“Art and the occult draw powers, rituals, and symbols from one another to re-enchant the world and refine human experience,” explains the City Gallery Wellington in introduction to the exhibition Occulture: The Dark Arts. Although the gallery does not explicitly explain what the occult might be in this instance, the works offer clues: the occult […]
Pacific Bodies is a video series of five episodes, available to watch on the Auckland Art Gallery’s various online platforms. As they put it, “Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki together with British Council New Zealand invited local artists of Pacific heritage to offer a counter-narrative to the themes of our current exhibition The Body […]
Not far into Teju Cole’s new book, Blind Spot, after Nuremberg and before Muottas Muragal, comes Auckland. A photograph of the Aotea Centre, reflected in a glass, or maybe chrome, surface spreads across one page before creeping beyond the spine into the other. The light is dappled, the landscape slightly distorted, the human presence shrouded […]
Hi Laura and Tim, I’m having trouble writing to the theme of intersectionality. It’s a term that has been the focus of discussion within the arts recently, by writers Lana Lopesi, Natasha Matila-Smith, Kari Schmidt — more informed and eloquent on the subject than I am. My concern is that intersectionality can be, at its […]
New shows have opened and there are a bunch of events on this week. I’ve listed a few here — I hope you find something you might enjoy. The Adam Art Gallery has just opened it’s new show, The Tomorrow People. The exhibition “brings together a selection of works from an emerging generation of artists […]
In lieu of my opinion, here are some places you might like to go form your own over the break. If you think of something good, write to me: arts@salient.org.nz Adam Art Gallery: Acting Out “Works by a selection of New Zealand and international artists who address the physicality of the body.” > July […]
(come if you dare to these mysterious islands) frozen in glossy post-card form she is adorned with dreams ready for you / to fantasise romanticise over gorgeous big brown eyes gorging thighs¹ The newspapers locate us. “Struggles of farming and living without water”; “Moana Directors say thank you Samoa”; “Samoa’s $131m project approved”; “Win […]
A week ago now I went to How to Learn? A Discussion on Emerging Curatorial Education in Aotearoa at Enjoy Public Art Gallery. The panel, chaired by Sophie Davis, was made up of four emerging/mid-career curators: Andrea Bell, Curator of Art at Hocken Collections; Tendai John Mutambu, Assistant Curator at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery; Melanie Oliver, […]
I have a working definition of poise, which came to me looking at paparazzi pictures of Rihanna crossing an iron grate in heels. She does it, often — always captured by the press — and what is she if not poised; as in, suspended in the moment before the pounce. Poise has no uniform but […]
