Christina Barton

Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
Aotearoa, New Zealand

About

I am a writer, curator, editor and educator based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.

I began my career by compiling the first history of post-object art in New Zealand for my Master of Arts thesis, documenting 26 artists engaged in a radical redefinition of art between 1969 and 1979. My interest in conceptual and critical practices has underpinned my subsequent scholarship. I have written about and made exhibitions with key figures of that formative generation, including Jim Allen, Billy Apple, Bruce Barber, Philip Dadson, Vivian Lynn and Pauline Rhodes, and I have developed a deep understanding of the post-conceptual practices of artists working through subsequent decades. I call myself a ‘critical art historian’ and, as such, advocate for women artists, draw attention to overlooked and under-recognised media and practices, and think through the power dynamics and cultural complexities of working in and writing about art in Aotearoa New Zealand.

I have straddled academic and institutional worlds, teaching at the University of Auckland (1985–87) and Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington (1995–2023), and holding curatorial positions at Robert McDougall Art Gallery (now Christchurch Art Gallery, 1979), Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (1988–92), and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (1993–95). I helped establish (in 1999) then led Adam Art Gallery at Victoria University from 2007 to 2023. I have produced over 50 substantial curated exhibitions, published 30 books and exhibition catalogues, written more than 125 articles and essays, and contributed my knowledge and expertise as advisor, selector and judge to national and international cultural organisations and prizes. In 2021, I became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for my services to art history and curating, and in 2023 I was awarded Doctor of Literature (DLitt) by Victoria University of Wellington for my scholarship.

Highlights of my career include conceiving and curating the first biennial review of contemporary art – Art Now – for the Museum of New Zealand in 1994; producing the only monograph on Pauline Rhodes (Ground/Work, Victoria University Press, 2002) and delivering the first and only retrospective and monograph on Vivian Lynn (I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn, Adam Art Gallery, 2009). My work with New Zealand’s leading conceptual artist Billy Apple (1935–2021) has resulted in many essays and exhibitions, including his 2015 retrospective at Auckland Art Gallery: Billy Apple® The Artist Has To Live Like Everybody Else and a major publication, Billy Apple® Life/Work (Auckland University Press, 2020). The solo exhibitions I staged at the Adam Art Gallery with Joseph Kosuth, Anthony McCall, Kim Pieters, Simon Denny, Ruth Buchanan, Luke Willis Thompson, Joyce Campbell, Kate Newby, Edith Amituanai, and many others are also memorable milestones.

Working with artists and for the art of this place continues to be a life-long vocation.

For more detail, see my full CV [pdf].