Commentary

A conversation with Kauri Wharewera and Israel Randell

Interview Posted Jul 8, 2021
By Israel Randell
A person in their 20's sits in front of three neon lit pink sculptures which are hung on the wall. The panels look like digital versions of the traditional Māori tukutuku panel

“I’m paying homage to all the things that we shouldn’t forget about, you know?” - Kauri Wharewera

Curator Israel Randell talks to Kauri Wharewera about his Matariki commission for Masons Screen entitled Te Kahui o Matariki. They discuss the meaning of each Matariki star represented in the video work, and consider the potential of contemporary media to tell indigenous stories.

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Three writers respond to Shannon Te Ao's 'what was or could be today (again)'—Dunedin Public Art Gallery (10 April–27 June 2021)

Writing Posted Jun 15, 2021
By CIRCUIT Staff
The back of a women swimmer, wearing black togs and stretching to the left.

Three new texts by Ōtepoti-based writers, John Ward Knox, Talia Marshall (Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Rārua, Rangitāne ō Wairau, Ngāti Takihiku), and Jessica Koroneho Hinerangi Thompson-Carr (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāruahine, Ngāpuhi) in response to Shannon Te Ao's installation at Dunedin Public Art Gallery, what was or could be today (again).

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How would you feel about me writing something about ‘Toi Tū, Toi Ora' for CIRCUIT?

Writing Posted Jun 15, 2021
By Rangituhia Hollis

"Toi Tū, Toi Ora is a slow heart beat under the earth. I feel the earth beneath my feet, and for me it’s a place to stand in anger. But that’s me. As a space full of art, the exhibition is a space that condenses a broad and unfathomable set of connections that can’t be simplified into something that I could ever speak of" - Rangituhia Hollis

Originally conceived as a response to Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, a group show of 300 artworks by 110 Māori artists at Auckland Art Gallery, this essay by artist Rangituhia Hollis grew into a personal reflection on Māori experience of the post-colonial past, present and possible future.

 

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CIRCUIT Cast Episode 98: Stephanie Beth and Emma Fitts

Podcast Posted Jun 9, 2021
By Thomasin Sleigh

“ .. it was really important to go for the silent woman” – Stephanie Beth.

In this podcast Thomasin Sleigh meets pioneering feminist film-maker Stephanie Beth and artist Emma Fitts to discuss two documentaries made by Stephanie in 1977/80 which sought to portray women’s lives and potential. Emma Fitts responds to the work and discusses her own interest in psychodrama as a strategy for female empowerment.

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CREATURE, Marianna Simnett – City Gallery Wellington (22 May–11 July 2021)

Writing Posted May 25, 2021
By Mark Williams
A womans face on a screen with an animals tail coming out of her mouth

"Simnett’s survival strategy is to examine trauma's cooled, black, liquid residue, morphing the after-image into something new and darkly inhabited."

- Mark Williams on Marianna Simnett’s CREATURE at City Gallery Wellington

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CIRCUIT Cast Episode 97: Steve Carr And Christian Lamont

Podcast Posted May 6, 2021
By Thomasin Sleigh

In this pod Thomasin Sleigh speaks to Steve Carr and Christian Lamont about Fading to the Sky at Auckland's Te Uru Gallery, an exhibition that began as a response to Carr's mothers passing, and through a collaboration with his former student Lamont, evolved into a deeper narrative of los

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Panel discussion: Expanded Territories, Expanded Practices

Interview Posted May 5, 2021
By Lana Lopesi

What is sovereignty? Is it innate and universal, or something to be contested and won, in a given place and time?

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CIRCUIT Cast Episode 96: Not Today… Can you decolonise an art gallery?

Podcast Posted Apr 12, 2021
By

“I can only speak from my aspiration of how I want to see the world... and the art institution that I want to be involved in” - Nigel Borrell

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happiness is only real when shared, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland (13 February - 29 May 2021)

Writing Posted Apr 7, 2021
By Amy Weng

happiness is only real when shared is a follow up to We’re Not Too Big To Care, the inaugural exhibition curated by Lisa Beauchamp whe

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24 hours in Tāmaki Makaurau: an artist moving image round-up

Writing Posted Mar 25, 2021
By Mark Williams

Have Uber, will travel. A recent 24 hour sojourn in Tāmaki Makaurau presents an opportunity for whistle stop impressions of shows by Natasha Matila-Smith, Steve Carr & Christian Lamont, Shannon Te Ao, Ana Iti and Toi Tū Toi Ora.

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