Long Live the Modern

Visitors will notice a local flavour to this celebration of New Zealand's modern architecture at theNewDowse from 30 January to 04 April 2010.

TheNewDowse season of this touring exhibition features profiles of the Lower Hutt Civic Buildings, designed in the 1950s by Ron Muston and Keith Cook and increasingly valued as examples of innovative modernist architecture.

Other Wellington projects include Massey House by Ernst Plishke and Cedric Firth, The Hannah Playhouse/Downstage Theatre by James Beard and The Futuna Chapel in Karori by John Scott.

Long Live the Modern is curated by Julia Gatley and Bill McKay whose book of the same name was published last year. Both the book and the exhibition demonstrate how international ideas were pursued and adapted to New Zealand concerns, climates and conditions.

The exhibition brings together original drawings and period books, journals and photographs, as well as new architectural models and photographs of significant modern buildings from around New Zealand. It concentrates on the post-World War II period, which saw enormous government expenditure on housing, public buildings and infrastructure projects, and a concurrent wave of private and commercial developments.

Long Live the Modern is toured by the Gus Fisher Gallery and the University of Auckland.