REVIEWS
ART NEWS AOTEAROA 2024
ART NEW ZEALAND 2024/25
Art New Zealand Summer 2024/25
Victoria Munn
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“With Erotic Geologies, Nat Tozer continues her artistic inquiry into the ground and the underground on an impressive scale. Drawing from a complex myriad of conceptual sources encompassing science fiction, te ao Mãori, and Maori and Greek mythology, Tozer digs into the contemporary relevance of the ground and the knowledge that lies below. Doing so, she subvert Western, anthropocentric concepts of knowledge, ownership and time to proffer an alternative ecology.
The 15-minute-long film tells the story of two characters, performed by Amber Liberté and Leighton Rangi, who find themselves in a post-earthquake world. Clad in corporate attire, they embark on a quest for survival and draw critical knowledge from their journey underground. In the initial, anthropogenic stage of their journey, the pair encounter some of Auckland's public artworks, such as Marté Szirmay's Smirnoff sculpture in Newmarket and Guy Ngan's Newton Post Office Mural. As well as helping the characters to navigate the rubble of their built environment, these references connect local audiences to this apocalyptic place.
Tozer has described the film as a 'fever dream', and indeed the rich array of sources, imagery and ideas means some layers of the work are not immediately available to the viewer, and instead elucidated by the gallery notes. Erotic Geologies feels less like a public manifesto, more like a personal paean to the ground as record keeper, as bearer of knowledge and as a fertile site of inquiry.
Tozer's lessons from the ground are most effectively expressed when they find form in the film's construction. Exploring the constant cycle of geological activity, Tozer challenges temporal linearity, favouring a cyclical, non-Western concept of time as a way to interpret current ecological pressures. This is embodied in the continuous looping of the film, which lacks a clear start or definitive end point. The film and the figures are in a constant cycle of renewal and, owing to this interminable quality, I struggled to find the right moment to withdraw.
The cinematography also functions as an effective messenger. The insistent dynamism of Earth's rock is manifest in Erotic Geologies with the constant movement of the camera. Seemingly one continuous shot, the camera constantly pans and sweeps, at times to almost dizzying effect, altering the viewer's perspective of the figures, the ground, and their interrelationship. Rangi and Liberté's environment is also constantly changing. The characters experience the shifting, eroding, renewing and re-forming of geological formations that occur over deep time, usually imperceptible on a human time scale. Viewing the film, this sense of constant change is impossible to shake. Whether the physical movement or narrative progression of Rangi and Liberté, or the drifting of the clouds, no element of Erotic Geologies is left motionless.
While the ground is central to Tozer's recent practice, on this large (9-metre-wide) scale and with extensive technological production, in Erotic Geologies it is elevated as a site of great cultural and social significance. The wide-aspect ratio afforded by dual projectors, the resolution and the varied instrumental soundtrack (composed by the artist) impart on the work a cinematic quality, enhanced by the generous space afforded to Tozer's exhibition in Gow Langsford's Onehunga gallery. Erotic Geologies has the feel of a feature film in which the ground stars as protagonist.
Previous iterations of the work have held different titles, but Tozer has landed on Erotic Geologies as its permanent title. Yet as the ecological crisis before us unfolds, I suspect the relevance of the work will constantly shift and evolve, much like the ground beneath us.” VICTORIA MUNN
(Photograph: Sam Hartnett)
Art News Aotearoa Summer 24
Eddie Giesen
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“A world at once alien and familiar, in much sharper focus than the one we call home, strikes and engulfs me. A universe so dark and crisp I can feel its grit under my nails. Two humans lost and alone venture forward, emerging from a glowing pink cave. Perhaps disaster is pending; perhaps it has just struck-either way, the landscape is harsh and unforgiving, morphing from volcanic to celestial to industrial wasteland.
My lack of breakfast leaves my stomach just a little sickly, and I find this gentle nausea the perfect place from which to experience the dust-choked anxiety of Natalie Tozer's film, Erotic Geologies. The pensive duo draws me into a wretched yet somehow beautiful landscape. Even in their desolate circumstances, the pair seem to be yearning to always push forward, onward, upward; a dance on a quiet Earth. In this way, there is also a sense of acceptance, purpose-a serenity.
The work is sensory and immersive, such that I can almost imagine the smell of space, recounted by numerous astronauts as burnt raspberries and welded metal. It's this smell that lingers with me afterwards, reminding me of the sweet, raw, aggressive gentleness our protagonists must impart on their journey home.
I consider whether, like these characters, we all struggle towards destiny. We are so often compelled to imbue life with meaning while simultaneously holding the knowledg that all we have made and all we are will one day be returned to dust. The mad grapple-parry and peace of this knowledge is made evident in the strange and exquisite world depicted in Tozer's work. Ultimately, annihilation is both behind and ahead of us as a species and ecosystem. As is beauty.
Standing before Tozer's work, I feel both phenomena coexisting inside me. I am entirely encompassed. I am embraced, and then let go. I wander, ponderous and hungry, back out the giant glass doors and back to work.”
EDDIE GIESEN
(Photograph: Sam Hartnett)
ARTIST TALKS GOW LANGSFORD / SEPTEMBER 2024
Download the full transcript from the artists talk
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INTERVIEW CIRCUIT ARTISTS MOVING IMAGE / OCTOBER 2024
Listen to the podcast
There is a vitality that is held in the earth." In this kōrero, artist Nat Tozer and CIRCUIT director Mark Williams talk rubble, dust and green screens, recorded on the occasion of the Aotearoa premiere of Erotic Geologies, Tozer's most complex work to date.
GOW LANGSFORD ONEHUNGA / SEPTEMBER 2024
Premiere screening of Erotic Geologies in Aotearoa at Gow Langsford
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Previous working titles during the making of and international test screenings:
- Deucalion & Pyrrha 2022 (Sluice, PADA)
- An Alternative Archaeology 2021 (MFA)
The title Erotic Geologies marks the works completion and premiere screening in Aotearoa, 2024.
IMT GALLERY LONDON / DECEMBER 2022
Sluice Screens at IMT is part of ‘Assembling’, a new program to open up space for external research and organisations
Since 2006 IMT has provided a free public programme of critical and innovative contemporary art exhibitions. They commission artists and invite independent curators to take risks and create unique audience experiences to develop a local, international and research based community engaged with critical art practice.
Assembling presents a selection of 7 projects from the Sluice Lisdon: Territory, including Deucalion & Pyrrha
SLUICE LISBON / NOVEMBER 2022
mothermother presents work by Natalie Tozer at Sluice Lisbon: Territory
Sluice and PADA are bringing together an interdisciplinary selection of artist and curator-led projects to explore the impact and interconnections of the ecological, environmental and political consequences of territory. Territory is a year-long focus which culminates in Lisbon on 11-13 November 2022, running in conjunction with Lisbon Art Weekend. Exhibitions, performances, screenings and talks featuring over 80 artists are situated throughout the Barreiro district (on the south side of the Tagus River).
Aotearoa artist Natalie Tozer is presenting a large-scale, digital video installation titled Deucalion & Pyrrha, a sci-fi parable that seeks knowledge from the underground and merges the art forms of dance, animation and sculpture in an experimental artwork about archaeology, time and kaitiakitanga.
︎︎︎ Purchase Sluice (Territory) Magazine
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BOOK RELEASE / OCTOBER 2022
Chthonic Descent
Narratives about Digging, Debt and the Collective: Accessing the Ground in the Anthropocene – by Natalie Tozer
To purchase a copy of Chthonic Descent please contact: hello@mothermother.co.nz
︎︎︎ View book online
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PLAYPEN MAGAZINE / FEBRUARY 2022
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ART NEWS AOTEAROA 2024
ART NEW ZEALAND 2024/25
Art New Zealand Summer 2024/25
Victoria Munn
“With Erotic Geologies, Nat Tozer continues her artistic inquiry into the ground and the underground on an impressive scale. Drawing from a complex myriad of conceptual sources encompassing science fiction, te ao Mãori, and Maori and Greek mythology, Tozer digs into the contemporary relevance of the ground and the knowledge that lies below. Doing so, she subvert Western, anthropocentric concepts of knowledge, ownership and time to proffer an alternative ecology.
The 15-minute-long film tells the story of two characters, performed by Amber Liberté and Leighton Rangi, who find themselves in a post-earthquake world. Clad in corporate attire, they embark on a quest for survival and draw critical knowledge from their journey underground. In the initial, anthropogenic stage of their journey, the pair encounter some of Auckland's public artworks, such as Marté Szirmay's Smirnoff sculpture in Newmarket and Guy Ngan's Newton Post Office Mural. As well as helping the characters to navigate the rubble of their built environment, these references connect local audiences to this apocalyptic place.
Tozer has described the film as a 'fever dream', and indeed the rich array of sources, imagery and ideas means some layers of the work are not immediately available to the viewer, and instead elucidated by the gallery notes. Erotic Geologies feels less like a public manifesto, more like a personal paean to the ground as record keeper, as bearer of knowledge and as a fertile site of inquiry.
Tozer's lessons from the ground are most effectively expressed when they find form in the film's construction. Exploring the constant cycle of geological activity, Tozer challenges temporal linearity, favouring a cyclical, non-Western concept of time as a way to interpret current ecological pressures. This is embodied in the continuous looping of the film, which lacks a clear start or definitive end point. The film and the figures are in a constant cycle of renewal and, owing to this interminable quality, I struggled to find the right moment to withdraw.
The cinematography also functions as an effective messenger. The insistent dynamism of Earth's rock is manifest in Erotic Geologies with the constant movement of the camera. Seemingly one continuous shot, the camera constantly pans and sweeps, at times to almost dizzying effect, altering the viewer's perspective of the figures, the ground, and their interrelationship. Rangi and Liberté's environment is also constantly changing. The characters experience the shifting, eroding, renewing and re-forming of geological formations that occur over deep time, usually imperceptible on a human time scale. Viewing the film, this sense of constant change is impossible to shake. Whether the physical movement or narrative progression of Rangi and Liberté, or the drifting of the clouds, no element of Erotic Geologies is left motionless.
While the ground is central to Tozer's recent practice, on this large (9-metre-wide) scale and with extensive technological production, in Erotic Geologies it is elevated as a site of great cultural and social significance. The wide-aspect ratio afforded by dual projectors, the resolution and the varied instrumental soundtrack (composed by the artist) impart on the work a cinematic quality, enhanced by the generous space afforded to Tozer's exhibition in Gow Langsford's Onehunga gallery. Erotic Geologies has the feel of a feature film in which the ground stars as protagonist.
Previous iterations of the work have held different titles, but Tozer has landed on Erotic Geologies as its permanent title. Yet as the ecological crisis before us unfolds, I suspect the relevance of the work will constantly shift and evolve, much like the ground beneath us.” VICTORIA MUNN
(Photograph: Sam Hartnett)
Art News Aotearoa Summer 24
Eddie Giesen
“A world at once alien and familiar, in much sharper focus than the one we call home, strikes and engulfs me. A universe so dark and crisp I can feel its grit under my nails. Two humans lost and alone venture forward, emerging from a glowing pink cave. Perhaps disaster is pending; perhaps it has just struck-either way, the landscape is harsh and unforgiving, morphing from volcanic to celestial to industrial wasteland.
My lack of breakfast leaves my stomach just a little sickly, and I find this gentle nausea the perfect place from which to experience the dust-choked anxiety of Natalie Tozer's film, Erotic Geologies. The pensive duo draws me into a wretched yet somehow beautiful landscape. Even in their desolate circumstances, the pair seem to be yearning to always push forward, onward, upward; a dance on a quiet Earth. In this way, there is also a sense of acceptance, purpose-a serenity.
The work is sensory and immersive, such that I can almost imagine the smell of space, recounted by numerous astronauts as burnt raspberries and welded metal. It's this smell that lingers with me afterwards, reminding me of the sweet, raw, aggressive gentleness our protagonists must impart on their journey home.
I consider whether, like these characters, we all struggle towards destiny. We are so often compelled to imbue life with meaning while simultaneously holding the knowledg that all we have made and all we are will one day be returned to dust. The mad grapple-parry and peace of this knowledge is made evident in the strange and exquisite world depicted in Tozer's work. Ultimately, annihilation is both behind and ahead of us as a species and ecosystem. As is beauty.
Standing before Tozer's work, I feel both phenomena coexisting inside me. I am entirely encompassed. I am embraced, and then let go. I wander, ponderous and hungry, back out the giant glass doors and back to work.”
EDDIE GIESEN
(Photograph: Sam Hartnett)
ARTIST TALKS GOW LANGSFORD / SEPTEMBER 2024
Download the full transcript from the artists talk
INTERVIEW CIRCUIT ARTISTS MOVING IMAGE / OCTOBER 2024
Listen to the podcast
There is a vitality that is held in the earth." In this kōrero, artist Nat Tozer and CIRCUIT director Mark Williams talk rubble, dust and green screens, recorded on the occasion of the Aotearoa premiere of Erotic Geologies, Tozer's most complex work to date.
GOW LANGSFORD ONEHUNGA / SEPTEMBER 2024
Premiere screening of Erotic Geologies in Aotearoa at Gow Langsford
Previous working titles during the making of and international test screenings:
- Deucalion & Pyrrha 2022 (Sluice, PADA)
- An Alternative Archaeology 2021 (MFA)
The title Erotic Geologies marks the works completion and premiere screening in Aotearoa, 2024.
IMT GALLERY LONDON / DECEMBER 2022
Sluice Screens at IMT is part of ‘Assembling’, a new program to open up space for external research and organisations
Since 2006 IMT has provided a free public programme of critical and innovative contemporary art exhibitions. They commission artists and invite independent curators to take risks and create unique audience experiences to develop a local, international and research based community engaged with critical art practice.
Assembling presents a selection of 7 projects from the Sluice Lisdon: Territory, including Deucalion & Pyrrha
SLUICE LISBON / NOVEMBER 2022
mothermother presents work by Natalie Tozer at Sluice Lisbon: Territory
Sluice and PADA are bringing together an interdisciplinary selection of artist and curator-led projects to explore the impact and interconnections of the ecological, environmental and political consequences of territory. Territory is a year-long focus which culminates in Lisbon on 11-13 November 2022, running in conjunction with Lisbon Art Weekend. Exhibitions, performances, screenings and talks featuring over 80 artists are situated throughout the Barreiro district (on the south side of the Tagus River).
Aotearoa artist Natalie Tozer is presenting a large-scale, digital video installation titled Deucalion & Pyrrha, a sci-fi parable that seeks knowledge from the underground and merges the art forms of dance, animation and sculpture in an experimental artwork about archaeology, time and kaitiakitanga.
︎︎︎ Purchase Sluice (Territory) Magazine
BOOK RELEASE / OCTOBER 2022
Chthonic Descent
Narratives about Digging, Debt and the Collective: Accessing the Ground in the Anthropocene – by Natalie Tozer
To purchase a copy of Chthonic Descent please contact: hello@mothermother.co.nz
︎︎︎ View book online
PLAYPEN MAGAZINE / FEBRUARY 2022
