Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki presents Iris, Iris, Iris, a solo exhibition by New Zealand’s representative to the 2019 Venice Biennale, Dane Mitchell, from Saturday 1 September.

Dane Mitchell’s Iris, Iris, Iris is the result of recent research into scent production, from traditional Japanese incense to the latest fragrance technologies. The multi-part installation explores diverse meanings of the word ‘iris’: the name of a flower, the coloured part of an eye, the adjustable aperture of a camera and Greek mythology’s rainbow goddess Iris. It features aroma molecule extraction technology, combining the ‘invisible’ materials of incense and perfume with items related to the act of seeing.

An exhibition of artworks from the Gallery’s international contemporary art collection that reflect Mitchell’s interests will be presented alongside Iris, Iris, Iris.

Auckland Art Gallery Curator, Contemporary Art, Natasha Conland says the Gallery is excited to host a new exhibition by Mitchell: ‘Iris, Iris, Iris provides a timely opportunity for our audiences to familiarise themselves with Dane’s work, an exceptional New Zealand artist who has for over 20 years explored ideas related to invisible or unseen forces at play in our lives.’

‘This exhibition is a wonderful example of how Mitchell combines the beautiful and the austere in a laboratory-like environment built to test these non-visual systems. This installation carefully intertwines the cultural and historical contexts of the exhibition partners, Auckland Art Gallery and Mori Art Museum, and encourages visitors in the act of deciphering connections between sensory experiences.’

Mitchell says: ’This body of work considers the entanglement our senses, specifically the ocular and the olfactory. The iris in its multiple forms – as plant, as body part, as technology, as myth – is employed as a poetic device to make connections between two ways we encounter the world: through the eye and through the nose.’

Iris, Iris, Iris was curated by Zara Stanhope, former Head of Curatorial, Auckland Art Gallery, and Mami Kataoka, Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo.

The exhibition was co-commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery and Mori Art Museum, with support from Creative New Zealand’s Asia/New Zealand Co-commissioning Fund. Additional support for the Auckland exhibition was provided by Auckland Art Gallery’s Contemporary
Benefactors.