Exploring sound as a medium is at the centre of NPDC’s Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre’s new exhibition Direct Bodily Empathy – Sensing Sound, which opens this Saturday 17 May.

The exhibition spans sonic structures, graphic scores, visual music, choreography, composition and kinetic installations, asking: can architecture be a musical score? Can the body be an instrument? Can colour be heard?

Curated by Anna Briers, Direct Bodily Empathy takes a polyphonic approach, placing Len Lye alongside his 20th-Century peers such as Roy de Maistre and Oskar Fischinger, and into dialogue with contemporary artists including Mel O'Callaghan, Yona Lee, Ross Manning, Mia Salsjö, and David Sequeira.

"Direct Bodily Empathy progresses our gallery's 55-year legacy of connecting people, communities and cultures through contemporary art, particularly setting a new focus on Len Lye that will indicate the resonance of his ideas alongside those of other contemporary artists," says Dr. Zara Stanhope, Director of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.

"Since 1970, the Govett-Brewster has presented contemporary art in Aotearoa and the Pacific Rim while reflecting international perspectives. As we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Len Lye Centre in 2025, this exhibition invites our visitors to see and feel the architecture anew in experiencing the works in Direct Bodily Empathy.”

At the heart of the exhibition is A Score for the Len Lye Centre, commemorating 10 years since the construction of the Len Lye Centre. Artist-composer Mia Salsjö has transposed the architectural contours of the museum into a musical score, sonifying the iconic Ngāmotu / New Plymouth landmark.

The resulting orchestration will be performed by musicians from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Hamish McKeich through multiple performances on August 30, 2025, and realised as a sound installation in the gallery from September 6.

Salsjö meticulously traced over architectural plans from Pattersons Architects, applying a color-coded system to transform the building’s spatial relationships into musical notation.

The composition incorporates recordings of Lye's kinetic sculptures, creating a connection between the building, Lye's vision, and Saljö’s contemporary interpretation. Several hundred of the 1000 pages of notation she drew in the development of the work make up the 2025 Ramp Commission, supported by the Govett-Brewster Foundation.

Other highlights include:

• Mel O'Callaghan's First sound, last sound, a performance and collective listening experience involving three-metre-tall steel tuning forks and series of diverse performers adorned in white.
• Ross Manning's Spectra V, a kinetic light sculpture which imbues the gallery walls in shifting washes of colour.
• Yona Lee's Smart sculpture, a choreography of everyday objects and smart devices including a dancing robotic vacuum cleaner, commissioned in partnership with the Melbourne Art Fair 2025.

Lovers of Len Lye’s tangible motion sculptures can see Wand Dance, Universe and Blade, from September and December in the second part of the exhibition’s evolving performance series.

Direct Bodily Empathy – Sensing Sound opens to the public on 17 May and will unfold in two epic parts through to 16 March next year. For more information, including opening day performance schedules and programming, visit www.govettbrewster.com.

FAST FACTS

• Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth Govett-Brewster Art Gallery opened in 1970, funded by a bequest from local woman Monica Brewster (nee Govett).
• Around 85,000 people visit the Gallery each year.
• The Len Lye Centre opened as part of the Govett-Brewster in July 2015, creating a global home for the life and work of acclaimed New Zealand-born artist Len Lye (1901-1980)
• The Gallery presents a regularly changing programme of contemporary art exhibitions, events and conversations.
• Regular education and learning programmes are offered to visitors of all ages.
• It also runs an art and design store, independent cinema, and art publications.

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