Neil Pardington - The Vault

Large Mammal Storage Bay #1, Canterbury Museum 2007

Land Vertebrates Store #3, Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira 2007

Natural History Store #3, Whanganui Regional Museum 2006

Natural History Store #2, Whanganui Regional Museum 2006

Mammal Attic #1, Canterbury Museum 2007

Natural History Store #1, Whanganui Regional Museum 2006

Land and Marine Mammal Store #5, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Land and Marine Mammal Store #1, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Land and Marine Mammal Store #2, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Land and Marine Mammal Store #4, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Land and Marine Mammal Store (Triptych), Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Land and Marine Mammal Store #3, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Ornithology Store #1, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Ornithology Store #2, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Land Vertebrates Store #2, Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira 2008

Natural Sciences Dry Store #1, Otago Museum 2008

Natural Sciences Dry Store #2, Otago Museum 2008

Land Vertebrates Store #1, Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira 2007

Vertebrate Store #1, Canterbury Museum 2007

left to right: Wet Room #3, Otago Museum 2008 / Wet Room #4, Otago Museum 2008 /
Wet Room #5, Otago Museum 2008 / Wet Room #6, Otago Museum 2008

Wet Room #1, Otago Museum 2008

Wet Room #8, Otago Museum 2008

Wet Room #7, Otago Museum 2008

Wet Room #2, Otago Museum 2008

left to right: Mannequin Store #3, Canterbury Museum 2007 / Mannequin Store #2, Marlborough Museum 2006 / Mannequin Store #5, Te Manawa 2008

Mannequin Store #1, Marlborough Museum 2006

Mannequin Store #4, National Army Museum Te Mata Toa 2008

Film Archive #3, The New Zealand Film Archive Ngā Kaitiaki o Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua 2006

Film Archive #1, The New Zealand Film Archive Ngā Kaitiaki o Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua 2004

Film Archive #2, The New Zealand Film Archive Ngā Kaitiaki o Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua 2004

Archive #4, The New Zealand Film Archive Ngā Kaitiaki o Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua 2004

Film Archive #5, The New Zealand Film Archive Ngā Kaitiaki o Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua 2004

Art Store #1, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Art Store #4, Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago 2008

Art Store #5, Otago Settlers Museum 2008

Art Store #6, Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago 2008

Art Store #3, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu 2007

Art Store #2, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu 2007

Tāonga Māori Store #4, Nelson Regional Museum 2007

Tāonga Māori Store #2, Whanganui Regional Museum 2006

Taonga Māori Store #6, Rotorua Museum of Art and History Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa 2008
Not available for sale

Taonga Māori Store #3, Whanganui Regional Museum 2006

Taonga Māori Store #7, Rotorua Museum of Art and History Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa 2008
Not available for sale

Taonga Māori Store #5, Rotorua Museum of Art and History Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa 2008
Not available for sale

Building 355 #1, National Army Museum Te Mata Toa 2008

Polynesian Spear Storage, Otago Museum 2008
Edition sold out, enquire for secondary sales

Pacific Store #1 (Samoan Clubs), Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Pacific Store #2 (Samoan Clubs), Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Pacific Store #3, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Pacific Store #4, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Textile Store #1, Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira 2008

Ceramic Store #1, Christchurch Art Gallery 2007

Card Catalogue #1, Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago 2008

Entomology Store #1, Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira 2008

Photo Store #1, Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago 2008

Archives Stack #1, Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago 2008

Herbarium Corridor #1, Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira 2008

Invertebrates Store #1, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Works on Paper Store #1, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006

Works on Paper Store #2, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu 2007

Pigment inks on photo rag baryta, unmounted
1,000 x 1,200 mm $8,500 incl GST
800 x 1,000 mm $6,000 incl GST
420 x 525 mm $4,600 incl GST

Multiple image works: POA

Besides being a small room, the camera has lately become an enormous one—a warehouse or factory in which ideas and images are manufactured and stored. The camera is four walls, a roof and a floor; it is a miniature house in which shutters are opened and closed; in which light and shade are constantly being adjusted. — Gregory O'Brien

The idea of the camera being a storehouse of ideas and images (or as Kodak would have it, memories) is central to The Vault. In a somewhat reflexive manner, this series focuses on the places we store those things that are most precious to us, and conversely those very similar spaces we store the obsolete and unwanted. In the process of making the work I have visited art galleries, archives and museums throughout New Zealand – from large national to small regional institutions. But it's not the face, or front-of-house of these places that I've photographed, it's the storage areas themselves – the back-of-house vaults, archives and basements.

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