From Kingdom to Crown
Brendan Jon Philip
With Nikolai Sim & Danny Brady
28th July, 2017
None, 24 Stafford St, Dunedin

A sign on the street. Long exposure of lights in front of a building. An open door with people inside. A headless figure playing an instrument. A man playing a guitar. A bent over man playing a guitar. A chalk drawing on the floor with candles. A foggy room with candles and branches. Three people leaning against a wall. A musical device with fairy lights. A mechanical device. A metal coil. The inside of a mechanical device. A speaker with a coil coming out of it. Graffiti on a wall. A microphone dangling from a ceiling. Wires connected to a coil. Wires and a plug. Wires and a concrete wall.
Photos: Jon Keyzer


Video: Liam Hoffman

From Kingdom to Crown seeks to map the transient channels that flow between history and the present, presence and absence, resonance and emanation, addressing the specific architectural spaces of the gallery as constituent in the cultural production of arts practice.

Drawing on Hermetic metaphysical systems as the mapping of a generative processes, From Kingdom to Crown begins with a installation work and sound performance by None gallery alumni Brendan Jon Philip. Audio from the performance will be processed through an enormous spring reverb built into None’s disused elevator shaft by Danny Brady and Nikolai Sim. Sound will then be re-recorded and looped through the reverberation effect and played back into the gallery until the signal takes on a resonant tone reflective of the space itself.

Feeding into From Kingdom to Crown, current None Resident Erica Sklenars’ Surveillance Cradle Tests will display live streams of the elevator shaft reverb within the exhibition space as well as acting as surveillance satellites at various Storm Channels events feeding data to be absorbed into the perpetual resonance of the None elevator shelf. Surveillance Cradle Tests is a series of reflective mylar helium sculpture experimentations based on works from Sklenars’ 2017 Red Gate Gallery residency in Beijing.

None Gallery is an artist residence, gallery and studio space located near the heart of Ōtepoti Dunedin in Aotearoa New Zealand’s weathered South. We are a resident-run and self-funded collective that combines both art project space and multiple studio rooms.

Brendan Jon Philip is an artist, writer, and musician based in Dunedin. Drawing these distinct practices into a syncretic whole, he has exhibited, published and performed throughout New Zealand. Nikolai Sim is a musician, sound and audio visual installation artist. Danny Brady is a musician, producer and sound engineer. Originally from Wellington, Danny has been residing in Dunedin for the last 5 years, a lot of that time has been spent at None.

Erica Sklenars is a New Zealand artist who works predominantly in the mediums of performance and video, creating both solo performative video art, and collaborative audio-visual performance installation. Sklenars currently works from her studio at None, Dunedin.