Join Sofia Roger Williams and Beth Torrance-Hetherington for kōrero with artists and creative types from the wide art world of Tāmaki Makaurau and beyond!
The Royal Free is an exuberant, dark, wildly entertaining novel about death and copy editing by Carl Shuker. His previous novel, A Mistake, was released as a feature film this year, filmed in Auckland and starring Elizabeth Banks. The Royal Free comes out via Victoria University Press in June 2025.
Beth caught up with Carl about both books and his writing process
Toi Te Mana: an Indigenous History of Māori Art is a landmark account in words and pictures of Māori art by Māori art historians Professor Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) and Associate Professor Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou), with the late Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī).
Published last month, the authors explore a wide field of art practice from the arrival of Pacific voyagers 800 years ago to contemporary artists in Aotearoa and around the world today.
Sofia had a kōrero with co-author Deidre Brown about Toi Te Mana, its content, and the significance of the book.
Beth had a kōrero with ceramicist Peter Derksen about The Portage Ceramic Awards 2024. The exhibition is showing now at Te Uru Waitakere Gallery.
Pushing Parallels is a new group exhibition on at the Arts House Trust, Pah Homestead. Sofia had a kōrero with the co-curators, Abbie La Rooy, Kiki Hall, and Michael Prosee about the exhibition and the curation process.
Alice Canton joins us in-studio to chat to George Fowler about Naughty! A Christmas Drag Extravaganza is on at Basement Theatre from the 17th to 21st December. You can get tickets from basementtheatre.co.nz.
Pushing Parallels is a new group exhibition on at the Arts House Trust, Pah Homestead. Showcasing a diverse range of multidisciplinary artists from across Aotearoa, the exhibition features works from The Arts House Trust collection alongside invited artists who, although formally trained in one discipline, have ventured into new artistic territories.
Pushing Parallels encourages the artists to experiment, pushing the limits of their mediums to create a playground of colour and form to re-learn and question traditional art practices. Each room within the exhibition serves as a chapter, distinctively coloured and themed, yet interconnected through relationships between material, process, and scale.
Sofia spoke to the co-curators of Pushing Parallels, Abbie La Rooy, Kiki Hall, and Michael Prosee about the exhibition and the curation process.
The Portage Ceramic Awards is an annual exhibition of contemporary ceramics in Aotearoa, showing at Te Uru Gallery. The award was established in 2001 and embraces the rich history of working with clay in West Auckland.
Portage 2024 includes 42 works by 40 artists. Finalist works range from intimate functional objects to large-scale ephemeral installations. The concerns of the exhibited works are also diverse, embodying the natural world and the origins of clay, the intimate connection between Māori and whenua, the freedom of working with clay, and the precise technicalities of sculpting, firing, and glazing.
Beth caught up with ceramicist Peter Derksen about his practice and the exhibition.
Beth speaks to artists Peregrin Hyde and Tegan Allpress about Into Ocean and Ice, an upcoming exhibition at the New Zealand Maritime Museum.
Sofia speaks to graduating students from Elam - Emily Brown, Rainer Majsa, Maya Reed, Aidan McNeillage, & Talei Elvy - about their practices and the 2024 Elam Graduate Show.
For Stage Direction this week, Alice Canton joins us in studio with Laura Hill and Danyelle Mealings to speak about A Doll's House, Part 2.
And great birthday vibes x happy birthday lovely Beth!!
In 2023, artists Charlie Thomas, Rose Lasham, Peregrin Hyde and Tegan Allpress travelled to South Georgia, an island in the Atlantic Ocean.
I had a kōrero with two of the artists who embarked on the expedition: Peregrin Hyde and Tegan Allpress. They created art there – or upon their return – based on their interpretations of the remote island. This art will be part of the exhibition Into Ocean & Ice, opening next week at the New Zealand Maritime Museum.
Hyde is a multidisciplinary artist based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. His practice, which combines art and science, responds to the alarming rates of Antarctic ice melt, which reached historic lows in 2023. Tegan Allpress (Ngāti Whakaue, Rongowhakaata) is a film photographer focused on the concept of tūrangawaewae.
Into Ocean & Ice opens at the New Zealand Maritime Museum on November 29th.
In light of the 2024 Elam Graduate Show, Sofia spoke to Capstone graduates Rainer Majsa, Maya Reed, and Talei Elvy, as well as Masters graduates Emily Brown and Aidan McNeillage.
You can go see their work, as well as the rest of the graduating cohort’s, at the Elam Fine Arts Studios at 20 Whitaker Place this Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th from 10am to 4pm.
You can also visit the online portfolio of work and creative practice research from previous graduate students here.
Ahi Karunaharan joined Beth and Sofia in the studio to talk about a mixtape for maladies, the final chapter of Karunaharan's trilogy. The play tells the story of 17 nostalgic pop tracks which chart the deeply moving journey of Sangeetha and her family in 1950s Sri Lanka. a mixtape for maladies is on at ASB Waterfront Theatre from the 4th March. You can get your tickets here.
Alice Canton spoke to artistic director of Auckland Arts Festival, Bernie Haldane, about the programme this year. The festival is running from 6-23 March. More info here!
Brady Peeti (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Maniapoto) joined Sofia in the studio to speak about "What Happened to Mary-Anne?" - a story of trans woman Mary-Anne and her insatiable adoration for the power of rock. The show is on at the Q Theatre Loft from 11th-15th February. You can get your tickets here!
For Stage Direction this week, Xin Ji joins Beth in the studio to discuss Body Story which is a physical dance theatre piece, as well as his debut solo show. Body Story is on at Q Theatre from the 18th-22nd February as part of Auckland Pride Festival. Tickets from Q Theatre’s website.
Jonjon Tolovae, Nikadrian Peters, and Lijah Mavaega spoke to Sofia and Beth about Mā: a devised theatre and performance poetry work that delves into themes of chosen family, motherhood, and identity coming up at Q Theatre as a part of Auckland Pride Festival.
For Stage Direction this week, Alice Canton joined us in the studio to speak with some of the organisers of the Festival of Sumud at the Button Factory - brought to you by the organisers of the Gaza Dialogues and Make art not War.
For Stage Direction this week, Alice Canton joins Beth in the studio to chat with Andrew Paterson and Jack Buchanan about Don Juan (A Slightly Isolated Dog) at Q Theatre.
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