Jun 21, 2022 Metro Arts
Kia ora!
I’ve missed you. I hope you’ll accept an apology for my absence, but it’s for a good reason — we have a magazine coming out! And I reckon it’s pretty good, but I’ll wait a week before I tell you more (spoiler alert it’s big!)
I’ve been going out to see A LOT of art recently (which I know is my job) but also the masses of people are so full-on for us introverted folks. It’s been a huge oscillation, between events which are packed and those which are scrambling very last minute to get bums on seats. Regardless of what kind of situation you find yourself in though, I just want to take a moment to say — artists, I appreciate you! Thank you for continuing to make cool stuff for us all to enjoy.
We are heading deep into winter and I am not angry at the need to bring out a winter coat. To make things feel even more wintery, Aotea Square Ice Rink is returning on 24 June which sounds fun. Also get ready for a tonne of dining art experiences with Elemental AKL starting next month, a festival of art, music, food and events. Events include The Snugs (pictured above) a winter dining experience which is being advertised as Insta-worthy (which is always a red flag but I’ll reserve my judgement). As well as Takurua — Nafanua, War Goddess, the sequel to Tala Pasifika Productions’ sold-out 2021 show, Takurua — Battle of the Brothers. Audiences can expect a five-course “Neo-Pasifika” feast and “world-class contemporary dance theatre steeped in Samoan Fale Aitu performance traditions.” Yum!
While I have you: a whole suite of new exhibitions are open around the city, which I myself am making my way through and you should too. Worth heading to are Objectspace (see Reckon below), Artspace, Te Tuhi and Te Uru.
As always, if you have something you want to share, please do get in touch! lana@metromagazine.co.nz.
— Lana
The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra!
Metro x APO:
The Trusts Community Foundation Opera in Concert
Il Trovatore
7.30pm, Saturday 16 July
Auckland Town Hall
This July, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s ever-popular Opera in Concert is back to delight you with one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most beloved operas. Il Trovatore is the ultimate tale of triumph and tragedy, encompassing heroism, betrayal and inextinguishable love – all powerfully told through some of Verdi’s most glorious music, including such hits as the ‘Anvil Chorus’ and ‘Di quella pira’.
With a cast of extraordinary singers united under the baton of the APO’s Music Director Giordano Bellincampi, this will be a night to remember.
Book Now – www.apo.co.nz/il-trovatore
Reckons
twisting, turning, winding: takatāpui + queer objects
Objectspace
Until 21 Aug 2022
Curated by Richard Orjis, twisting, turning, winding: takatāpui + queer objects pulls together the work of 50 artists to create an assemblage of takatāpui and queer objects. Each of the artists who cross a wide range of creative fields were asked to present an object in their possession either found or made. The resulting exhibition is intended to be an archive of takatāpui and queer experience.
Winding around the gallery, the objects are carefully placed, with lots of breathing room, and supported by exhibition design from Micheal McCabe. If anything the collection of artists and of objects is incredibly overwhelming in its scale. If a critique was to be made, it might be that the exhibition inadvertently presents a queer cabinet of curious. But I suppose that too is the point, that the answer to what a takatāpui or queer object might be is ultimately in the multiplicity, in its queering of objectivity. twisting, turning, winding: takatāpui + queer objects is fun, sensitive and decadent.
Recommendations
This week I recommend heading out to Twin Cultivation! Now on and for only two weeks, Twin Cultivation (pictured above) is a mini garden where you can sign up for a harvesting session and unearth a ceramic vegetable made by artist Cindy Huang 黄馨贤. To help shed insight into the installation, we asked Cindy a couple of questions.
What is the main question that Twin Cultivation grapples with?
When I first started thinking about Twin Cultivation two years ago, I was working through what it meant to be tauiwi in Aotearoa and kept coming across beautiful moments of connection with tangata whenua through the act of gift and exchange. I think here in Aotearoa we have been grappling with some very difficult histories of colonisation and have been questioning how those events have shaped the world we live in now. For me a big question is around the potential relationships that we can build going forward.
Three reasons not to miss Twin Cultivation?
Starting with the most obvious: you get to take a unique piece of art home with you. Made like a homemade cookie, with lots of care and love.
You’ll get to meet someone new and learn a little bit about their life. As part of the experience you’ll share something about yourself — memories or stories related to your relationship to food. Granted, it’s an unusual way to meet someone, and it is definitely a unique experience to meet someone outside work or school especially when we have become increasingly more isolated as a result of the pandemic. But I think that’s what makes it special.
Have you ever had a dying itch to touch something at an art gallery, but no matter how tempting or inviting it might be, you know you’re being eyed down by security? Well, you don’t have to worry about that here! Touch, feel and inspect to your heart’s content.
Perhaps controversial, but readers need to know! What’s your favourite vegetable?
Well, it’s so difficult to just choose one, I love them all so much! But if I had to narrow it down to just one… I think right now, I would choose the sprouted kūmara. It’s been a rich source of connection and conversation with people when I first talk to people about my practice and of course while developing this project. The kumara is such an iconic vegetable and resonates with people so deeply across the board, so it’s easy to feel that instant spark whoever it is you’re talking to.
Twin Cultivation runs at Panmure Train Station from Mon 27 June — Sun 3 July and at Britomart from Mon 4 July — Sun 10 July.
In total, 240 ceramics will be gifted across the city.
Recon
mgluw tuqiy na Temahahoi / 找尋迭馬哈霍伊的路徑 / Finding Pathways to Temahahoi
Ciwas Tahos 林安琪 Anchi Lin
Artspace Aotearoa
10 June – 06 August 2022
Motutapu
Benjamin Work and Brendan Kitto
Te Uru
11 June – 11 September 2022
Elsewhere and nowhere else
The house is full
Te Tuhi
12 June — 4 September
Matariki Ring of Fire
Emily Karaka
Te Uru
18 June – 18 September 2022
Scenes from a Yellow Peril
Auckland Theatre Company
ASB Waterfront Theatre
21 Jun – 3 July
MĀUI by Fresh Movement
Presented by Pacific Dance Festival & Auckland Live
Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea – Te Pokapū | Aotea Centre
Thu 23 June, 7pm
Pacific Dance Digital Festival
Multiple locations
23 June — 31 July 2022
Elemental AKL
Across Auckland city
14 July — 31 July 2022
Takurua — Nafanua, War Goddess
by Tala Pasifika Productions
Hunua Room, Aotea – Te Pokapū | Aotea Centre
14 — 23 July
