The Stetson Group in association with Auckland Live presents 

Michelangelo – A Different View 

Under license from the Vatican Museums, this exhibition offers the most complete and authentic reproduction of Michelangelo’s beautiful ceiling frescoes of the Sistine Chapel to be shown outside the Vatican. 

Aotea Centre, Auckland | 3 - 30 January 2022

Early Bird tickets on sale this Friday via Ticketmaster 
Early Bird $39* | After Christmas $45*  
Children under 12 Free (must be accompanied by an adult) 
*Plus service fee 

Until recently, over four million people visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome every year to admire the beautiful ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo in the early 1500s.
 
With sightseeing holidays to Europe unlikely for New Zealanders anytime soon, the promoters of Michelangelo — A Different View today announce they’re bringing Rome to Auckland this January.
 
Under license from the Vatican Museums and brought to New Zealand by The Stetson Group, the same promoter who presented the hugely successful The Art of Banksy Exhibition three years ago, this significant exhibition will be hosted at the Aotea Centre, Auckland, from 3-30 January 2022.
 
Early Bird tickets go on sale to the public this Friday via Ticketmaster. Visitor numbers will be limited so don’t delay!
 
Michelangelo — A Different View presents a very different picture of Michelangelo’s works: the exhibition shows photo-mechanically reproduced copies almost in original size and in a way that invites visitors to look at them up close and in their own time.
 
Michelangelo — A Different View is a transformative experience that allows attendees to look down on ‘The Genesis’ that is enshrined on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel rather than up…. hence the exhibition’s name A Different View. This offers a much closer perspective of what its Florentine creator did. The rest of the frescoes are in frames and can be viewed from within 2 metres.
 
With no time constraints, visitors can allow these masterpieces to truly soak in.
 
Some 50 pieces, including an almost original size, 4.6m x 20m reproduction of ‘The Genesis’ (which includes The Creation of Man) and a 3.8m x 3.8m version of ‘The Last Judgment’ are just 1-2 metres away from the viewer, while audio guides, accessible via personal devices (please bring your own phone, head set/earbuds), mean visitors can experience the Florentine master’s interpretation of The Bible’s creation story in a way they never imagined.
 
As an addition to – and to complete –  Michelangelo — A Different View, reproductions of 14 of these impressive frescoes await visitors in the entrance. Scenes from the lives of Jesus and Moses, painted by Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli, provide additional historical background and allow for a deeper insight into this epoch.
 
Promoters Stewart and Tricia Macpherson of the Stetson Group say they are honoured to be able to present such a significant exhibition in New Zealand.
 
“Most people will only have dreamed of seeing these paintings in the Sistine Chapel,” says Stewart. “This is the closest we’ll get to the real thing anytime soon. And the fact they’ll be just metres away, is extraordinary.”

For media inquiries, contact Sandra Roberts | sandra@skip.co.nz | 021 525104
Print quality photos and video available for download at skip.co.nz

michelangeloadifferentview.com
*Plus service fee

 

Michelangelo – A Different View
The most authentic exhibit of the frescos of the Sistine Chapel!
Licensed from the Vatican Museums
 
Q & A with the Licensors, E4Y
 
How did you get the pictures from the Sistine Chapel?
When we first presented the idea of the exhibition to Prelate Dr. Karl Jüsten, the director of the Catholic Office in Berlin, he recognised the potential of this idea and established contact with the Vatican Museums. There, E4Y received enthusiastic support from the church historian, His Eminence Cardinal Walter Brandmüller. Thanks to this contact a license agreement was concluded with the Vatican Museums, enabling a whole series of photo slides to be made available that had been slumbering in the museums’ archives for many years.
 
Who created the photos of the frescoes?
Following the restoration of the Sistine Chapel between 1982 and 1994, a Japanese team received permission to film the newly resplendent Chapel. Photo slides were made of the frescoes in a 200 x 250 mm format.
 
Did the photos need to be edited?
Yes, the slides were handed over to photographer Roland Ursprung. He was commissioned to fundamentally process the photos and transfer them to a reproducible state. As can be imagined, the images of the vaulted ceiling were lacking both in perpendicularity and colour consistency. In addition, the slides had become heavily scratched as the result of dust deposits. Ursprung mastered this challenge by the use of complicated, expensive and sensitive digitalization technology.
 
What were the next steps?
After we had created the high-resolution print files, the next step was to transfer them to the right material. After a few trials, we decided on Decotex 205g/m², a coarse textile material. Decotex fabric is used for one-sided, high quality applications and has the exceptional quality of being able to display a broad spectrum of colours while maintaining excellent colour depth and consistency.
 
The images were then transferred to the fabric by using a process call “sublimation”. In this process the inks are vaporised (sublimated) and infused directly into the fabric. In short, the heat opens up the pores of the fabric, then with applied pressure the ink cools and returns to a solid form. The result is a permanent, full colour image that won’t crack, peel or wash away from the fabric.
 
Are all pictures printed with the sublimation printing process?
No, the Quattrocento were created with fabric specially developed for digital printing.
 
Is there an exhibition guide?
Yes, the individual motifs are explained in the context of the books of The Bible, from the perspective of Michelangelo Buonarroti himself. In the introduction, the master painter explains how he obtained the assignment. He also provides a little insight into the adversities that were typical for everyday life in sixteenth century Italy.  The audio guides are accessed by a QR code displayed at entry to the exhibition, so that visitors may listen on their personal devices at each motif. The installation of an app is not necessary. We also provide a printed version of the audio guide, for visitors with hearing difficulties.