Mobile Radio Station to Visit Local Taupo Communities
NEWS RELEASE
3 May 2012
Mobile Radio Station to Visit Local Taupo
Communities
A national public art
programme sees an Auckland artists’ collective visit small
communities with a mobile radio station and public address
unit around Lake Taupo next week.
From
Mangokino to Turangi, Wairakei Village to Waitahanui marae
the group D.A.N.C.E Art Club is meeting and broadcasting
with communities around the Lake Taupo region as part of the
Erupt festival between 16 and 20 May, as part of Letting
Space’s Community Service contemporary art programme.
An art party on wheels, D.A.N.C.E FM
106.7 operates from a converted panel truck, DJing with
locals, reporting on events at the festival, exchanging
local stories and community issues, and sharing toasties and
a mysterious specially created drink by the artists for
Erupt called ‘the Volcanic Sparkle’.
The project is the brainchild of an Auckland art
group D.A.N.C.E Art Club, and has been created with New
Zealand public art programme Letting Space, in association
with the community, for the festival.
No community is too small for this art and music
project (the itinerary is included below). It kicks off on
Wednesday 16 May at a pensioner village in Rifle Range Road
before moving onto public DJing workshops with local school
students at Wairakei village, a gig at the Magakino Bus Stop
café on Thursday and Waitahanui and Turangi on Friday and
Saturday. It will also set up in the Taupo town centre on
Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
“We are excited about getting to explore these
choice towns,” says D.A.N.C.E Art Club member Ahilapalapa
Rands. “This is such a cool opportunity for us. We are
hoping to open up public discussion about Erupt festival
with local communities, learn about what makes them special
and have a good time doing it,”
Locals can tune in to 106.7FM between 16 and 20
May from 10am to hear live studio interviews with artists,
conversations with festival goers, and interviews with
locals, captured by D.A.N.C.E. FM’s roaming reporters. The
project will link to local businesses, community
organisations and everyday households
This work is part of a series produced by leading
public art programme Letting Space called Community Service
which commissions contemporary artists to work with
communities around New Zealand towards social change, using
arts festivals as platforms. Joining this project is Tim
Barlow’s The Public Fountain
(www.lettingspace.org.nz/the-public-fountain), a temporary
publicly operated fountain at the centre of Taupo’s
shopping centre, which acts as a platform for community
storytelling about geothermal power use. Letting Space are
excited to make the Taupo region one of their first
launchpads for this series.
The
D.A.N.C.E FM 106.7 itinerary is as
follows:
Wednesday 16th
10am – 12pm
Rifle Range Road
Pensioner Village
2pm – Onwards
Taupo
Town Centre
Thursday
17th
10am – 12pm
Taupo Town
Centre
2pm – 5pm
Wairakei Community
6pm –
8pm
Mangakino Bus Stop Cafe
Friday 18th
10.30 – 2pm
Waitahanui Marae
3pm – 7pm
Turangi
Saturday
19th
10.30am –
2pm
Turangi
3pm – 8pm
Taupo
Central
With Erupt’s Lanterns In The Lake
D.A.N.C.E. Art Club is an Auckland
based arts collective who curate and facilitate art
gatherings. They enjoy working in diverse spaces such as
public parks, nightclubs, urban environments as well as
traditional gallery spaces. Their key aim is to encourage
audience engagement and participation in challenging and
innovative ways. Their members include Chris Fitzgerald,
Ahilapalapa Rands, Linda.T and Vaimaila Urale. Previous
projects have included with Enjoy Art Gallery, St Paul
Street Gallery, Mangere Arts Centre, Cassette 9, Sarjeant
Gallery and Galatos. Shortly after Erupt they wing
themselves to Melbourne to organize the closing party for
the Next Wave Festival.
The project is
funded by Creative New Zealand and Erupt Festival Taupo,
with thanks to Timeless Taupo 106.4 and Mountain FM
89.6.
ends