Category: Reviews, News and Commentary

As this year’s election approaches it is timely to remind all political parties that there is an  important sector which deserves a lot more than the usual platitudes about the importance of art and the need for coherent and visionary approaches. Hopefully everyone involved in the sector can remind their local candidate of the need for arts policy!

Background

It is hard to find any experienced artist who does not view the situation for the arts in our country as gruelling and frequently discouraging. The latest report on the income of those working in the sector (sponsored by Creative New Zealand and NZ On Air) provides evidence for that gloomy view, by reporting that the median income for creative professionals is only $19,500 per year. More than half of our creative professionals have a second job, but even then, their median income is only $37,000 compared with $61,800 which is the average figure for salary and wage earners in New Zealand. Among the groups in trouble are the 47% of music and sound artists whose income is even lower now than it was in February 2020.

But income is only one aspect of the problem. There is huge public interest and involvement in the arts, yet somehow that does not get translated into media coverage or political support. The absence of arts policies by the major parties is once again conspicuous by its absence. This year, many members of the arts community have gazed enviously at the situation in Australia where the government has done extensive planning and policy-making and provided new funding to develop the arts. When the Hon. Carmel Sepuloni, Labour’s Arts Minister, was asked (by a Stuff interviewer onAugust 20) for her view of what the Australians had done, she replied that she did not think it was time for New Zealand to attempt “any visionary roadmap” of that kind. But will that time ever come?

Progress on Policies

It appears that the only three parties have seriously bothered to promote art policies for the election — the Green Party, NZ First, and Te Pāti Māori. The Greens propose some striking initiatives, such as a guaranteed level of income for every New Zealander. They also promise “adequately resourcing work in the arts,” though they have not yet provided details.

The idea of a universal basic income has been debated in the Nordic countries since the 1970s. The Irish government recently announced a basic annual income of around $30,000 for 2,000 of its artists. It is interesting to recall that our Labour government once ran a similar scheme. In 2001 Judith Tizard, then the Associate Minister of the Arts, instituted the ‘Pathways to Arts and Cultural Employment’ (PACE) scheme to assist artists on the benefit. In her words, PACE meant: ‘Now, when you go to Work and Income, you won’t be told to go and work as a dishwasher.’ By 2003 Steve Maharey could report that 1200 beneficiaries had found work using the scheme, and 2127 jobseekers were signed up for PACE. The change of government in 2008 led to the running-down of the scheme, and in 2011 it was officially discontinued. It is fondly remembered as having lent important assistance to many careers, including bands such as Black Seeds and the Phoenix Foundation, along with creative people from other arts such as fiction writer Anna Taylor and film-maker Taika Waititi. There is no longer any sign of such an initiative in Labour policy, but the Greens are obviously thinking along similar lines.

The Greens also call for a general review of arts funding policy, and for the government to provide direct support for the arts instead of relying on income from gambling. They also speak of the need for an arts education strategy. The context for that is the widespread concern in the cultural sector that arts education at every stage, from primary school to tertiary level, is currently in a situation of crisis. (https://www.greens.org.nz/arts_culture_and_heritage_policy)

New Zealand First promises strong support for the arts and cultural heritage, but its policies are expressed in a more general form (https://www.nzfirst.nz/broadcasting_arts_culture_and_heritage). There are, however, some fresh initiatives such as “funding specialist curriculum leaders to support schools to deliver on the Arts Curriculum,” and requiring international pay television streaming services to include New Zealand content. (Australia already has a requirement of that kind.)

Te Pāti Māori speaks eloquently about the value of toi (the arts). It says: “Toi Māori is our total wellbeing strategy; our mental health strategy, our physical health strategy, our Reo Māori strategy, our Educational strategy, our whakapapa strategy, our tourism strategy, our community development strategy and our cultural defence strategy and must be recognised as such.” (https://www.maoriparty.org.nz/toi_maori)

All the policies of Te Pāti Māori focus primarily on Māori creative activity rather than on the arts in general. One of the party’s policies was implemented in May this year by the Labour government – a boost of $34 million in funding over the next two years to the kapa haka festival Te Matatini, making it the country’s highest-funded arts service provider. The party’s other proposals include the establishment of a Māori funding body parallel to Creative NZ with a budget of $57 million.

ACT has nothing about the arts currently on its policy website, but it has told PressReader that it “was open to reforming bureaucratic arts funding applications, and funding for large public sector payrolls for culture agencies.” (https://www.act.org.nz/policies)

Labour has focused mainly on the video games industry, announcing that it would give it a $40 million tax rebate each year. For other areas of the cultural sector, it may feel that it can rest on its laurels, following its support for Te Matatini in May, and its $22 million “funding injection” to “the arts, culture and heritage sector” in February. That was a final instalment of the government’s Covid Recovery Programme. $10 million of that amount will be devoted to “festivals,” while the other $12 million will go to Creative NZ in the wake of the bad publicity it received last year when applications hugely exceeded available funding.

The government deserves credit for having made these increases in funding, but in policy terms they seem piecemeal, nowhere near as comprehensive or unified as the Australian government’s support for the arts. Within our cultural sector, there continues to be a widespread desire for an overall review of funding priorities. There have been a number of public controversies over funding decisions by Creative NZ and by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. And individual freelance artists, who have very insecure careers, question the fact that such a large proportion of overall funding is swallowed up by institutions (such as ballet, opera, orchestra, Te Papa, etc.). Again, while everyone agrees that diversity and access are important goals, there are different ways of defining those terms. For example, a debate about the meaning of ”diversity” should address the changing needs of a society that is both “bicultural” and “multicultural,” both urban and rural, both contemporary and traditional. It is also argued that there is too much emphasis on emerging talent when so many proven, established artists are left to struggle with the “mid-career problem.” These are just a few of many issues that suggest the need for a review.

The arts have received little attention as part of Labour’s election campaign, and that is also the case with National. The leader of neither party is showing any interest in the subject in their speeches. Within the National team, media spokesperson Melissa Lee has expressed concerns about the future of Radio NZ and TVNZ, but Simon O’Connor who is the spokesperson for Arts, Culture and Heritage keeps devoting his newsletters to his other interests – “Internal Affairs and Defence,” “cost of living, health, crime,” etc.

Of course it is still possible that Labour and National will surprise everyone with last minute announcements. But as matters stand, we expect the cultural community will once again be struck by how restricted appears to be the support or understanding of the arts among our mainstream politicians and media. In that situation, it is not surprising that so many areas of our cultural infrastructure remain fragile, able to continue functioning only through the slog and dedication of the arts community.

Our arts lobby group consists of:

Judith Darragh

Sir Roger Hall

Eve de Castro-Robinson

John Daly-Peoples

Professor Peter O’Connor

Roger Horrocks  

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Mike and Virginia by Kathryn Burnett and Nick Ward

Tadpole Theatre Company

Pumphouse Theatre, Takapuna

Directed by Simon Praast

Lighting/Sound – Gareth/Geoff Evans

Costumes – Robyn Fleming

With : Andrew Grainger and Laura Hill, and Muna Arbon, Stephen Papps and Jodie Rimmer.

Thursday 31 August 2023 (until Sept 10)

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Last year Takapuna’s Tadpole Theatre tackled Kathryn Burnett’s new work The Campervan.  I thought it perfectly suited to Tadpole’s demographic, had some great localised comedy and was pretty well-balanced.  Their Relatively Speaking earlier this year was also a pretty competent handling of the Alan Ayckbourn classic.

But I found Mike and Virginia an odd choice for Tadpole.

Using the simple and well-hyphened rom-com plot line of boy-meets-girl-meets-boy-meets-girl-again, its demands on an audience are low.  Both playwrights are perhaps better known as screenwriters and this is reflected in a stage production that some might see as better suited to celluloid.

Amiable academic Mike (Andrew Grainger), fresh from a collapsed relationship, falls for Virginia (Laura Hill) a fiercely independent-minded academic.  Power duly swings back and forth, interspersed with one-liners that generated appropriate laughter from the opening night audience.  Some of the lines bite.  Some don’t.  And some are genuinely funny.

The two discover they both specialise in film analysis – albeit of different genres – and that sets up a nice push-pull between them that then occurs over maybe 40 or more different and very rapid scenes – rather like a film.  Some are very brief indeed.  Just as I was beginning to grasp a point, I was disconcerted when it jumped quickly to the next scene before I could digest the last. There is no set – only a couple of strategically-used chairs – and many scene-changes are simply another lighting cue.  The entire piece is played against blacks.  Yes, I wondered about the possible irony of this.

I also felt a little sorry for director Simon Praast and his cast as the material came up so quickly any opportunity to connect with each other was fleeting.  They are all competent and capable actors although, oddly enough, each has a strong film background.  Hmmmmm, now there’s a thought.   

Grainger gives his usual highly capable performance, developing Mike to reveal some sensitivity though I wondered if he may have been perhaps little too amiable especially earlier on.  Hill’s Virginia was far more (and appropriately) glacial.  Her icy Virginia fairly spasmed with a fiery, glacial intensity.  There were a couple of instances where a flash of magic occurred between them.  I wanted more but the scenes were a bit brief.

However, it was the supporting cast of Mike and Virginia that had some of the best opportunities even though these existing mainly as foils or counterfoils for many of the one-liners.  Jodie Rimmer created a genuine frenetic wannabe Sally – I’m sure I have seen her as a be-costumed fairy in a shopping centre recently.   While Stephen Papps came to own the dry observation as the droll Harry – I could swear he was fixing my neighbour’s plumbing the other day, fag and all.

But Mike and Virginia is not a film.  It is theatre. Many will enjoy this rollicking rom-com, but be mindful that the two genres are distinctively and deliberately different.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Tongariro National Park

An artist’s field guide

By Desmond Bovey

Potton & Burton

Publication Date: November 2023

RRP $39.99

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

To many people driving  across the Volcanic Plateau, the landscape can seem bland apart from the views of the mountains which are always impressive. However, when there is volcanic activity, the views can be spectacular making one aware that the area has hidden depths and dimensions, that Nature isn’t always silent and lacking in interest.

For the hiker, the hunter and the skier who get closer to the land the area reveals its many  hidden treasures – the plant life, the animals the birds, the fish and the geology.

A new book Tongariro National Park : An artist’s field guide by Desmond Bovey explores the various aspects of the area. While this  is an artist’s exploration of the park’s plants, animals and landscapes Bovey is also very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna.  He writes in a detailed, informative style describing how the various elements of the ecosystem have developed an interconnected system where plants and animals depend upon each other for survival on the often harsh and inhospitable Volcanic Plateau. He also refers to the introduced species which have made their home in the area often to the detriment of the local species.

While the writing often takes a broad-brush approach to the subject we are also given detailed information of some aspects of the animals who live there. For instance, he notes the difference between the pellet droppings of red deer and the local hare.

The text is accompanied by a  four hundred illustration which vary from postage stamp size to double page spreads.

Bovey has a keen eye for the animals and plants he depicts. The artists ability to render the details of nature requires careful attention to the shape and line of the specimens but also the colour which with many of the plants can be quite subtle.

The book shows just how extensive the flora and faua of the area is and he meticulously paints all the plants and animals including all the larger introduced  animals – red deer, fallow deer, the sika or Asian deer feral pigs and goats, along with the possums, rabbits, hares  stoats, feral cats and ship rats.

He pays much attention to the birds of the area including  kareara, fantail,  kaka, matata, skylarks and dotterels He also examines the bees, moths, grasses and trees, depicting them in their habitats with a varsity of illustration which are much more informative than a photograph.

The author also provides something of a travel guide not only showing and describing the  habitats but also explaining why the area looks as it is,  taking account of the influence of climate, history and evolution. He also  provides a few pointers as to finding interesting trails and locations. He mentions in particular Lake Rotopounamu which is located high on the flank of Pihanga, one of the smaller volcanoes. The lake’s name refers to its  blue green colour  and Pihanga in Māori tradition was a beautiful mountain fought over by the larger ones.

The lake is protected so bird life is abundant including papango, weweia, kotare and black shags  and thanks to Project Tongariro bush Robins are making their re-appearance.

While the author makes a few references to the impact of man on the environment he gives an account of John Cullen the  honorary warden of the Tongariro National Park who in the early part of the 20th century tried to create his vision of a grouse hunting landscape by seeding the slopes of Tongariro with heather and then introducing  red grouse. The grouse didn’t survive but the heather has been a pest ever since although an introduced beetle has made some impact in reducing its growth.

Bovey  who has dual nationality has worked as an art director and illustrator in Besançon, France, for 30 years. For many years he travelled to Africa pursuing his interest in photography of traditional arts and ceremonies. In 2011 he returned to live in his hometown, Whanganui.

On his  return he felt a need to reconnect with the landscapes of his youth. He chose Tongariro National Park, inspired by a chance encounter with a kārearea, the New Zealand falcon. He returned again and again, sketchbook in hand, applying his delicate brush as he reacquainted himself with the dramatic landforms and ecology of the volcanic plateau.

Reviewed by John daly-Peoples

Moe Miti

Red Leap Theatre

Q Theatre

August 22 – 27

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

In Red Leap’s “Moe Miti” three generations of Pasifika women examine their identities in order to imagine their future by contending with the past.

The work is located in the shifting space between waking and sleep, between ancient myths and contemporary angst. The characters seem to alternate between being demi-gods and flawed humans.

Pepe, a young woman born in New Zealand, is estranged from her mother Valu but she has to  has to engage with her as well as her culture, represented by Aiga, their mythic ancestor from which she is also alienated. In searching for her identity, she has to understand, transition and transform.

Throughout the work figures glide in and out of deep shadows and shining surfaces along with changing times, places and  histories. This surreal environment is enhanced by a mesmeric soundtrack and dramatic lighting.

While there are occasions when the house lights are on full most of the time the stage is a in half light, figures are indistinct and the action set in an amorphous environment.

Central to the staging is a large translucent rectangular shape which acts as a transition point between the past, present and future with connections to the monolith in 2001 A Space Odyssey and a Tardis. The background also features rays of light signifying notions of the spiritual

The clash between mother and daughter, between the ancient and the new is expressed in the metaphor of the daughter running uphill, laughing and the mother going downhill, crying.

The cast of three Katerina Fatupaito, Ma’aola Faasavala and Malama Tila manage to convey characters which are deeply rooted in the mythology of Samoa as well as presenting contemporary individual striving to negotiate their place in the world.

Being part god part human, they present the mythic Samoan creation story in parallel with drama and aguish of the mother / daughter relationship.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Ngātokimatawhaorua 

The biography of a waka

By Jeff Evans

Massey University Press

RRP $50

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Anyone who has attended the ceremonies around the annual Waitangi Day commemorations will have seen the massive  wāka Ngātokimatawhaorua  which is launched each year as part of the celebrations. The craft which is housed on the Treaty grounds is also seen by thousands of people each year.

The vessel is 37.5 metres long, requires at least 76 paddlers, and can seat up to 120 people. It is lashed with more than 1km of rope, and weighs six tonnes when dry, 12 tonnes once it is wet and in the water.

It was built to mark the 100^th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1940. The job of carving the wāka from three kauri trunks had begun in 1934 and involved many men and a team of 24 bullocks over many weeks to haul the hull’s sections out of the forest.

A new book Ngātokimatawhaorua  written by Jeff Evans explores the history of the craft which is considered to be one of the largest of its type in the world.

Evans says he was drawn to the  wāka’s story because “Ngātokimatawhaorua is an iconic waka taua, and not just for its size. It is intrinsically connected to the commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, so holds a special place in the history of Aotearoa New Zealand. Interacting with the waka in any way — whether it be as a crew person, a support person, a visitor to the Treaty Grounds, or as a spectator when it is out on the water — leaves an indelible memory, and that was certainly the case for me. The sight of a full crew paddling the waka on Waitangi Day should be witnessed by every New Zealander”.

The author takes the reader on three major journeys in telling about the craft. There is the history of its name, the history of its construction as well as the authors own journey to retrace the history of the boat.

In tradition, when Kupe discovered New Zealand, his waka was named Matawhaorua. But on his return to Hawaiki, it was re-adzed and named Ngātokimatawhaorua (‘ngā toki’ means ‘the adzes’). It was captained by Nukutawhiti, the grandson of Kupe  on its return to New Zealand.

The inspiration for its construction came from Te Puea Hērangi, the influential leader in the King movement, and the project was directed by Pita Heperi (of Te Tai Tokerau) and Piri Poutapu (Waikato). The book traces the efforts over many years of Te Puea, whom initially did not have the full support of the Northland tribes.

The book follows the search for the best trees in the Puketi State Forest, their cutting down, transport and construction. The project presented  many difficulties because of the size of the logs and their location. Evans also retraces the routes taken by Pita Heperi and the other loggers who  brought the cut trees.  

In the 1930’s this whole process was documented by the New Zealand filmmaker Jim Manley who took thousands of feet of 30mm and 16mm film as well as many black and white photographs. This footage would later be turned into a significant film edited by Mereta Mita which was screened in the late 1980’s.

In describing the 1940 commemoration and the launch of Ngātokimatawhaorua  Evans uses eyewitness accounts as well as newspaper reports. He also describes the 1974 refurbishment of the wāka and commemoration that year when the when Queen Elizabeth II attended the Waitangi Daty celebrations.

Evans has written an in-depth account  of this important and little known part of New Zealand history  filled with detail and anecdote which gives new life and understanding to the vessel. As the subtitle of the book suggests this is a biography of the wāka, seeing the canoe as an entity with many dimensions, entwined with the history of Māori and the country as whole.

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Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

I Want To Be Happy

By Carl Bland

A Nightsong Production

Directed by Ben Crowder & Carl Bland

Lighting – Sean Lynch
Set – Andrew Foster
Composer – John Gibson
Costumes – Elizabeth Whiting

With: Jennifer Ludlum, Joel Tobeck, Milo Cawthorne

Herald Theatre, Auckland, Until Sat 31 August

Then Circa, Wellington, 6-30 September

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Delightfully Delicious

This production is arguably one of the most delightfully delicious pieces of theatre I have seen this year. 

I Want to be Happy is clever and becomes ever-more so as it unpacks.  It is simple and yet it’s not.  It is hugely comedic but it’s about other things.  It is timely and requires sensitivity to a multitude of social issues.  Above all, it is remarkably intelligent and requires an intelligent audience. 

In short, and tucked away in the Herald Theatre, this piece of absurdism is likely to be something of a sleeper.  A not to be missed one.

The cast is in a word – outstanding. 

Binka is a guinea pig in a laboratory cage complete with attached sleeping kennel.  But she is isolated and lives in a rodent world where only occasional smells, moments and memories have any meaning.  She is completely isolated in the cage, has no contact with others and instinctively wants to escape. 

Jennifer Ludlum’s first eyebrow twitch as guinea pig Binka captivates the audience and, for me, is one of the moments of Auckland’s theatrical year.  Who would have thought it – a simple eyebrow twitch!  Audience rapport grows from very quickly there as she takes Binka through various antics and anarchic adventures that become an emotional roller-coaster for the audience.  Some pretty physical work at times too.

Monitoring, rewarding and feeding Binka via a feeding tube that dispenses food pellets and water, is Paul, a downbeat, chain-smoking lab assistant.  He is lonely and isolated too and desperately wants to regain the love and the dearest friendship of his apparently wayward wife.  But his efforts are failing miserably and Joel Tobeck endows him with the reality of this, imbuing the repetitive routines of his daily life with a shoulder-slumping tiredness that hints at depression. 

Binka is the antithesis of Paul and the combination of Jennifer Ludlum and Joel Tobeck serves only to endow the production with a yummy depth.  Their characters may have something in common but they cannot communicate.  They occasionally talk at one but never actually exchange lines.  Of course they can’t … one is a human and the other is – well, just a guinea pig. So the two characters mirror each other, albeit in different ways and in different contexts.  Yet they share so much.

I Want To Be Happy explores this via the introduction of couple of other guinea pigs – a nice one and a not-so-nice-one of course, both played by a well-encased Milo Cawthorne, plus a few stray rats and even a particularly malicious cat.  There are accidents, incidents and escapes all generating considerable mirth, yet touching a broad range of emotions.

I was particularly taken with Andrew Foster’s set which is divided into two parts.  One is a mirror of the other, albeit on a different scale.

I Want To Be Happy is hardly conventional theatre.  It achieves this with two outstanding actors playing two very different roles – outstandingly – and asks a lot of bigger questions and demands the audience ask them too.

Under no circumstances miss this production.  Congratulations Nightsong, you have made my winter.

To subscribe or follow New Zealand Arts Review site – www.nzartsreview.org.

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Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Shostakovich 5

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

August 17

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The  APO’s Shostakovich 5 concert opened with “The Enchanted Lake”, a short work by the Russian composer Anatol Liadov. The work is a musical descriptive of a landscape most likely a lake view by the Russian painter Arseny Meshchersky.

Here the shimmering strings, the tinkling piano along with the brass and woodwinds all contributed to the whispering, atmospheric sounds which created a lush vision as the orchestra took the audience on a journey through a romantic landscape.

Next up was Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G where the composer linked his Spanish / Basque heritage to his interest in post war jazz.

From the opening sharp whip crack this was a work which was full of surprise and  contrasts While the orchestra took on the role of the Big Jazz Band,  pianist  Steven Osborne was like a barroom piano player cleverly combining the Spanish themes and  the lively, experimental music of the 1920’s. He skilfully played the various themes as they  pursued each other with changing pace and intensity. At the same time conductor Shiyeon Sung worked hard to control the almost out of control orchestra.

Then  second movement saw Osborne playing a serene  romantic piece which slowly increased in intensity but maintaining a fluidity which contrasted with the first and last movements. Osborne showed a sensitivity in the way that he brought out the  nuances of colour and texture. The dramatic third movement where jazz elements  again enter along with all the instruments. Here Osborne was conscious of the conductor and the various instruments which seemed to energize him. At times his playing was delicate and meditative while at  other time there was a more ferocious quality

The big work on the programme was Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5  

In the 1930s the purges of Joseph Stalin meant that contemporary music and many composers were declared decadent and  Dmitri Shostakovich saw the need to adapt to the current political climate. In a cynical nod to political correctness, he  subtitled his Symphony  No 5 “A Soviet Artist’s Response to Just Criticism.” While there are many  lyrical and heroic aspects to the work which were favoured by the cultural critics, and saved him from criticism there is a sense of brooding despair beneath the almost romantic melodies.

The symphony feels as though it is  contemplation of the battlefield, the drama and horror of battle and its eerie aftermath. But this is not some reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s triumphant 1812 and it  sems very relevant to the present day as Ukraine had been focus of Russian territorial ambition in WWI and the site of much fighting and destruction.

The work opens with the great percussive roar of war and destruction followed by the  various colours and moods of the battlefield landscape mixed with desperate pleas of the souls and spirits of the dead. Then there are themes which could be derived from folk melodies which seem to speak of a coming Spring and a renewal, but it is a bleak Spring interrupted by pounding militaristic brass which had conductor Shiyeon Sung  conducting with feverish gestures

The second movement which has some links to dance, but this is not folk dance or the waltz but rather a dance of death. Then there was some bright and colourful tunes along with a delightful pizzicato sequence from the strings which expressed contrasting feelings of tension and fragility in the music before eventually returning  to the militaristic  the dramatic and the chaotic.

The slow third movement was almost a requiem with Sung conducting with surging gestures and at times she seemed to struggler with herself  as she coped with the tortured, mournful sounds provided by flute and harp and the work eventually moves to a transcendental mood  conveyed by the flute with music derived from Orthodox prayers.

In the fourth movement Sung extracted  nuance and subtly, giving the work a lightness and  innocence before erupting into a reworking of the opening theme with a lightness streaming through the bleak sounds of the battlefield

At times throughout the work Sung’s elaborate conducting style saw her more as a magician than conductor and her baton more of a wand.  She seemed to be encouraging the orchestra, beseeching and inspiring them with, drive, aggression and reflection.

The concert had opened with a farewell to Barbara Glaser who has been the CEO of the orchestra  for the past seventeen years. Her leaving was acknowledged by chairman Geraint Martin who spoke of her many accomplishments ending with announcing that she would now become  a patron the orchestra.

John Daly-Peoples

Venice Biennale 2024

John Daly-Peoples

Creative New Zealand has announced that the country  will not  have a national pavilion at next year’s Venice Biennale which runs from April 20 until November 24, 2024..

A report that CNZ produced found that, while the benefits of taking part were clear, some aspects were not sustainable.

In the longer term, New Zealand is seeking an alternative plan for a new national pavilion in 2026, 2028, and 2030, which will involve finding a partner organization or consortium.

The report highlighted “inadequate” resources as a major factor in the decision to withdraw. The pavilion costs approximately NZ$1.2 million ($715,000) to deliver each two-year cycle, with Creative New Zealand contributing NZ$800,000 ($475,000). This is about 1% of the organization’s annual budget, but the complex exhibition delivery process has previously required a workload that the report deemed “unacceptable.”

The report also investigated the artist selection process, finding that “while Māori artists have represented Aotearoa New Zealand at Venice, Western knowledge, artforms and institutions have historically been promoted and valued more.”

“New Zealand’s participation in Venice is currently designed to serve the individual artist,” the report added. “There is opportunity to move the conversation from personal and singular to how representation provides public and collective value for New Zealanders. Personal and public value should be intimately connected.”

Instead of having a national pavilion next year, several artists from New Zealand who have yet to be announced will be included in the biennale’s main exhibition “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigns Everywhere curated by Adriano Pedrosa The European Cultural Centre which is in the centre of Venice close to the Rialto Bridge is also including two New Zealand artists, Areez Katki and Caitlin Devoy, in the 7th edition of its “Personal Structures” exhibition that runs alongside the biennale. Their presentations are both funded by Creative New Zealand.

Katki has not yet revealed much about his project, which will be an exploration into the practice of archaeology. Devoy will present BodyObject, which comprises a performance video and playfully corporeal sculptures of everyday objects, including a floppy, phallic musical instrument suggestively titled Wall Hung (pink two-tone) (2020).

The New Zealand Pavilion was established in 2001 and recent highlights have included an exhibition by Berlin-based artist Simon Denny in 2015, Lisa Reihana in 2017 and Yuki Kihara with the exhibition Paradise Camp in 2019. 

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Peter James Smith – On Writing On painting On Objects

5 – 31 August 2023

OREX Gallery

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Peter James Smith latest exhibition “On Writing on Paintings on Objects” continues the artists interests which combine  painting, mathematics, history and romanticism.

His paintings are intended to be read in several ways. There is the pictorial aspect in which we are provided with visual descriptions of landscape which often are built on the Romantic  landscape tradition as well as colonial descriptions of the land.

The diagrammatic symbols and marks he uses are abstractions of natural forces and aspects of scientific enquiry such as concepts of the angle of sunlight, speed of tide or ocean currents.

The marks can also be cartographic indicating the outlines of landscape, the ideal passages into harbours or the recording of rainfall.

Then there are the written description of the landscape giving the location, the dates of original or important events as well as a references to writers (Milton) or philosopher (Plato).

Accompanying the exhibition are notes by the artists which gives further detailed historical information which are like curator’s commentaries.

One of the simpler works is “Limelight” ($7000) which shows a streetlight at sunset. The artist notes that the work “presents the world as a stage at the end of the day with the title referring to the theatre footlights that produced radiant energy from the heated lime”. The theatre  arched proscenium is suggested by a drawn curved line with the streetlight and foliage becoming props in his imagined scene.

The other works in the show have similar level of explanation which gives the exhibition a depth and relevance.

“The Divided Line” ($12,000) is an example of his more complex work. Using a romantic view of Mitre Peak and Milford Sound he overlays it with Plato’s concept of “the divided line” which imagines two worlds – the visible world and the intellectual world of ideas and concepts. The division is close to notion of The Golden Section which  many artists, notably Billy Apple have used in their work. Smith’s use of the line can be applied to the artwork image in understanding that much of our appreciation or conceptualising of the view may be an intellectual understanding rather than a visual comprehension.

He has based  “The Voice  of the Hidden Waterfall” ($12,000) on an old postcard of the Whangarei Falls and the actual post card is collaged into the work “Films Urgent (The Hidden Waterfall) ($2500)  which imagines a roll of  film taken of the falls.

With both these works he reflects on the way in which information about an event or location  is appreciated and passed down. So, there are visual recordings of the photograph, the film the painting and the written record while the painting also refers to the sound of the waterfall itself,

“Crossing the Bar” ($12,000) features four observations of the Kaipara Bar. There is the plan of the  bar and the  surrounding physical features, a painting of a dramatic sky and the rough seas between the two headlands and the cartographic  information detailing the survey by the HMS Pandora in 1852. There is also an abstract addition of several white bars which refer to the various channels which run through the area between the two headlands. These bars can be seen as a musical notation, echoing the rhythm of nature or the keyboard of a piano with its reference to the film  The Piano and the treacherous West Coast.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Become Ocean & Beethoven 5

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

August 4 & 6

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Last week saw the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra presenting a three-day mini music festival with compositions spanning three centuries from Beethoven’s Symphony No 5 through to John Luther Adams “Become Ocean” which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2014.

The three concerts were all conducted by German Andre de Ridder, a champion of contemporary music.

The first work in the “Become Ocean” concert was  Toru Takemitsu’s “Rain Tree” which takes its  title from a passage in the novel “Atama no ii Ame no Ki” (The Ingenious Rain Tree) by Kenzaburo Oe: “It has been named the ‘rain tree’ for its abundant foliage continues to let fall rain drops collected from last night’s shower until well after the following midday. Its hundreds of thousands of tiny leaves – finger-like – store up moisture” The tree then continues to have droplets of water rain down.

The  extraordinary percussion piece featured three performers playing various percussion instruments – bells, marimba, xylophone, and vibraphone. The performers were positioned high on the Town Hall stage with a row of seven instruments and each of the players were spot lit  in the otherwise darkened hall,  the oscillation of the lights between the players providing a visual enhancement to the music,

The various instruments  represent the sounds and ambience of water and falling raindrops. At times this was the soft delicate sounds of light rain and at other times the greater intensity of sounds conveyed the noise of heavy rainfall.

The ringing, tinkling, jingling of the instruments created  a subtly changing soundscape but the music also conjured up images of water falling on hard ground, on water, on colourful flowers and  silently into foliage. At times there was a sense that we and the performers were under water, bathed in the soft blue light which shrouded the performers and the long lingering chimes gave a sense of depth. space and time.

The work was constantly evolving with repetition, changes in tone and volume, the sounds pulsing through the Town Hall, affecting both performers and audience.

The  major work on the programme was John Luther Adams’s “Become Ocean”. The work played in a single movement, was inspired by the oceans of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. The composer took his title from a phrase of John Cage in honour of Lou Harrison, and further explained his title.

“Life on this earth first emerged from the sea. As the polar ice melts and sea level rises, we humans find ourselves facing the prospect that once again we may quite literally become ocean.”

It was essentially a minimalist work in much the same mode as his fellow composer John Adams.

The orchestra under German conductor de Ridder was divided in to three groups with a centrally placed piano which maintained a constant murmuring presence. The way the groups competed and integrated with each other made the work more like a sound installation engineered by de Ridder.

Each of the sections had their own minamiilst sequence of musical phrases  which in turn  overlapped, contrasted  or intertwined with each other. At times their playing was not much more than quiet breathing while at other times they surged with a monstrous roar

De Ridder was meticulous as he co-ordinated the  various groups with feather-like arm gestures and crisp pointing to soloists and individual groups.

The  orchestral instruments were largely used for their percussive qualities notably the timpani  brass and woodwinds but even the violins were used at times, merely to quiver.

There were times when the orchestra seemed like a giant sea creature being brought to life with the roaring of the brass.  At other times the discrete  sounds made one aware of the “Butterfly Effect”  where a single flap of the wing can have implications for changing weather and life cycles.

The conductor (and composer) seemed to continually discover  new ways to create instrumental sounds – breathing, growling and shimmering which were aural metaphors for the land, sky and sea which created a grandeur of  scale and space.

The Beethoven 5 concert opened with a performance of Beethoven’s “Coriolan Overture” in which the composer sought to convey the dramatic tale of the Roman general who planned a revenge on Rome until his mother entreats  him to stop and he chooses to commit suicide.

This is a work of huge dramatic moments  conveying  both Coriolan’s heroic qualities as well as  his compassionate side and De Ridder made this emotional conflict  clear from the opening dramatic chords through to the deathly whispering conclusion.

 the Korean composer  Unsuk Chin’s “subito con forza” which was commissioned to commemorate Beethoven’s 250^th anniversary takes its inspiration for the Beethoven overture, the title referring to the notion of  a sudden shift from one musical texture to another, a method Beethoven’s often used in his work and obvious in the “Coriolan Overture.

De Ridder said of the work, “the point is not to mash-up styles and ensembles, but to contrast and complement, to create a bigger picture.” By doing this, de Ridder hopes to “find new audiences for [traditional] repertoire and putting it in new contexts”.

The work began with the opening chords of the Coriolan which the composer then explodes with furious sounds. The traces of the theme were rigorously developed with abrupt changes with competing piano, woodwinds and xylophone along with a crescendo of bells and cymbals.

The main work on the programmes was Beethoven Symphony No 5 and like his other works such as the Symphony No 3 reflected the period – revolutionary, transformative and dramatic. These works expanded the whole idea of the symphony giving them an epic scope and emotional impact.

Rather than being music with great melodies full of poise and balance this was music which attempted to advance new ideas and placed the composer  at the forefront of the Romantic revolution where narrative, originality and emotion were all-important.

The Fifth is a work which can be heard countless times without becoming totally familiar but with de Ridder at the helm this was a magnificent performance which was both familiar and new. The opening of the drumbeats was familiar but the conductor’s exploration of the work seemed to give it an edgy drama with each section of the work given an ideal workout with displays of intense energy and refined restraint.

De Rider conducted with a supreme elegance throughout the performance taking the orchestra through to the glorious finale.

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