Future Forum - 20th Century Architectural Heritage

The Otago Museum invites you to be part of one of the big debates surrounding modern architecture: When should 20th century architecture become heritage?

Join us for a free forum featuring some of New Zealand’s best known names in architecture. Design and architecture commentator Douglas Lloyd Jenkins will be joined by a panel of local experts as they ignite discussion on Dunedin's urban architecture and its place in our heritage landscape. Is modern architecture worthy of the heritage mantle? What selection criteria should be considered?

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins is a creative force in New Zealand design and has been described by Wallpaper magazine as one of the most influential design writers in the Southern Hemisphere. Now the Director of the Hawkes Bay Museum and Art Gallery, he has been an influential part of contemporary New Zealand culture, well known for his columns in the New Zealand Herald, New Zealand Listener, Home & Entertaining and journals and as the face of TVNZ's The Big Art Trip.

The panel includes Dunedin photographer Gary Blackman, whose photos are included in the Long Live the Modern book and exhibition, while the Dunedin City Council will be represented by the DCC Policy Planner – Heritage – Glen Hazelton. Local engineer Steve Macknight will bring a practical perspective to the discussion, and will be joined by renowned art historian and writer Peter Entwisle. Mr Entwisle has an intricate and unmatchable knowledge of Dunedin’s architectural heritage, and is a vocal contributor to the future of Dunedin’s landscape.

The exhibition Long Live the Modern: New Zealand’s New Architecture 1904-1984, explores the photography of ‘modern heritage’ with a number of unique and inspiring buildings on display. Many of these buildings were considered remarkably innovative at the time they were built, and are now thought of as landmarks. Some Dunedin examples include Dunedin’s Civic Administration building, the National Mortgage Agency (now the Spotlight building) and University College.

Long Live the Modern is based on a project and publication which includes 180 public and private buildings, and focuses on initiatives from the twentieth-century which were ‘new’ in every sense of the word – from technology to ways of living. The exhibition is toured by the Gus Fisher Gallery at The University of Auckland.

To find out more about the exhibition, http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/2010/may/dunedin/long-live-the-modern.

The forum will take place in the Hutton Theatre at the Otago Museum.

Event listed by Otago Museum

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