WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.440
Once or twice a month, the private art collection

2
00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:05.480
at Gibbs Farm in New Zealand opens up to the public.

3
00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:07.310
The tickets are free, but they go very quickly.

4
00:00:07.310 --> 00:00:10.500
The art here in this collection isn't just
paintings on a wall:

5
00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:13.580
it's land art, made by
moving vast amounts of soil and earth,

6
00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:17.000
or it's sculpture on a scale seen only in
a few places in the world.

7
00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:20.520
And the most famous piece
in the collection is this:

8
00:00:20.520 --> 00:00:22.619
Horizons, by Neil Dawson.

9
00:00:22.619 --> 00:00:24.759
Fifteen metres wide,
they height of a four-storey building.

10
00:00:24.759 --> 00:00:26.029
Depending on who you ask,

11
00:00:26.029 --> 00:00:30.619
it either resembles a piece of corrugated
iron blown in from a distant farm...

12
00:00:30.619 --> 00:00:33.460
or a giant paper tissue that's
been thrown away.

13
00:00:33.460 --> 00:00:36.270
And it looks like a cartoon that's been
sketched on the landscape,

14
00:00:36.270 --> 00:00:38.040
but it's made of welded steel,

15
00:00:38.040 --> 00:00:43.280
and I think the thing that sells the
optical illusion best is that little spike,

16
00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:44.310
that little incomplete fold.

17
00:00:44.310 --> 00:00:47.540
Which is, yeah, actually a big spike of metal,
but from a distance,

18
00:00:47.540 --> 00:00:49.940
your brain just doesn't see that.

19
00:00:49.940 --> 00:00:53.560
This was one of the first pieces commissioned
for Gibbs Farm.

20
00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:57.600
And it was commissioned: Alan Gibbs,
who owns this farm and the art on it,

21
00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:00.510
is one of the wealthiest folks to come from
New Zealand.

22
00:01:00.510 --> 00:01:03.260
And rather than collect art that
had already been made,

23
00:01:03.260 --> 00:01:07.680
he hired internationally famous artists and sculptors and said, in short:

24
00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.530
here's some money.
Make me a thing that'll go here.

25
00:01:11.530 --> 00:01:15.130
This farm is basically
one rich millionaire's playground.

26
00:01:15.130 --> 00:01:18.340
Heck, it was originally bought as a
fairly remote place to drive

27
00:01:18.340 --> 00:01:22.520
a collection of vintage military
vehicles. The art came second.

28
00:01:22.520 --> 00:01:25.390
In a 2017 interview with the Wall Street Journal,
Gibbs said:

29
00:01:25.390 --> 00:01:27.980
“It’s not a public park.
It’s not a charity.

30
00:01:27.980 --> 00:01:29.970
"I’m happy to let people see it," he said,

31
00:01:29.970 --> 00:01:32.960
"but it’s still primarily
a family holiday retreat.”

32
00:01:32.960 --> 00:01:37.960
Of course, everything here is well documented;
you can look online and see

33
00:01:37.960 --> 00:01:41.310
every sculpture from
basically every angle possible.

34
00:01:41.310 --> 00:01:46.060
But if you actually want to stand here and
experience that optical illusion for yourself,

35
00:01:46.060 --> 00:01:50.340
if the feeling of being here,
in person, is important to you...

36
00:01:50.340 --> 00:01:52.900
well, Gibbs Farm is only open occasionally.

37
00:01:52.900 --> 00:01:55.479
You'll have to join the rest of 
in the queue for tickets.

