Culture

Until May 15
 
The first of three works to be encountered in the Blue Oyster Gallery Space this month is Dunedin artist Simon Kaan’s The Asian. Kaan transforms the gallery into The Asian restaurant, complete with pictures on the wall, a television in the corner, and the smells and noises of a restaurant. Visitors can make a booking with the gallery and dine with Kaan via Skype, taking part in his virtual performance. A live image of Kaan, who is seated across the road at ‘The Asian’, a restaurant he has frequented for ten years, is projected on the wall. Kaan formed the idea for this artwork six years ago when he was in Tokyo, often dining alone, observing people. The ritual of eating for the Chinese is a large part of cultural identity. This is significant for Kaan, who has a mixed heritage, part Chinese, Maori, and Scottish.
After choosing whether to dine with Kaan or just observe, gallery-goers then walk through to the next room past Anna Muirhead’s Polytears, a collection of imposing cardboard carvings, replicating classical European garden ornaments, through to Bryce Galloway’s work Same Same (Incredibly Hot Sex with Hideous People). The smells of Asian food wafting from the first gallery space are contrasted with the scent of coffee being brewed in the downstairs room. “Luv me. I’ve given my artist’s fee back to you in coffee,” is written on the wall, along with other wall drawings that Galloway has added to since the opening night. Copies of his zine, which he publishes in Wellington, are placed on a table for us to flick through while drinking coffee. It is worth the time to read several of these issues, each of which examines a different aspect of Galloway’s life and self. The most personal details you can imagine are described in meticulous detail, from a red spot on his head, hairy eyebrows, and other bodily imperfections, to the effects a vasectomy might have on his production of bodily fluid. 
The three contrastive works lead on from each other superbly, exploring avenues of cultural, social, and personal identity, and demonstrating self-exploration by way of performance, interaction, and construction.