Alex Monteith
b. 1977, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand
Alex Monteith emigrated from Northern Ireland to New Zealand in 1986. She holds a Doctorate in Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, where she is currently a Senior Lecturer. She works in moving image and performance, and is known for complex research, multi-year projects, and collaborative works. Her practice embraces themes of territory, politics, and physical boundaries as she focusses on the psychological and physical space of both individual and shared performative action.
Monteith rose to prominence in the late 1990s, when she was one of New Zealand's most prolific experimental practitioners of art projects incorporating performance, situations, installations, and film. Her technically sophisticated video installations have gained international traction, particularly in Germany where her work has recently been shown in two major public institutions. Her large-scale video and performance works often involve collaboration with technical or cultural specialists - ranging from Air Force Pilots, sheepdog trialists and racing motorcyclists to internationally recognised surfers. Monteith is a member of the collective Local Time (2008-current) along with artists and writers Jon Bywater, Danny Butt and Natalie Robertson.
Highlights of Monteith's career to date include Kā paroro o haumumu: Coastal Flows / Coastal Incursions at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery (2019), the major survey Accelerated Geographies at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (2010), a solo exhibition at the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Germany (curated by Leonard Emmerling and Bernd Riess, 2012) and inclusion in Contact: Artists from Aotearoa/New Zealand at Frankfurter Kunstverein (2012). Monteith was a nominated finalist in the 2010 Walters Prize. In 2008, she was awarded an Arts Foundation of New Zealand New Generation Award, as the fine-arts recipient in a pan-arts biennial award (spanning fine arts, theatre, film and music). Further recent exhibitions include Sovereign Pacifics/Pacific Sovereigns (Artspace Aotearoa, Auckland, 2021); and CIRCUIT Distributor's Screening (Oberhausen Short Film Festival, Germany, 2020).
Gow Langsford Gallery has represented Alex Monteith since 2013.
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Shadow V
Alex Monteith 15 Jun - 2 Jul 2016 Lorne Street [2008 - 2021]In August 1979 an IRA bomb was detonated aboard the 30ft fishing boat Shadow V over the reefs of the Mullaghmore coast, Co. Sligo, Ireland. The blast claimed the lives...Read more -
Temporary Mechanisms
Alex Monteith 17 Feb - 16 Mar 2013 Lorne Street [2008 - 2021]Temporary Mechanisms is Alex Monteith’s first solo exhibition with Gow Langsford Gallery. Monteith is a prolific contemporary film maker known for her technically sophisticated video installations that reflect contemporary sports, cultural and social activities. Her works are typically performance and time-based; employing media such as film, sound, and video, and are often created in extreme or large-scale geographies.Read more
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Alex Monteith and Reuben Paterson at Objectspace
May 28, 2022Gallery artists Alex Monteith and Reuben Paterson are included in the group exhibition twisting, turning, winding: takatāpui + queer objects at Objectspace, opening Friday 3...Read more -
Alex Monteith in 'Things That Shape Us' at Christchurch Art Gallery
August 13, 2021Gallery artist Alex Monteith is included in a new exhibition at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetū from 24 July - 21 November 2021....Read more -
Alex Monteith at Dunedin Public Art Gallery
July 9, 2019First presented at ST PAUL St Gallery, Auckland in 2017, Ka paroro o haumumu: Coastal Flows / Coastal Incursions at Dunedin Public Art Gallery is...Read more -
Alex Monteith at ST PAUL St Galley
September 22, 2017Alex Monteith has a new exhibition open at ST PAUL St Gallery, Auckland. Coastal Flows / Coastal Incursions has been an ongoing project for Monteith...Read more -
Headland Sculpture on the Gulf 2017 Artist Annoucement
July 1, 2016Three of our talented artists have been selected to create sculptures for the 2017 headland Sculpture on the Gulf at Waiheke Island. David McCracken and...Read more