Projects

For over 30 years the Len Lye Foundation has cared for, exhibited and promoted the works and ideas of Len Lye. Some examples of that work include:

  •  Brought the Len Lye Collection to New Zealand
  •  Carried out an initial archiving and cataloguing of the collection
  •  Rediscovered and restored various Len Lye films (in partnership with the NZ Film Archive, the  Museum of Modern Art and the British Film Institute)
  •  Established a global distribution for Lye’s films
  •  Released Lye’s films on MTV Europe, 1996
  •  Prepared and distributed Lye’s films on video cassette
  •  Prepared Lye’s kinetic sculptures, installed them and assisted with exhibitions including:

The 7th Sydney Biennale, 1988 

Territorium Artis, at the new Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn, 1992

The Cologne Art Fair, 1996 

Toi Toi Toi at the Museum Fridericianum Kassel, Germany, 1999 

The Auckland Art Gallery, 1999

Len Lye, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Le Fresnoy and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Strasbourg, 2000

Force Fields: Phases of the Kinetics, Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona and the Hayward Gallery in London, 2000

Len Lye, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2001

Len Lye Airspace, at Artspace, Auckland, 2002

Revolutions – Forms that Turn, at the Biennale of Sydney, 2008

Len Lye, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, 2009

Art that Moves, the Gus Fisher Art Gallery, Auckland, 2010

Kaleidoscope, City Gallery, Wellington, 2013

Art of its Own Making, the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St Louis, USA, 2014

Motion Sketch, the Drawing Centre, New York, 2014

Len Lye: Agiagia, at the Mangere Arts Centre, 2014

  •  Built a 25 metre Wind Wand at Omata, 1995
  •  Built a large outdoor version of Blade in 1997, (subsequently exhibited on many occasions)
  •  Built and installed a 45 metre Wind Wand as a Millennium Project on the New Plymouth foreshore, 2000
  •  Re-constructed or built other Lye sculptures including Storm King, Zebra, Wind Wands, Bell Wand, Moon Bead, Ribbon Snake, Fire Bush, and Rotating Harmonic
  •  Built Water Whirler for the Wellington Harbour, 2006
  •  Restored Fountain for the Whitney Museum, New York
  •  Built, sold, and installed sculptures (such as the 45 metre Wind Wand for the Gibbs Farm Sculpture Park)
  •  Introduced, wrote programme notes or lectured on Lye at many overseas film festivals and retrospectives including the Etuida & Anima Festival, Krakow, Poland (2010) and the Anima Mundi Festival, Rio de Janeiro and San Paolo, Brazil (2012)
  •  Processed hundreds of copyright requests and permissions for the use of Lye films and reproduction of Lye artworks
  •  Assisted many academic researchers and writers
  •  Prepared, installed and maintained sculptures for the Lye exhibitions at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery for over 30 years


NB: Some of these activities were carried out with the support of other organizations such as the NZ Film Archive, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, the Stout Trust, Creative NZ, and the museums sponsoring the exhibitions.