Work from the ongoing series on the resettlement of the Lai family in West Auckland.

Exhibition: 26 February – 11 April 2010
Opening: Thursday 25th February, 6pm

ARTSPEAK: FREE ENTRY
Allan McDonald & Edith Amituanai – In Conversation
Thursday March 25th, 7pm
Wine and nibbles from 6:30pm
CEAC Gallery

www.ceac.org.nz or ph: 09 838 4455

Art on the Edge
By Richard Watts ArtsHub | Wednesday, January 06, 2010

A collaboration between the Sydney Festival, the Cambelltown Arts Centre in the south-western suburbs, and Gallery 4A in the heart of Chinatown, in the CBD, Edge of Elsewhere is a new exhibition presenting works developed in partnership with, and responding to, Sydney’s culturally diverse communities by artists from across Asia and the Pacific.

To be presented in 2010, 2011 and 2012, the exhibition and its associated projects – which this year include a 200 page publication and a series of public programs – has three co-curators: Thomas J. Berghuis, lecturer in Asian Art at the Department of Art History and Film Studies, University of Sydney; Aaron Seeto, Director of Gallery 4A (established by the Asian Australian Artists Association Inc. in 1997) and Lisa Havilah, Director of Campbelltown Arts Centre.

Havilah (who was previously the Assistant Director of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre and Liverpool Regional Museum (1998-2004) and the inaugural Co-Director of Wollongong’s Project Contemporary Art Space (1995-1998)) says the works presented in Edge of Elsewhere explore the contemporary suburban context in which so many Australians live their lives.

“When you look at the sheer population breakdown, most of the population of Australia lives in the suburbs; and if you break that down to New South Wales, a third of the state’s population lives in Western Sydney; and one in ten people in the country live in Western Sydney,” she explains.

Socially and culturally it’s an area that’s subject to constant change.

“New communities are coming in and interacting with more established communities. And shifts and change are an important contemporary idea that we try and engage with here [at Campbelltown Arts Centre] and I think there are a lot of contemporary artists internationally who are working with that same idea.”

Several such artists, including China’s Wang Jianwei, Australia’s Brook Andrew, Aoteora/New Zealand’s Lisa Reihana, and Indonesia’s Arahmaiani, have been invited to take part in the inaugural phase of Edge of Elsewhere.

“This is a three year project, and because this is the first year of the project, we’re really looking at artists who have experience and are interested in working with particular communities in Western Sydney. Artists that work collaboratively, and who are open to communities influencing the development of their work,” Havilah says.

Shigeyuki Kihara is one such artist.

A Samoan-born multimedia and performance artist currently based between Auckland, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia, Kihara’s work is based on investigative research relating to the indigenous cultures of the Pacific – and more specifically to Samoan culture, history and spirituality, and how its principles can be applied to her urban environments.

For Edge of Elsewhere, Kihara will be presenting the fifth event in a series of ambitious performances called Talanoa: Walk the Talk.

“The word talanoa in Samoan culture is used to describe a process of dialogue between two conflicting clans, where they come together in dialogue in order to find mutual ground based on love, respect, peace and harmony. So it’s a process of dialogue in working towards the same place. And I think in this world today there is not enough talanoa between culture, between gender, between sexuality, between religion, between countries, and between various geographical regions,” Kihara tells Arts Hub.

“So I [sought] to stage talanoa as a possible microcosm to see… how do various religious and ethnic communities come together and have a dialogue and find mutual ground, and how can dialogue be manifested through performance and through art?”

Talanoa: Walk the Talk V will feature collaborations between two performance groups, one of Chinese heritage, the other from the Cook Islands.

“These are performance groups that perform within the parameters of their own communities … but I think this is the first time they’ve stepped outside of their own community and actually engaged with a performance group from another culture,” Kihara says.

“There’s so many festivals around Australia that invite various different ethnic and religious minorities to perform together … however what I find is that true intercultural dialogue doesn’t really happen. They perform their piece and we perform our piece and that’s it. And yet the whole idea of putting these multi-cultural, multi-religious festivals together is that various communities can understand and exchange ideas with each other. My performances literally do that. They make communities talk together about their philosophies, their ideas and their history.”

One of the most exciting aspects of Edge of Elsewhere is that it reflects the Sydney Festival’s growing engagement with the entirety of Sydney; a situation that has come about largely because of the Festival’s new Director, Lindy Hume.

“Lindy has a great vision for including all of Sydney in the Festival, including Western Sydney, which is really exciting,” says Lisa Havilah.

“She has a real understanding of Sydney as a broader place, which hasn’t happened in the past. This is the first time that Campbelltown as a place and South-West Sydney have been involved in the Festival, so it’s great for the profile of the city, and it’s great for people outside of the city to understand that Campbelltown is part of the cultural life of broader Sydney.”

Shigeyuki Kihara is equally enthused about the direction the Sydney Festival is headed.

“I think it’s great that the Sydney Festival is starting to understand the cultural and religious and racial matrix of Sydney and embracing that; but not only embracing it, but utilizing it and activating it,” she says.

“For me, I personally believe that a festival should be accessible to everybody and not just the mainstream, middle class families; because if you do that then you’re excluding a whole other social and cultural demographic which makes up the city. And it’s also wonderful that visual artists such as myself are able to engage directly with the community in staging projects like this.”

Student compositions created in the music workshop with Matthew Salapu Faimu, Aka ’ANONYMOUZ’.

MICHAEL ESTER’S TRACK

MATT’S TRACK

FLORENCE’S TRACK

SETU’S TRACK

BENNY’S TRACK

From September 21-23^rd 2009 we ran a Fresh Horizons workshops hosted by Massey’s College of Education, Te Uru Maraurau in Palmerston North.  The theme for the three-day programme was story telling.  

Three outstanding Pacific Artists that tutored the workshops were:

Victor Rodger Samoan/Scottish playwright; he is the first Pacific writer in residence at the University of Canterbury. The themes of race relations and identity inspire most of his work. Since 2000 he has been a storyliner and now dialogue writer for ‘Shortland Street’; his “bread and butter” job.

Janet Lilo Niuean/Samoan/Maori; a graduate from AUT’s Master of Art and Design course. This young innovative video/digital artist has just returned from a residency in Sapporo Japan.

Matthew Salapu Faimu Samoan; producer, pianist, songwriter and rapper. Aka ‘Anonymouz’ he is a classically trained musician and has been widely involved in the NZ music industry.

FRESH09
An annual survey of Fresh Gallery Otara goodness

OPENING: 6-8pm, Thursday 26 November
EXHIBITION DATES: 27 November – 19 December 2009

FEATURING painting // Margaret Aull + Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi, photography // Vinesh Kumaran + Raymond Sagapolutele, textiles // Genevieve Pini, aerosol // Dean + Shaun Purcell, sculpture // Siliga David Setoga + Visesio Siasau

Also including small axe 09, a collaborative video work developed for the ARTSPACE New Artists Show including artist submissions by Tanu Gago, Leilani Kake, Visesio Siasau + Serene Tay and Angela Tiatia, produced by Janet Lilo in partnership with Ema Tavola

AND… the excellent commissioned video that informed the Dawson Road Mural Project painted by three local artists (Samiu Napa’a, Sangeeta Singh + Luisa Tora) with 11 volunteers (Kofe Aupeipeigamalie, Muavaefaatasi Brown, Simon Samuelu, Luma Aneti, Murphy Enekosi, Paul Lavea, Aaron Henry-Taripo, Ezra Ape, Joe Futi, Matagia Esera and Wylie Fong) over one night and two days for the Manukau Festival of Arts 09

This is the LAST OPENING for 2009… in the words of Terry Koloamatangi Klavenes at this year’s AWESOME Pecha Kucha Manukau Edition #2, “passion onnnnn” // Thanks for an AWESOME YEAR // See you in 2010!!

Extinction or adaptation? Evolution or Revolution? What are we facing?

The complexity and urgency of the crises of today calls for us to

engage together in new ways. Deep shifts in our consciousness may be

required for long-term cultural changes to occur. This is a call for

expressions of interest from people who are concerned with these issues.

A symposium followed by a residency is to be held late January to

early February 2011 in New Plymouth, Aotearoa New Zealand. Initial

expressions of interest are due 21 November, 2009.

//////////////// / Symposium

The SCANZ 2011: Eco sapiens symposium will be an event involving

individuals from a number of different worlds (e.g scientists,

artists, social activists and community change agents, cultural

commentators, educators, tangata whenua). Our primary aim is to

facilitate connections and foster innovative, and practical solutions

to the issues we are facing. Accordingly, a mixture of presentations,

discussions, informal exchanges and workshops are planned. Roger

Malina will be presenting from France on ‘Open observatories’, and Te

Huirangi Waikerepuru will speak on Maori conceptions of environment.

The symposium will inspire and inform the residency that follows, and

also provide opportunities for people to collaborate on projects

beyond SCANZ.

//////////////// / Residency

The SCANZ 2011: Eco sapiens two week residency is designed for those

individuals or groups who would like to work on creative, poetically

pragmatic or provocative projects which raise awareness of the issues

that confront us, generate connections between people, and with their

natural environment, and which grapple with the challenges of

individual and collective evolution.

Interdisciplinary approaches and the involvement of diverse groups is

welcomed. Residency projects can take place in a wirelessly networked

botanic garden, along the coastline and with communities. Networked,

DIY, or otherwise actively and openly distributed concepts are also

encouraged. Project participants are not necessarily required to be in

New Plymouth. Residency projects that are shortlisted will be included

in funding applications.

Expressions of Interest, Please supply:

1. Name of main contact person. Name of the collaborative group where

applicable.

2. Affiliated or associated organisations (if applicable).

3. Symposium _ Please provide up to a half page summary of your

proposed contribution, including your background, and interest, in the

themes we have presented.

4. Residency _ If you are interested in attending the residency,

please provide a half page summary of your proposed project, clearly

stating how you feel the project addresses concerns raised.

Propositional expressions of interest, i.e. those that propose working

with organisations or people not yet contacted, are acceptable.

Email this to: ecosapiens@intercreate.org by

November 21st 2009.

SCANZ 2011: Eco sapiens_ http://www.intercreate.org/view/eco-sapiens/

The Art Auction held on 20 October at Webb’s raised an amazing $83,000+ which will go towards tsunami relief efforts in the pacific.

Thanks go towards the generous artists who donated works and to all the volunteers who made this happen … and of course to the buyers who were there to support and contribute to the cause.

Our sincere thanks also go to some very generous sponsors: Villa Maria Wines, Coopers beer, Phreon, Geon, Carlton Party Hire, Whitespace and of course to the staff and management at Webb’s for their work and support of this effort. Fa’afetai lava.