What’s on: Our July and August highlights
Some of the best events across the country throughout July and August.
Compiled by: Ann Warnock
Upper Hutt in Black and White
Revelle Jackson, Fancy Dress Youth Dance (1969).
When: To 27 August
Where: Whirinaki Whare Taonga, Upper Hutt
Web: whirinakiarts.org.nz
A photo essay of Upper Hutt spanning 80 years and including more than 40 black-and-white images by 10 photographers, including Ans Westra, Revelle Jackson, John Daley, Chapman Taylor and Leslie Adkin. The exhibition speaks of the city’s past and people — with formal portraits and local outdoor panoramas and a collection of images of Upper Hutt’s main street in the 1940s.
Ship Nails and Tail Feathers: Historic Treasures from the Collections of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū and Canterbury Museum
Margaret Stoddart, Bush Fire, Paraparaumu (c. 1908) and Jane Ussher, Huia Nest (2019).
When: To 23 October
Where: Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Web: christchurchartgallery.org.nz
A landmark show and collaboration with rarely-seen historical artefacts and artworks from the two key institutions in Ōtautahi. Combining art and history, this unusual selection of objects includes navigational instruments, whaling-era relics, plumage, Edwardian watercolours and Pasifika art. The Canterbury Museum is currently closed for redevelopment.
Pohewa Pāhewa: a Māori design kaupapa
Tanya White weaving with harakeke at Ngākau Māhaki wharenui. Photo: Emily Parr for The Vessel
When: 1 July to 3 September
Where: Objectspace, Auckland
Web: objectspace.org.nz
Pohewa Pāhewa celebrates and interrogates design practice in Aotearoa with a Māori lens. Focusing on design ideas within te ao Māori, this exhibition investigates how different intentions alter and amend what “good” design looks like and who or what it is for. Pohewa Pāhewa shares a collection of kaupapa, demonstrating Māori design as a balance of innovation and consideration of knowledge gifted by tūpuna.
Naadohbii: To Draw Water
Maria Hupfield, nakweshkodaadidaa ekobiiyaag, (2021).
When: 2 July to 29 October
Where: Pātaka Art+Museum, Porirua
Web: pataka.org.nz
Featuring more than 20 artists, Naadohbii: To Draw Water demonstrates the axis of solidarity between Indigenous peoples concerning environmental, political and cultural connections and relationships to water. With newly commissioned pieces from Turtle Island, Canada, Aotearoa and many First Nation peoples of Australia, the show is a curatorial partnership project between Museums Victoria, Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG-Qaumajuq) and Pātaka Art + Museum.
Basmati Bitch, Auckland Theatre Company
Image: Mark Leedom
When: 11 to 29 July
Where: Q Theatre, Auckland
Web: atc.co.nz
Described as a neo-noir action/crime comedy, Basmati Bitch is set in the neon-lit streets of futurist Aotearoa. A former mixed martial arts fighter finds herself embroiled in a black market where rice is the commodity, nightclubs double as fight clubs and aunties scheme in mahjong dens. Contested borders and exploited migrants are part of the mix. Written by Ankita Singh.
Marlborough Book Festival
Photo: Jim Tannock.
When: 21 to 23 July
Where: ASB Theatre Marlborough, Blenheim
Web: marlboroughbookfest.co.nz
The line-up at Marlborough’s mid-winter literary celebration features 12 contemporary authors, including Catherine Chidgey, Michael Bennett, Cristina Sanders, Joanna Preston, Dr Peter Meihana and Luke Elworthy. With the picturesque Marlborough landscape as its backdrop, the festival programme includes more than 20 sessions, including individual author interviews, panels and a poetry workshop.
Public Service Announcements — Election 2023
Image: Jon Coddington
When: 29 July to 26 August
Where: Circa Theatre, Wellington
Web: circa.co.nz
The capital’s longest recurring political satire is back to forecast the 2023 election night tensions at the Beehive. Can Labour survive another round in the Thunderdome? Will Luxon make it to the election? Can the Greens and Te Pāti Māori pull in the numbers? This latest version of PSA, which was started in 2011, is penned by Thom Adams, Jamie McCaskill and Anya Tate-Manning.
Troy Kingi and the CSO
When: 5 August
Where: Christchurch Town Hall
Web: cso.co.nz
Multi-genre and multi-award-winning Kerikeri-based musician and actor Troy Kingi (Te Arawa, Ngāpuhi, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) showcases his capacity for songwriting, performance,
diversity and collaboration when he joins forces with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.
The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race
The Court Theatre, Charlie Rose Creative
When: 5 August to 9 September
Where: The Court Theatre, Christchurch
Web: courttheatre.org.nz
When GP Penny returns to her small rural hometown after years away, she’s outraged to discover the famous local potato race offers $1000 prize money to men and only $200 to women, and is determined to right the wrong. Written by Australian playwright Melanie Tait with comedian and actor Donna Brookbanks in the role of Penny.
Exquisite Corpse
Exquisite Corpse Series 3. Picture by Tim Cuff.
When: 12 August to 8 October
Where: Ashburton Art Gallery
Web: ashburtonartgallery.org.nz
A three-year project by Nelson contemporary jewellery collective Project 21 — Kay van Dyk, Joel Fitzwell and Katie Pascoe — comprises a series of 21 collaboratively crafted necklaces. Based on the 1920s surrealist game Exquisite Corpse, collective members have participated in creating jewellery without knowing what each other has made.
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This article first appeared in NZ Life & Leisure Magazine.
