Otago Festival of the Arts
Otago Festival of the Arts
The Otago Festival of the
Arts will again envelope Dunedin in a whirlwind of
captivating music, thought-provoking theatre, magical dance,
avant-garde opera and much, much more. Otago’s major
cultural event presents a stellar array of international and
New Zealand performers - along with Dunedin’s finest
artists. With no less than six premières of new works, and
guest artists coming from eight countries, the Otago
Festival promises to be a startling celebration of creative
endeavour. The Festival programme will be rich and varied.
For eleven dynamic days and nights, there will be something
for everyone, from vocal ‘pop art’ to rare indigenous music;
from our country’s finest ballet to cutting-edge
contemporary dance-theatre; from side splitting comedy to
stimulating theatre. The city will be infused with festival
fever as churches and museums are turned into theatres, and
an enticing medley of lunchtime concerts and late-night
cabaret is on offer. Once again, the Otago Festival of the
Arts will confirm this region’s passion for the arts. The
Festival programme will be officially launched at 6.00pm
Friday 6 August. The full Festival programme will be
available on line and in the official brochure from 7 August
2004. Check out the Festival’s website
www.otagofestival.co.nz Runs Until 9 October 2004 Contact for
enquiries: Jessica Garland, phone (03) 477 7600 or 021 504
524 Contact for Bookings: NZ Ticketek outlets
Dunedin Fringe Festival 2004 The Dunedin Fringe
Festival takes to the streets with a programme of innovative
art and street performances every day in the Octagon, an
arts trail of installations in shop windows, a drive-in
short film festival and the ever popular and amazing
Suburban Circus - a devised human circus which tours
Dunedin’s suburbs to sell-out shows. A festival within a
festival of experimental music, Lines of Flight, presents 16
hours of free noise and improvisation by New Zealand’s
leading exponents of this genre. International guests
include a dance troupe from Nepal and three world-class
comedy acts from Melbourne. The three artists will arrive at
the Dunedin Fringe fresh from sell out shows at Melbourne
Fringe where they won best solo and best comedian choice.
The trio will make their New Zealand debut at the Dunedin
Fringe Festival. Well known Christchurch multimedia theatre
group The Clinic will also attend this year’s Festival to
perform The Peculiar Case of Clara Parsons. National Radio’s
Off the Wire live recording will be on location at the
Fringe Club. Add to this over 80 other events by New Zealand
artists from all over the country and you have one hell-of-a
festival you won’t want to miss! For further information
check out the Festival’s website at www.dunedinfringe.org.nz
Runs Until 3 October 2004 20+ venues throughout
Dunedin Contact for enquiries: Carmen Wilson, phone (03)
477 3350; 021 178 1782 ; info@dunedinfringe.org.nz
Fortune Theatre - 30 anniversary season 1974-2004
proudly providing 30 years of excellent professional theatre
for the Otago community. Homeland, directed by Martin
Howells Commissioned by the Fortune Theatre for the Otago
Festival of the Arts as part of their 30th anniversary
celebrations, the world premiere of this pay will be a
highlight of the Festival programme. Ken Taylor knows this
land intimately, every stream and gully, every smell, every
mood. He farmed it for 40 years. He coaxed a living out of
it and raised a family here. Now Ken is 80, a widower and
ailing. His children think it’s time for a new kind of home,
drowsy afternoons and smiling caregivers. They gather to
help shift the old man… but Ken is not going gently. This is
a story about Home - why we need it, why we have to leave,
and why we must always return. 1 - 23 October 2004
Fortune Theatre, 231 Stuart Street, Dunedin Contact
for enquiries: Lisa Scott, phone (03) 477 1695 Contact
for Bookings: Box Office, phone (03) 477 8323 University
of Otago - Lunchtime Theatre: Bite size Shows Lunchtime
Theatre is a twenty-seven year old innovation of Theatre
Studies at the University of Otago and has been pleasing
audiences since its conception. There are a huge variety of
performance styles - from improvised theatre to naturalistic
plays, to simply the most bizarre material encountered.
Lucky Dip Theatre Showcasing the talent of THEA 301:
Directing students. Different selections each day from
playwrights Sam Shepard, Dylan Thomas, Samuel Beckett,
Terence McNally and more, so just come along and have a
lucky dip… 1, 7 & 8 October 2004, 1.00pm Finale by
Ekarin Teng and Angela Hannah Finale is an original piece
exploring the language and minds of today's youth. Do you
hate death and sadness? Or do you love life and happiness?
14 - 15 October 2004, 1.00pm Allen Hall Theatre,
University of Otago, Union Street, Dunedin Contact for
enquiries: Fiona McLaughlin, phone (03) 479 8896 Contact
for Bookings: Allen Hall, phone (03) 479 8896
Cleveland Living Arts Centre Cleveland Art Awards -
$9,000 prize pool Established in 1993, The Cleveland Art
Awards and Exhibition continues to seek to celebrate the
diversity of the art process rather than the promotion of a
particular trend or discipline. Past award winners include
Ralph Hotere, Inge Doesberg and Thomas Elliot. Each year
a different Judge is invited, changing the flavour of the
Award Exhibition from year to year. Judges for 2004 are
Marcella Currie, Exhibitions Officer of the Southern Eastern
Gallery, (Gore) and Cressida Bishop, Director of the
Millennium Public Art Gallery, (Blenheim) selecting the
Exhibition entries and Award winners. The Awards are held
in two categories: Painting and Works on Paper by Otago
Southland and South Canterbury artists; and
Sculpture/Ceramics/Jewellery/Applied Arts by South Island
Artists. The 11th Annual Cleveland Art Awards will again be
held at the Cleveland Living Arts Centre in the Historic
Dunedin Railway Station. In association with the Dunedin
City Council and the Otago Festival of the Arts 1 - 17
October 2004; Daily 10.00am - 4.00pm Children’s Art
Exhibition Responding to the theme “Your vision of
Looking after our world” this exhibition is sure to entrance
and amaze. Primary and Intermediate Schools from the greater
Dunedin area are invited to contribute to this annual
exhibition celebrating the creativity of Children. In
association with the Children’s Issues Centre 22 October
- 5 November 2004 ; Weekdays 10.00am - 4.00pm; Saturdays 10
. 00am-2.00pm Cleveland Living Arts Centre, 1st floor,
Dunedin Railway Station, Anzac Avenue, Dunedin Contact
for enquiries: Kari Morseth, phone (03) 477 7291
Dunedin Centre Lemalu’s NBR Homecoming Tour The
NZSO celebrates the exceptional voice and star quality of
New Zealand’s Jonathan Lemalu, now on the threshold of the
kind of career most can only dream of. The Dunedin concert
will be a televised event. 2 October 2004, 8.00pm
Dunedin Town Hall, Dunedin Contact for enquiries:
Hannah Evans, phone (04) 801 3833, or cell: 0274 300 680
Contact for bookings: Regent Ticketek, phone (03) 477
8597 Vienna Piano Trio Lovers in the moonlight inspire
Schoenberg's intense portrayal of human emotions, preceded
by a genial and youthful work from Schubert, and followed by
a poetic and atmospheric piece from New Zealand composer
Maria Grenfell and the grandeur and spacious measured
textures of Beethoven's last piano trio. 6 October 2004,
8.00pm Glenroy Auditorium, Moray Place, Dunedin
Contact for enquiries: Regent Ticketek, phone (03) 477
8597 Refuel - DaHawnayTroof (USA) +Die, Die, Die
(Auckland) Since 1997, Hawnay Troof has been playing
shows to people across the globe. Hawnay Troof is a
collective of several artists and programmers, featuring 900
Dixxx (Birmingham), Baby Donut (Washington, DC), Der Cobra
(Germany), Lil' Jenny (Oakland) & Soft Pink Truth (San
Francisco), among others. But it all revolves around
18-year-old Vice Cooler. Since he was eleven, Cooler has
been creating bedroom beats for the anxious dancing legs of
today’s youth. Aggressive lo-fi rhythms layered with twisted
analogue synth sounds. Fist in the air rise against the
status quo. Hawnay Troof’s first release was 2003’s CDEP Who
Likes Ta? Also in 2003, HT could be heard lending lead vox
on the track Gutter Butter on Gravy Train!!!!’s album Hello
Doctor. On Get Up! Resolution: Love , his first featured
full length, Vice uses his 16-piece band to the maximum.
Aggressive lo-fi rhythms layered with twisted analogue synth
sounds decorate this record from beginning to end.
18-year-old vocal chords pushed to the maximum from start to
finish. Fist in the air rise against the status quo. 2
October 2004 Dunedin Public Art Gallery Jeffery Harris This
exhibition highlights a unique journey through the
extraordinary career of Dunedin painter Jeffrey Harris. This
survey exhibition highlights major themes and charged
episodes from Harris’s three decades of art-making, reaching
from razor-sharp etchings to jewel-like ‘icons’, from
sumptuous triptychs to a group of unflinching recent
self-portraits. 2 October 2004 - 13 February 2005
Frances Hodgkins: Daughter of Dunedin Daughter of
Dunedin is the second exhibition in the gallery permanently
devoted to the works of one of New Zealand’s most highly
regarded artists, Frances Hodgkins. The exhibition offers
the viewer an insight into the artist’s early life and work.
A Dunedin Public Art Gallery exhibition Runs Until 31
October 2004 Megan Dunn: The Tragedy New video artwork
by Megan Dunn “ Something old, Something new, Something
borrowed, Something blue…” Runs Until 5 December 2004
Stephen Mulqueen and Erwin Brinkman: Tiwai Project
Tiwai Project exhibition is a collaboration between
sculptor Stephen Mulqueen and photographer Erwin Brinkman in
response to the nature of place. Runs Until 5 December
2004 Truth’s Mirror Truth’s Mirror is a witty and
thought-provoking juxtaposition of treasures from the
Gallery’s permanent collection. Tony Green, formerly Head of
the Department of Art History, University of Auckland
curates the exhibition. A Dunedin Public Art Gallery
exhibition Runs Until 10 October 2004 Sara
Hughes: Love Me Tender Sara Hughes brings colour and life
to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery’s Otago Daily Times
Gallery with her distinctive variations on the Paisley
patterns that Scottish settlers brought to Dunedin. Cut from
pre-painted sheets of sticky vinyl, Hughes’ Paisley shapes
stretch and flex as if manipulated on a computer screen -
nineteenth century forms refreshed by twenty-first century
technology. A Dunedin Public Art Gallery exhibition
Ongoing exhibition Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 30 The
Octagon, PO Box 5045, Dunedin Contact for enquires: Tim
Pollock, phone (03) 474 3243 Otago Museum Otago
Wildlife Photography Exhibition Following the conclusion
of the competition, the Otago Museum is hosting an
exhibition displaying photographs from all five years of the
Otago Wildlife Photography Competition. Special
Exhibitions Gallery, Runs Until 3 October 2004 Sir Edmund
Hillary: Everest and Beyond The Otago Museum will be the
final worldwide venue for the special exhibition Sir Edmund
Hillary: Everest and Beyond. Developed by the Auckland
Museum in partnership with National Geographic, curated by
Alexa Johnston with the full support of Sir Edmund and Lady
Hillary this is a wonderful exhibition that the Otago Museum
has secured for the Otago community. Everest and Beyond
is an outstanding exhibition, which brings into sharp focus
the life and achievements of one of New Zealand's icons. Sir
Edmund Hillary not only climbed the world's highest mountain
more than 50 years ago, but has gone on to explore the icy
expanse of Antarctica and beyond. Very importantly, Sir
Edmund has spent over 40 years working with the Sherpa
people of Nepal to bring schools, hospitals and health care
to their remote villages, and improve their lives through
the building of bridges and airstrips. The many New
Zealanders who have worked with Sir Edmund on these projects
agree that their lives have also been enhanced through their
involvement with his Himalayan Trust. Sir Edmund has worked
to preserve the Himalayan mountain environment and has
contributed to many other environmental groups. His
commitment encourages us all to make a positive contribution
to others in our lives. The exhibition is the final chance
for viewers to see some amazing things, which played a part
in Sir Edmund Hillary's successes, including the ice axe he
used on that most famous climb. Sir Edmund Hillary: Everest
and Beyond is a celebration of an amazing man and his life,
and a reminder to each of us reach for great heights in our
own human endeavours. Special Exhibitions Gallery, 16
October 2004 - 20 March 2005 Guided Tours Take a
‘Highlights of the Museum’ guided tour and learn some inside
knowledge about various aspects that the Museum has on offer
and/or take a guided tour of ‘Southern Land, Southern
People’ and gain a greater understanding, of the Southern
region. ‘Highlights of the Museum’ guided tours are
available at 11.30am and ‘Southern Land, Southern People’
guided tours are available at 3.30pm (and other times by
prior arrangement). Ongoing Service - 11.30am and 3.30pm
daily Lunchtime Music A range of musicians will liven
up the atrium with live performances each week. This is now
a regular fixture but is subject to change according to
function demands. Museum Foyer, Fridays and Saturdays
between 12noon and 1.30pm Discovery World Science Shows
These excellent shows are now run by the Museum’s Science
Communicators. Discovery World, Saturdays & Sundays at
11am, 1pm and 3pm Communicator Presentations Each day,
the Otago Museum Communicators present fascinating 15-minute
presentations on objects or themes of particular interest
from the Museum's galleries. Ongoing Service, 2.00pm
Daily Search Centre Otago Museum’s Search Centre
research facility provides an inviting opportunity for
visitors to engage in further research on objects or themes
in the galleries of interest to them. It will also be the
first stop for the identification of items members of the
public bring into the Museum, a service that annually
attracts a huge number of objects or specimens. Well
resourced, with swift new computers, microscopes, modern
journals and a great variety of new books, the Search Centre
offers a variety of options for seeking further information.
Set in a comfortable and relaxing environment the Search
Centre is the perfect place in which to think, read , study,
or research. Ongoing Service Ongoing Exhibitions
The Museum’s timbered Victorian gallery, the Animal Attic
, houses an extensive collection of natural history
specimens from around the world, re-displayed as they would
have been in the late 1800s. A ‘museum within a museum’,
this gallery is unique in New Zealand. Explore the Tangata
Whenua Gallery with its impressive displays of Maori
Cultural artefacts, including a stunning collection of
Southern Maori material. The Pacific Culture Galleries
display outstanding collections from Polynesia and
Melanesia. People of the World has world archaeological
treasures including ancient Greek pottery; a mummy and other
fascinating artefacts from Ancient Egypt; a striking
collection of swords; exquisite decorative arts from Asia
and Europe and a superb array of costume and textiles. Walk
the length of the giant Fin Whale in the Maritime Gallery ,
and then take in the intricate detail of a wealth of
nautical artefacts. Come face to face with the extinct giant
moa in the Extinction and Survival area and see one of the
few complete moa eggs in the world. Otago Museum, 419
Great King Street, Dunedin Contact for enquiries: Ryan
Helliwell, phone (03) 474 7474 ext 845 Douglas Rex Kelaher Originality can be
such a dilemma. In this exhibition, Kelaher presents a
recent body of work that is based entirely on various other
artists’ practices. The artists selected by Kelaher are
those whose work has been taken on by him as inspiration in
the past, those whose art has already made a dramatic
impression on his own practice. However, instead of simply
quoting these earlier artists, Kelaher will combine
representations of these artists’ aesthetics together, to
create a new breed of ‘sculptural hybrid’ 5 - 23 October
2004 Blue Oyster East side Hamish Pettengell lab102
This Melbourne based artist brings to the Blue Oyster
Gallery an installation that deals with the world of
biology, delving into the microcosmic world of viruses and
bacteria, and focusing on disease. As well as a strong
aesthetic quality, this exhibition has implications as a
metaphor for the wider world, cellular constructions being
controlled and defined by text, in much the same way that
scientists attempt to control and define organics. 26
October - 13 November 2004 Blue Oyster West side Cathy
Helps The contemporary world is dominated by an abundance
of information and events and Marc Auge warns that our
dependence on the “world system” of information threatens to
rob individuals of a sense of meaning. If we take our cell
phones to the movies, the mini TV to the bach, the laptop to
the café and on camping trips, when or where can we find
time and space to really get away from it all? Or do we not
want to anymore? Are even our spaces of leisure constructed
of and dependent on this excess of information? Helps
explores these questions in an installation of painted
texts. 26 October - 13 November 2004 Blue Oyster East
side Tessa Giblin Having realised five different
artists installations literally in the streets as a part of
Gridlocked On Tour in Dunedin earlier this year, Curator
Tessa Giblin is excited by the prospect of doing an outreach
project at Blue Oyster. She plans to realise a group show
with a number of exterior/interior works. Giblin says, “I am
quite interested in a number of young artists who are
working convincingly in the dealer scene as well as being
interested in incidental positioning on the true verge of
art world practice. Artists such as Rohan Wealleans, Reuben
Paterson, Ri Williamson, Joanna Langford and Eddie Clemens.”
The exhibition will be a dual showing in the gallery as well
as the streets ( Gridlocked style). 26 October - 13
November 2004 Blue Oyster West side Blue Oyster
Gallery, 137 High Street, Dunedin Contact for enquiries:
Ali Bramwell, phone (03) 479 0197 Peter Rae Gallery
Beyond 2
- 26 October 2004 Electro-acoustic music
installation by Susan Frykberg This words and music event
features local poets and musicians 8 October 2004,
6.00pm Kwang-Soo Jeon - Ceramics Currently visiting
Professor at the Otago Polytechnic’s School of Art,
Kwang-Soo Jeon was most recently Associate Professor at the
Department of Fine Art Education, Busan National University
of Education, in Korea. His specialist areas of research are
Korean Pottery and contemporary ceramics. Kwang-Soo’s
stunningly unique ceramic works have exhibited widely in
Korea, also in China, Japan, and Finland, and are held in
Public Collections in Japan and Korea. 29 October - 18
November 2004 Peter Rae Gallery, 215 Stuart St, Dunedin
Contact for enquiries: Peter Rae, phone (03) 470 1022 or
0274 585 424, peterraegallery@xtra.co.nz
Artsenta - Arty Pants 004 -
The Man with the Golden Pants The Creative Arts Trust and
Artsenta will host its very own creative clothing awards,
Arty Pants , as part of celebrations during national Mental
Health Awareness week. This year the show, now in its fourth
year, is titled Arty Pants 004 - The Man with the Golden
Pants . This year’s show has a James Bond angle, and the
organisers have secretly filmed a pre-show video starring
(amongst others) the Prime Minister of New Zealand, the evil
Jellysponge Gold Pants, his side kick Cod Piece, Miss
Moneypants, and of course, Mr James Bond himself. The
categories for entries for this years awards are ‘It came
from Arty Space’, ‘Reptilian Nites, Mammalian Daze’ and
Rocking Frockerella, you will go to the Ball’. The event
will include a prize for the overall winner, “The Creative
Arts Trust - Supreme Arty Pants Award”. The hard job of
judging this year will be carried out by Hon Judith Tizard
MP, Associate Minister Arts, Culture, Heritage; Ms Bridie
Lonie, School of Art, Otago Polytechnic; Mr Malcolm
Macpherson, Mayor Central Otago District Council and Otago;
and District Health Board member Ms Fieke Newman, a
Dunedin based fashion designer. The Awards are an
opportunity for people involved in mental health services
across Otago and Southland, to show their creative skills,
and wonderful energy, off to the rest of the community.
Sponsors for this year’s awards are the Creative Arts
Trust, Dunedin City Council Creative Communities, Otago
Polytechnic, Like Minds Otago, Public Health South, and Fuji
Xerox. Funding has also come from the Dunedin Casino
Charitable Trust. 15 October 2004 Globe
Theatre - American Buffalo by David Mamet, director Andrew
Morrison Mamet’s skill with words is to the fore in this
black comedy about a man who considers that he has been
cheated by the dealer who had purchased a nickel coin from
him, knowing it to be the rare American buffalo and thus
worth a great deal more than he had paid. The junk shop
owner, with two of his friends, plots to rob the dealer and
thus make him pay - but things do not go to plan… 21 - 30
October 2004 (excluding 25 October) Hocken Library George D.
Valentine, A 19th Century Photographer in New Zealand
curated by Ken Hall, and toured by the Christchurch Art
Gallery. Serious ill health and the need for a warmer
climate brought leading Scottish photographer George
Valentine (1852-1890) to New Zealand in 1884 (on a visit to
Dunedin he was heralded as 'a noted home photographer and
art critic'). Despite his illness, and spending just six
years here before his untimely death, Valentine produced a
remarkable body of work. In 1885 his photographs of Te
Kapuarangi and Te Tarata (the celebrated Pink and White
Terraces) won him immediate acclaim. Following the eruption
of Mount Tarawera in 1886 (and the loss of the Terraces)
Valentine returned to the devastated region to complete a
series that was unmatched for its quality and drama. This
compelling exhibition includes many classic, iconic
photographs of an earlier New Zealand. These include geyser
studies in the Thermal Region (using the newly-invented
'drop shutter' photographic technique) and celebrations of
New Zealand bush and waterfalls in the Waitakere region.
Background into George Valentine's life and work, the famed
Rotomahana Terraces, and events surrounding Tarawera's
eruption are provided by a video and interpretive displays,
together with curator Ken Hall's book that accompanies the
exhibition. Runs Until 23 October 2004 Gardens of
Erewhon: Photographs by Paul Thompson toured by Idiom
Studio, Wellington Both this exhibition and Paul
Thompson's earlier series The Illustrated Erewhon draw on
the nineteenth century English writer Samuel Butler's
sojourn in New Zealand. Butler arrived in Canterbury aged
24, and with no previous farming experience he developed the
ideas for his most famous novel, Erewhon. Thompson's
photographs show details of sub-alpine landscape marked out
by a rectangle of yellow nylon cord, which he says instantly
transforms a natural feature into a garden or cultured
space. " Erewhon was inspired by the South Island high
country, but in fact it's an imaginary place. Gardens of
Erewhon creates imaginary gardens, given a brief existence
by inserting boundaries into a seemingly natural landscape."
Runs Until 23 October 2004 Glenn Busch: My Place ,
toured by the Centre of Contemporary Art This exhibition
of photographs, oral histories and documentary writing
celebrates identity and a sense of place through 68
photographs and commentaries by people living in
Christchurch who have been photographed in places "of
special significance to them." The accompanying text with
each image reveals not only a "window on a community" but a
window on all communities. Runs Until 23 October 2004
Talking Back: Six Dunedin artists respond to history in
the Hocken Pictorial Collection Six artists from early to mid career; a mixture
of painters and sculptors, male and female have been asked
to choose an original art work from the Hocken Pictorial
Collections to respond to. The works will be displayed
together. What will this pairing result in and what will
these choices be based on? The choice of works is individual
and telling but, whether by way of curiosity, nostalgia or
historical significance, ones with relevance to each artist
will be chosen. Creating new work with the collection as a
catalyst reiterates the presence of art history. Individual
works brought back into the light in new context continue to
generate thought and meaning. Simultaneously contemporary
art is re-established; not a bizarre phenomenon, but with
foundations, a steady development from what came before.
Responding to a work enables the artist to express how they
feel about this history; their artistic forbears. The works
in the collection are telling how it was and the artists get
to talk back. 29 October 2004 - 22 January 2005 Hocken
Library, cnr Anzac Avenue & Parry Street, Dunedin Contact
for enquiries: Pennie Hunt, phone (03) 479 5648 The
National Bank Dunedin Rhododendron Festival - 21 Years
The National Bank Dunedin Rhododendron Festival is an
annual event, which has become a much-enjoyed part of the
Dunedin spring calendar. The Festival appeals to a broad
spectrum of the community and provides an opportunity to see
a diverse range of open gardens, participate in the
associated leisure activities and increase knowledge with an
assortment of educational workshops. A highlight is
Festival guest, Lynda Hallinan, who is the editor-at-large
of Weekend Gardener magazine, the Sunday Star-Times'
gardening editor and one of the presenters on TVNZ's new
gardening show, Ground Rules. Lynda will present two
workshops during the Festival, ‘How to get the Garden you
Want’ and ‘Design Trends - What’s Hot and What’s Not’.
28 - 31 October 2004 Contact for enquiries: Annemarie
Mains or Victoria Bunton, phone (03) 467-7241 Otago
Settlers Museum Dovetails and Davenports: Colonial
furniture and furniture makers in Otago This exhibition
of furniture from the Otago Settlers Museum collection is
more than just a visual record of what the furniture of our
forebears looked like. Rather it is the story of the lives
of our Victorian settlers told through the pieces of
furniture that they made, owned and loved. Dovetails and
Davenports also charts the development of the Dunedin
furniture making industry from early artisans chipping away
in their workshops to the emergence of large furniture
companies catering to a mass market. 30 October 2004
- 12 February 2005 Across the Ocean Waves What was it
like crossing the oceans to come here in a sailing ship?
The core of this new display is an accurate recreation of
the steerage quarters of an immigrant ship bound for Otago
in the days of sail. Visitors are welcome to climb into a
bunk or sit at the central table and imagine what life would
have been like cooped up for 100 or more days at sea. Short
video presentations bring the era to life. Death and
disaster, fun and romance, the misery of seasickness and the
excitement of arrival are all showcased. A baby dies,
fighting breaks out among the single girls, and there is
dancing and a stolen kisses. This is an interactive
exhibit, which will seize the imagination and transport you
back to the epic voyages made by Otago’s nineteenth century
ancestors. “Climb aboard” and see for yourself what their
great migration was all about. Ongoing Exhibition On
the Move: Road Transport in Otago One hundred years ago
Thomas Sullivan invented the tea bag, Charles Menches
invented the ice cream cone and vehicles were becoming
increasingly familiar sights on Dunedin streets. To find out
more about local motoring and transportation milestones
check out On the Move: Road Transport in Otago - an
exhibition of vehicles, photographs and memorabilia
recalling not only the dawn of motoring in Otago but also
the heydays of horse-drawn coaches and drays, tramcars and
cycles. Be sure not to miss a ride on our penny-farthing.
Ongoing Exhibition The Smith Gallery The ‘Otago
Early Settlers Museum’ opened in 1908 with just one room for
displays. Now known as the Smith Gallery, it was a memorial
to Otago’s Scottish pioneers. Stern Presbyterian faces
glowered down from rows of photographic portraits amidst
artefacts of daily life from Otago’s early days. Today, the
Smith Gallery emphasises the importance of the Early
Settlers in the story of Otago. The portraits on the walls
have been rearranged in order of arrival; and a variety of
furniture and other artefacts, all drawn from the pre- gold
rush era, add character to this historic gallery. Ongoing
Exhibition Otago Settlers Museum, 31 Queens Gardens,
Dunedin Contact for enquiries: Tim Pollock, phone (03)
474 3242 NOVEMBER 2004 Cleveland Living Arts Centre
Muka Youth Prints - No Adults Allowed! Original litho
prints from leading New Zealand, Australia and Europe on
display for sale or simply to view, by children under the
age of 18 only. Muka Youth Prints is a two-day exhibition
only. 3 & 4 November 2004; Wednesday and Thursday 10.00am
- 5.30pm Friederike Schmaltz - drawings Retrospective
collection of work created over the past 15 years showing
the development of stylistic changes of Friederike Schmaltz.
Known for her work with colour, this time Friederike
presents black and white, still life, ink and pencil
drawings. 9 - 20 November 2004; Weekdays 10.00am -
4.00pm; Saturdays 10 . 00am-2.00pm Aids Awareness
Timed to link with International Aids Awareness this
exhibition invites members of the community to contribute
art that responds to the ongoing impact of this disease.
23 November - 4 December 2004 ; Weekdays 10.00am -
4.00pm; Saturdays 10 . 00am -2.00pm Affordable Art Fair -
nothing over $300 An ideal chance to start an art
collection, add to an existing one or pick up an original
gift for Christmas. In true art fair style - once a work is
purchased it is taken away and a new one is put in its place
- ensuring the show is always changing. 29 November 2004 - 17 January 2005 ; Weekdays
10.00am - 4.00pm; Saturdays 10 . 00am-2.00pm Cleveland
Living Arts Centre, 1st floor, Dunedin Railway Station,
Anzac Avenue, Dunedin Contact for enquiries: Kari
Morseth, phone (03) 477 7291 Fortune Theatre - 30
anniversary season 1974-2004 proudly providing 30 years of
excellent professional theatre for the Otago community.
Lend Me A Tenor, directed by Martin Howells “Black his
face; Lots of padding. If we don’t tell those idiots in the
audience…” What happens when a world famous Italian Opera
expires in his hotel bedroom prior to his Gala performance
as Verdi’s ‘Othello’ in Cleveland, Ohio? With 1000 tickets
sold and 50 pounds of shrimp mayonnaise getting warmer by
the minute, the luckless producer has no choice; his gauche
assistant must black up and take to the stage. Add the
mayhem and a volatile Italian wife, an outrageous bellhop
and swooning female fans, and what follows is a chain of
hilarious events in epic proportions. Brilliantly funny and
masterfully written, this farce is a night at the opera to
rival the Marx Brothers. 12 November - 11 December 2004
Fortune Theatre, 231 Stuart Street, Dunedin Contact
for enquiries: Lisa Scott, phone (03) 477 1695 Contact
for Bookings: Box Office, phone (03) 477 8323 Botanic
Garden - HortTalk Presents - Dunedin’s First mainland island
- the latest progress on Orokonui Nature Sanctuary Ralph
Allen, an experienced ecologist and chairperson of the Otago
Natural History trust, will update participants on this very
exciting urban conservation project that plans to
reintroduce kiwi, kaka and perhaps kakapo to within a
20-minute drive of the central city. 12 November 2004,
12noon Botanic Garden Centre, Upper Lovelock Avenue,
Dunedin Contact for enquiries: Clare Fraser, phone (03)
474 9649 Blue Oyster Gallery- Jan C. Wilson - The Gift
and the Proper - Frothing the Synaptic Bath The act of
knitting in public is often seen as a contentious act
resulting in vitriolic protests and publicity beyond that
which one would expect from what seems such a harmless act.
The Honourable Judith Tizard’s act of knitting in parliament
had Winston Peters complaining that she was “arrogant and
disrespectful” and that the act was typical of her “contempt
and arrogance.” Similarly Richard Prebble allowed that
“knitting needles were a device” and should be banned from
Chambers and Bill English equated the act to ‘text
messaging’. Yet while in that instance knitting was seen as
something rebellious, generally when a woman is told to
“stay at home with her knitting” that charge sarcastically
places her in a No Mans Land of domesticity. So apparently a
knitter can be a subversive or she can relegate herself to a
position beyond individuality and only be useful in terms of
the needs of others, effectively liquidating her selfhood.
Wilson explores these problematic and opposing feelings by
provocatively fetishising “infantilism” through an over
abundance of knitted booties. Booties are a ‘proper gift’
and often the first received by the new Mother-to-be. In
this way, Wilson also opens the dialogue surrounding the
experiences of women artists who take time out from their
artistic careers to venture into Motherhood. The impact that
the parasitical needs of child rearing have when the artist
experiences it, it is symbolised by the placement of the
booties in the gallery context. She is refusing to knit in
private. 16 November - 4 December 2004 Blue Oyster
West side Emma Bugden Artist and curator Emma Bugden
and film-maker Colin Hodson team up to produce a series of
video projects which look like reality TV mixed with home
movies. Presented as a series of large-scale video
projections mixed with smaller wall based monitors; this
work is part of an ongoing project which will ultimately
become a narrative feature film. Real-life partners, both
have been known to delve into their inner-most secrets in
their individual auto-biographical projects, and together
here they prod and probe at their own relationship, offering
up to viewers teasing glimpses of truth, reality, and a
certain amount of fascinating fiction to boot 16 November
- 4 December 2004 Blue Oyster East side Blue Oyster
Gallery, 137 High Street, Dunedin Contact for enquiries:
Ali Bramwell, phone (03) 479 0197 Dunedin Public Art
Gallery Jeffery Harris This exhibition highlights a
unique journey through the extraordinary career of Dunedin
painter Jeffrey Harris. This survey exhibition highlights
major themes and charged episodes from Harris’s three
decades of art-making, reaching from razor-sharp etchings to
jewel-like ‘icons’, from sumptuous triptychs to a group of
unflinching recent self-portraits. Runs Until 13 February
2005 Megan Dunn: The Tragedy New video artwork by
Megan Dunn “ Something old, Something new, Something
borrowed, Something blue…” Runs Until 5 December 2004
Stephen Mulqueen and Erwin Brinkman: Tiwai Project
Tiwai Project exhibition is a collaboration between
sculptor Stephen Mulqueen and photographer Erwin Brinkman in
response to the nature of place. Runs Until 5 December
2004 Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 30 The Octagon, PO Box
5045, Dunedin Contact for enquires: Tim Pollock, phone
(03) 474 3243 Otago Settlers Museum Deeds,
delinquents & death: the legal profession in Otago
1879-2004 Lawyers are essential to the smooth running of
our society. Their specialist knowledge is vital at crucial
points of our lives - buying a house, negotiating family
break-ups or facing criminal charges. We might not love
them but sometimes we really need them. This is the story
of the law in Otago from dusty old deeds to macabre murders
and everything in between. Step into the dock and feel the
weight of the law bearing down on you! Runs Until 12
February 2005 Dovetails and Davenports: Colonial
furniture and furniture makers in Otago This exhibition
of furniture from the Otago Settlers Museum collection is
more than just a visual record of what the furniture of our
forebears looked like. Rather it is the story of the lives
of our Victorian settlers told through the pieces of
furniture that they made, owned and loved. Dovetails and
Davenports also charts the development of the Dunedin
furniture making industry from early artisans chipping away
in their workshops to the emergence of large furniture
companies catering to a mass market. Runs Until 12
February 2005 Across the Ocean Waves What was it like
crossing the oceans to come here in a sailing ship? The
core of this new display is an accurate recreation of the
steerage quarters of an immigrant ship bound for Otago in
the days of sail. Visitors are welcome to climb into a bunk
or sit at the central table and imagine what life would have
been like cooped up for 100 or more days at sea. Short
video presentations bring the era to life. Death and
disaster, fun and romance, the misery of seasickness and the
excitement of arrival are all showcased. A baby dies,
fighting breaks out among the single girls, and there is
dancing and a stolen kisses. This is an interactive
exhibit, which will seize the imagination and transport you
back to the epic voyages made by Otago’s nineteenth century
ancestors. “Climb aboard” and see for yourself what their
great migration was all about. Ongoing Exhibition
Otago Settlers Museum, 31 Queens Gardens, Dunedin
Contact for enquiries: Tim Pollock, phone (03) 474 3242
Refuel Bar, Underground, University of
Otago
Contact for enquiries: Scott Muir, phone (03) 479
3875
Blue
Oyster Gallery
Beyond explores where contemporary art
practice and Christianity meet. The exhibition is curated by
Susan Frykberg through the Chrysalis Seed Trust and features
Chrysalis Seed Trust members: Claire Beynon, Sister Mary
Horn, Shelly Johnson, Maria Kemp, and Stephen Mulqueen.
Dunedin College of
Education auditorium, 145 Union Street, Dunedin
Contact
for enquiries: Robert West, phone 03 477 9566
Globe Theatre, 104
London Street, Dunedin
Contact for enquiries; Rosemary
Beresford, phone (03) 479 7273 (day); (03) 478 0248
(evening)
Contact for bookings: Globe Theatre Box Office,
phone (03) 477 3274
Curated by Bekah Carran
and Douglas Kelaher. Artists: Scott Eady, Violet Fagan,
Philip J Frost, Seraphine Pick, Douglas Kelaher and Bekah
Carran.
Gems from
experienced and emerging artists contribute to this popular
event.