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Stella Brennan

b. 1974

  • Biography
  • Selected Works
  • Selected Press
  • Exhibitions
  • Biography
  • Works
  • Press
  • Exhibitions

With a practice that spans the handmade, new media, curation, installation, social projects and urban design, Stella Brennan’s work deals above all with navigating the space and time between human subjects. Brennan prises open history, its losses and possibilities, interrogating colonialism, industrialisation and computerisation. Chief Curator at Wellington’s City Gallery, Robert Leonard, has stated “Brennan…explores the history and currency of modernity, the dream of human perfectibility and emancipation premised on rationality, technology, progress. She researches modernity’s grand schemes and utopian ideologies, and their fate in the brave new world of the present.”

Brennan has exhibited across Australia, Asia, North America, Europe and New Zealand and has been awarded Residencies including at Apex Arts in New York City, and Artspace in Sydney. After graduating MFA from the University of Auckland in 1999, Brennan co-founded Aotearoa Digital Arts and co-edited the Aotearoa Digital Arts Reader, the first comprehensive text on digital arts practice in New Zealand.

Brennan maintains a practice as a writer, as essayist for artists including Ann Veronica Janssens and Patricia Piccinini, as well as critic for magazines including Art Asia Pacific, the New Zealand Listener and Art New Zealand. She has also been an advisory editor for Eyeline Magazine, Australia.

Brennan has been difficult for some commentators to quantify. While her concerns remain consistent, her avenues of expression are diverse. Relishing material and technical challenges, over the last two decades her installations have included video projections, soundscapes, sculptural constructions, light works as well as found objects. In her Walters Prize-nominated work Wet Social Sculpture, a fully functioning spa pool was installed in an art gallery and the audience invited in. Memory Hole, her solo exhibition at Trish Clark Gallery in 2015, delved into the materiality and affect of outmoded technologies, presenting for rumination the glossy surfaces and effects of our flawed interface with technology, alongside a ‘New Zealand-mythic’ landscape comprising a small tent surrounded by pine bark mulch and, in typical Brennan fashion, housing an ironic video work of an auger endlessly grinding its way into the earth.

Brennan curated the exhibitions Nostalgia for the Future (Artspace, Auckland, 1999), Dirty Pixels (Artspace, Adam Art Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery and Waikato Museum of Art and History, 2002-3), and co-curated Cloudland: Digital Art from Aotearoa New Zealand (The Substation, Singapore, 2008).

Brennan lives and works in Auckland.

Download full CV
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  • Black Flags
    Black Flags , 2016

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2016

    Black Flags
    Black Flags , 2016

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2016

  • Black Flags (detail)
    Black Flags (detail), 2016

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2016

    Black Flags (detail)
    Black Flags (detail), 2016

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2016

  • Baxter and Sturm
    Baxter and Sturm, 2016

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2016

    Baxter and Sturm
    Baxter and Sturm, 2016

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2016

  • Folded Spine
    Folded Spine, 2016

    Ink on silk paper

    248 x 315 mm, unframed

    Folded Spine
    Folded Spine, 2016

    Ink on silk paper

    248 x 315 mm, unframed

  • Baxter and Sturm (detail)
    Baxter and Sturm (detail), 2016

    Ceramic, resin, 24K gold, pine, oyster shell, polyester braid

    Baxter and Sturm (detail)
    Baxter and Sturm (detail), 2016

    Ceramic, resin, 24K gold, pine, oyster shell, polyester braid

  • Mirror Forest
    Mirror Forest, 2016

    Ink on silk paper

    248 x 315 mm

    Mirror Forest
    Mirror Forest, 2016

    Ink on silk paper

    248 x 315 mm

  • Venera 13: Kamera 1 & 2, (diptych)
    Venera 13: Kamera 1 & 2, (diptych), 2012

    Archival pigment prints on Hahnmuhle

    920 x 3000 mm each

    Edition 1/3

    Installation view at Trish Clark Gallery 2015

    Venera 13: Kamera 1 & 2, (diptych)
    Venera 13: Kamera 1 & 2, (diptych), 2012

    Archival pigment prints on Hahnmuhle

    920 x 3000 mm each

    Edition 1/3

    Installation view at Trish Clark Gallery 2015

  • Memory Hole
    Memory Hole, 2015

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2015

    Memory Hole
    Memory Hole, 2015

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2015

  • The House in the Forest
    The House in the Forest, 2009/2015

    Tent, video on monitor, pine bark and projection

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2015

    The House in the Forest
    The House in the Forest, 2009/2015

    Tent, video on monitor, pine bark and projection

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2015

  • The House in the Forest
    The House in the Forest, 2009/2015

    Tent, video on monitor, pine bark

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2015

    The House in the Forest
    The House in the Forest, 2009/2015

    Tent, video on monitor, pine bark

    Installation view Trish Clark Gallery 2015

  • Studio Monitor
    Studio Monitor, 2000

    Installation view, The Govett-Brewster Contemporary Art Museum, New Plymouth, New Zealand, December 2000

    The shell of an Apple monitor, wall-mounted and backlit

    Acrylic, polystyrene, fluorescent light

    Studio Monitor
    Studio Monitor, 2000

    Installation view, The Govett-Brewster Contemporary Art Museum, New Plymouth, New Zealand, December 2000

    The shell of an Apple monitor, wall-mounted and backlit

    Acrylic, polystyrene, fluorescent light

  • Tuesday, 3 July 2001, 10:38am (Detail)
    Tuesday, 3 July 2001, 10:38am (Detail), 2001-2002

    Cotton on canvas

    Tuesday, 3 July 2001, 10:38am (Detail)
    Tuesday, 3 July 2001, 10:38am (Detail), 2001-2002

    Cotton on canvas

  • Start From Where You Are
    Start From Where You Are, 2013

    Installation view Dunedin Public Art Gallery 2013

    Start From Where You Are
    Start From Where You Are, 2013

    Installation view Dunedin Public Art Gallery 2013

  • Start From Where You Are (Detail)
    Start From Where You Are (Detail), 2013

    Video still

    Start From Where You Are (Detail)
    Start From Where You Are (Detail), 2013

    Video still

  • Fat Man
    Fat Man, 2007

    Digital print

    From South Pacific

    Fat Man
    Fat Man, 2007

    Digital print

    From South Pacific

  • Little Boy
    Little Boy, 2007

    Digital print

    From South Pacific

    Little Boy
    Little Boy, 2007

    Digital print

    From South Pacific

  • Burning Dome
    Burning Dome, 2004

    Digital print

    Burning Dome
    Burning Dome, 2004

    Digital print

  • every room i have ever been in
    every room i have ever been in, 2012

    every room i have ever been in

    Installation view Audio Foundation 2012

    every room i have ever been in
    every room i have ever been in, 2012

    every room i have ever been in

    Installation view Audio Foundation 2012

  • Keys
    Keys, 2012

    Keys, nylon

    Audio Foundation 2012

    Keys
    Keys, 2012

    Keys, nylon

    Audio Foundation 2012

  • Mama Fix It Ceramic
    Mama Fix It Ceramic, 2012

    Resin, pigment

    every room i have ever been in

    Installation at Audio Foundation 2012

    Mama Fix It Ceramic
    Mama Fix It Ceramic, 2012

    Resin, pigment

    every room i have ever been in

    Installation at Audio Foundation 2012

  • The Fountain City
    The Fountain City, 2000

    Installation view, The Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand, 16 August – 8 September 2000

    Polystyrene, sound, fluorescent light

    The Fountain City
    The Fountain City, 2000

    Installation view, The Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand, 16 August – 8 September 2000

    Polystyrene, sound, fluorescent light

  • Screen
    Screen, 1997

    Installation view, Manawatu Art Gallery, 1997

    Acrylic, aluminium mesh, fluorescent light

    Screen
    Screen, 1997

    Installation view, Manawatu Art Gallery, 1997

    Acrylic, aluminium mesh, fluorescent light

  • Fedex
    Fedex, 2000

    Installation view, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand, 30 August – 9 September 2000

    Urethane foam, polystyrene, acrylic, fluorescent & infra-red light

    Fedex
    Fedex, 2000

    Installation view, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand, 30 August – 9 September 2000

    Urethane foam, polystyrene, acrylic, fluorescent & infra-red light

  • Tomorrow Never Knows
    Tomorrow Never Knows, 2004

    Installation view, Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand, May 2004

    Polystyrene, video projection, sound, digital prints, found object

    Tomorrow Never Knows
    Tomorrow Never Knows, 2004

    Installation view, Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand, May 2004

    Polystyrene, video projection, sound, digital prints, found object

  • Wet Social
    Wet Social, 2005

    Spa pool, film, and whale song

    Installation view St Paul's Street 2005

    Wet Social
    Wet Social, 2005

    Spa pool, film, and whale song

    Installation view St Paul's Street 2005

  • South Pacific
    South Pacific, 2007

    Video still

    South Pacific
    South Pacific, 2007

    Video still

  • Loom
    Loom, 1997

    Installation view, Auckland Art Gallery Window, 1997

    Aluminium, electrical cable, fluorescent light

    Loom
    Loom, 1997

    Installation view, Auckland Art Gallery Window, 1997

    Aluminium, electrical cable, fluorescent light

  • Nostalgia for the Future
    Nostalgia for the Future, 1999

    Installation view, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand, 5 - 27 November 1999

    Nostalgia for the Future
    Nostalgia for the Future, 1999

    Installation view, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand, 5 - 27 November 1999

  • Theme for Great Cities
    Theme for Great Cities, 2003

    Installation view, Ramp Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand, 4 – 27 June 2003

    Photocopies, packaging, video

    Theme for Great Cities
    Theme for Great Cities, 2003

    Installation view, Ramp Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand, 4 – 27 June 2003

    Photocopies, packaging, video

  • Stella Brennan: Archaeologist of Suburbia
    Stella Brennan: Archaeologist of Suburbia

    Article by Sue Ballard

    eyeline 86, 2017


    Download PDF
  • Stella Brennan artist talk at Artspace Aotearoa
    Stella Brennan artist talk at Artspace Aotearoa

    Floor talk at Artspace Aotearoa

    July, 2019

     

    Listen to artist talk

     


  • Artists in Conversation #5 - Stella Brennan & Sean Cubitt
    Artists in Conversation #5 - Stella Brennan & Sean Cubitt

    Circuit, hosted by Mark Amery

    August, 2018

     

    Listen to podcast 


  • The Ordering of Worlds: Two Recent Video Works by Stella Brennan
    The Ordering of Worlds: Two Recent Video Works by Stella Brennan

    Reading Room, essay by Sean Cubitt

    Issue 4, 2010


    Download PDF
  • Cloudland, ADA and Wet Social Sculpture Presentation
    Cloudland, ADA and Wet Social Sculpture Presentation

    Video from RAISE YOUR VOICE: Fourth National Public Galleries Summit, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    September 2009

     

    Watch online


  • Cloudland: Digital Art from Aotearoa New Zealand
    Cloudland: Digital Art from Aotearoa New Zealand

    The Substation, Singapore, 2008

    Curated by Su Ballard, Zita Joyce and Stella Brennan for Aotearoa Digital Arts


    Download PDF
  • South Pacific Presentation
    South Pacific Presentation

    FACT TV, video interview with Stella Brennan

    Liverpool Biennial 2007

     

    Watch online


  • Orchestrated Litanies
    Orchestrated Litanies

    Zones of Contact, 2006 Biennale of Sydney, essay by Tessa Laird

    2006


    Download PDF
  • Stella Brennan. Artist.
    Stella Brennan. Artist.

    Insights: New Zealand Artists Talk About Creativity, interview with Gareth Shute

    2006


    Download PDF
  • 0 - 10
    0 - 10

    Artworks 1998 – 2005, with essays by Robert Leonard and Sean Cubitt

    2005


    Download PDF
  • PAST PRESENT FUTURE
    PAST PRESENT FUTURE

    Urbis 26, article by Andrew Paul Wood

    Summer 2004/2005


    Download PDF
  • Tomorrow Never Knows
    Tomorrow Never Knows

    The Physics Room Annual, essay by Andrew Paul Wood

    2004


    Download PDF
  • STELLA BRENNAN | Object Permanence
    August 5 — September 8 2018
    STELLA BRENNAN | Object Permanence

    Solo exhibition

    View details →
  • STELLA BRENNAN | Black Flags
    July 19 — August 19, 2016
    STELLA BRENNAN | Black Flags

    Solo exhibition

    View details →
  • STELLA BRENNAN | Memory Hole
    June 25 — July 17, 2015
    STELLA BRENNAN | Memory Hole

    Solo exhibition

    View details →
  • P_R_O_C_E_S_S_
    November 16 — December 21, 2018
    P_R_O_C_E_S_S_

    Galia Amsel | Stephen Bambury | Stella Brennan | Phil Dadson | John Edgar | Jennifer French | Brendon Leung | Anthony McCall | Kazu Nakagawa

    View details →
  • TRUTH + FICTION
    20 May - 20 June 2015
    TRUTH + FICTION

    Roger Ballen / Stella Brennan / Chris Corson-Scott / Jennifer French / Michael Ghent / Alan Miller / Marie Shannon / Ann Shelton / Vincent Ward / Christine Webster

    View details →

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