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Top Line-Up Of Presenters For Spark Festival 07

Media Release

Top line-up of international presenters for Spark Festival 07

Spark 07, Waikato Institute of Technology’s (Wintec) annual week-long festival of media, arts and design has attracted a top line-up of international and New Zealand speakers.

The festival, which will be held at Wintec’s Hamilton Campus and other sites in the city from August 6-10 has been held for 9 years, and is now regarded as a key event in Hamilton’s arts calendar.

Spark showcases national and international artists, writers, musicians, film-makers and media personalities. The exhibitions, presentations, entertainment and discussions are open to students and the public and this year, for the first time, public admission is free.

Events include morning, afternoon and evening sessions.

The festival is held in partnership with the University of Waikato and will be held at a range of city venues. Details of venues are posted on the Spark website (www.spark.net.nz)

Spark Festival organiser Susanna Wilford said this year’s festival ‘has something for everyone: music, film and visual arts. We’re looking forward to opening our doors to the Hamilton arts community. For the first time public admission will be free and seats are allocated on a first come first serve basis.’

This year, the international line-up features a diverse range of speakers including four US-based artists – music critic Daphne Carr, graphic designer Jan Wilker, digital story-teller Joe Lambert and artist Elisabeth Smolarz – and Brazilian artist Lucia Koch.

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Daphne Carr is the music critic for New York City’s Village Voice and author of a book on the industrial rock band, Nine Inch Nails. Her presentation at Spark will be titled“Attention music trogs, snobs, plebes, elites: Bad may be better when 
writing about popular music”.

Jan Wilker, the US co-founder of karlssonwilker inc. will discuss how he established a design studio in the heart of Manhattan. Recently he and co-founder Karlsson published a frank and entertaining book about their studio, “Tellmewhy: the first 24 months of a New York design company.” The design agency works with a wide range of clients, from MoMA and MTV, to the Guggenheim Museum, Capitol Records, the Art Director’s Club, Warner Bros, the New York Times Magazine, Creative Time and Puma.

Brazilian artist Lucia Koch’s works take architectural space as their starting point. Through interventions and additions, she encourages reflection about the framework of the architecture. For example, by changing the lighting with the help of various filters, or by adding materials or forms, she raises awareness about the centrality of physical surroundings.

Joe Lambert and his colleagues have worked on many digital story-telling projects involving educators, broadcasters, activists and organisations. The California-based Centre for Digital Storytelling has an international reputation. His latest project storymapping.org evolved a method of participatory media practice that has spread around the globe as a new communicative genre.

Lambert and colleagues have worked on innumerable projects involving educators, social services, broadcast organizations, activists, artists and large and small organizations. His latest effort, www.storymapping.org creates maps that share life stories in different geographic contexts.

Polish-American artist Elisabeth Smolarz uses digital manipulation in photography and video to explore the borders between reality and imagination. Smolarz grew up in Eastern Bloc Europe and moved to West Germany after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. Now living in New York City, she draws on the experiences of her background in Europe and sets them in new contexts.

The New Zealand line-up at Spark includes controversial designer and columnist Douglas Lloyd Jenkins and art dealer and art writer Anna Miles.

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins Lloyd Jenkins is considered one of New Zealand’s most influential design writers. He was described by the magazine Wallpaper as one of the most creative forces in design in the southern hemisphere. He writes design and architecture columns for a variety of publications.

Anna Miles is an art dealer, critic and senior lecturer at AUT. She is a prolific writer on art and a highly-regarded critic. Artists on her books include photographers such as Edith Amituanai and Darren Glass.

Other speakers confirmed include:

Peter Williams, TVNZ broadcaster Peter Williams, who will discuss life behind the scenes in television.

Kaye Shumack, an Associate Professor at the University of Western Sydney who has established a community television station, which serves as an independent voice for community groups.

New Zealand singer/songwriter Luke Thompson, who will share his knowledge of the local music industry. Thompson’s second single and music video 'Perfect Drive' spent five weeks in the New Zealand Top 40 Singles Chart and is one of the most played Kiwi songs on radio at the moment. His debut album will be released later this year.

The festival will also include exhibitions, screenings and performances including:

The Bolivarian Dream, the latest video art from Latin America, will be screened at Victoria Cinema. Developed by Chilean artist collective Hoffmann's House specifically for the South Project's Santiago programme in October 2006, the video compilation features a selection of 24 contemporary Latin American video artists who, in various ways, explore notions of collaboration and unification.

Work by Seraphine Pick at the Ramp Gallery, R Block, on Collingwood St, Hamilton. Pick, one of New Zealand’s leading artists, whose work has an ethereal quality, works in oil on canvas.

One.dot.zero, the funky British digital film-makers return to Spark for a screening of their recent work.. One Dot Zero produced the concert visuals for George Michael’s first tour in 15 years.

Matthew Bannister will perform with guests at the Ward Lane Function Centre.

Luke Thompson will perform at the National Contemporary Art Awards ceremony at the Waikato Art Museum.

Spark will also include a range of fringe events including an Urban Cartography happening, produced and performed by Wintec students and exhibitions of student art.

Further events are to be confirmed.
F
or further information about Spark or updates on the programme, please contact:

The Spark Festival Office
Phone: 07 858 7508

ENDS

© Scoop Media

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