont-worry-be-happy
Ewe Me an Anyone Else, Dominion Post, November 11th
2008 'Perimeters, Boundaries and Borders by the Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design, pp 40-41
Aotearoa Digital Arts Reader, Clouds Publishing, pp 36-37, Scanz 2006 catalogue pp 26-27, Eform catalogue,
Virtual Residency, by Kruger Druck and Verlag, Dillinger, Beautiful Terrors Catalogue, Artnews New Zealand, Spring 2008 issue. -The Art of Placemaking: Interpreting Community Through Public Art and Urban Design pp 84 -85, by Ronald Lee Fleming
2007 Artworld Digest Magazine (Seed issue), Artnews New Zealand, Spring 2007 issue Animal Dream, by Joanne Drayton, p134 -Radio NZ, Lynn Freeman show, 7 June 07, http://www.artbash.co.nz/article.asp?id=1022,
2006 AN Magazine (UK), P 81, F.City Review Dec, 2006, Artlink Magazine, vol 26 no 1, Along the Way: MTA Arts for Transit, Celebrating 20 Years of Public Art, Monacelli Press, MadeKnown, Digital Technologies and the Ontology of Making, UTS Faculty of Architecture and Design Press, Pynchon Notes, published at Miami University–Hamilton and the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire , Siggraph Art Show and Animation Catalogue
Media Arts Network, f.city festival of digital culture , Lancaster Today, Time for a Digital Watch, http://www.lancastertoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=134&ArticleID=1794380
Big Red & Shiny, Siggraph2006 Exhibition By Christian Holland http://www.bigredandshiny.com
2005 Prog:ME, 1st Festival of Electronic Media of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – catalogue ,Videoformes – Videotheque Epemere catalogue, video/video installation festival, Clermont-Ferrand, France
2004 Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin catalogue, 2nd International Symposium of Interactive Media Design catalogue, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey, 2004,Ciberart-Bilbao 2004 Exhibition Catalogue
2003 International Rapid Prototyping Sculpture Exhibition Catalogue, Siggraph 2003 Electronic Art and Animation Catalg, TV 3, Nightline, January 28, 2003, “Bytes Will Outlive Stone”, New Zealand Herald, January 27, 2003
2002 Siggraph 2002 Electronic Art and Animation Catalog
2001 “The Big Art Trip”, TV 1 New Zealand, interview, broadcast July 2001, Unlimited Magazine, May 2001 issue, The Commuters May Rush, But the Art is There to Stay, The New York Times, December 2 , 2001
2000 “It’s sculpture Jim, but not as we know it.” The Wellington Dominion, November 2, 2000
1994 “Riders Train Their Gaze on LIRR Art", New York Newsday, July 22, 1994
1992 "Making History Come Alive", Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 19, 1992
1988 "Proposals for Art in History Center", Twin Cities Star-Tribune, May 11, 1988, Public Art Fund Inc., Anniversary Edition Catalog
1987 "City as Sculpture Garden: Seeing the New and Daring", Michael Brenson, The New York Times, July 17, 1987
1984 "The Working of the Artist's Mind", The New York Times (L.I. edition), Sept. 23, 1984,
"How a Work Comes into Being", New York Newsday, Oct. 8, 1984,
"Sculpture Goes Outdoors for the Summer", Michael Brenson, The New York Times, July 13, 1984
1983 C.A.P.S. Sculptors", Allen Wallach, Arts Magazine, December 1983
WORK EXPERIENCE
1995 – The Present
2010 Senior Lecturer in Sculpture and Digital Media, Quay School of the Arts, Wanganui UCOL, Universal College of Learning, Wanganui, NZ (“senior lecturer” in the British system equates to “associate professor” in the US system)
Co-curator of the exhibition and symposium, and co-author of the catalogue for “Hybrids” at the Media and Interdisciplinary Arts Centre, Auckland, NZ
2007 Judge for the 5th annual Digital Sculpture Competition DIGITAL SCULPTURE AND BIOMORPHISM 2007, Paris, France
2006 Scanz, Solar Circuit International New Media Workshop, residency, video screening, New Plymouth New Zealand (Sponsored by Witt and the Govett-Brewster)
2005 Made Known : Rapid Prototyping/animation Sculpture Show, UTS gallery- co-curator and contributor,
Seminar contributor: ‘Digital technologies and the ontology of making’- University of Technology, Sydney
ADA Emerge, University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ Digital Arts Conference, “Image and Space” symposium -contributor,
Judge for the 4th annual Digital Sculpture Competition, Paris, France, -Reviewer for Siggraph (Boston Mass
2004 Masters Degrees by Project, UNITEC, Auckland, NZ - MFA critic and keynote speaker
2003 Intersculpt:NZ 2003 curator, Snow White Gallery, Unitec, Auckland, NZ,
Co-chair of the Art Show of the ACM sponsored GRAPHITE: 2003 conference and art show, art show at the Span
Gallery, conference at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, Australia
2001 Intersculpt:NZ curator, Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui & Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, NZ
1998 Sarjeant Art Gallery, 2 public lectures (“Forums”), Wanganui, N.Z.
1993 Public Art Fund, public lecture, NYC
1989 University of S.W. Louisiana, visiting artist, Lafayette, Louisiana
1987 Hofstra University, adjunct professor, Hempstead N.Y
"Smyth Spirit", article by Brit Bunkley, Stroll Magazine, Fall 1987
1986 Rhode Island School of Design in Rome, visiting artist lecture, Rome, Italy
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EDUCATION1980-1984 Hunter College, N.Y., N.Y., M.F.A. (studied with Alice Aycock and Robert Morris); 1975-1977 Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, Minn., B.F.A. (studied with Bill Bollinger and Siah Armajani); 1973-1975 Macalester Coll, … Read More

