Len Lye: Energies
05 Dec 2026 - 26 Apr 2027
“I’m interested in the business of energy, and getting a feeling of zizz.” - Len Lye
Len Lye is considered one of Aotearoa’s most significant twentieth-century artists. An effervescent and original thinker, his cross-disciplinary approach reveals an interest in energy in all its forms—from the microbial metabolisms of early life on Earth to the quantum entanglements of particles in space, and the ocean of electromagnetic waves surrounding us.
Spanning six decades of experimental practice, from the 1920s to 1980, Lye’s artistic legacy can be experienced by audiences as a relational exchange of energy between art objects and bodies. Through the allure of movement and with electricity as a collaborator, his works reveal a universal pulse that underpins all matter held in a state of constant vibration.
Occupying the entirety of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and Len Lye Centre, Len Lye: Energies will be the largest exhibition of the artist’s work to date. Scheduled as the 2026–27 summer blockbuster, the show augurs the highly anticipated return of Lye’s most exhilarating work, Trilogy (a flip and two twisters) (1977)—a cacophony of electrical energy and choreographed steel that is widely considered his magnum opus.
Len Lye: Energies presents selected works from the Len Lye Foundation archive including early motion sketches, animation plans, and speculative concept drawings. Paintings and batiks are shown alongside kinetic ‘tangible motion’ sculptures, as well as camera-less films rendered through the direct application of scratches and paint onto celluloid.
While Lye lived abroad for most of his career as an expatriate artist in Sāmoa, Sydney, London and New York, his preoccupation with energetic forces was shaped by his early life in remote Aotearoa New Zealand, with its wild island coasts, cyclical tides, and seismic–volcanic terrain.
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Len Lye Pond People, 1930. Batik on silk, 98.5 x 145cm. Len Lye Foundation Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.
Len Lye Pond People, 1930. Batik on silk, 98.5 x 145cm. Len Lye Foundation Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.
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Len Lye Sky Snakes, 1965 (2020 reconstruction). Steel ball chains, brass balls, electric motors, duration 10 mins. Len Lye Foundation Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James
Len Lye Sky Snakes, 1965 (2020 reconstruction). Steel ball chains, brass balls, electric motors, duration 10 mins. Len Lye Foundation Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James
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Len Lye Convolution (Ribbon Snake), 1965 (2008 reconstruction). plastic bands on metal armature, electric motor, wooden base, dimensions variable, duration 5 mins. Len Lye Foundation Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.
Len Lye Convolution (Ribbon Snake), 1965 (2008 reconstruction). plastic bands on metal armature, electric motor, wooden base, dimensions variable, duration 5 mins. Len Lye Foundation Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.
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Len Lye Watusi, 1960 (2018 reconstruction). steel, ping-pong balls, rice, electric motor, wooden base, dimensions variable, duration 5 mins. Len Lye Foundation Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James
Len Lye Watusi, 1960 (2018 reconstruction). steel, ping-pong balls, rice, electric motor, wooden base, dimensions variable, duration 5 mins. Len Lye Foundation Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James
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Len Lye Zebra, 1965 (2009 reconstruction). fibreglass on motorised base, 2830 x 800 mm (dia), duration 5 mins. Len Lye Foundation Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James
Len Lye Zebra, 1965 (2009 reconstruction). fibreglass on motorised base, 2830 x 800 mm (dia), duration 5 mins. Len Lye Foundation Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James
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Len Lye Free Radicals, 1958 (revised 1979), (film stills). 16mm film black and white, duration 4:09 mins. Music: field recordings Bagirmi tribe, Central Africa. Digital version by Park Road Post Production and Weta Digital Ltd. courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation. From material preserved and made available by Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision.
Len Lye Free Radicals, 1958 (revised 1979), (film stills). 16mm film black and white, duration 4:09 mins. Music: field recordings Bagirmi tribe, Central Africa. Digital version by Park Road Post Production and Weta Digital Ltd. courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation. From material preserved and made available by Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision.
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Len Lye Free Radicals, 1958 (revised 1979), (film stills). 16mm film black and white, duration 4:09 mins. Music: field recordings Bagirmi tribe, Central Africa. Digital version by Park Road Post Production and Weta Digital Ltd. courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation. From material preserved and made available by Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision.
Len Lye Free Radicals, 1958 (revised 1979), (film stills). 16mm film black and white, duration 4:09 mins. Music: field recordings Bagirmi tribe, Central Africa. Digital version by Park Road Post Production and Weta Digital Ltd. courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation. From material preserved and made available by Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision.
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Len Lye A Colour Box, 1935 (film stills). 35mm film, colour (original Dufaycolour), sound, duration 4 mins. courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation and the British Postal Museum and Archive. digital version from 35mm film Eastmancolor restoration by the BFI National Archive, made available by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
Len Lye A Colour Box, 1935 (film stills). 35mm film, colour (original Dufaycolour), sound, duration 4 mins. courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation and the British Postal Museum and Archive. digital version from 35mm film Eastmancolor restoration by the BFI National Archive, made available by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
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Len Lye A Colour Box, 1935 (film stills). 35mm film, colour (original Dufaycolour), sound, duration 4 mins. courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation and the British Postal Museum and Archive. digital version from 35mm film Eastmancolor restoration by the BFI National Archive, made available by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
Len Lye A Colour Box, 1935 (film stills). 35mm film, colour (original Dufaycolour), sound, duration 4 mins. courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation and the British Postal Museum and Archive. digital version from 35mm film Eastmancolor restoration by the BFI National Archive, made available by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
