a library to scale

Installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

2006

There is a sense in which things become real through their repetition. a library to scale records a likeness of a collection of scrapbooks, a visual re-enactment of a compelling collection of books; it engages us in a process of recovery, retrieval, and re-presentation. It seeks to bind Frederick B. Butler’s project anew, to look back on it from the very particular time and space of the now…
From the artist’s statement for the exhibition a library to scale

1. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Families Volume 1200 to New Zealand 1939 May 17 – June 8. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

2. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: New Zealand 1939 June 8 – July 11 to New Zealand 1945 March 28 – December 22. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

3. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Volume 400 26 October 1939 – January 28 1941 Births, Deaths and Marriages to Volume 1096, 1899 August – September. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

4. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Volume 1097 1899 September – November to Maori Pa’s in City Area, 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

5. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Messenger A.H. Historical Articles (espec Taranaki) 1953 April – 1954 July to Air 1955 March – April. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

6. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Air 1955 April –June to Births etc 1948 October 1 – 18. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

7. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Births etc 1948 October 30 – November 11 to Births etc 1952 June 11 – 26. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

8. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Births etc 1952 June 26 – July 2 to Births etc 1954 November 16 – 20. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

9. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Births etc 1954 November 22 – 27 to Births etc 1957 April 22 – 26. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

10. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Births etc 1957 April 26 – 29 to Births etc 1959 November 16 – 21. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

11. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Births etc 1959 – November 21 to Hawera 1949 October – December. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

12. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Hawera 1949 December – 1950 March to Opunake 1952 August – 1953 February. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

13. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Opunake 1953 September – 1954 February to Waitara April – June 1948. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

14. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Waitara 1948 June – December to Crime 1950 Feb 1 – 15. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

15. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Crime 1950 February 16 – 27 to Crime 1954 Feb 2. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

16. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Crime 1954 February 19 – 26 to Crime 1957 April 13 – 23. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

17. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Crime 1957 April 23 – May 2 to Crime 1969 September 1 – 19. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

18. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Crime 1969 September 19 – October 16 to Education 1957 June – July. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

19. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Education 1957 July – August to Hotels 1956 August – September. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

20. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Hotels 1956 September – November to Petrol 1944 November – 1946 May. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

21. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Petrol 1946 May – 1947 October to Post Office 1958 August – December. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

22. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Office 1959 May – August to Shipping 1951 September – November. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

23. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Shipping 1954 September – October to War General 1941 July 11 – 28 August. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

24. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: War General January 1944 – November 1945 to Weather 1956 March – April. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

25. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Weather 1956 April – May to Young Farmers 1969 April – October. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

26. Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Empty Shelf. 2006. C Type Print, 96.5 x 136.5 cm.

Installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

Installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

Installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

Installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

Installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

Installation view, Starkwhite, 2006.

Installation view, Starkwhite, 2006.

Installation view, Adam Art Gallery, 2006.

Installation view, Adam Art Gallery, 2006.

Installation view, 2007, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymoth. Photograph by Bryan James.

Special thanks to Puke Ariki and Sereena and Frances Burton for helping make this exhibition possible.

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