What does the future of craft look like? There is no black or white answer when it comes to what constitutes contemporary craft, no rulebook or right answer. Testing Ground is an exhibition that features eight contemporary craft practitioners from New Zealand at the forefront of experimentation—pushing their practices in new and exciting directions.

This catalogue was produced with funding from the Blumhardt Foundation and Creative New Zealand, and emerges from Milly Mitchell-Anyon’s curatorial project at the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui, as the Blumhardt Foundation Curator. It features a foreword by Philip Clarke and Greg Donson, and an essay on each artist in Testing Ground (18 June – 16 October 2022) by Milly Mitchell-Anyon; ruminating on how their craft practice looks to the future. The eight artists covered are: Thomas Carroll, Olivia Edginton, Areez Katki, Maia McDonald, Zhu Ohmu, Ben Pyne, Moniek Schrijer and Ted Synnott. It was printed at Ilam Press, University of Canterbury, by Alice Bonifant and Claudia Long on a Risograph printer, with colour prints by Blueprint, Christchurch.