18 January – 8 February, 2014

Making Friends is the follow up exhibition to a one-month residency that took place in Auckland between Australian artists David Creed and Angela Rossitto from The Wandering Room [Brisbane], and New Zealand artist Justin Jade Morgan from Development AIR [Auckland]. Living together in Justin’s warehouse space, and observing each other’s routines at close quarters led them to ponder the processes and motivations behind making friends.

Being alone in a foreign city, David and Angela walked the streets literally trying to make friends. Pareidolia, the name given to the human tendency to see faces in inanimate objects, suggests that humans look for friendly faces everywhere.  The artists’ late night walks evolved into collecting items of junk and assembling these into characters – or ‘friends’. This practice has given new life to discarded an array of personal objects that were previously owned and discarded by Auckland residents.

Justin is also looking to make friends through this exhibition, but will do so via Skype, from his home base in Auckland. He will be drinking coffee and playing table tennis at set times every day, inviting a connection via distance. Justin’s works include his own tools, and an inventory of tools belonging to The Walls. His interest in tools and the interactions between them mirrors his interest in the connections between human agents in the creative community.

The Wandering Room is an artist-run initiative that has been in operation since 2007. Originally consisting of David Creed, Sarah Werkmeister and Angela Rossitto, they are now David and Angela. The members of The Wandering Room [solo artists respectively] frequently collaborate in the making of art works.  Rather than occupying a single, fixed site, they exist as a concept that has roamed nomadically, occupying temporary spaces in a variety of gallery and offsite locations.

The Wandering Room have recently undertaken residencies at Development AIR, New Zealand 2013, Fish Lane Studios 2013, Grey Street South Bank 2012 and have exhibited at Sydney Contemporary Art Fair 2013, Griffith University Art Gallery 2013, BARI Festival 2013 and Brisbane Festival 2012.  They have twice been recipients of grants from Arts Queensland.

Justin Jade Morgan founded and directs Development AIR in Auckland NZ, having previously set up artist-run iniaitive JJ Morgan and Co. in Wellington NZ.  Morgan’s work has been exhibited in New Zealand at Govett Brewster Art Gallery 2010 and Lopdell House Gallery 2008, The Border Museum Slovenia 2009, Digital Fringe 08 Melbourne 2008 and 3rd ‘Arhipelag’ International Contemporary Arts Festival Slovenia and Italy 2008.

Morgan has undertaken residencies and projects in France, Germany, Slovenia and New Zealand.  The artwork Inventory of Tools 2014 forms part of Morgan’s Tools of the Trade project, an international project cataloguing artists, artist-run projects and their tools.