Mike Heynes is a video artist, animator and model-maker with an interest in film history and pre-digital special effects. His video work is represented by Circuit Artist Film and Video Aotearoa and has been screened in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands.
News of the Uruguay Round (2016).
The WTO Uruguay Round of trade negotiations in 1994 provided increased access to Aotearoa for overseas companies wishing to make films here. In remaking a series of Hollywood movie studio logos this work considers the influence of international co-productions on local arts and culture since the agreement.
Above: Multi-channel installation at Enjoy Gallery Wellington, curated by Emma Ng.
Above Left: Single channel video installation for Image Processors: Artists in the Medium 1968-2020 curated by Christina Barton, Adam Art Gallery Wellington (2021). Image courtesy of Adam Art Gallery
Above Right: Single channel video installation for Te Papa's Into the Open outdoor video art programme, New Zealand Festival of the Arts Curated by Emma Ng.(2020). Photograph by Matt Grace
Mike completed his PhD in Fine Arts at Massey University in 2021. His exegesis Video Activism in the Shadow of Wellywood considered the influence of the Hollywood movie industry on the national cinema of Aotearoa.