Sofia had a kōrero with the Assistant Curator at Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, Hester Rowan, about Soft Spot - a new group exhibition showing Claudia Kogachi, Ming Ranginui, and Erica van Zon.
Beth spoke with artists and siblings Oscar and Sophie Bannan about Chicken Poems, a new body of collaborative and parallel work opening today at Gus Fisher Gallery.
And for Stage Direction this week, Ahi Karunaharan joined Beth and Sofia in the studio to speak about a mixtape for maladies.
Soft Spot is a new group exhibition showing Claudia Kogachi, Erica Van Zon, and Ming Ranginui at Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery.
Through their respective practices, Kogachi, Van Zon, and Ranginui engage with the home conceptually and formally, depicting household items and activities while working with craft modes often associated with domestic furnishings such as rug making, carpentry, and needlework.
Sofia spoke with curator of Soft Spot, Hester Rowan, about the exhibition, her curation process, and the themes of Soft Spot.
Launched in 2016 by writer Peter Wells, the goal for the festival is to be ‘an exciting event that makes people think about sexuality, difference and community, stretches their understanding, gives them a few laughs and creates a slightly magic space for two days in February’.
Pip Adam, author of Ockham-nominated novel Audition (2023), and Nathan Joe, award-winning theatre-maker and performance poet, are both board members of Samesame but different.
Beth caught up with Pip and Nathan about the festival this year
Swan Crash is an new exhibition by artist Tony Guo at Season Gallery Aotearoa.
Guo is a painter born in Aotearoa New Zealand who grew up in Northeast China and moved to Tāmaki Makaurau in 2012.
Although informed by particular experiences and histories connecting back to his parents’ and grandparents’ experiences in northeastern China in the 20th century and his queerness, Guo’s works invite shifting and multiple interpretations.
Sofia spoke to Guo about his artistic practice, the ideas within his works, and his process.
Sofia had a kōrero with Artspace Aotearoa Kaitohu Director Ruth Buchanan about their newest exhibition showing Lubaina Himid and Michael Parekōwhai: Prompts.
Beth had a kōrero with artist Loren Marks about her new exhibition, Saudade, showing at Sanderson Gallery.
Sofia also spoke with Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Otago, Jacinta Ruru, about a book she co-edited, Books of Mana, which explores 180 Māori-authored books of significance.
Beth also spoke with artist Anto Yeldezian about his new exhibition, Arena, showing at Coastal Signs Gallery.
And for Stage Direction this week, Brady Peeti joined Sofia in the studio to speak about her Auckland Pride Show: What Happened To Mary-Anne?
Prompts is Artspace Aotearoa’s latest exhibition, showing the early work of leading Aotearoa practitioner Michael Parekōwhai and Turner Prize-winning UK artist Lubaina Himid.
Presenting a large body of work on paper from Himid alongside the early and significant sculptural work, The Indefinite Article, by Parekōwhai, Prompts is Artspace Aotearoa’s first exhibition of 2025, which seeks to explore the gallery’s question this year: Is language large enough?
Sofia had a kōrero with Kaitohu Director of Artspace Aotearoa, Ruth Buchanan, about the show.
Saudade is a solo exhibition showing Naarm/Tāmaki Makaurau based artist, Loren Marks, at Sanderson Gallery.
Sanderson writes that [Loren’s] ‘artworks present ethereal and dreamlike scenes whereby figures emerge from the alchemic realms of paint’.
The works in this exhibition experiment with Helen Frankenthaler’s ‘soak-stain’ technique. Often abstracted, each absorbs the viewer into its individual world of vivid imagery and colour.
Beth had a kōrero with Loren about Saudade and her creative process
Books of Mana is a new book edited by Jacinta Ruru (Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui), Angela Wanhalla (Kāi Tahu) and Jeanette Wikaira (Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāpuhi) which released earlier this week.
It is the first of its kind in the world to celebrate non-fiction indigenous writing – exploring 200 years of Māori print legacies. In examining the ways 180 selected books have enriched lives and helped to foster understanding of the Māori experience, both at home in Aotearoa and internationally, the book is a clear vision of influence, excellence and diversity of Māori writing.
Sofia spoke with co-editor and Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Otago, Jacinta Ruru, about Books of Mana.
Anto Yeldezian is a Tāmaki Makaurau based artist of Armenian heritage. His latest exhibition, Arena, is currently showing at Coastal Signs Gallery.
The works in Arena often play with bright and bold colours - often being mixed medium, with images, sketches and painting superimposed onto one another. Coastal Signs writes that in Anto’s paintings, ‘[. . . ] images from a myriad of sources are layered on top of one another and synthesized, very adeptly, into painterly tableau. 'The works in Arena are, as the title suggests, often organised around game boards – such as Snakes & Ladders and Noughts & Crosses – and representations of contested territories, both fictional and otherwise’.
Beth had a kōrero with Anto about Arena and his artistic process
95bFM 
