In its constant state of transformation time is implicitly linked to narratives of the past and the histories that we create to remember and explain it. Artists act as the philosophers of their era in presenting ideas and reflections that interpret time and history.

Some offer ideas which touch on mythic and celestial constructions of time, while others suspend the force of chronology. The works in this exhibition invite a range of views about how time and history is navigated by artists in both subtle and explicit ways. From Ralph Hotere’s shimmering Black Cerulean and the cellular forms of Peter Robinson’s suspended Universe to Chris Heaphy's monochrome painting Into The Black, see imagination take on the unstoppable progression of time.

Part of New Zealand Art: Opening the Past to the Ever-changing Present | Toi Aotearoa: Mai i Mua ki te Ao Hurihuri, a new series of exhibitions drawn from our collection.