Celebrate Matariki with Dudley Benson

For immediate release

10 June, 2014

Celebrate Matariki with Dudley Benson

City Gallery’s July Open Late part of Matariki Wellington Festival

Dudley Benson, Kiwi composer and performer extraordinaire, will be performing at City Gallery’s Tuatara Open Late on Thursday 3 July as part of Matariki Wellington’s Art Night: Pō Whakaatu Toi event. For one magical-Matariki night, free buses will connect late night events at many of the region’s galleries.

Dudley Benson (Ngāti Pākehā) has cemented his place as one of the most innovative and unpredictable voices in New Zealand music. Since 2006, he has released two critically acclaimed albums The Awakening, Forest, three EPs, a double live album, delivered two nationwide tours (2008, 2010) and garnered a Taite Prize nomination. At Tuatara Open Late, Benson will present a solo show with electronics that celebrates Matariki from the perspective of ‘a Pākehā pop star’.

Performing in venues as diverse as Te Papa and the Tokyo club scene, and collaborating with an unlikely cast of guest artists - from Vashti Bunyan to Richard Nunns and Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Benson blends choral, classical, electronic and hip-hop influences, forming a unique blend of pop that music journalist Nick Bollinger describes as 'a whole genre of his own'.

Tuatara Open Lates take place the first Thursday of each month with a changing programme of art, music, film, books and always food, beer and wine. On July 3, it is part of a region-wide evening of late night gallery openings called Art Night: Pō Whakaatu Toi, just one event in this year’s Matariki Wellington Festival. Free Art Night buses will depart every 30 minutes on a circuit between City Gallery, Pataka (Porirua), The Dowse (Lower Hutt), Expresssions (Upper Hutt). Te Papa and the Cuba St Quarter dealer galleries will also be open late and within easy walking distance of the City Gallery drop-of.
For the full Matariki Wellington programme see www.matarikiwellington.org

Tuatara Open Late is also the chance to experience Sung Yul Oh’s playful exhibition MOAMOA, A Decade after dark. Tuatara beer, Seresin wines, Six Barrel Soda and food from the fabulous Fire Truck food truck will be for sale on the night.

Please check citygallery.org.nz for performance times:
www.citygallery.org.nz/events
Tuatara Open Late, Thursday 3 July. 5 – 10pm
Entry: Koha
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