New Plymouth’s Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand’s museum of contemporary art, will re-open its doors with the new Len Lye Centre on Saturday 25 July.

The Len Lye Centre is New Zealand’s first art museum dedicated to a single artist, and with its curved exterior walls of mirror-like stainless steel, it will also be the country’s first example of destination architecture linked to contemporary art.

Govett-Brewster director Simon Rees says staff are planning a community-spirited weekend celebration and preparing opening exhibitions which include Len Lye works, the Govett-Brewster Collection, and a moving-image programme in the new 62-seat cinema.

The opening weekend will celebrate the culmination of more than three decades’ commitment to realising a permanent home for Len Lye’s work in New Plymouth.

“We will at last be able to show the breadth and depth of Lye’s vision on a permanent basis, and also continue to inspire Govett-Brewster’s audiences with contemporary art from New Zealand and around the Pacific Rim,” says Mr Rees.

“We have some great plans in place for the opening exhibitions around Len Lye’s large works and key Taranaki and New Zealand artworks.”