The Physics Room is a non-commercial contemporary art gallery in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand, described as "one of the country's best-known contemporary experiential art spaces". It is primarily funded by

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

, one of four contemporary art spaces thus funded since the mid-1990s (the others are the

Blue Oyster Art Project Space Blue Oyster Art Project Space, located in Dunedin’s city centre, is a space that presents contemporary experimental art projects. Blue Oyster included over 1,000 artists in more than 270 projects over its first 10 years and it continues to prov ...

Artspace NZ Artspace Aotearoa (previously known as Artspace NZ) is an art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on Karangahape Road in Newton. The gallery was founded in 1987, and focuses on contemporary New Zealand and overseas art. It should no ...

, and Enjoy). The Gallery is overseen by a charitable trust governed by a Board of Trustees. The Physics Room began in 1992 as the South Island Art Projects, based at the

Christchurch Arts Centre The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora is a hub for arts, culture, education, creativity and entrepreneurship in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located in the Gothic Revival former Canterbury College (now the University of Canterbury), Christchur ...

, which organised exhibitions in other galleries, published a newsletter, and hosted visiting artists and speakers. In 1996 the Physics Room Trust was formed, and opened a gallery and office in the former

Canterbury College Canterbury College may refer to: * Canterbury College (Indiana), U.S. * Canterbury College (Waterford), Queensland, Australia * Canterbury College (Windsor, Ontario), Canada * Canterbury College, Kent, England * Canterbury College, Oxford, England ...

Physics? Room building. Since opening, it has facilitated exhibitions, publications, offsite projects and residencies that promote contemporary art and critical discourse. In 1999 it moved from the Arts Centre into a larger gallery space in the Old Post Office Building on 209 Tuam Street. The

Christchurch earthquakes A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

forced a temporary relocation to Sandyford Street in Sydenham under recently appointed director Stephen Cleland. In 2013 the gallery returned to 209 Tuam Street with new director Melanie Oliver, formerly of Enjoy and the Govett-Brewster Gallery. Since Oliver left in 2016 to become Senior Curator at the Dowse, the Physics Room has been run by Jamie Hanton, former director of the Blue Oyster in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. In January 2018 the gallery relocated to 49–59 Worcester Boulevard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Physics Room Contemporary art galleries in Oceania Arts centres in New Zealand Art galleries in New Zealand Art museums and galleries in Christchurch