Exhibition: Bene Comune

LOT23 | 23 Minnie Street | Eden Tce AK

The exhibition Bene Comune is about community and as the etymology makes clear it is about the notion of a common good.

But whose good and whose community are some of the questions raised in this show.

Latin : Commune Bonum ~ Italian: il Bene Commune ~ English : Bene Comune
Italy as we know it now is a relatively recent invention. Prior to its founding in 1861 as a nation state it was comprised of a number of disparate regions. There were two forms of governance in play within this confederation. One was Autocratic with one person decreeing what was seen to be good and the other was a body of citizens working to make decisions seen to be of benefit to the common good.

A mixture of cartographies provides clues only to the exhibition. It is in no way meant to be an historical or comprehensive curatorial approach. It is personal allowing for an anarchist personalisation. As the curator and having located my studio in this neighborhood for the last 20 years I proposed two explanations as starting points.

There is the geographical cartography of this part of Auckland city and that we could define with a line. Let’s call this the outer map. This you can locate on TomTom or any Auckland Map. It is called Eden Terrace, postal code 1021 and is watched over by the presence of Maungawhau also known as Mt Eden.

Then there is the inner map. My map. Artists I know who have their studios located in Eden Terrace or have had them here at some time in the past. There is no postal code. Within this internalized cartography I have another and perhaps even deeper line inscribed. Those who have feed into my studio practice through joint projects and support and have contributed to my sense of neighborhood. All of the above reside in this community. No postal code available.

This area is about to undergo dramatic change due to the immanent development of Auckland Cities CRL also known as City Rail Link. For the better good much of this historic community will be altered for good.

There are a wide range of practices included in this exhibition... architects, poets, photographers, painters (one known well for his neon works), a baker and one artist almost not known at all. All the artists are practicing now apart from Lloyd Hillyer who died in 2006 aged 85 unrecognized for his painting. It is a particular pleasure to present his work.

Curator, Stephen Bambury

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