Sculpture has re-established itself as one of the most vital art forms for today. The Obstinate Object: Contemporary New Zealand Sculpture calls together recent New Zealand sculpture which foregrounds the making of and engagement with objects and object-ness as central to the experience of the medium. The artists in this exhibition rework conventional sculptural modes and materials, insisting that sculpture is something to be made and physically encountered by its audience in real space and real time.

Spilling out of City Gallery into its non-spaces, surrounds and the city, The Obstinate Object brings together recent work by some of New Zealand’s most compelling artists. Working in a variety of sculptural modes, with a wide range of materials and concerns, each reinforces the ‘object-ness’ of sculpture as a pressing concern. Questioning the increasingly blurred line between sculpture, installation and performance, this exhibition empowers the sculptural object at a time when the value of objects is under constant scrutiny.

As part of its push beyond the Gallery, The Obstinate Object participates in a project with other galleries and institutions which unite the diverse range of sculptural practices occurring in Wellington during the International Festival of the Arts. These projects combine to offer an expansive experience of sculpture that is occurring right here, right now.