EssaysTuhinga roa

Magic Between Worlds: on Masons Screen
Magic Between Worlds: on Masons Screen
Sinead Overbye considers artists' approach to place and representation in the 2022-23 Masons Screen commissions.

To See Obliquely: Kate van der Drift’s Listening to a Wet Land
To See Obliquely: Kate van der Drift’s Listening to a Wet Land
"The reality of being in this country as descendants of settlers is something that is more akin to the reality of swamplands" — Alena Kavka writes on Kate van der Drift's show at Pah Homestead

Alex Plumb: from rapture to rupture
Alex Plumb: from rapture to rupture
In Alex Plumb's moving image works, fact, fantasy and sonic detail imagine what reality might be.

Remembering Martin Rumsby
Remembering Martin Rumsby
Martin Rumsby has passed. We remember the pioneering film-maker, writer, programmer and champion of New Zealand experimental film.

This side or that side, or almost. Standing by
This side or that side, or almost. Standing by
This side or that side, or almost. Standing by is an online exhibition of three video works by Richard Orjis, Emily Parr, and Janaína Moraes, accompanied by an essay by Alys Longley.

A Trio of Animation
A Trio of Animation
Three regular contributors to CIRCUIT, Tessa Laird, Simon Palenski, and Becky Hemus, select an animated work from CIRCUIT's catalogue and share their thoughts about it. Featuring works by Brit Bunkley, Jill Kennedy, and Jae Hoon Lee.

Text as Material: 10 Works Inspired by Poetry, Word, and Song
Text as Material: 10 Works Inspired by Poetry, Word, and Song
Ten artist videos on CIRCUIT using poetry, text and waiata as material and inspiration for moving image works and cine-poems.

Sonya Lacey: Noise as Method
Sonya Lacey: Noise as Method
In this in-depth essay, Hamish Win considers the art of Sonya Lacey, whose work, he argues, uses "noise"—information’s excess or supplemental qualities—as a productive method through which to convey meaning.

Three Writers Respond to Shannon Te Ao's what was or could be today (again)
Three Writers Respond to Shannon Te Ao's what was or could be today (again)
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).

How Would You Feel About Me Writing Something About Toi Tū, Toi Ora for CIRCUIT?
How Would You Feel About Me Writing Something About Toi Tū, Toi Ora for CIRCUIT?
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.

James Charlton: Mobilise
James Charlton: Mobilise
As we welcome James Charlton to CIRCUIT, we present this catalogue essay by Mark Williams on Charlton's 2020 installation THROWN. Originally commissioned by Te Uru, the essay explores the resonance of Charlton's recent work in a time of environmental breakdown and artificial intelligence.

CODESWITCH: Relearn, Reimagine, Recreate
CODESWITCH: Relearn, Reimagine, Recreate
A FAFSWAG manifesto for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney.

Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences
An essay exploring works by Vea Mafile`o, Jeremy Leatinu’u, Janine Randerson, Bridget Reweti, and Andrew de Freitas, 2018's Artist Cinema Commissions.

History, The Sky, and The Street: Three New Commissions for Mason’s Screen
History, The Sky, and The Street: Three New Commissions for Mason’s Screen
New works by Rachel O'Neill, Rangituhia Hollis, and a collborative work by Max Fleury and Bena Jackson were the 2020 commissions for Masons Screen.

"You Think You Know Me?"—Rotterdam Film Festival 2020
"You Think You Know Me?"—Rotterdam Film Festival 2020
The true story of how Lydia Lunch, the Karrabing Film Collective and four films from Aotearoa thwarted Brexit (almost) at the 2020 Rotterdam Film Festival.

Amator by Selina Ershadi & Azita Chegini
Amator by Selina Ershadi & Azita Chegini
"As Amator progresses, camera and mother become voyeurs as they move through the city, mountains, desert, interiors and exteriors." Judy Darragh writes on a new film by Selina Ershadi & Azita Chegini.

The Testimonial
The Testimonial
In this third essay in a series exploring how key moving-image concepts arise in other formats, Hamish Win discusses the work of Elisabeth Pointon, Luke Willis Thompson, Anna Brimer & Max Fleury, Guillermo Faivovich and Nicolas Goldberg, Lee Miller and Fiona Connor and Rob Hood.

Refraction!
Refraction!
In this second essay of a three-part series exploring how key moving-image concepts arise in other formats, Hamish Win discusses Guillaume Cailleau, Shaun Waugh, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Enberg and Tahi Moore.

Cinematic Absorption in Sam Rountree Williams’ Recent Paintings
Cinematic Absorption in Sam Rountree Williams’ Recent Paintings
In this first essay of a three-part series Hamish Win examines Sam Rountree Williams’ recent use of cinematic absorption to invoke in painting a temporality without end.