Queens Wharf welcomes Love Film

Queens Wharf welcomes Love Film

As part of the ongoing transformation of Queens Wharf into a more pedestrian friendly public space, Installation Artist Burnett-Rose is screening a cutting-edge 1 hour film in the custom built ArtBox now on the Waterfront. The film explores the yawning gulf between Hollywood representations of love and the less romantic reality of modern marriage. It’s one of the latest works by internationally known film & video artist Burnett-Rose, who recently relocated to Auckland.

“I’m fascinated by the possibility of accidental ‘drop ins’ to the pop up art space,” said Burnett-Rose. “The installation is designed so that anyone can walk in at anytime and find coherence within the filmic chapters or the musical meditations that are interspersed in the film.”

The Artbox is the latest incarnation of a 40ft shipping container that was specially built for an installation on the Wellington Waterfront during the Rugby World Cup in 2011. It has been transformed into a versatile gallery space with multiple monitors, floor to ceiling light boxes and even a cinema experience complete with comfy sofas and a 5m screen.

With “Love&Dreaming”, Burnett-Rose expands on her existing body of work that examines the role of media and mythology in contemporary culture. Her work ‘Witness: AnAesthetic’ has won critical acclaim for it’s unflinching look at the perverse consumption of fictional violence in our ‘entertainment’ industry. By contrasting the glorified hollywood explosions and shoot-outs with the gruesome reality of human carnage in war zones, her work invited viewers to question their passive acceptance of a dehumanizing system.

In her latest work, she turns her focus on our conceptions of love and the happily ever-after.

“With a ‘global psyche’ increasingly created via the media now, what is the meaning and purpose of love?” she asks. “How does romantic love clash with other forms of love, such as the love of humanity and the love of God even?”

No stone is left unturned as the film journey covers all forms of love from spiritual to marital, sex, pornography, and the psychological and physiological underpinnings of this universal human phenomenon.

According to Burnett-Rose, our society struggles with a fundamental inherited tension between the security of 1950’s conservatism and the 1960’s libertarianism.

"We’re struggling with a toxic dose of love poisoning, coming as we do from a culture that glorifies and undermines love in the very same cinematic breath," said Burnett-Rose.

The film will be screened at the Queen’s Wharf on the Waterfront, Monday through Saturday from 10:30-5:00. ‘Love&Dreaming’ will be on display until the end of February.

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