Salient Issue 18
Art
Vol. 79
...worldwide leading paint-technology
ART, MURALS, DECOR, MODELS, PROJECTS ONLY
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251+ STRONG COLOURS AVAILABLE AT
182 Vivian Street, Wellington
The best art & design supplies
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www.gordonharris.co.nz
Celebrating arts and culture
VUWSA
Monday 15th August
Tuesday 16th August
Wednesday 17th August
Misfits Club 6pm The Bubble FREE!
Gallery exhibition Nibbles and drinks 5pm provided Adam Art Gallery FREE!
Arts Showcase Victoria Clubs’ showcase 1pm their stuff! Tim Beaglehole Courtyard FREE!
Hip Hop Dance Class Local hip hop crew Boys 3pm Squad teach you some Dance Studio, Rec Centre smooth moves FREE!
NZSM
Classical Guitar 12.15pm Adam Art Gallery FREE!
Composer workshop Composer John Psathas 3.10pm discusses his mega-project Adam Concert Room No Man’s Land. FREE!
Latin Jazz 5pm The Hunter Lounge FREE!
Thursday 18th August
Friday 19th August
NZSM students play soothing classical guitar.
Transport your mind to a warmer climate as you listen to a rich mix of rhythm and percussion instruments by The Latin Jazz Ensemble.
Film scoring workshop with Grayson Gilmour (solo) 7pm Adam Art Gallery FREE!
Award winning NZ composer, Grayson Gilmour, shares processes on film scoring: small performance included.
Stand-Up Comedy Workshop 12pm, SU218 FREE!
Learn some tricks of the trade withthe “best comedian you’ve never heard of”, Vaughan King.
Well 7pm Bats Theatre $14 pp with Student ID tickets; bats.co.nz
Well theatre performance challenges the stigma associated with mental health and provokes a long-overdue conversation.
Lunchtime Concert 12:10pm The Hub FREE!
Lunchtime Concert in the hub featuring Brass Shadows.
Richard II 6pm Bat Theatre $14 pp with Student ID tickets; bats.co.nz
Play follows King Richard who believed he was appointed by God and made bad decisions which resulted in massive social unrest.
Stephanie Jones 7.30pm Adam Concert Room $15 pp with Student ID
Soothe your soul. Listen to live, classical guitar.
NZSM Brass Ensemble 7pm Adam Concert Room FREE!
The NZSM Brass Ensemble gives a free concert.
Contents
Cover Image: Laura Duffy www.lauraduffy.info @lauragduffy
Features
13
Jon Drypnz
14
Lokal Stories
16
Louisa Beatty
18
Bent
20
Faith Wilson
22
Callum Devlin
24
Izzy Carson
26
Claire Harris
28
Inside the Vibrating Room: A Conversation with Georgette Brown
News 7
Collective bargaining reaches a deadlock
8
Little thirsty for the student vote
9
Lincoln uni is falling apart
Regular Content 11
One Ocean
36
Food
11
MÄ ori Matters
37
Visual Arts
31
Single Sad Postgrad
38
Music
32
Women’s Space
40
Film
32
Tinder Surprise
42
Games
33
Reaching Out
43
TV
33
Being Well
44
Books
34
Brodie Helps You Figure it Out
45
Theatre
34
Token Cripple
46
Puzzles / Notices
Editors: Emma Hurley Jayne Mulligan
Editor's Letter yourself: who cares who made the art or what they think it’s meant to mean, or its history, or its value. Sometimes you get mad and you think, “this piece of art gives me nothing so why does it exist.” How does what you’re viewing imitate or deviate from past works of art? You can take what you like from the works presented in this issue of Salient, you can read what the artists have written about their work, and find out how to find more of their work. These pages might seem weird to you. Maybe you feel like you don’t get it. Maybe you think some of it is cool or thought provoking but some of it is meh. Maybe in five years time you’ll remember that you saw it here first. Why dedicate a whole issue to art? Because we can. Because art is a visual language and sometimes it’s nice to engage with images, rather than words. Because it is a challenge to ourselves and our audience to be presented with works from Wellington artists that we might not otherwise encounter. Thank you to Ella and Ruby for coming up with this concept and helping us to bring it to fruition. Thank you to all of the artists who have created work for these pages.
Art: “What the fuck.” “I hate art.” “I don’t get it.” “What does this mean.” “You just touched it!” “Fuck!” “Keep your voice down.” “God I can’t take you anywhere.” “Sorry Mum.” Art is instinctive; it’s an expression, it reflects something, or tells you something. Art is context bound, but also transferrable—the same piece of art touches people in many different ways. Art can be something visually intriguing that you saw on the side of the street on your way to university, it could be a picture of your butt that you put on Instagram, or something in a traditional and ‘legitimate’ space like a gallery. Art can be alienating if you let it, if you tell yourself that you “don’t get it,” or you’re not “doing it right.” Instead, maybe you feel whatever feelings and thoughts arise when you interact with art, and you take those things as your own legitimate response. Sometimes you can tell
Emma & Jayne xoxo.
05
Going Up
*Interview* with Andrew Little
What is the reasoning behind offering to write off student debt if students take a public sector job in the regions? Because you shits probably aren’t going to pay off your loans anyway so I might as well do it for you.
•
Absolutely boss US gymnast Simone Biles.
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Posting memes on VUWSA’s AGM twitter hashtag.
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The number of green pools at the Rio Olympics (two).
•
The price of avocados at the Wednesday veggie market.
•
Stranger Things.
Going Down •
Hype for the new Frank Ocean album.
How do you plan on wiping off the debt? I’m going to go to the IRD, find the spreadsheet that has all the debt written on it, and just do CTRL + A, Delete.
•
Is the policy simply a bribe to get the student vote? No… *wink* …of course not… *wink wink*. I definitely don’t need that entire demographic’s vote to have a chance of winning the election… *wink wink wink*.
The number of mayoral candidates for Wellington, bye Celia.
•
The NZ Men’s Sevens team.
•
The eternal sadness you feel when you lose a 100+ day snap streak.
•
Your chances of getting a gold medal when competing against Michael Phelps.
RNZ or Salient FM? Those Salient FM kids could give Guyon and Susie a run for their money imo. Kanye or Kendrick? Death Grips.
Humdingers There is a new diet fad sweeping across Blenheim with resealed Weight Watchers muesli bar wrappers stuffed with cardboard finding their way into letterboxes across the city. The motives behind the prank are baffling residents, but they’re happy because at least cardboard is low in points.
Adele revealed that her credit card declined during a recent shopping trip in the US. Despite being worth $155 million (NZD), Adele walked out of the high-street clothing store H&M empty handed. Ohemgee she is just like us.
06
15.08.16
News
VUWSA AGM
Collective bargaining over contracts between Victoria University and staff represented by the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) has reached a deadlock. The collective bargaining began in May following TEU members expressing disappointment over non-union staff being offered new pay scales, improvements to long service leave, and a $500 cash incentive for taking up individual employment agreements. According to the August newsletter sent to all TEU Vic branch members,“the employer has withdrawn their new remuneration model from the negotiations.” “Although we had agreed to it conditional on the union being able to negotiate the ranges of pay rates and on staff being guaranteed a minimum pay rise for performance,” it reads. Despite the negative feedback from union members, Victoria University were clear that “the university has not walked away from pay negotiations.” “The university has made what it considers is a fair pay offer, including a mechanism for the inclusion into the collective the new remuneration ranges available for nonunion staff earlier this year.” “To date the parties have not been able to reach agreement in terms of the principles for the introduction of the new ranges. The university has tabled an alternative position, which is exactly the same offer but without the inclusion of the new ranges.” TEU deputy secretary Nanette Cormack says “it is unacceptable that Victoria would require that people give up their right to negotiate pay.” According to the TEU, all non-union staff members currently have the right to negotiate “not just their annual pay increase, but also what the rate of pay for the job is.” A stop work meeting has been planned for August 23, with the TEU saying they “need to show union strength in order to reach an acceptable conclusion to bargaining with the employer.” According to Victoria’s TEU Rainbow Representative and librarian Joshua James, the pay-scales introduced in March put VUW out of line with the rest of the country, with library shelvers now being paid less than their counterparts at other universities. It also saw retirement leave for all new or non-union staff removed. The university stressed that their negotiators “remain available to meet the union representatives at any time to try to conclude bargaining.”
#1 Establish a powerful student voice. #2 Deepen relationships with student groups in order to “build a collective strength.” #3 To be visible, approachable, active, and a couple of other things. #4 Kate skipped this one, so it’s lost 4eva now. #5 Create a permanently “Student Friendly Wellington.” The mostly dry questions peaked when one student threw a compliment sandwich at Jono, stroking his ego, then promptly criticising VUWSA’s involvement in campus clubs. VUWSA Welfare VP Rory Lenihan-Ikin then began the discussion of fairer fares, emphasising how Wellington’s expenny public transport rates for university students compare to other major cities. He then opened up the stage to several suspicious old people who were earlier spotted handing out pamphlets, and were revealed to be regional council candidates. Six of the seven speakers supported VUWSA’s pledge for fairer student transport fares. Students were then presented with $5 value pizzas and proceeded to turn into wild savages. END. 07
Jennie Kendrick
Last week VUWSA crammed 100 ravenous students into a yellow chain link cattle pen in the Hub with the promise of free pizza and a hug from Chrissy Brown. Arriving just ten minutes before the AGM was set to take place, the VUWSA President with a passion for fashion, Jonathan Gee, paired a maroon and white chunky knit scarf with a checkered shirt under a grey (possibly cashmere?) sweater. Former VUWSA President Rick Zwaan was there too, also wearing a bright scarf and sweater combo. Who wore it better you ask? Who cares, this is student politics. It took eight solid minutes of awkward ‘69’ jokes and nervous babbling to reach quorum. Salient was there in force, although we were a bit busy giggling and tagging VUWSA in quality tweets. I’ll admit that I fell asleep two minutes into the AGM. Jonathan has the soothing voice of an angel and the caffeine hadn’t kicked in. In his opening speech, he discussed his appearance on Breakfast where he argued with old people about student binge drinking and the inclusion of ‘international act’ G-Eazy in this year’s O-Week festivities. News editor Kate and I concluded that G-Eazy was definitely bangable. We were promptly broken out of this intelligent conversation by the crowd cheering for VUWSA being bailed out fiddy thousand smackeroos. Jono continued on with his “soul searching” strategic plan, growing somewhat MORE flustered and shaky—very unlike him. It was clearly heavy stuff. The strategic goals are as follows:
Collective bargaining reaches a deadlock
Kate Robertson
news@salient.org.nz
15.08.16
Kate Robertson
Idea of consent still not getting through A study conducted by University of Auckland’s Adolescent Health Research Group has found 15% of high school students experience unwanted sexual contact. The report broke down data from Youth’12, a national survey of 8500 high school students. The group found it was most commonly a partner who forced the unwanted experience onto the student, with lead researcher Dr Terryann Clark describing the findings as “highly unacceptable.” Students were also eight times more likely to report unwanted sexual contact forced upon them by someone they knew, as opposed to a stranger. “The popular portrayal of the ‘stranger rapist’ is challenged by these findings, suggesting that unwanted sexual contact is more likely to come from someone known and trusted to the person, like a friend, family member, or partner,” says Clark. Despite this, 75 per cent of males and just over 50 per cent of females had told anyone about it. Clark adds that “it is unacceptable that young people still fear judgements and blame—to be seen as ‘asking for it’ and a whole host of unwanted assumptions that pervade the current ‘rape culture. It is no wonder they don’t tell and get the support they need.”
Little thirsty for the student vote
Kate Robertson
More teachers for already competitive industry The Teach First NZ scheme, a graduate development programme, will be funded for another three years. Education minister Hekia Parata believes the Teach First NZ pilot has been “very effective in attracting highachieving graduates into teaching.” Parata said that the programme will be extended for the next three years, “This means there will be up to 50 newly trained teachers from this programme by the end of 2018.” The programme is now highly sought after by prospective teachers, the 2016 programme received 300 applications for just 20 spaces. Teach First NZ are partnered with the Ministry of Education, and are a field-based “teacher education programme” developed by the University of Auckland and the Teach First NZ Trust. They offer information on teacher training, scholarships, finding jobs, and information for overseas teachers wanting to teach in New Zealand. Following an intensive training programme, graduates are placed into low-decile schools where they receive onthe-job training for two years. The decision to extend the scheme comes after legal action from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA). The scheme was found to be breaking the law by placing graduates into teaching positions that had not been publicly advertised. It was agreed that all Teach First NZ teachers would need to apply for roles alongside other graduates. 08
Kate Robertson
Salient FM became a C-grade celebrity overnight after Andrew Little let a major policy slip on-air last week. While being interviewed on “Salient mornings with Chris and Matt,” Little mentioned a potential policy that would see student debt wiped for graduates willing to take up public service jobs in the regions. He said on air, “we’re looking at ways that we can assist students to effectively write off at least a part of that student debt, through things like taking a public service job somewhere outside of one of the main centres, and for the length of period that you’re there let’s look at a write-off sort of regime.” He was however quick to add he doesn’t “have any particular promise to make.” Little’s policy bomb follows the announcement earlier this year, in his State of the Nation speech, that if voted into government Labour would offer three years of free post-school education over a person’s lifetime. He said the latest policy idea was partially to help those who had already finished studying and had no need for the three-years free education. Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce was not supportive of the policy, and didn’t think Little “knows what to do from what I can see, but if he is talking about wiping off student loan debt that is a very big cost to taxpayers.” New Zealand Union of Students’ Association (NZUSA) President Linsey Higgins “welcomed” Little’s policy, saying the organisation supports “any ideas that address the skyrocketing levels of student debt.” She added that “bonding in exchange for student loan repayment assistance is an issue we will be asking students about when we visit campuses over the latter half of this year.” When asked if the lure of being debt-free would be enough for her to move to a region, Master of International Relations student Fenella Henderson’s first response was: *groans* “would I have to stay there forever? I’d go for two years max then escape.” She added that she felt like “it probably won’t happen.” Design school graduate, Ella, was a little more interested, telling Salient, “he’s got my vote.” She was however concerned about a possible lack of design jobs on offer in rural NZ. Little said Labour still have “more to say in a couple of education policies, including one that will affect students.”
15.08.16
Two Lincoln University students were “bloody nervous” after discovering the house they burgled belongs to one of Auckland’s biggest brothel owners. Thomas Steck, 22, and Richard Tattersfield, 20, caused $14,518 in damage and stole items worth $3560 from Kim Pickard’s holiday home. The pair were convicted for Great Barrier Island’s first burglary in 17 years. Pickard owns Femme Fatale, “New Zealand’s No.1 gentlemen’s club” according to its website. The pair encountered Pickard’s property after a short, alcohol-induced, motorboat trip at 1am on April 13. Tattersfield did not know “how the fuck it happened.” They gained entry by smashing a French door, before stealing important items and causing damage with an axe found at the site. Steck, denying the burglary was premeditated, said they could only remember “glimpses” of the night. The pair reported their actions at the Christchurch Central Police Station, handing over some of the property. While Pickard was open to a discharge without conviction, Judge John Strettel deemed the burglary too serious and sentenced them to 150 hours’ community work. Steck was “miffed” with the judge's decision, saying “he knew he was going against a lot of people’s wishes.” Losses and damages were paid for.
Lincoln Uni is Falling Apart Lincoln University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor, Māori and Communities, Dr Charlotte Severne has resigned from her position after just six months. This comes after four other deputy vice chancellors have resigned from the university this year. While Dr Severne did not comment on the matter, sources from the New Zealand Herald state she “could not get anything done” in her role. When asked on the matter earlier this year, Vice Chancellor Robin Pollard said the previous resignations had not surprised him, as managers in senior positions had been under great stress. “There was the Christchurch earthquakes, the university has had poor finances for some years, and there’s been a lack in internal investment—the departure of the former Vice Chancellor shook everybody.” After receiving a $220,000 report from Ernst & Young detailing their options, Lincoln University is now considering its future. Details of the report will remain classified until the university and the Tertiary Education Commission thoroughly consider its details. Cindy Doull, Tertiary Education Union organiser, says a possible merger with another university was one possible option. While she believes mergers were sometimes positive, she remained skeptical on the idea. “It may make financial sense but sometimes merging doesn’t work when there are two distinct cultures.”
W
E
FREE RETURN TICKET Present this voucher at the Cable Car - Lambton Quay ticket office. This voucher can be exchanged for ONE student return ticket. This voucher must be surrendered once used. One person per voucher only. This is a one time offer. Valid from 15 August - 9 September 2016
You can use your Snapper inter-campus pass at the Cable Car.
AR
E
OP
Katy Groom
Thomas Croskery
White privilege news 101
EN
Quiz
Women get physical at UC from 1-3pm
Jesse Mulligan
Who was the US president before Ronald Reagan?
2.
What sort of food is jamon?
3.
Who are Luke, Calum, Michael, and Ashton?
4.
What is the capital of Fiji?
5.
What is the sixth guitar string: E, A, D, G, B, ?.
6.
Berkeley is part of which US university?
7.
How many balls in a cricket over?
8.
What did Michael Jackson do for the first time in public at the Motown 25th anniversary special?
9.
What movie franchise does the quote—“It’s a trap!”—come from?
10. What’s the name of the wooden board running along the base of an interior wall?
Alex Feinson
1.
Students at the University of Canterbury (UC) are divided over the implementation of a trial period of “women’s only” hours at the on-campus gym. Monday to Saturday, 1–3pm, female students can work out in male-free classes and gym areas. However many students found that blocking out the 1–3pm time slot was inconvenient, as lunch and mid-afternoon are the most popular times for all students at the gym. While UCSA president James Addington thought the trial was “awesome,” many students have found the trial to be too exclusive and contradictory, pointing out that if there were “maleonly” hours it would be seen as sexist. Lily, a third year economics student at UC, told Salient the women on campus are “really excited” by the women’s only hours because it “provides a good opportunity for more women to feel comfortable and at ease” using the male dominated areas like weights. She noted that the male students generally don’t seem to be bothered by women’s only hours, because there are still plenty of spaces for them to workout on campus. She also said it seemed to have increased the number of women using the gym. When asked if the VUW Recreation Centre might consider such a trial, a university spokesperson said that to date, “feedback hasn’t suggested that people would like to see women-only times in the fitness centre.” “We do have a weekly ChickFit class and on request we also provide access to groups requesting women-only facilities. In addition, we offer some other activities for women only; for example, selfdefence for women.” One frequent user of the VUW Recreation Centre noted the gym areas are definitely gender segregated in the same way as at UC, with women using cardio equipment and men using the weights. She also noted that of the classes she had been to (pilates and yoga) there are often more female students than men. She didn’t think that having women only hours “would be the best idea,” because she believed it would inconvenience the male members of the gym. However, she did think it would be a good idea to have women only spaces for weight lifting because it can be “quite intimidating and nerve wracking,” to work out in this male dominated area. The UC trial began on July 25 and will run until the end of the year.
1) Jimmy Carter. 2) Cured meat (ham). 3) The band, 5 Seconds of Summer. 4) Suva. 5) E. 6) California. 7) Six. 8) The Moonwalk. 9) Star Wars. 10) Skirting.
Maori Matters
One Ocean
Raimona Tapiata
Laura Toailoa
Te tō o te Kapa Haka
The Pasifika art world, like many other art worlds, is vibrant, diverse, deep, wide, and carries a myriad of different meanings for different people. From traditional tattooing (the word tattoo is derived from the Polynesian word tatau), song, and dance, to contemporary visual and performance art, and modern variations of tattoing, Pasifika artists explore their heritage as well as their contemporary world in the art they create. Pasifika art isn’t a rigid category in which anyone from, or descended from, our sea of islands adhere to maintain a sense of community. In fact, many of our artists push boundaries of what constitutes as Pasifika art and what Pasifika identity is. The fusing of contemporary and traditional tools, themes, and languages, allow Pasifika artists to paint, perform, showcase, and assert their ever-changing culture. Many of our artists use their voices and creativity to highlight forgotten or unheard stories. Tupe Lualua’s 1918 is a powerful performance piece of the tragedy of the “Spanish” Influenza Pandemic in Samoa that killed almost a quarter of the population, when the ship Taluna carrying passengers infected with the influenza was not quarantined due to administrative neglect and poor judgement. Tupe’s performative piece began as a way of showcasing art and history to friends and family who may not have had a theatrical experience and ended up travelling worldwide. This is just one, great, example of Pasifika art encompassing the then and now, that both honours our past and provides an opportunity for young performers to be a part of a breath-taking piece that is seldom discussed in mainstream discourse. Kava Club and Tautai Pacific Arts Collective are two groups that Pasifika, especially young Pasifika, artists can be a part of to gain support and creative collaboration in a welcoming and inspirational environment. Next week (August 26, 6pm), Kava Club is hosting a Chop Sui Hui at Pātaka in Porirua which will include speakers such as Tupe Lualua, Rachael Rakena, and Emalani Case to name a few. Check out Kava Club on Facebook for more details.
Muia katoa te ao Māori ki ngā whakanikonikotanga o te toi Māori, te whakairo, te raranga, te tāmoko, te aha atu, te aha atu. Katoa ēnei ariā he mea whakatairanga i te ao Māori me ōna katoa. He mea nui anō hoki ngā momo toi ki te tuakiri o te iwi Māori me te tangata Māori. Heoi, ko tāku aronga matua i tēnei o ngā huringa o Māori Matters, he kōrero mo te taha ki ngā mahi a Rēhia, a Tanerore, koia ko te Kapa Haka. Kāore i tua atu, i kō mai i te kapa haka hei whakarāmemene i te ao Māori whānui i raro i te whakaaro kotahi. I kitea tēnei āhuatanga i ngā rā kua taha nei. I Te Haaro o Te Kaahu - Te Whakataetae Kapa Haka o ngā Kura Tuarua o te Motu, i whakaeke atu te tini me te mano ki te mātakitaki i ngā tauira i te mura o te ahi. Nō Ngāti Kahungunu te karanga, ā, i whakautua e te motu whānui. Katahi te hui whakahirahira ko tērā, me te mīharo anō hoki o te taumata haka i kitea. Ka mihi anō hoki ki Te Rōpū Raukura nō Rotorua i riro i a rātou te ika i te ati. I kitea anō hoki te tō o te ao kapa haka i te iwi Māori i te tangihanga o te taniwha hikuroa o te ao kapa haka, arā, a Ngapo Wehi. Ko Ngai Māori whānui me ngā tino kapa o Te Matatini ērā i whātoro atu ki Waihirere ki te tuku roimata, ki te tuku mihi ki tēnei o ngā rangatira. I reira ka toko ake te whakaaro mo tētahi tāonga whakamaumahara i a rāua ko tōna hoa rangatira a Pimia Wehi i Te Matatini. I tua i te ao whakataetae kapa haka, ko waiata, ko haka anō hoki ngā waka kawe kōrero, whakaara whakaaro, e āhei ai te tangata ki te whakapuiaki i ōna whakaaro, ōna kare-ā-roto. He oranga tinana, he oranga hinengaro, he oranga wairua ngā hua ka puta i te whakarongo, te mātaki me te tū ki te haka. HE KARERE: Hono mai ki te reo irirangi o Māori Matters i ngā Wenerei, 2 – 4pm ia wiki. 88.3FM salient.or.nz/fm/
11
This issue we asked seven young Wellingtonbased artists and recent Fine Arts graduates to create an original ‘page work’ for Salient. The page became the site for the artwork, each artist free to utilise it as they liked. Each artist provided text to contextualise their artworks and to give an entry point for readers. The artists were given complete freedom to produce whatever they liked for the page. We did not want to curate a certain style or concept for the artist to follow, leaving the artists to respond to the page in their own way. Varying from the poetic to the absurd, we hope each work will extend your understanding of what is happening in local contemporary art, and how the ideas and concerns of young artists can manifest beyond paint on a canvas, or clay on a form. Thanks to Gordon Harris for sponsoring this initiative, to the artists for contributing, and to the editors for opening up their pages with little knowledge of what they were letting themselves in for.
12
13
Jon Drypnz
15
Lokal Stories
17
Louisa Beatty
19 Bent 21
Faith Wilson
23
Callum Devlin
25
Izzy Carson
27
Claire Harris
J A Kennedy / jonpnz
jakennedy.net
What is your most memorable experience of art? Hana: I started crying when I saw Shannon Te Ao’s Follow the Party of the Whale at the Blue Oyster a few years ago during Puaka Matariki. It’s so beautiful and meditative. I cannot stress how powerful and important that work was in being shown in Ōtepoti, because of the denial and erasure of our traumatic colonial history in that community. Jordana: In 2011, at the age of seventeen, visiting an art gallery (City Gallery Wellington), for the first time on a Dannevirke High School field trip. Everyone teasing me for crying on the bus home over Erica van Zon’s Untitled (2009), a neon text work stating “Don’t Make your Heart a Lion’s Den.” As part of the group exhibition Tender is the Night, curated by Heather Galbraith.
Lokal Stories
// What ideas or theme or issues do you focus on with your work? Hana: I feel like all the work I’ve been making recently centres around how many tabs I have open on my computer and a lot of my texts are more like extended subtweets. ATM I’m interested in the intersections between capitalism and colonisation through text, technology, and performance. I’m really interested in intimacy too, like critical intimacy. Jordana: Digital documentation of the self as an act of self defense, and preservation against the erasure of women’s lived experiences and histories. // What do you want the viewer to feel when they look at your page? Hana: Warmth, empathy. Jordana: Like I’m in love with them.
Find out more at kollektivgallery.com/ lokalstories, Twitter #lokalstories, Instagram @lokal_stories. 14
Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self careHave is warfare you drunk water today? Self care is warfare Self careHave is warfare you eaten enough today? Self careHave is warfare you gone outside today? Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self careName is warfare three people who love Self care is warfare Self careand is warfare support you Self care_______________ is warfare Self care_______________ is warfare Self care is warfare Self care_______________ is warfare Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self careNever is warfare devote too much mental Self care is warfare to anyone Self carecapital is warfare Self care is warfare a break from looking Self careTake is warfare Self careatisyour warfare screen Self care is warfare Self careDon’t is warfare punish yourself Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self care is warfare Self careLearn is warfare to say no Self care is warfare Self careLearn is warfare how to assert boundaries Self care is warfare Self careLearn is warfare the value of softness and Self care is warfare having empathy for others Self carehow is warfare Self careisissowarfare valuable. Self care is warfare Self care as warfare Self care as warfare Self care as warfare Self care as warfare Some days the act of leaving the house Self care as warfare can like a radical action. Self care asfeel warfare Self care as warfare If as you’re struggling and u can’t do it Self care warfare Self care as warfare today just remember that tomorrow Self care as warfare is not today. Self care as warfare Self care as warfare Self care warfare Beas kind to yourself as much as you can. Self care as warfare Self care as warfare Self care as warfare Self care as warfare Self care as warfare Never forget the value of intimacy Self care as warfare Self care as warfare whether this is online or in person. Self care as warfare Self care as warfaresaying how you are Sometimes Self care as warfare feeling online can be a relief Self care as warfare Self care as warfare Sometimes Self care as warfaresaying something Self care as warfare online can cause a lot of mental Self care as warfare distress and emotional labour. Always remember you can disengage at any time.
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What is your most memorable experience of art? Last year at the CIRCUIT symposium Sean Kerr presented his talk via desk lamp and I’ve just finished watching the series Stranger Things, which if you’ve seen it (everyone should) this will sound familiar (so maybe that’s why it’s fresh on my mind atm), but it was pretty great watching this lamp discuss the activation of objects in a lecture theatre of people.
Louisa Beatty
// What is your favourite medium? I’m pretty open to using whatever materials I have access to. For the past couple of years most of my work has been made with a lil handy cam that I was given, which suits me because it’s a really easy and immediate way of collecting. I’m a bit of a hoarder. I think photography / moving image became a quick fix for constantly trying to drag rocks and trash I liked home with me. // Tell a story about your page: This is a print of a photo of a video of a fire extinguisher and a fan in the Gaudí museum.
louisa-photostream. tumblr.com
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Bent
(g) everyday painter 2016 bong hit on notebook 190 x 270mm Among some of the classic conceptual project ideas, are the collections of random or specific things, of rare or ordinary processes, and of high and low values. The stain on the right is part of a recent body of work called Everyday Paintings. The series is informed by routine and habit and has as a focus the recreational consumption of cannabis, or chop if you like. Using smoke as pigment, the medium is only live for very short time, making it hard to control or gain composition. Hence we worked on the series every day until finished in an attempt and intent to imply and apply blurs to art / life divisions.
You can find Bent’s work in the public or on www.bentdomain.com 18
Faith Wilson
1.
'When you’re the absolute best, you get hated on the most.'
2.
'My goal, if I was going to do art, fine art, would have been to become Picasso or greater… That always sounds so funny to people, comparing yourself to someone who has done so much, and that’s a mentality that suppresses humanity…'
3.
'One of my biggest achilles heels has been my ego. And if I, Faith Wilson, can remove my ego, I think there’s hope for everyone.'
4.
'I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.'
5.
'I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice.’
6.
'I feel like I’m too busy writing history to read it.'
7.
‘I’m doing pretty good as far as geniuses go… I’m like a machine. I’m a robot. You cannot offend a robot.’
8.
‘The Bible had 20, 30, 40, 50 characters in it. You don’t think that I would be one of the characters of today’s modern Bible?’
9.
'I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things.'
10.
'I jog in Lanvin.'
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Ten things about me
b. 1993 ENFP Aquarius
Callum Devlin
I want to find myself. Not me now, but like, future me. I want to sit down for a coffee and talk to them. I want to ask them everything. I have a feeling that somewhere out there, there’s this person. Someone of similar circumstances, who has made similar decisions, and had a similar amount of good fortune up until this current point. My plan is to go out and find this person.* On the opposite page is a WANTED ad that ran in the public notices section of the Dominion Post on Friday, August 5, 2015. The Dominion Post has a print run of 68,000, with a total readership of around 180,000 people. This is the first, tiny step, in a documentary project that I am undertaking. Honestly, this is the best bit. I have had this idea for months and talked about it way too much with people that mostly aren’t interested. Now it’s a thing. A tiny wee thing that cost $38.64 to (literally) materialise. *If this person is you, please get in touch.
@callum_devlin
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This is my apartment for another nineteen days it’s too hot to sleep in this small room people tell me the temperature in fahrenheit and I convert it to celsius on my phone I leave my bedroom door open and turn on the fan at night
Izzy Carson
. I think it’s important to find something sacred in your normal spaces, the everyday architecture of your life it’s like when you visit a museum or a cathedral the hush that comes over you as you feel so small but like there is so much significance in your presence, in your history, in the history of this place I like these precious moments in my room, finding things hidden the past things and the things we end up leaving behind . This is my third home in four months there are holes in the wall from absent paintings or photographs hung in a previous tenancy, little punctuation marks; full stops wavy brush strokes of mismatched paint someone’s smudged fingerprints on the doorframe, a reminder of bodies that have slept where I am trying to sleep now there is a tiny metal pin in the shape of an angel that landed on the floor as I moved a chest of drawers it’s gold and sharp, if I had stepped on it I would have hurt myself but I heard it fall and so I put it back
izzycarson.tumblr.com
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What is your most memorable experience of art? Seeing the music video for Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” on TV as a child and watching all the scary knick knacks from my Catholic grandparents’ house get repurposed into something glamorous and sexy that made complete sense without me knowing why. It was like an awakening into all the possibilities of meaning that were in images. Also after that I could sleep in Nana and Pop’s spare bedroom without being afraid that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would eat me.
Claire Harris
// What ideas or theme or issues do you focus on with your work? Humour, celebrity, popular culture, auto-biography, fandom, art as therapy, the public performance of emotions and trauma, former child stars, boy bands, and professional wrestling. I’m pretty narcissistic in my art work. It’s almost always about the cultural landscape and forces that have made me who I am, and all the stuff I’m obsessed with as a result. // What is your favourite medium? In general, photography. I love good photography. My favourite medium to work in is endurance video marathon watch along. Actually anything where there is some kind of sequence or narrative, whether that’s video, live performance, zines / comics, or installations. I do worry that my approach is half-arsed. I always seem to learn just enough about something to do (roughly) the thing I wanted to do, then switch to something else. Hopefully I’ve got another 60+ years of art output to get properly good at something.
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Inside the Vibrating Room: A Conversation with Georgette Brown
“There was an earthquake in Wellington. It was the only earthquake I’ve ever felt intensely. I had to go stand in the doorway. Then my mirror, which was perched against my wall on top of my dresser, not hung up or anything, fell down and smashed right next to me. It was the only thing that fell down. I just knew right then, I had to make a painting called Vibrating Room. It was about an earthquake, initially. If the mirror hadn’t broken, there wouldn’t have been this frame: I saw the painting that was going to be inside that frame.” Charlotte Forrester
Looking at a painting like Vibrating Room, you feel like you’ve just stumbled in on a scene, uninvited. But you can’t pull your eyes away. You wonder about the person with their back turned to you, their face obscured. A potted aloe vera reaches out wildly, animate. Out the window, a night sky pulses with a mysterious phosphorescence. Blood spills from a picture on the wall, descending into the ‘real’ space of the vibrating room. You sense there is a secret being told, only you can’t hear the words. A candid moment has been captured. The passage of time is frozen and yet nothing stays still. The moment is languid in its movement; atoms reverberate within the walls, the ceiling, the carpet. It is an earthquake played on repeat. This is the world of Georgette Brown, an artist experimenting in any creative realm she can catch hold of. She’s also my sister. As early as I can remember Georgette has been an artist. By this I mean that she has dedicated her life to art, with an obsessive, almost religious, reverence. Across the years, Georgette has given me drawers full of about twenty-two collaged birthday cards and maybe one hundred scraps of paper adorned with creatures wishing me a good day. I also have a few sketchbooks of my own, scattered with shitty replicas I tried to do of Georgette’s drawings when I was a kid. A few weeks ago, I recorded a conversation Georgette and I had on an empty basketball court as the sun was going down. Evening birds and the hum of traffic resonate in the background of this recording. Because Georgette’s art is so familiar to me, I wanted to take a step back. Huddled together on the asphalt, Georgette and I spoke for forty-one minutes, as I attempted a glimpse of the world through her eyes…
this point, I do buy parts of my own materials (like paints—I haven’t found a way around that yet), but I mostly like to work with materials I find at the op-shop or on the street or what I’ve collected throughout my life and then rework that. It is art, but it’s also very practical for me. Such as making my own clothes. I’m about to bring into being a body of patchwork clothing made out of the scraps of fabrics I already have, to stave off my desire to buy clothes. I can’t imagine doing life without using the materials around me and creating from them. I guess art is my way of dealing with all the data that comes at me everyday, and then how I reinterpret that in my own way. Data? All the information I catalogue through my senses. Tell me about ‘cataloguing’? Like anyone else I am constantly receiving loads of information and then a natural cataloguing of what I deem most interesting occurs. This can happen anywhere and at any time. And to be honest, I spend a lot of time in the internet, where I do a lot of cataloguing. I get super inspired when someone has a flame inside them. A flame inside them? Yeah, that’s just the way I think about it when I perceive someone to be totally ignited. When you can see that someone is activated at that moment, their energy is infectious. Speaking of flames, I feel like your art depicts both utopias and dystopias… Yeah, I think I get typecast (maybe aptly so) as making only utopic art. But I don’t even think that much about the words ‘utopia’ and ‘dystopia’ anymore. Because I think they’re almost irrelevant now? I feel like we live
Why do you make art? Really, it’s… a lifestyle! Yes, it’s art, but it’s also my therapy, my communication, and my obsession. At 29
got here. I love fantasy and escapism but I’m much more interested in this soil, this reality. Even when I’m drawing my dreams, it’s still about this dirt.
in something that’s in between. A piece I feel hangs perfectly in the balance is The Surveillance of Visions… Totally. That piece seems really sinister to me, like a reflection of creepy political monitoring, such as GCSB. When I look at The Surveillance of Visions, I see a character essentially minding their own business, attempting a freedom of expression, and then I glimpse the cameras lurking in the corners of the frame… True, but also if you look closely you’ll see a large rainbow serpent looking straight into the camera as if to say, “I can see you, too. There are parts of me you cannot have and you cannot surveil.” The rainbow serpent is a recurring motif in my work that represents a culmination of dreams and visions. It’s very intentional that it’s the one staring down the camera, and not the human (which represents me). Because I feel strongly that for the most part, dreams and visions are something that are still ours, even when everything else is taken from us.
On that note of empowered people, your art is often sexually explicit. I get a real sense of freedom in one’s sensuality and sexual expression. Images like dripping wet fingers, a person masturbating in front of a webcam, entwined bodies, mouths parted in untouchable ecstasy… can you elaborate on the sexual nature of your work? I’ve always been sexually open. As a kid, I would talk to everyone about sex. Then I went to Catholic school when I was young, kind of by my own choice, maybe as my first performance art? Because Catholicism is sometimes very theatrical. The parochial schools I attended were ultra-conservative… So that environment made you want to rebel? Yeah, for example, our sex education class in high school involved showing us slides of STDS—really graphic stuff. I remember the day. It was a slideshow in the school library. But those images just felt so far removed from anything I was already experiencing at that point in time. I was already happy with my sexuality. Those slides didn’t teach me anything. They didn’t even put fear in me. And then there were the mandatory videos of abortions in my “morality” class. Or, like how a friend of mine couldn’t masturbate for years because they were told that God was watching them. You shouldn’t be taught that.
So are you painting that ‘in between’ space? Well, it’s not even that wild what I’m trying to depict. I don’t have a garden personally, but most of my art revolves around people with plants, co-existing with flora and fauna. And when I’m drawing decay it’s because decay is a necessary part of nature. If I were making dystopias, those same plants that I’m depicting in my utopias would be poisoned and suffocated from pollution in the soil. All the earthworms I love to draw would be dead. All the bees would be gone. These kinds of images are a lot more common in my sketchbooks, but haven’t yet made it into the art I share publically, as I am still trying to work out what it means.
So are you trying to normalise sex and nudity in your art? I just don’t think sex should be big a deal, as long as it’s consensual. In the past, humans would be the biggest features of my artwork; plants and animals were secondary. Now, humans are often the smallest bit of the painting. I’m trying to create an ecosystem. And sex is a natural part of that. It’s no big deal.
Like an apathetic response to this ‘climate chaos’? Yeah, I don’t want to be apathetic. And I don’t want to glorify destruction. Because when I’m painting something, I am trying to glorify it in a way, by putting it in a frame. But then, I guess you can find beauty in things that are ugly. Like an oil spill—that looks glorious, but its effects are devastating.
An ecosystem? This is the moment when something in my mind clicks into place. I realise Georgette’s art is an ecosystem in and of itself. When she finds a scrap of fabric on the street, when she pauses to observe each leaf of a kōwhai tree in all its varying shades of brown and green and yellow, when she frames a painting from that which used to hold the broken mirror, to that point in time when these serendipitous findings meld in artworks that fizz with life. Georgette’s art is a process through which every element becomes important, interconnected. A resurrection of the discarded and decayed. An act of finding beauty in the ugly. A sanctuary in the forbidden. Georgette takes these pieces of our “in between” world to lift them up. Perhaps this is the secret being told in a painting like Vibrating Room.
Can I talk to you about worms? Yeah! What about worms? Well, worms and other things that are smaller than us are often overlooked. Worms are perceived as gross. But worms, fungi, and mycelium, for example, are very exciting. They are just as important as humans. I feel this pull to be gardening and farming. That’s art as well. I currently feel quite disconnected from the dirt. And yet there are so many references to dirt, worms, fungi, and mycelium in your art. Is this your own form of escapism? Like imaginary gardening? I just want to depict scenes of empowered people. Scenes that show people responding to what we’ve
http://georgettebrown.tumblr.com/ 30
Single Sad Postgrad Sharon Lam
I Have No Idea How Hot I Am
your mum’s hairy butt ahahaha.” Past hookups could be another place to look, but mine range all over the place, the sample group is too small for it to be accurate, and I have no idea how many of these partners were just really desperate. The only solution seems to be an anonymous, impartial vote with a large enough sample size, which seems absolutely terrifying in it’s own right. Can you imagine getting a definitive, scientifically supported, numeric rating of your own attractiveness? I would rather brush your mum’s hairy butt. But does any of this matter? Is everyone as shallow as I am? It’s difficult to rule out the role of perceived hotness when looks are usually the first, if not the only, thing we have to go on before we decide whether or not to approach someone new. Even if someone has charmed you through their ‘personality’ or whatever, it seems difficult to get turned on by someone without at least some regard to their physical appearance. So I still don’t know how hot I am. But as Dr Seuss cheesily said, “those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.” Attraction can’t be forced and it’s obvious enough when it’s present. All you can do is carry yourself with the confidence and self-love that you have. And thanks to my fantastic ass, it is quite a lot of self-love.
Do you know how hot you are? Maybe it’s clear—you’re one of the lucky ones born looking like Kiko Mizuhara and you know you’re a 10. But does Kiko know she’s a 10? Would she consider herself a 10? Though physical attractiveness is at least partially subjective, a consensus can usually be reached on how hot someone is, and this has long contributed towards romantic ‘leagues’—hot people tend to get with hot people. But when you have no idea how hot or not hot you are, how can you tell who is in or out of your league? I have a pretty good idea of what my personality is like, what I find interesting, what I find joy in, “who I am” so to speak, but when it comes to my physical appearance—I have absolutely no idea. I am pretty sure I’m more than a 1 and am definitely sure I am not a 10, but that’s about it (okay probably not a 9 either). Romantically, this results in me either aiming way too high, unrealistically expecting nothing less than catfish-level good looks, or self-sabotaging my chances with people I’ve deemed as too hot and out of my league. One reason for this self-hotness dysmorphia is not having a reliable source of external opinion. Friends and family are useless because they are biased by kinship— they either over-praise since they “have to say that,” or make some dumb joke like “hahaha you’re about as hot as
31
Tinder Surprise
Women's Space Laura Sutherland
Dating app Bumble came through with a boy at my door, who looked much younger than the photos on his profile. It wasn’t until he was stroking my arm and leaning in for a kiss that I asked him how old he was. 19!!!! He was practically a baby!!! I am soon to be 23 so I was feeling concerned about the power dynamics already. He was fun to kiss. Called me babe a lot. My second bonk… wow I just had a mind blank? I guess the sex wasn’t that memorable. We did have matching striped t-shirts on while it was happening, which I was into. And who doesn’t like fucking to Mariah Carey? I am sad we couldn't live to have another bonk session with matching t shirts. Listen to Bliss by Mariah Carey with your next opportunity.
Art history was my favourite subject at high school. I greedily lapped up Delacroix, Monet, and van Gogh thinking: this was it! I’d found my calling. Until one day I had a revolutionary realisation (and I don’t say this with sarcasm because, at the time, it felt like I’d discovered the law of gravity). There was something missing from the ranks of artists I loved so much, and it was women. This became even clearer to me at university when I sat in lectures where 90 per cent of the students were women, 90 per cent of the artists were men, and men made up 100% of the teaching force. I came to understand that the relationship between gender and role in the art world is complex and unsettlingly imbalanced. The artistic hierarchy is ruled by men—they are the creators, the educators, the authors. On the other hand, women make up the majority of the viewers, the students, the readers. The art history we consume as students is a male monologue of a history recorded through the lens of the male gaze. This is especially disturbing when you consider that the majority of art history students—undergraduates, anyway—are women. The very people who are interested in the field, and are willing to pay to learn about this discipline, are not seeing themselves reflected in the content, or more importantly, in the people who teach it. As someone who formerly aspired towards postgraduate study in art history, the lack of female lecturers betrayed the inequality in opportunity between the sexes, as well as the narrow range of viewpoints represented in art history academia. Like so many other feminist issues, this boils down to representation. The roles that men and women inhabit in art history are unequal, with women consigned to the passive subject and listener. Although women make up the majority of consumers, we rarely rise through the ranks of influence. I’ve always heard art history referred to as a “girls’ subject,” but if you consider where the scholarship is coming from, how feminine is it really?
BIG DICK ALERT Dicks are so weird and really are all different banana shapes n sizes. This one was big. Which is totally chill. I managed to make them cum with my mouth and they made me cum with their mouth (more than three times). The sex was rough which is always fun. I’m actually tingling thinking about it. Would definitely hit that up again. They are saved in my phone with an eggplant emoji. We also had a shower together afterwards. The fourth bang. Good but there were some major turn offs. Bad fucking breath. Like seriously dudes, brush your teeth before you come over to visit a lady. IT IS FUCKING GROSS and you could smell it even when we weren’t kissing. They kept going in for kisses and I was not keen. If their head didn’t exist then the sex would have been overall fantastic and all I need to do is get a bed that doesn’t squeak because it was squeaky as hell. I hope you enjoyed my review. Who knows what the next two weeks will bring? Hopefully someone I can not only tap n gap, but tap and tap and tap and tap and tap and then gap. Tinder is full of surprises. Yours truly, Xoxo Tinder Surprise
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Brodie Helps You Figure It Out
Token Cripple
Brodie Fraser
Henrietta Bollinger
How to not be that guy (or, Brodie helps you figure out how to not be a raging misogynist).
A friend of mine keeps joking that I need to take the path of least resistance and just become professionally disabled. The way things are heading, she is probably right. Disability is an element of what I live, study, and talk about every day. This column is hardly helping my case. I used to swear that disability was something I’d never write about, ever. Words—the writing, reading, and reveling in them—was for me always about imagining my way into other places and possibilities. It wasn’t that I wanted to escape being disabled, it was just that it belonged to the everyday. Stories and poems were reserved for something more: the parts of me less obvious to the world. But in the conversations around identity that I am having both casually and academically I feel the yawning gap where disability should naturally be and jump in as if to say, “I’m here too!” It’s something I’m still grappling with. Part of me wants to take the current identity politics position of, I’m not your guru, go inform yourself. The other half says, well, I’d rather you heard it from me than the angry depths of the internet. I think the emphasis we place on lived experience, though aiming to ensure we allow minorities to speak for themselves, equally encourages a feeling of defensiveness, meaning we argue with uninformed others who could potentially be allies given the time and space to learn. There is sometimes a lack of distinction between what is wilful and what is circumstantial ignorance. When those people beyond our own communities have both listened and thought long enough to see accessibility, inclusion, and disabled people’s voices in their day-to-day is when I can go back to writing about other things—but, in the meantime, it is hard to abdicate responsibility for those conversations just because I know them like the back of my hand.
You know what’s exhausting? Having to constantly negotiate a world where you’re hyper aware of how oppressive systems work against you, and whether or not you have the energy to battle with every iffy thing that grates against your being. Being a woman can be tiring as heck. Trying to call dudes out on their behaviour can be tiring as heck, especially when you have to pick and choose your battles. So in the interest of my own sanity, and possibly yours too, I thought I’d talk about ways people can make sure they’re not that guy: the guy who is “just playing devil’s advocate,” the guy who is just joking when he tells you to get back in the kitchen, the guy who mansplains everything to you. The patriarchy embeds misogyny into all of us and challenging that is a constant negotiation and renegotiation. No-one is perfect. I think the place to start is to be aware of how your actions might be further pushing women and gender minorities down. Are you dominating conversations and speaking over women? Are you making jokes about sexual assault? Do you find yourself explaining very simple concepts to women? If so, please stop. It’s exhausting and serves literally no purpose. Another really important thing we can all do to address this is to look at the emotional labour we, and those we interact with, engage in. Dude, do you reciprocate emotional labour? Do you initiate it? It’s such an important part of relationships, but shouldn’t have to solely be the duty of women. We don’t owe you anything. And to all the badass women out there doing far too much emotional labour: you have every right to not undertake emotional labour. I’ve recently realised I can stop doing it with people who don’t reciprocate and it is extremely freeing. There is obviously so, so much more we can do to address patriarchal systems. I could talk for days and never cover everything. But these are, at least, a small attempt to bridge the issue.
33
Being Well
Reaching Out
Catherine Nelson
Vaelyn
It’s the week before the mid-trimester break and many of you will be working on projects, writing essays, and studying for tests while trying to balance other responsibilities, and all while coping with winter in Wellington. It’s a big challenge. University study is demanding and potentially stressful; sometimes learning can be uncomfortable. Here are some studied and proven tips called the Five Ways to Wellbeing. These tips will support you not only while studying, but for your whole life. You can introduce any of these five actions into your life, any time, and you will begin to feel the benefits. Do what you can when you can. Learning and incorporating ways to manage yourself and your health is an art (skill), and like any skill it may take time and practice to find out what works for you. Also things will change from day to day, year to year, decade to decade: sometimes you may be abstract, other times still life or surreal; you swing between schools of thought that reflect your culture, values, and experiences.
Over the last two weeks, VUWSA International Students’ Association has been campaigning for fair fees and equitable access to scholarships for international students. Not only do international students pay four or five times more than domestic students, our fees increase four to five per cent on average per year. This is in contrast to the three per cent for domestic students. Moreover, there is only one scholarship available for international students—one that does not discriminate between nationality, level of study, and field of study. There is no scholarship for international students who are struggling financially. Much to the university’s ignorance, many of the international students take loans from their home countries to get a better education. Some have expressed fear of dropping out of university if fees get arbitrarily high. Our campaign is not just about money. We are getting students to do our survey and to tell us wider problems that they face. The preliminary results are worrisome. Over 90 per cent of the students who want to gain employment are struggling to find one. Over 50 per cent of students say that financial constraints have affected them emotionally. An overwhelming 60 per cent say that their parents are willing to compromise on their savings to support them. International students are NOT cash cows. Neither are our parents. I always believed that if you worked hard enough, you can reach for bigger dreams. You will be rewarded. I am not sure anymore. Well, you are rewarded with a straight-As function where you laugh merrily along with other twenty-odd students and pose for pictures. All in the name of publicity. In the absence of scholarships and bursaries, token gestures like such trivialise student achievements and sweep aside struggles. Happy students? Well-supported? Not at all. Students struggling financially struggle academically as well. To all the domestic students out there, V-ISA does not want to campaign in isolation. We need you to share our Facebook post (www.facebook.com/VUWVISA) to promote a fair and diverse learning environment. To all the international students out there, do our survey: https://goo.gl/forms/Xd87buSD49iejpQh1. Why suppress yourself when you can actually speak out?
Me Whakawhanaunga | Connect: Talk and listen. Be there. Feel connected. Tukua | Give: Your time. Your words. Your presence. Me aro tonu | Take notice: Appreciate the little things. Savour the moment. Me ako tonu | Keep learning: Embrace new experiences. See opportunities. Surprise yourself. Me kori tonu | Be active: Do what you can. Enjoy what you do. Move your mood. More information about the Five Ways to Wellbeing can be found on the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand website. Student Health will be open during the mid-trimester break. If you have not had time to make an appointment recently you may have some spare time during the break. The flu vaccine is still available. If you have not had a flu vaccine this year please make an appointment; the vaccine is free for all students at Victoria and will definitely assist your wellbeing.
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The Arts Section 36 Food 37
Visual Arts
38
Music
39 Music 40 Film 41 Film 42
Games
43 TV 44
Books
45 Theatre
The Arts Section is sponsored by:
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Kate Morten
Food
Marinated courgette & pepper salad
Here I am, as promised, trying to make do in a ruthlessly understocked Airbnb kitchen in Sarajevo. Despite my optimism earlier in the day while surrounded by amazing Bosniangrown produce at the local market, I gotta say I was stumped when it came to actually cooking the produce. I walked home full of excitement to roast some veg, but promptly had that dream shattered by the realisation that while the apartment has an oven, it has no effing oven trays. Cue hacking vegetables apart with knives blunter than a butter knife, and pan-frying a load of courgettes and peppers in batches in a tiny enamel ‘frying pan’ decorated with fruit. Now, as I sit down to eat this meal, we realise there are no plates, only tiny, gold edged, bowls suitable for things like porridge or a singular plum. On the bright side, this salad is the business and the marinade is straight up drinkable.
4 peppers / capsicums (try for the longer and sweet variety, and different colours if you can get ‘em)
1 lemon, zest & juice
4 courgettes
250g (or so) cherry tomatoes (again if you can get a mix, do it) A little extra mint & parsley, to garnish
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley 1 small bunch mint 4 cloves garlic
3 tbsp + ½ cup olive oil ¼ cup red wine vinegar Salt & pepper
1 fresh red chilli Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Slice the peppers into thick strips lengthways. Do the same with the courgettes, making ribbons about half a centimeter thick. Toss with 3 tbsp of olive oil and salt and pepper, and spread onto a lined oven tray. Roast in the oven until soft, tender, and starting to crisp up round the edges. Meanwhile, finely chop your parsley and mint, your garlic, and your red chilli. Put in a bowl along with the zest and juice of the lemon, the olive oil, and the vinegar. Mix together and season to taste. When the vegetables are roasted let them cool for a while, then place in a big bowl, add the tomatoes, and pour over the marinade. Mix to ensure all the vegetables are coated. You can either pop it in the fridge and let the marinade really sink in for a few hours, or you can eat it as soon as you bloody want.
36
Sweet 16
Lucy Wardle
Save the date 'cause we're having a party!
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Visual Arts
Public. We see this as essential to the establishment of emerging and experimental artists within the Wellington / New Zealand art community, and vital to a healthy arts scene.” There would be no price tags and no commissions; a completely non-for profit artist run space with full intention to focus on art as experience and as a practice, rather than a product. It has been 16 years since the opening of Enjoy in June 2000, originally located at 174 Cuba Street (above Olive). Viewfinder was the first project that exhibited at Enjoy, consisting of five week long exhibitions, each work responding to the five windows in the gallery. Enhancing the architecture of the space, the premise of the show was to create discussions surrounding each artist’s different interpretations of the same theme. From the removal of glass windows, to the display and slow rot of mandarins, tamarillos, carrots, and brussel sprouts, to glossy photographs of polyurethane and sets of bags filled with air ‘sent’ from some of Wellington’s dealer galleries— Viewfinder was the beginning of something radical. It’s been quite a year for Enjoy with the development of a new website, the release of the third five year retrospective catalogue, and a new curator Sophie Davis, who joins late August. Enjoy enters a new phase like the ever changing moon. This coincides with the rite of passage of turning sixteen, a coming of age party celebrating one entering into a new stage of life. I’m excited to see what’s next. Enjoy Gallery continues to show work that encourages and promotes a progressive art scene that engages in critical discourse and contemporary art practise in all its forms. They also know how to party! HBD Enjoy and may all your wishes come true, xo.
I received my invitation to celebrate the sixteenth birthday of Enjoy Public Art Gallery, and boy was I excited! All dressed up and ready to party, I made my way to Caroline with a few friends—I remember exclaiming that this would be the party of the year. Balloons and streamers were everywhere, silver fringe framed the door in which you walked through and everything sparkled. Beer in hand and friends by my side, I wished Emma Ng, curator, and Louise Rutledge, communications / publications manager, a loving happy birthday. Now my main focus was the dance floor where Callum Devlin and Jordana Bragg’s DANCEDONTDANCE DJ set / performance was so lit that the entire art community were getting low and v sweaty. A new way to make friends or to have the time your life, probably one of the best dance parties I’ve experienced. It was a night to remember, full of thanks, appreciation, and love. A pink layered birthday cake made by Cake For Breakfast was the sweetest treat and a wonderful way to congratulate and celebrate Enjoy’s achievements—I just wonder what Emma and Louise wished for. Sixteen years is a big deal. A space that was initially only temporary has become important in Wellington’s / New Zealand’s art scene. The motivation to establish Enjoy was the lack of variety of exhibition opportunities for artists. With the establishment of many dealer galleries in Wellington, Enjoy was birthed to allow artists to show work without the pressures and limitations of dealer galleries / larger public art galleries—to showcase innovative, experimental, and challenging visual arts. “Enjoy provides a new form of artistic experience for the Wellington
Plastic show and interview
Berkley. McDonald also played in Fly My Pretties—the Five Mile Town track “Fatal Flaw” featuring on their 2013 record. “It was a complete eye opener for me, playing a completely different role in another band, which I don’t really do a lot of,” says McDonald. Ryan elaborates, “before I had my own personal outlet, I always wanted to kind of drag what I was listening to into the band, even if it wasn’t appropriate. But now I’ve got my own outlet, I don’t feel the need to bring that in. So it kind of puts your role in the band into more perspective.” The EP Nightmares was released in August last year but the band has since been self-recording new music. Louis explains, “we’ve got a studio space with a couple of friends in other bands... it’s good to just leave stuff there so if you’re like ‘hey I wanna go in and track something, try something,’ there’s just freedom to do it at any point, which is kinda cool.” The band’s continuous writing was reflected in their live set which covered most of the EP and some unreleased tracks. They play like a group that’s been together for a number of years (because they have). Their loose, quick bursts of overdriven guitar are held down by a solid rhythm section—the drums always grooving along interestingly but never fading away or going overboard. The general vibe at Moon was fairly mellow, but in the right circumstances Plastic could definitely provide a raucous evening. Their unreleased tracks sounding dancier and somewhat braver than their EP. In regards to upcoming releases the band says “it depends how it goes, because we’re doing it all by ourselves… I reckon we’ll record a bunch of songs and then be like alright are 12 songs album worthy, or will it just be a really solid thing if its like six or seven of them.” “Between us we have a very eclectic taste” says Ryan, and from the band’s show and our chat, it does seem that they are ready and willing to go in any direction they want to at the moment. Hopefully they come back to NZ soon and release more music in the near future, as I’m sure their next effort will be sufficiently surprising. Check the band out on Facebook and Bandcamp (musicplastic.bandcamp.com). The full audio from our interview will be online soon, on the Salient FM website.
Music
Olly Clifton Melbourne-based band Plastic graced our shores with a three stop tour last week, playing in Wellington at Moon bar in Newtown. Four fifths of the band were formerly known as Five Mile Town, a Silver scroll nominated Auckland alt-folk-rock band. After moving to Melbourne in 2013, the band continued to play but leaned away from their previously acoustic instrumentation and added a keyboard player to their line up. Frontman Louis McDonald explains “it was time to start a new band really, we wanted to do a new thing. The music we were writing for so long didn’t really reflect anything we had done and we kinda just wanted to start again.” The core elements of the band remain intact: their strength in songwriting being carried over into their new iteration as Plastic, while they ditched the restrictions of acoustic guitars and double bass and added more guitar effects, synth lines, and drum machines. “We had written quite a lot of different stuff for Five Mile Town, but we just decided to make an acoustic EP at first. We just ended up pigeonholing ourselves a bit. We weren’t that good, the music wasn’t that complicated, and we just felt now that we had got better.” The move to Melbourne in 2013 was a somewhat spontaneous decision. “It was ill planned. We had one gig at The Toff and bought one way tickets. But it’s as easy as moving down the road. The majority of us were living at home, and we were like ‘oh we could move out, or just move to Melbourne.’ It’s like moving to Grey Lynn or whatever.” The band members seemed to quickly integrate into the Melbourne music community, both playing, and working in, music. McDonald works at Found Sound, a renowned vintage gear store in Melbourne frequented by the likes of Courtney Barnett and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Keyboard player Louis plays in other Melbourne bands including a bigger soul / funk group. Ryan (drummer) and Levi (Guitar) both DJ, and Ryan makes electronic music under the name Ryan 38
Entrañas Arca Ω/5 Review by Ravenous Man
3AM, Saturday Morning: You’re staring into the overpriced coffee you bought from the only place that was open after trudging out of the club and into the streets. It’s raining, and you’re uncomfortably damp, but not quite wet enough to call it a night and head home just yet. Something’s about to happen, you can feel it in your bones. You don’t know quite what, but if you leave right now you’ll miss it, so you sit there, staring into your coffee as your friends beg you to head back to the hall / flat / squalid basement you call a home, questioning if you belong there, if you belong anywhere.
6AM: After catching a night bus you’re closer to home, to safety, respite. You still can’t check your phone, so you don’t know if your friends give a shit you made it back or not. Do you give a shit? Something was meant to happen tonight and it never did. Was it because you left? Or was it because you sat for so long in that shitty diner waiting for something to come to you when you were meant to go out and find it yourself. This is the harrowing journey of listening to Entrañas. There’s a sense of anticipation, of unhealthy longing, this sick desire throughout that is never realised. There’s a constant state of tension, of being unnervingly on edge, and there is no respite until the closing tracks when a Spanish man croons. Its shortness betrays its depth, clocking in at only 25 minutes. It’s a breathless ride, punctured with distressing drums, eerily edited moans, groans, wails, and screams. It makes for phenomenal listening, putting you on the edge of your seat and refusing to let up, but shit, I’m glad it’s over.
4AM: The semi deserted diner churns, people moving in and out, faster than you can process. Is it the pills you took in the bathroom while someone threw up in the stall next to you? Your friends have gone and you’re alone now. You haven’t dried off, you’ve been sweating too much. It must be those pills. Was three too many? You said you could handle it but you’re feeling the kebab you had earlier work its way up your oesophagus forcing you to dash to the dilapidated toilet at the back of the diner. 5AM: You drag yourself out of the diner and back into the street. The rain is still coming down and you don’t have your coat. You stare at your dead phone, questioning if
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Music
you still had the enough money in your account to catch a taxi home. You aren’t even sure if a taxi would let you in, you caught a reflection of yourself and you look like shit. There’s flecks of vomit on your shirt and you can’t remember if its yours or not. Someone’s dropped a 20 and you grab it (you notice one of your fingers is swelling), thinking it may be your ticket outta here.
“Girls can wear jeans / And cut their hair short / Wear shirts and boots / Because it’s OK to be a boy / But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading / Because you think that being a girl is degrading / But secretly, you’d love to know what it’s like / Wouldn’t you? / What it feels like for a girl.”
Greasy Strangler Director: Jim Hosking 5/5
Swiss Army Man
Film
Review by Mathew Watkins
Director: Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan 4/5 Review by Finn Holland
This completely bizarre, stomach-churning, fun-filled film with infantile dialogue, cartoonish gore, and full-frontal male nudity is an absolute masterpiece. At its core, the film is about a love triangle between a father (Big-Ronnie), his simple-minded son Brayden (who runs a walking disco-tour), and one of their only customers Janet. Meanwhile there is a terrifying, slimy murderer on the loose named the Greasy Strangler who looks a hell of a lot like Big Ronnie…. A near perfect mix of John Waters and Tim & Eric, the humour is crass, abrasive, and completely hilarious. The thing I really enjoyed about this film is just how unapologetically ugly everything is; from the cast with their uneven skin tones, overweight hairy bodies, and misshapen genitals to the dysfunctionality of every oncamera relationship. As ridiculous as it is, it still kind-of says something about how love is portrayed in media. I mean really, there are way more Willem Dafoes and Lena Dunhams than there are Ryan Goslings and Scar-Jos out there, right? Though maybe the best thing about watching midnight movies like this is other patron’s reactions. In the hour and a half run of this film I witnessed two walkouts, and sat next to a man who groaned heavily at every sighting of an exposed penis, not at the excessive violence or the consumption of straight grease (so if you’re interested in watching this film, perhaps line up a movie night with some friends you know won’t appreciate it for the benefit of yourself). I give this film five stars because why not? It’s not Citizen Kane, but that’s not what it set out to be; it set out to be a cheap, weird shock factor film that totally achieved it’s goals while cracking me up in the process.
This is about the strangest film you’re likely to see this year. If you haven’t heard of it (or seen the trailer), a brief summation would be that Hank (Paul Dano) is lost in the wilderness with nothing but the corpse of Manny (Daniel Radcliffe), giving a somewhat limp performance for company and survival. As it turns out, Manny has a few tricks up his decomposing sleeves and he and Hank go on a quest to get back to civilisation, whereupon they both learn important life lessons. Bar the fact that one of the characters is dead, this could have been a fairly middle of road affair, but what occurs on screen is a blisteringly original tale, that is both heartfelt and hilarious with a beautiful message to match its ridiculous premise. Hank is fantastic as the run down everyman who is stranded in the physical sense, and the emotional. He pines after a girl he’s never spoken to and watched everyday on the bus. Radcliffe gives a potential career best as Manny, dead-un-dead corpse who farts, a lot, and it’s probably the best flatulent humour you’ll see in any movie, period. But acting and comedy aside, the story pulls through with a strong afore-mentioned message of isolation, repression, and longing for companionship, which elevates the material to new heights. The second act may not have the pace (although it does contain a lot of beautiful production), and the ending may not land exactly how most people want it too, but it’s a truly charming movie and it’s all wrapped up in a heartbreaking soundtrack, and yes, farts.
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Midnight Special Director: Jeff Nichols 4/5
Captain Fantastic Director: Matt Ross 4/5
Review by Finn Holland
Review by Finn Holland
The biggest praise I can give this film is that you’ll probably leave the cinema wishing, just a little bit, that Ben (Viggo Mortensen) was your father. In a nuanced and unabashedly glorious turn, Mr Mortensen brings us Ben, aka Captain Fantastic, a father who has taken to raising his six children in the middle of the wilderness and has to bring them out to the society in the wake of a personal tragedy. Suddenly the six incredibly fit, healthy, and intelligent children are shown the world of Xbox’s, Coca Cola, and pre-cooked chickens. It is the interwoven commentary of the children and their fathers journey that is so beautiful in this film, as well as the general concerns it raises for western society as a whole. If you haven’t already picked up, I’m a huge Mortensen fan and his performance as a man trying to both protect and help his children is moving at the best of times, but also hilarious. The plot does admittedly spin its wheels for some extended periods, and the finale does feel like a long time coming, but the interplay between the incredibly believable family is enough to tide you over until the story kicks in again. In short, this feels like another indie triumph with a dash of Little Miss Sunshine, and a dash of Wes Anderson, but mostly something all of its own. If you’re despairing for the earth or (like me) craving some Mortensen, go check this one out.
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Film
Following in the footsteps of Spielberg’s excellent sci-fi output of previous decades, this new film from the acclaimed director of Mud, Jeff Nichols, is a mashup of classic government conspiracy and sci-fi tropes of the 70s, with a twist of darkness and an element of the supernatural. Think less E.T. and more Cloverfield. The film drops us in the midst of a father and son’s attempt to escape the CIA and a very Gloriavale-esque cult, both of whom want the man’s son, eight year old Alton, for his supposed supernatural abilities. What ensues is a deeply engaging thriller which side-steps the overblown Hollywood style in favour of slow burning drama with occasional riveting flares of action that are graphic and thought provoking. The actors all pull their weight, with Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, and Kirsten Dunst honing the story down to its emotional core of a father who will do anything for son. Jeff Nichols bring a subtleness to the film and his sparing use of CGI make it a visual treat, with stunning night photography and methodical pacing. The only real issue is that a little too much of the steam gets lost in the third act, as some of characters moments could really have been shelved earlier in the film and the editor could have been a tad more heavy handed in spearheading the final scenes, but the final pay off more than makes up for this. If 10 Cloverfield Lane was your jam, then this is your second fix of riveting sci-fi for 2016.
Pokémon GO: The Disaster I Really Should Have Seen Coming Games
Review by Cameron Gray However what pushes this situation from being mildly infuriating into table-flipping rage has been how Niantic has been dealing with the players. Or should it be: how they haven’t dealt with them, since it appears Niantic is completely unable to deal with any sort of public relations at all? Most of those bugs that I mentioned? They weren’t all there to begin with, most arose during updates which were completely unannounced beforehand, not even on official social media accounts! They then went and shot themselves in the foot and removed the tracking feature altogether, not just to fix the three step glitch, but to make it impossible for third party websites to track Pokémon Go—all unannounced and unexplained. Since most regarded tracking as a necessary feature, you can understand why people are mad. Even those who wanted to request refunds are shit-out-of-luck, since those go to an unmonitored email address in breach of the Android terms and conditions, which could potentially see the game be pulled. If media studies has taught me one thing, it’s that communication is as much about what you say as what you do: by doing nothing in response to an outcry, you’re implying that you just don’t care what the audience thinks. By failing to inform people when and why certain changes were made to the game, Niantic have subsequently inflamed a potential PR disaster and it could well come back to bite them. While I have nothing against people who are continuing to enjoy Pokémon GO, it’s kind of hypocritical of me to continue to defend a game whose ongoing problems go against everything I stand for as a games critic. Niantic, just hire a PR person. It’ll solve an awful lot.
Way to go, Niantic. You’re making me look like a fucking idiot. Since my original defence of Pokémon GO just a few weeks ago, a lot of negativity has come up surrounding the game, and not just from the usual “gamers are losers” crowd. Much of the game’s core fan base are up in arms over some of the game’s ongoing issues and Niantic’s response to them, which has been less than exemplary. I still haven’t had an opportunity to play the game, but needless to say, the FOMO I talked about in my original Pokémon GO piece is quickly evaporating. The game is yet another example of a major release being pushed out the door before it was ready. The server issues I alluded to a few weeks ago have seemingly abated as the launch hype dissipated, but each new update to the game has brought in more bugs and has made gameplay a more frustrating experience. The infamous “three step glitch” made it appear that all Pokémon were as far away from your position as possible, making a player’s hunt for specific Pokémon into something of a crapshoot since you had no idea where they actually were. In addition, many players have lost in-game items, mostly eggs, after crashes and server failures, while freezing and performance issues are quite common. Yeah, that’s not good. I have made it very clear in the past that releasing an incomplete and buggy game is completely unacceptable, and mobile games are no exception. Pokémon GO is probably the biggest game release of the year, beyond even Overwatch, and it pains me to see it in such a poor state. This should have been a sure-fire win for gamers, and while it has been successful, success is sadly not always an indicator of quality. 42
American Horror Story Review by Katie Meadows
#5: HOTEL (Season Five) The inspiration for the eponymous hotel is the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, former home of serial killer Richard Ramirez and location of the eternally creepy Eliza Lam case, when the body of a 21 year old woman disappeared after she was seen acting erratically on the hotel’s security footage only for her body to be found weeks later in a rooftop water tank… discovered when residents complained of discoloured tap water. Unfortunately there is way too much going on in this season. Vampires? Ghosts? Demons? Heroin addicts? Serial killers? Lady Gaga (but she looks great)? PROS: Evan Peters as Mr March, serial killer parties. CONS: They played “Hotline Bling” and I couldn’t handle it.
#2: ASYLUM (Season Two) Asylum is the most cohesive and genuinely terrifying season between the psychopathic Bloodyface and the bleak reality of mid 1900s mental health “care.” Jessica Lange is breathtaking! Sarah Paulson kills it, Evan Peters too. It would be number one on this list but there is some really confusing and vague alien stuff that bogs the story down. PROS: Strong female leads, lead singer of Maroon 5 killed early on. CONS: Very fucked up and often triggering content (definitely not uncommon for this show).
#4: COVEN (Season Three) While it’s not necessarily bad, I didn’t find Coven particularly memorable. Emma Roberts (daughter of Eric Roberts, star of the “Mr Brightside” music video) is in this season and she’s great but in the way where you can tell she isn’t really acting and is just lowkey evil. There is a lot of really messy stuff about race that never really goes anywhere. Kathy Bates is fantastic (duh) playing real life awful person Madame LaLaurie, a socialite and serial killer in early 1800s New Orleans. PROS: Witches are cool, aesthetic etc. CONS: The episode about Stevie Knicks is honestly bizarre.
#1 MURDER HOUSE (Season One) Ryan Murphy has made a lot of shows I have enjoyed ie. Nip/Tuck, Popular, but it’s true of his work that the first seasons are incredible and after that it’s anyone’s guess. When Murder House came out it was super exciting, horrifying, and fresh and it still holds up. There are solid twists and scares and it’s the good kind of messy. If you haven’t seen any of American Horror Story and you’re a horror fan I would start here! PROS: Teen angst and an iconic scene where a man cries and masturbates over a lamp. CONS: Fairly graphic content involving sexual assault. 43
TV
#3: FREAK SHOW (Season Four) A lot of people hate on this season for a lack of discernible plot, but Murphy’s “style over substance” show-running really won me over, as a huge fan of the sideshow culture that originated with the Barnum & Bailey Circus and was infamously featured in Todd Browning’s Freaks. Sarah Paulson is amazing as conjoined twins Bette and Dot, and the supporting cast is made up of great actors and performers who have physical abnormalities and disabilities instead of just casting able-bodied actors. PROS: Twisty the clown, Dandy the psychotic rich white boy of your nightmares. CONS: Lobster fisting, all the singing.
It’s that time of the year when American Horror Story promo material starts to appear and theories begin to roll in, with this year’s rumours involving Lady Gaga as a twisted fairy, the lost British colony of Roanoke, exorcisms, and spooky children of the corn. But only one thing can be certain: as long as Ryan Murphy makes this show it will be a mess of over-complicated side stories and sadistic violence and I will watch every stupid episode. Here are the first five seasons ranked:
This week, following the Man Booker Prize long-list announcement for 2016, the Salient books page takes a look at two previous winners of the prestigious literary prize.
The White Tiger
The Sense of an Ending
Review by Kimberley McIvor
Review by Cassie Richards
My poor stomach was made to twist again and again as I read this distasteful, vulgar, Man Booker Prizewinning novel. There’s nothing quite like this description of poverty: not in terms of humble, hard-working, and cheerful peasants, or having a single bar of chocolate for your birthday, but rather the hot, putrid stench of sweat, filth, and excrement stirred eagerly in a rusty pot with cheap alcohol and tobacco spit. There’s poverty in sweet old children’s books and then there’s poverty in the slums of Northern India, and the central figure of this story—hardly the protagonist, but still in the role of narrator—is angry as hell. Balram Halwai, from the caste of sweet-makers, pulled out of school, and living in the wake of the death of both his parents, is buoyed only by his mad hope that one day he will become like his idol, Vijay—the lowly bus conductor turned politician, who climbed the ladder of success to such dizzying heights that he actually got to wear a uniform. Balram consequently becomes a personal chauffeur to a wealthy businessman, but, alas, his education in the ways of the rich serves to fuel his class fury. His boss, his beloved Mr Ashok, must be sacrificed in the name of progress, of a better life, of “entrepreneurship.” This is not a ‘spoiler-alert’ moment— we know this from the beginning. But the catch is not in the act of murder itself. It’s in Balram’s scathing account of the realities of poor India—the “darkness.” Money is both god and devil in his world. It is his only hope for salvation, and it is the burden bending his back in slavery. That’s why he’s never the hero of the story. He is never truly free to make right decisions, since he’s placed his faith in the power of wealth. Wealth says to him, do whatever it takes. Read this book if you wonder what it might be like to grow up in a poor Indian village, or if you honour the choices of the Man Booker Prize judges, or if you want to renew your appreciation for the comparatively clean streets of Wellington.
This compact yet weighty novel from Julian Barnes took me a while to ease into when I read it a couple of years ago for an English literature class. There was plenty to turn me off: an ‘old white male’ narrator looking back on his yesteryears, plenty of stuffy British academia, jacking off into sinks etc. But what Barnes does with the last third of the book is really quite stunning, and had me reassessing all the biased judgements I had made previously. The narrator of the story, Tony, is retired, divorced, and living a quiet, rather uneventful life. He begins remembering his schooldays and a particular friend, Adrian. Adrian was different from the other boys at school—he seemed sure of himself and wise beyond his years—and Tony admires him. Tony and Adrian finish school and head off to different universities, but remain friends. Tony finds himself a girlfriend, Veronica, and they endure a fumbling relationship. Not long after their breakup, Tony receives a letter from Adrian informing him that he and Veronica are now dating. After sending a cold reply, Tony cuts off all contact with Adrian. Several months later, he learns that Adrian has committed suicide. It is forty years later when documents turn up that set Tony on the path of discovering what led his friend to take his own life. The Sense of an Ending deals with the blind spots and the revisions of memory, and how events from the past can change upon recollection. It also examines the foolishness of youth and the wisdom we can gain with age. Stodgy Tony became to me, if not likable, at least sympathetic as a character. He is a man stumbling in the dark of events that took place forty years ago, with the things that he assumed to be true thrown up into the air. Barnes has deftly put us in the same position as his narrator, reassessing what we know and changing our perception. This is a novel which has stayed with me long after reading, pondering the nature of memory and how we can be so misled by ourselves.
Books
Man Booker Prize 2008 Author: Aravind Adiga Publisher: Free Press 3/5
Man Booker Prize 2011 Author: Julian Barnes Publisher: Jonathan Cape 4/5
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Pints with PlayShop Review by Ophelia Wass
Most of us would shudder at the thought of partaking in improvised theatre. The pressure of creating something on the spot and in front of an audience is enough to deter anyone. Incredibly, there are a group of wonderful Wellingtonians that take our worst fears and turn them into an exciting, interactive, and hilarious theatre form—the improvised theatre-company, PlayShop.
Ryan: The right attitude. You have to know that when you start out that you’re not going to be great. There will be a teething period and it will hard. Push through it! Stevie: You have to trust your scene partners and fellow company members, that they will accept all of yours offers and work to make you look good.
Ophelia Wass sat down with Lori Leigh (Company Director), Jonny Paul, Ryan Knighton, Maria Williams, and Stevie HancoxMonk over a couple of brews and discussed all things improv.
What is your favourite improv memory? Jonny: During a show put on by PlayShop called Admen (an improvised Madmen), Stevie played a character called Shannon, from Shannon. At the beginning of the scene we found out that Shannon had a child. When this revelation came out, one solitary person in the audience just said, “what?!” Then, at the end of the show, Shannon decided she would go back to Shannon to look after her child and one person did a single clap in the audience. We assume it was the same person from earlier. Clearly the character arc was complete for them.
What is PlayShop? Lori: PlayShop is a company / community / network of people that are interested in creating spontaneous interactive theatre, in the moment, that brings people joy. I just improvised that statement.
Final words? Ryan: We live in a community that does not encourage much failure within the arts, where practitioners can feel like everything you have to produce needs to be of a certain standard and we’re always striving for perfection. Improv is a lovely thing that encourages failure and makes it beautiful.
What is a typical PlayShop rehearsal like? Jonny: We get together on a Tuesday at Victoria Uni to mess around for three hours and work on our craft. Improvisation is a sport at heart and you can’t rehearse it at all. Instead, you can practise skills and techniques, get to know each other better, get used to how people play, and do all the stuff that makes us funnier, hopefully, on stage. Stevie: Lori also leads workshops that are skill-based and very important for refining and maintaining our improvisation craft.
PlayShop Gigs What: PlayShop Live! A weekly improv show with a relaxed and informal comedy vibe. When: Fridays, 9pm. Where: BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace. Cost: $10 concession for students!
What does it take to be an improviser? Lori: The ability to run towards to fear. Jonny: Honesty. An audience will always know if you’re lying.
The company is also involved with children’s shows, festivals, and show seasons.
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What is an improviser’s favourite colour? Stevie: Red. Jonny: Blue. Lori: You know when you close your eyes, and you just sort of see all colours. Jonny: Oh, are we being creative? Ryan: All of them probably. Brown, no one ever picks that one. Maria: I can’t do this briefly. I am very fond of yellow because of all it represents regarding happiness and sunshine. I also always liked orange. When I was six years old they did a bar chart of everyone’s favourite colour in school and I was the only person in the class whose favourite colour was orange. So I feel like I have to stay loyal to orange.
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Puzzles Made by Puck Crossword answers from issue 17
Target goals Good: 17 words Great: 20 words Impressive: 23 words
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Crossword: 'Pump It Up!' ACROSS 1. 2007 M.I.A song with the line "Sticks and stones and weed and bones" (5,6) * 7. Ran into (3) 9. Term for some illegal recordings or liquor (7) 10. Refined affair with little cakes (4,3) 11. 1976 song by The Runaways used in 'Guardians of the Galaxy' (6,4) * 15. Gives the OK to (4) 17. 2009 Coldplay single that was covered by Frank Ocean (10,5) * 20. Ancient tale, often (4) 22. 2015 Trey Songz single about taking your time that's also a Supertramp album (4,6) * 28. American painter Pollock (7) 29. Lines on a weather map (7) 30. Month in which New Zealand Sign Language Week falls (3) 31. 1969 David Bowie song whose cover was the first music video made in orbit (5,6) * DOWN 1. Like hair, down there (5) 2. Investigation (5) 3. It may be 12 inches (5) 4. Possible to read (7) 5. Book of the Bible that contains the line "The Lord is slow to anger" but also the one where he destroys Nineveh (5) 6. Sound of exasperation (4) 7. Victoria's is 'Wisdom is more to be desired than gold' (which, given our fees, makes sense) (5) 8. With 20-Down, "I love this song!"... or a hint to what can follow the first words of the starred clues (4'1,2,3) 12. With rage (5) 13. Span (5) 14. Botany or Hawke's, for two (3) 15. Unaccustomed to (3,2) 16. One ate Meryl Streep's baby, in film (5) 18. Vehicle commanded by Ms Frizzle (3) 19. Improve the wording of, maybe (7) 20. See 8-Down 21. Like matching stripes with plaid, according to Weird Al Yankovic (5) 23. Paul McCartney's first wife (5) 24. Egg-shaped (5) 25. Footballer Younis Mahmoud, for one (5) 26. Awful (5) 27. Employs without recompense (4
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