Peter Robinson

Null and Void

Null and Void by Peter Robinson

Artwork Detail

Tukituki ai te kaupapa Ūropi, te pūtaiao me ngā toi orokohanga o te ao a Peter Robinson; he mahi e tākiri ai ngā ariā tauoranga o te oranga, te wā, te wāhi. Ko te kore he ao tikanga kore rānei, he ao rānei pērā i to Stephen Hawking whakaaro, he mea kī tonu ki te pitomata?

Kei te hinga ngā kōrero ā-ao kei te rahi haere rānei mā ngā apaapa o ngā tohutoro me ngā tohu motuhake. Ko tā ngā tau 1 me te 0 he tohu āe rānei, kāo rānei kei reira te reo matihiko o te ao, te waehere tāhūrua. Ka pānui tahitia te 1 me te 0 ka Io, te atua taioreore Māori e noho ai ki ngā rangi tūhāhā, ko ia te kaipupuri o te mātauranga mō ngā mea katoa.

European philosophy, science and Māori creation narratives collide in these works by Peter Robinson, which wrestle with the existential ideas of being, time and space. Is ‘nothingness’ really a realm devoid of meaning, or is it, as Stephen Hawking describes, a space full of potential?

Universal narratives collapse and expand through the layering of culturally specific references and symbols. The numbers 1 and 0 mark presence and absence in the globalised digital language of binary code. And read together 1 and 0 become Io, the faceless supreme Māori god who lives in the highest heavens and holds the knowledge of the order of all things.

Title
Null and Void
Artist/creator
Peter Robinson
Production date
2001
Medium
custom wood, lacquer
Dimensions
800 x 583 x 1935 mm
Credit line
Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2006
Accession no
C2006/1/15/1.1-11
Copyright
Copying restrictions apply
Department
New Zealand Art
Display status
Not on display

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