Dr Tutu presentation by Joff Rae

DrTuTu/ Guilty of ART!// by Weston Frizzell

Artists - Weston Frizzell (Mike Weston & Otis Frizzell) / Jos Wheeler Executive Producer & Creative Director - Mike Weston Technical Director & Curator - JoFF Rae / ARTIVIST : Creative | Management - The Area | Saturday, 4 August 2012

Saturday, 4 August 2012

DrTuTu/ Guilty of ART!// ✤

exhibition & confabulation of thought & deed with a Weston Frizzell translation

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it is personal. about idiosyncratic relationships & familiar imagery

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a concept that incorporates & elaborates on a body of work from Weston Frizzell & led by Mike Weston with ARTIVIST : creative, selected artists & creatives as a media installation & series of actions that together make a symposium surrounding an exhibition event

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is an interactive media installation / exhibition / study

Saturday, 4 August 2012

content & images ✤

“Yeah Right” is a satirical adaptation of the popular Tui Beer advertising campaign that uses sarcasm in a humorous social commentary. In this artwork Mike Weston and Otis Frizzell present their version of Tui’s iconic ad, substituting an AK47 assault rifle for the usual perch branch. In Yeah Right, Tutu replaces both the Tui Beer branding, and also the social statement that is usually featured in the Tui beer billboard.

Dr Tutu is the name Tame Iti adopted when DJing on his various alternative radio slots. It features in the title of works Tututables, and Tututime 2004, and the logo featured on the painted canvas works exhibited. In Maori, (and most if not all Polynesian languages also) Tutu has a multiplicity of meanings such as ‘revolution’, ‘to meddle’, ‘arson’ and ‘sedition’. Tutu and the glyphic logo formed by the inverted numerals 22 have been recurring motifs in Weston Frizzell’s work since 2004. The message it conveys relates directly to the arrest of Tame Iti and other Tuhoe members under the terrorism suppression act. If it were spelled out it might read: “A terrorist revolution? Yeah, right.” Yeah Right is a fine art archival inkjet print on Hahnemule 100% cotton rag paper, edition of 180.

Saturday, 4 August 2012

Pa Ke Ha Ke ✤

“I fully support the redesign of the flag,” Otis Frizzell told Wellington's Capital Times after Iti desecrated the NZ flag with a shotgun blast before the Waitangi Tribunal in 2005. “Whether it was right or wrong [Iti] was redesigning it in his own special way. The bullet holes in this work represent what Tame did to the flag." Edition of 180 prints, handprinted then signed and numbered.

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The term Pakehake contains two possible meanings. In Maori the addition of the suffix ke transforms Pakeha into an expletive, a curse , an insult. Additionally Pake means flag and Hake means torn, thus the title ‘Torn Flag’. Pa Ke Ha Ke is Weston Frizzell's new version of the New Zealand ensign complete with bullet holes.

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This is indicative of the approach & direction that Weston Frizzell has taken with DrTuTu/ Guilty of ART!//

Saturday, 4 August 2012

process & method "Of the many meanings Tutu can have, depending on pronunciation, revolution is one. And I noticed that the number 22 revolved 180 deg created a glyphic logo that evoked a double Manaia, a Maori influenced Hindu Arabic form that in an abstract sense embodied many of the ideas of bicultural collaboration we were working with."

Mike Weston speaking on the images of the 'DrTuTu' exhibition "We conceived of an imaginary contemporary scenario where no colonisation had occurred, and devised a number of graphic motifs and symbols such as you might find on road markings or signs or perhaps corporate branding responding to this notion, and we started putting that symbol on works that spoke of those issues, beginning with the 88 canvasses in the Dr Tutu show and a number of other works since including 'Yeah Right', 'Behave', 'U22' (from the We Are series of letters), 'Four Seasons Winter'. I figured it would stick in peoples minds because they would be wondering why it was upside down."

Saturday, 4 August 2012

people & personal "This content is exciting to work & the background & story to the artists & others involved is motivated by pure intentions" says JoFF Rae aka ARTIVIST "Tame is being positively identified internationally as a 'revolutionary' in a context of world terrorism, conflict & recognised struggle of indigenous people... in New Zealand there is a context of protest, claim, entitlement & personal opinion. With a frame of DrTuTu / Guilty of ART!// the exhibition introduces a defined scene to contemplate the issue of guilt & perception with peripheral events & installation to enhance the process & create depth & perspective"

Saturday, 4 August 2012

Mike Weston - Executive Producer & Creative Director How did you meet Tame Iti et al? "In 2001 I was very active in the dance music and club scene, producing techno, managing DJs and parties. I was hired to produce a music project Tame was involved in but not leading. He’d been a regular around K rd on and off for years, and I’d had a presence on K Rd from 1987 so I’d seen him around regularly but not been introduced. He came to my studio one afternoon, with two very big guys, who it appeared were his minders, all with facial moko and in army fatigues, to record a haka section for the track. They were a pretty intimidating sight. The other two guys said pretty much nothing at all for the entire time they were there, exchanging only a few words in Maori, and mostly just sleeping in the armchairs at the back of the room, and when Tame wasn’t busy recording or writing lyrics, he joined them for a snooze, so there was often quite a chorus of snoring coming from the back of the studio. On more than one occasion I needed to nudge them to get them to be quiet. Tame came back in a few more times, again with company, and did some singing (he was very good) and had quite a bit of input, clearly enjoying the whole process and the way it was headed. The track arrangement got quite epic in a pumping tech-trance vibe, with a big vocal chorus and thumping haka. It took us a few sessions to get it all done, and after putting in a lot of hours and nearing completion it became apparent to me that the guy driving the project didn’t want to pay or couldn’t. I realised I might have to apply some encouragement to get paid, even though I’d done a very good job on it given the tiny budget and technical constraints. So at the final session I was having some strong words with the exec producer who wasn’t happy, and Tame and co. were asleep in the studio armchairs snoring, but woke up, then the EP called me “just the pakeha button pusher”, which really pissed me off, but I was thinking to myself, “Fuck this could end badly”. I was pretty worried, but I dug my heels in and insisted that our deal was honored, and I refused to hand over the master, standing there with my arms folded shaking my head going, nope, no way, and Tame and the two other guys had woken up now looking at me from the armchairs, half asleep wondering what happened. My heart was in my throat. I had no idea what was going to happen next but thought perhaps this was the part where my studio got emptied of it’s equipment! So I looked at Tame and he looked at me and there was a long long pause, and then he nodded, and said “it’s all good Mike” offered some words of encouragement, thanked me for my time, and said he would talk sort it out (which he did), then he and his guys helped me rearrange the studio and did the dishes and we went down stairs to the café for a chat. It was a bit unexpected i guess, but we just hit it off, and I discovered he had a real interest in electronic dance music. I think it had made an impression on him that I’d stood my ground and not freaked out when things got a bit hot. Some months passed and I was looking for some new off-the-wall projects to move onto . The dance music scene was getting tired, even though what I was doing was still successful, and busy, I had this idea to produce a kind of DJ mix anti=statement album, kind of a piss-take I saw Tame at the time as being a NZ parallel outlaw type character in the same way Ronnie Biggs was in his collaboration with the Sex Pistols that Malcolm McLaren put together. I’ve been very influenced by Malcolm McLaren. That year a new radio started on K’Rd, KFM, which is still going, and I was brought in at the start to DJ a few times a week and consult, and as it happened my show started directly after Tame’s who did the very early morning spot. Tame DJed calling himself Dr. Tutu. His show was really eclectic. He’d play a John Rowles, Kiri te Kanawa, Patea Maori club, Hone Tuwhare, then nek minnit a Ministry of Sound trance epic, a lot of Maori material with theses club trance tracks popped in here and there, just all over the place, a totally off the wall mix of music, with his quirky speaking style and political spiel all on top. It was great! I just loved it. So he would finish his show and then I would start mine, which was an energetic mix of electronic dance, and I’d frequently get messages to the studio from him and his wife from home saying that they were doing the housework and loving the show. I did some ambient remixes of the earlier mentioned project which made it onto the club LOVELY summer of love album I did with DJ OB1, and I continued to play with that material while out on tour. Over time we became friends, and we started to talk about doing another music project that crossed over art and music, and ultimately this became the Dr Tutu featuring Tame Iti project.

Saturday, 4 August 2012

I figured it wasn’t going to be a big seller, but had some potential to go the distance if it was leaned more in an art direction so i started jamming ideas for a special package CD which ultimately ended up being an art exhibition concept, with a CD attached to each artwork. I had an idea of illustrating Tame’s face in the style of the 4 square man, in a nod to Dick Frizzells Grocer with Moko, so I called my good mate Otis Frizzell, who I’d been managing on and off for a few years, to do the illustration of that and he nailed it so well that I asked Otis to collaborate on the art side of it 50:50 with me. We found ourselves enthusiastically throwing paint around all over the place, jamming a lot of ideas, running them past Tame to make sure he was alright with it, and mostly he was and we made four series of canvasses each in editions of 22, presenting visual representations of each of the musical works on the CD. I utilise a lot of chance techniques in my creative process, influenced by John Cage, and Eno and I used the I Ching regularly as a kind of metaphysical guide and mirror during this time, repeatedly finding myself at the 22nd hexagram passage, Pi (or Grace). The sentiment expressed in the Wilhelm translation “things should not unite abruptly or ruthlessly” seemed to fit the bicultural nature of the musical collaboration very well, and the coincident 22, resonated with the Dr Tutu name of the project. Of course there’s the additional Catch 22 reference. It stuck. Of the many meanings Tutu can have, depending on pronunciation, revolution is one. And I noticed that the number 22 revolved 180 deg created a glyphic logo that evoked a double Manaia, a Maori influenced Hindu Arabic form that in an abstract sense embodied many of the ideas of bicultural collaboration we were working with. We conceived of an imaginary contemporary scenario where no colonisation had occurred, and devised a number of graphic motifs and symbols such as you might find on road markings or signs or perhaps corporate branding responding to this notion, and we started putting that symbol on works that spoke of those issues, beginning with the 88 canvasses in the Dr Tutu show and a number of other works since including Yeah Right, Behave, U22 (from the We are series of letters), Four Seasons Winter. I figured it would stick in peoples minds because they would be wondering why it was upside down. At the outset of the project I was pragmatically aware that Tame was likely to keep coming up with new ways to have his own Tuhoe agenda remain in public discussion. He’s definitively activist in that respect, and masterful at it, a real innovator, and he didn’t disappoint. The flag shooting incident of 2005 put him back in the headlines and caused an immediate surge in interest in the painting sales, and the weight of the political association opened a few doors for us in the dealer gallery world. The print Pakeha ke (in Maori, ke suffixed adds an expletive tone to a noun) responded to the flag shooting incident and subsequent trial lead up. The name Pake (torn or damaged) hake (flag) is a word play. I started playing with Maori words at the Dr Tutu show. Thinking that it would encourage questions discussion and debate, and it also helped me learn more Maori language so I thought it would have the same effect for others. After the flag shooting, we got some press, and the music was used in a very good documentary “The Man Behind the Moko” and started getting used here and there on TV. Tame seemed happy with it all, which really delighted me because I thought we’d really subverted a lot of the material we were working with to make it a bit more ambivalent and thought provoking rather than just radical and prescriptive, but he was pretty stoked with it I think, and that motivated me to put more effort into getting acquainted with the Tuhoe story. I believe it began in an attempt by the NZ to government kowtow to corrupt US government pressure by making some stupid, immoral and ultimately useless laws and now it’s just continuing while they try to save face.

Its an embarrassment to them.

Saturday, 4 August 2012

format & space DrTuTu/ Guilty of ART!// is designed for 2 spaces with several experiences & interactive media installations in a complex format designed to engage in a 5 week installation... “We have designed & developed this to the specification & brief from Mike Weston & defined an interpersonal relationship that will encourage the audience to participate” explains JoFF Rae “Mike developed this format to emulate a DJ set & has carefully crafted an environment with an hour of produced audio & video - the duration perfect to format the requirement of engagement through 3 environments or perceived measures; we have created 2 spaces from 2 bodies of work & 4 in the exhibition that collectively engage & retain the interest of the audience & eventually & inevitably allow themselves to explore the subject beyond any opinion they walked in with... the familiarity of the images & the humor involved with the quality of the work is motivating yet comfortable”

The spaces involve : •DrTuTu / space #1 / this area is exclusively Weston Frizzell works; 4 x tuku tuku installations (each 22 canvas’ installed); 16 x print pieces framed; 4 x installations (mirror piece, other) or “special” installation; •Jos Wheeler / space #2 / 8 x large format photographic works from a catalog of 32 as a study; •projection installation / space #2 / using documentary video & produced audio* with images from DrTuTu & the catalog of Jos Wheeler / a media installation involving projection & screens; •audio* / space #1 & #2 / produced CD that determines the content & format of the spaces.

Saturday, 4 August 2012

DrTuTu/ Guilty of ART!// is essentially providing a platform with specific artists & creatives to make & demonstrate a reference; Weston has developed a frame that questions the statement of intent in the Weston Frizzell Dr TuTu exhibition. Weston Frizzell importune the genre of Pop Art & Culture in a classic fashion of youth rebellion, skateboarding & surf culture, urban art & graffiti, hip hop & punk against a background of protest, conflict, politics & social commentary, wit & humour. The genre & content is suitable for guerilla marketing & street advertising & is both pertinent in subject & fashionable... the success of the event is based on the quality & celebrity of Weston Frizzell with prominent & consummate collaborators... Jos Wheeler is such a collaborator in his ability to compile & provide personally created content, documentation & documentary. His moving & still images span an understanding of the DrTuTu subject that is moving & intimate. The plan & content involved in Dr TuTu/ Guilty of ART!// build on a concept developed organically, purposefully & historically... with current & pertinent messages to convey: • • •

'Who Are The Real Terrorists' was a track laid down in 2003 & other audio & media of Dr TuTu have been recorded, produced & developed over several years; Mike Weston has been an associate of Tame Iti since 2001 & Otis Frizzell has known Tame for several years; Dr TuTu is developed content with a context that has exhibited previously;

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relevent content & media exist in Weston Frizzell & other private & public archive;

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ARTIVIST has had an association with Tame & others in the Urewera group for 20 years in protest action & art; ARTIVIST : creative by any means necessary! with Melbourne based street artist HaHa started to attribute street art works with a theme of 'watch that space/ Guilty of ART!//' ARTIVIST has proposed a brief to various selected potential artistic & creative contributors with positive response; the works & issues have been in development for several years through the Urewera raids & before; Jos Wheller (DOP & photographer) has been visually documenting action & event around Tame for several years; street art by Ha Ha depicting Tame Iti has been installed as paste up & stencil graffiti in Auckland, Hamilton, Taupo, Wellington, Sydney, Melbourne, London, Paris, Lyon & other locations; the exhibition involves a street element that has an ethic developed in illegal action; the Weston Frizzell installation is the "legal" aspect that states the intent; 'Street Art' is now the largest genre of art in the world & suits a pop up lead to an exhibition; the 'Weston Frizzell' fan movement has a broad demographic & relates well to the intended audience of 'Dr TuTu/ Guilty of ART!//'.

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COMING SOON/ AN EVENT/ AN EXHIBITION/ A POP UP ARTS FESTIVAL/ STREET ART/ POP ART/ GUERRILLA CINEMA/ MUSIC & PERFORMANCE/ watch that space/ Dr TuTu/ Guilty of ART!//

Saturday, 4 August 2012

costs/ DrTuTu / Guilty of ART!// + the costs associated with design & build of this exhibition are indicative of an involved installation with a staff roster of over 12 including artists, technical & administrative staff in both installation & the development process; over 50 suppliers from gilcee photographic printers, screen printers, framers & other specialists to the studios & engineers involved in the production & edit of media; + the required quality of the works is cause for production & exhibition costs of investment & are budgeted with a collective requirement of one hundred thousand dollars of commercially generated revenues or funding from 3 public gallery exhibitions & a fee charge to each gallery for site specific costs; + the requirement on the public galleries is a fee of seven thousand & five hundred dollars to deliver DrTuTu/ Guilty of ART!// with attendance of the artists, opening & some production requirements; Ch'ien by Mike Weston Giclee Print 350mm x 270mm Edition of 40 signed and numbered prints

The title of the work is taken from the ancient Chinese written oracle, the I Ching. The arrangement of three horizontal unbroken lines is the first of eight trigrams that, when combined in pairs, form a set of 64 hexagrams that index the entire work. Both the trigram, and the hexagram formed when paired with itself, are called Ch’ien /the creative. It represents heaven. Its essence is primal power and energy, associated with the father; light-giving, strong, and of the spirit.The trigram represented by the arrangement of the rubber bands is Li. Li means “to depend or rest on something” and also “brightness” or “nature in its radiance”.

+ technical requirement involves specifics of projection & audio; other requirements of the gallery involves specific administration in preparation & during exhibition with regard to independent commercial activity; - delivered with sponsorship & private funding with an independent commercial element; - the AREA artists management with Weston Frizzell has a nationwide network of press & media & has a campaign of public street art to publicise the event;

This artwork by Mike Weston involves NZ $15,000 in $20 notes, arranged in three $5000 bricks.

- is designed & planned for international travel & installation.

Saturday, 4 August 2012

contact & resources Management & Administration - for press releases & interviews, sales & distribution including media - schedules, planning & administration - resources include media, print material

JoFF Rae | ARTIVIST : creative by any means necessary! TECHNICAL DIRECTOR & CURATOR 021 2146169 | joff@artivist.co.nz | www.artivist.co.nz

The Area artist management MANAGEMENT Unit 4 / 26 Bancroft Cresent, Glendene, Auckand, New Zealand +64 9 813 9709 | info@thearea.co.nz | www.thearea.co.nz

Electronic Press Kit - DrTuTu/ Guilty of ART!//

make.artivist.co.nz/pages/drtutu-guilty-of-art-epk Saturday, 4 August 2012

JosWheeler DoP

Saturday, 4 August 2012