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By our powers combined

Inspired by mediums like ten-year old Bertha Nation, resident of Masterton in 1883 who could move objects, such as tables and chairs, with the lightest touch, the cushion belongs to ‘Easy Chair’, an artwork by Rebecca Pilcher. Pilcher is one of thirteen artists invited to make work about the psychic realm for The Blue Room.

Curated by Pippa Sanderson, the show features the work of artists Elle Loui August, Bekah Carran, Louise Clifton, Andrea du Chatenier, Violet Faigan, Lonnie Hutchinson, Saskia Leek, Louise Menzies, the recently controversial winner of the 2009 Wallace Award Dane Mitchell, Rebecca Pilcher, Johanna Sanders, Sanderson and Stuart Shepherd.

Some of the artists are believers, some skeptics, but all raise questions about the fascination with the psychic that haunts us now - the television programmes, the internet sites devoted to spells and spectres, the touring psychics….

Originally inspired by ‘The Blue Room’, a house in Dunedin where Spiritualists Clive Chapman and his niece Pearl Judd conducted séances in the 1920s, the exhibition reveals demonic chairs, spirit photography, Samoan tarot, telepathic communication in drawings and glances and more.

There is a vist from Eos, an Interdimensional Magnetic Artist from the substrata Soileh who thanks her channellers, e. l. august and l. a. clifton. There is also Hoodoo Voodoo imagery from Lonnie Hutchinson, haunting photography from Johanna Sanders and ethereal video from Wellington artist Johanna Sanderson.

One artist even commissioned a spell from the internet for everyone who comes to the show. “I had a specific spell I wanted performed - a spell for the revelation of mystical truths for all who enter The Blue Room,” says Andrea du Chatenier, from Whanganui. “But the sites I approached said they didn’t do a spell for anything as specialised as this and asked me to have another look at their catalogue. The spell I put in my shopping basket was for ‘extreme telepathy.'"

Du Chatenier describes her artwork,  ‘Wishland’, as ‘a woolly island big enough for just one person. It’s a sanctuary, a white witch’s circle and an Ouija board all rolled into one – a perfect place for casting spells, making wishes and getting in touch with those on the other side.”  To see the spell being cast by the artist, search ‘wishland spell’ on Youtube. It will also be on display in the exhibition.

A different approach was taken by Violet Faigan and Saskia Leek in their work ‘Across the miles I hear you clearly’. The two scrapbooks on exhibition contain entries the two woman made on the same day as the other, Faigan from her home in Dunedin, Leek from her home in Auckland.  “We chose to think about the ‘everyday psychic’, which we considered to be typified by teenage girls,” says Faigan. “Like the intensity of a really close friendship when you are at school, and you’re not to speak to one another, and you look across the class room and pretty much know what one another are thinking. That was a sort of everyday psychic phenomenon.”

The touring show has been exhibited at the Blue Oyster Gallery in Dunedin and Te Manawa in Palmerston North to highly receptive audiences.

Visitors can expect to be both entertained and a little bit spooked.

The Blue Room - until Saturday 21 November
Curated by Pippa Sanderson
Featuring, Elle Loui August, Bekah Carran, Louise Clifton, Andrea du Chatenier, Violet Faigan, Lonnie Hutchinson, Saskia Leek, Louise Menzies, Dane Mitchell, Rebecca Pilcher, Johanna Sanders, Pippa Sanderson, Stuart Shepherd.

Catalogue available for purchase with essays by Jon Bywater and Rebecca Rice, $20.