Len Lye Centre

“Great art goes 50:50 with great architecture” - Len Lye

The Len Lye Centre opened in New Plymouth in July 2015. Located alongside and accessible through the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, the Centre is Aotearoa New Zealand’s first facility devoted to a single artist.

Visitors to the Len Lye Centre are able to move between it and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, and gain a sense of both the life, work and significance of Len Lye alongside the Govett-Brewster’s contemporary art exhibitions and events.

The Centre features exhibitions of Lye’s work, spanning sculptures, films, paintings and photographs – alongside historical and contemporary works and items to give visitors a rich understanding of his unique story. A state-of-the-art Len Lye Centre Cinema regularly screens Lye’s film works and documentaries of his life and work alongside exhibition and general art-house programming, while the Todd Energy Learning Centre offers school, after-school, family and lifelong learning classes to put Len’s ideas into practice.

Backstory

The New Plymouth connection began in April 1980 when the artist, the Len Lye Foundation and the New Plymouth City Council, entered into a Deed of Gift. Through that Deed, Lye transferred the ownership and copyright of all the works owned by him at that time to the Foundation, for the public benefit of the people of New Zealand. The artist died a few weeks later.

In that Deed the Council accepted the responsibility of providing for the storage, access and display of the works in New Plymouth. Since 1980, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, which is owned by the Council, has performed this task, in association with the Lye Foundation.

The Foundation has always enjoyed a close working relationship with the Council and the gallery. To formalize the relationship, a Len Lye Committee was established, made up of members appointed equally by the Council and the Foundation.

Creating the Centre

The Len Lye Committee recommended to the Council that a new, dedicated facility be built, and following a multi-year fundraising effort – all of the construction costs were raised from outside the Council – architect Andrew Patterson of Auckland-based Patterson Architects was commissioned to deliver on Len Lye’s quote that “Great art goes 50:50 with great architecture.”

The resulting building is a spectacular design that incorporates a stainless steel curtain that wraps around the building – both a nod to Lye’s work with stainless steel and a reflection of the stainless used in the dairying and energy sector which provide the region’s economic base – it’s “local stone” as the architect puts it.

Inside the building the curves are replicated in concrete, and house two large exhibition galleries, a 60-seat cinema, research archive, an education and event suite, lounge areas and various other facilities. 

Central government provided $4 million and the rest came from private philanthropy. The Council meets the Centre’s operating costs.

The Len Lye Centre has won numerous awards for its architecture and even more accolades for its exhibition and event programme.
 

Open seven days (closed Christmas Day) 10am – 5pm.

Entry is free for New Plymouth District residents, and up to $15 for visitors from outside the district.

Find our more at www.govettbrewster.com