Art & Ideas 2016

Auckland Art Gallery’s second annual report for the Auckland Art Gallery is targets donors and partners, with the aim to increase funding for exhibitions, acquisitions, publications, research, conservation and learning through communicating the year’s achievements — a delicate balance. The brief was to express the idea of “melting the walls”, a beautifully poetic summation of a goal the gallery has set itself in 2016: to break down barriers, whether physical or perceived, inviting in new audiences to engage and interact with art. In essence, bringing art out from within the traditional constraint of walls. We literally removed ‘walls’, by cutting into the folded cover, allowing readers to see into around around the artwork highlights of the year. Seemingly a simple idea, getting the diecuts to precisely line up and wrap around the spine proved a worthy production challenge. Working with the editors, we also integrated both art highlights and community stories to create a more insightful and ‘behind the scenes’ view, further blurring the lines and reflecting the diversity of our city, the gallery audiences and the focus of the gallery’s leadership teams.