Arts Diary Feb 1 - 8

Diary February 1 – 8

A selection of visual and performing arts events from around New Zealand

Visual Arts

Yayoi Kusama, Mirrored Years
City Gallery Wellington
Until February 7th

This is the last week to see the exhibition “Mirrored Years” by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. City Gallery will be extending its opening hours for the final week. From Monday 1 February to Friday 5 February the Gallery will be opening its doors until 7pm, to enable as many visitors as possible to see the show before it closes on 7 February.

Almost 80,000 people have already visited the exhibition which was funded with the support of Ernst & Young, The Japan Foundation and The Asia New Zealand Foundation.

NBR earlier noted that “One does not just view a Kusama work but walks through, amidst and is engulfed by it.’

“The most consuming example of the polka dot hallucination works is 'Dots Obsession Day', a room entirely encased in bright primary yellow on the walls, floor and ceiling littered with black polka dots.”

“Suspended at various angles in the room are bulbous balloons in yellow with black dots identical to the walls, which at once melt into and spring out from the walls Walking amid the surreal landscape of the room, the viewer is engulfed by the work which becomes overwhelming in its cheerful vibrancy.”

Julia Morison, “Myriorama #6 Wayzgoose” and “Ringing the Changes”
Two Rooms
16 Putiki St Newton Auckland
February 4 – 27

When “Myriorama” was shown at the Adam Art Gallery last year the work was described as drawing together “several key aspects of Julia Morison’s practice, notably a graphic sensibility, densely layered surfaces, and the employment of a dynamic system in which the artwork as a discrete entity is cast aside in favour of a site responsive reconfiguration.”

“This approach is in keeping with the ‘myriorama’, the Victorian parlour game of specially printed cards showing small landscapes that can be horizontally repositioned in endless combination to create imaginary panoramic vistas. This series of works also continues to build on Morison’s artistic vocabulary which enfolds references to Hermeticism, the Kabbalah, alchemy, and memory systems. She reinterprets these sources to see how these structures and systems, though simulated, can affect the way we see and understand the world.”

Sriwhana Spong, Channeling Mr B
Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland
Until 6 March

“Channeling Mr B”, features new work by Sriwhana Spong comprising a film, “Costume for a Mourner”, and a hanging sculpture entitled Field Figures.

“Costume for a Mourner “ re-imagines a dance from Le Chant du Rossignol, a ballet originally created for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes by Igor Stravinsky and his collaborator George Balanchine, based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale, “The Nightingale”. Working from the only remaining artefacts of the ballet – the Stravinsky score, grainy photographs of the dancers and images of the costumes created for the ballet by Henri Matisse – together with strands of rumour, myth and anecdote, Spong creates a film both tragic and triumphant. At once a dance of mourning for that which has been lost and a celebration of the synthesis between body, costume, image and movement, Spong's film is a reflection on the possibility of recording and transmitting history through an appropriated aesthetic or performative re-enactment.

Costume for a Mourner is accompanied by “Field Figures”, a sculpture comprised of two interlocking forms - the diamond and the circle. Influenced by the symmetry of Balinese offerings, “Field Figures” uses the weight and interlocked intimacy of these forms to hold colour correction filters used in stage lighting, photography, television and cinematography. Borrowing its name from American choreographer Glen Tetley’s 1970 ballet, the mobile uses continual movement to depict balance as a constant state - like a dancer, it keeps strength and fragility, intimacy and distance, in perpetual harmony.

In 2005 Spong was the winner of the Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Award, in 2007 she completed a residency at Artspace Sydney, and in 2008 she participated in the ISCP Studio Residency Program in New York City.

In June this year Michael Lett will make a solo presentation with Sriwhana Spong at Art Statements, Art Basel, Switzerland.

Music

ASB Classical Kids: 7pm
Main show, 8pm
Hagley Park, Christchurch
Friday 5 February
Rain date Saturday 6 February.
Free admission.

Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (CSO) takes to the stage under the baton of Ken Young with a programme of classical and modern works. They perform a medley of movie themes from some of Hollywood’s most well-known and well-loved masterpieces.

Gareth Farr’s extraordinary composition ‘Aoraki’ will be a stand out performance with involvement of the Christchurch City Choir and the Te Ahikaaroa Kapa Haka group. The winner of this year’s Queenstown Violin Summer School will enjoy a rare opportunity to perform with the CSO.

Performers Rachel Doig and Maree Hawtin-Morrow will perform 'The Flower Duet' from the opera 'Lakme', while leading New Zealand oboist Peter Dykes will take the audience through Ennio Morricone's theme 'Gabriel's Oboe', from 'The Mission'. Kevin Lefohn, violinist and Artistic Director of the CSO, will play the theme from 'Schindler's List'.
Naomi Ferguson, one of New Zealand’s leading singer-songwriters, will join forces with Matthew Pike, fresh from recent performances in ‘Miss Saigon’, to present a vocal compilation of themes from other great movies. The ‘Warsaw Concerto’ theme will provide a fitting soundtrack to the fireworks finale.
There will also be performances by five groups of local primary and intermediate students as part of ASB Classical Kids.

Theatre

Psychopaths, by Thomas Sainsbury
The Shed 10, 77 Cook Street, Auckland CBD (near the corner of Cook and Nelson Street)
February 3 – 7

"Psychopaths" is about Amy who moved to New York to pursue her musical dreams, but things have soured after only four weeks. Life seems to be a painful struggle against the constant stream of bills, unsmiling faces and repeated rejection. And then, to top it all off, someone terrorises her in her home. They wore a white mask, they wanted her blood, and they will come again.

Amy is played by Morgana O’Reilly. Morgana’s recent screen credits include “Piece of My Heart” and “The Jaquie Brown Diaries”. She has also starred in Sainsbury’s “Luv” and “The Mall” and her one-woman show, “The Height of the Eiffel Tower”.

“Psychopaths” is written and directed by award-winning New Zealand playwright, Thomas Sainsbury. In the last two years Thomas has written and produced his plays “Luv”, “Loser”, “The Mall”, “Beast”, “Ga “and “The Feminine”. He has recently resided in London where he has produced productions of his plays “A Simple Procedure and . . . and then you die” “Loser” and his play “Main Street” are being adapted for the screen. He is currently working for TV3 with a new comedy, “Super City”.

“Vernon God Little” by DBC Pierre, adapted by Tanya Ronder.
Downstage and WPAC present Long Cloud Youth Theatre.
Downstage Theatre, wellington
February 4 – 13

Martirio, Texas. A town reeling in the aftermath of a horrific high school shooting. Vernon’s best friend has just massacred sixteen of their classmates before killing himself. With the murderer dead, there’s no one to blame for the tragedy, and the town, hungry for a scapegoat, turns its sights on Vernon.

The controversial winner of the Booker Prize in 2003, “Vernon God Little” is a satire of the America we love to hate: the media, the judicial system, obsession with food, religion and adolescent angst.