Part tragedy, part comedy, part prophecy?

Damien Hirst trips over a diamond the size of his head and dies. 

Edition by Piek artgroup. 

Christmas Cheer (2)

Gimme shelter

I had a lengthy debate with a prominent curator once about the similarities between public art galleries and sheltered workshops. From distant memory it went something along the lines of:

Galleries operate, by and large, beyond the realm of public opinion, producing occasionally irrelevant outcomes in an often unconventional and irrational manner, and are often misunderstood by their communities.

Sheltered workshops, on the other hand, operate beyond the realm of public opinion, producing occasionally irrelevant products in an often unconventional and irrational manner, and are often misunderstood by their communities.

I also recently discovered that the support programme for disabled people integrating in the community is Intellectual Disability Empowerment in Action (IDEA), galleries trade in the currency of ideas... You get the picture.

It's nice to see this idea taking off in a work in the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery's summer show Break: Towards a Public Realm.

Louise Menzies (b 1982, lives and works in Auckland) collaborates with Kate Newby (b 1979, lives and works in Auckland) to recreate in the front display space of the Govett-Brewster the front display space of the nearby Expressions IDEA daybase in the work Thinking/willing.

The switch isn't immediately obvious. With the way a lot of recent art borrows heavily from the burgeoning craft movement, you could be easily forgiven for thinking you were looking at 'leading contemporary art', which I guess is the point.

The lack of any signage or wall label doesn't exactly aid the digestion of the idea (though does the IDEA) and nor does the exhibition room brochure. I wonder if the current economic recession is behind the brochure's 5-point font and single-sided print.

Either that or the Gallery has something to hide...

Break: Towards a public realm. Govett-Brewster Art Gallery until 1 February 2009.

Sub brand.

Back in the dim dark days before the interconnected series of tubes fed all sorts of random crap into the back of our computers, The Future always seemed so much more distant and, well, seductive.

In a joyous moment of random web trawlage recently I rediscovered The Usborne Book of the Future - A Journey to the Year 2000 and beyond. To say this was the formative book of my youth would be a massive understatement, and it's alarming to note just how far we have come, and how far we haven't, since the book came out in 1979.

But this wee journey into nostalgia doesn't end there. The Singing Blackbird has unearthed the remarkable (or remarkably bad) Street Hawk, to which I raise the stakes in crap 80s 'the future is now' television shows with Automan. Behold the future, as it was elaborately imagined in post-Tron 1983. Crazy times...

Fun Fact #2976: The first (of all 9) episode of Automan screened exactly 25 years ago today.

Christmas wish list #1

Running shoes that transform into er, Transformers.

Quite possibly the coolest thing in the world right now, and causing me to wonder a) what else could benefit from being transformed into a transformer, and b) whether running might be cooler than I thought.

Nicely done designboom

Celebrity Endorsement

Woohoo!

Anyone I've discussed the global credit situation with in recent months will have heard my theory that the root of all problems are flat screen televisions - that seemingly innocuous item that has invaded lounges and emptied pay packets for up to 36 months, lured people into hapless Jonesism as their neighbours upsize to 42", shipped a large chunk of the Kiwi economy straight offshore, yet still not really driven those producing the actual Television contents to up their game (TVNZ 6 and 7 aside, but I can't get those, so will overlook).

My theory is catching on - this morning it was loosely endorsed by Russel Brown on Public Address, who pondered:

"I wonder if this will be remembered as the crisis of the flat-screen TV, the somewhat affordable luxury still expected to ship nearly a hundred million units worldwide in 2009, thanks largely to intense price-cutting from manufacturers. We will rationalise our purchases as we scoff our unseasonably cheap vine-ripened tomatoes."

Autograph hound

On this, the day that Andre Rieu releases Waltzing Matilda (New Zealand Special Edition), I thought it fitting to post a recent find in a Wellington bookshop - an autographed copy of comma dot dogma, the work of the late Tom Kreisler.

Tune in next week when Onemomentcaller reviews the Constitution of the United States of America (New Zealand Special Edition) and gets his chest autographed by Colin McCahon.

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto

Wanganui, on the occasion of an opening of works by Fiona Amundsen and Frank Breuer at McNamara Gallery Photography. 

Absent, friends

According to the Technorati 2008 State of the Blogosphere, of the 133 million blogs the site tracks only 7.4 million have been updated in the last 120 days.

Hattip: Swissmiss

Under new management

Room with a view

"Take part in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend the night in one of the worlds’ most distinguished museums.

From October 25 through January 6, guests can reserve an overnight stay in Revolving Hotel Room, a work of art created by artist Carsten Höller, at the Guggenheim Museum.

Revolving Hotel Room is an art installation comprising three outfitted, superimposed turning glass discs mounted onto a fourth disc that all turn harmoniously at a very slow speed. During the day the hotel room will be on view as part of the Guggenheim’s theanyspacewhatever exhibition, which runs from October 24, 2008–January 7, 2009.

At night, the art installation becomes an operative hotel room outfitted with luxury amenities. Offer is subject to availability. Rates do not include taxes, gratuities, or incidental charges. Stay may only include one night. Limit one night per person. A maximum of two people per night."

http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/exhibition_pages/anyspace/index_hotel.html

Kind of takes the more common art hotel and art in hotel models to a logical conclusion: hotel in art.

Our Place

"Nothing quite prepares you for the culture shock of Jay Walker's library. You exit the austere parlor of his New England home and pass through a hallway into the bibliographic equivalent of a Disney ride. Stuffed with landmark tomes and eye-grabbing historical objects—on the walls, on tables, standing on the floor—the room occupies about 3,600 square feet on three mazelike levels. Is that a Sputnik? (Yes.)"

We've started the merry dance of open homes again, but now I'm ruined. I want a library with the original Addams Family hand, a Raptor skeleton, Escher-like staircases and Sputnik.

"I said to the architect, 'Think of it as a theater, from a lighting and engineering standpoint,'" Walker says. "But it's not a performance space. It's an engagement space."

Judging by the photos the architect nailed it. So what's so different between this guys library and all of the new museum/gallery spaces that have been built in NZ over the last 10 years? At a quick guess I'd say the number of zeros after the dollar figure. Gotta love that US economy.

Full article at Wired.

They call her Styrene

Only in New Plymouth do you head along to the launch of a book by a great New Zealand photographer, compare phones with a pioneering gallerist, get embroiled in business development assistance for an ongoing art project, get offered a section of bush-clad land, debate the merits of the latest Audi S6, organise a politically motivated Yum Cha, and end up discussing passive resistance and the development of modern warfare with a top Taiwanese/US contemporary artist, all with an underlying bouquet of polystyrene.

I suspect I really need to out more.

The tyranny of parenthood

Dear God, we've created a mime!

Live and local

New Plymouth District has been shortlisted as a finalist in the International Awards for Liveable Communities.

Also on the same shortlist are cities from Canada, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Switzerland, England, Poland and China, with a total of nine cities in the running to receive the Whole City Award 2008.

“Basically this says that out of all the countries in the world, New Plymouth District is one of just nine cities that could receive the ultimate accolade as the best place to live,” says Mayor Peter Tennent.

“The people who live and work here already think this part of New Zealand is pretty special, but now we have an independent panel of international judges who have looked at what we’ve got and noticed that something pretty outstanding is happening here.”

Press release: New Plymouth District Council

Road trip

So we're braving our first 4.5 hour car trip with the little fella to head to Wellington this weekend, deftly avoiding Peter Robinson's opening at the Govett-Brewster (from what I've seen it looks amazing), a BBC film crew, a chopper flight into Whangamomona with an Australian flim crew, an Arts Foundation event, the screening of Hollow Men as part of the film festival here, and Team Wanda Harland who, in a bizarre twist of timing, is heading to Taranaki.

Short of a 22 hour conference and dinner and 4-minute dash through Rita Angus at Te Papa (the 4-minute exhibition - thoroughly recommended), it'll be my first trip back in 6 months.

On the hit list are Floriditas, Miyabi, Superfino, Page Blackie, Hamish McKay, Peter McLeavey, Parliament, and a million people. Still not sure how we're going to get a baby stroller up the McLeavey staircase, but life without challenges would be dead boring.

Any other recommendations of things to do or see greatly received, as it's been a while.

Exciting times!

Mandatory Cultural Inclusion

Given that it was Taranaki's first ever hosting of a test match, and work was loosely a sponsor, it would have been downright rude not to head along to the All Blacks game (read: exhibition match/training run) on Wednesday.

Was fun to watch, and made doubly special in that Dad was able to be there as well.

You're it

A little while back I got informally tagged by Art and My Life (as did all readers) to post an artwork that was rocking my world at the moment. So here it is.

The work:
Julian Dashper, Love, 1993, found objects, dimensions variable.
Courtesy of Hamish McKay.
(corrected)

The story:
We bought this (kind of an early birthday present) a couple of days before we found out we were parents, but it wasn't until a month or so later when the exhibition finished and we picked it up that Hamish revealed that the artist uses concentric circles as a metaphor for his pregnant wife.

Physically, it's 5 different sized metal key rings, interlinked small to big. Idealogically it's an incredibly exciting (and nervous) stage in our lives, both in terms of creating a family, but also in having the guts to move away from buying paint on a canvas or light-sensitive chemicals on a piece of paper and investing in an idea.

It's a great one in that it makes people look at us funny, but I never get tired of explaining it.

Moving into the new place in the provinces, it was the first piece to go up, and it's probably the first thing I'd go for if the house was burning down (just in case the Herald ever asks).

Your turn.

Foam party

Anyone wanting a sneak peek at Peter Robinson's upcoming and wonderfully ambitious installation at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery should head to the gallery neighbourhood today, where thousands of little polystyrene foam spheres offer some slight indication of what's in store.

We were trying to recall what the only other full-gallery exhibition at the GBAG was, and decided on Leon Narby's opening installation back in 1970, though in an apple against apple world et al.'s abnormal mass delusions occupied the same original gallery space.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that the epic directorial swansong Mediarena covered both the entire old and new gallery spaces.

Either way, exciting times.

Scale models the secret to becoming a great curator

"How Exhibitions Work

This course will give students a behind-the-scenes insight into the background and setting up of exhibitions and displays. Topics covered will include research and development of an exhibition proposal, building a small scale model project, setting up an exhibition – techniques, problems/challenges – and putting an exhibition together. Students will build a small scale model or a small scale display component or other models appropriate for their display area.

(Approx course material costs: $50 depending on project)

Wed 6pm-8pm

20 Aug – 5 Nov (10wks)
$80 Y2020.025/3

For further information: http://www.witt.ac.nz/"

Drive time

Tips for gaining maximum enjoyment from a 4 hour drive through torrential rain, most of it in the dark, and in a 1.6l car, on the way to see someone unwell:

• Sport mode is a waste of time. All it does is lose 6th gear on the auto box
• Don't disengage traction control when going through Awakino gorge. It's fun, but only for a second or two.
• Six speed auto is an oxymoron.
• Don't think about why you're going where you're going. Think about why they need the car you're delivering to get home.
• Sometimes the horrendous price of petrol can be considered an investment.
• There are no public toilets open after dark between New Plymouth and Ngaruawahia.
  

Teenage kicks

Fun with iMovie and a digicam 1...

Judging a book by its cover

I've always been a complete sucker for album cover art. So much so that I once bought an album by the Faith Healers solely because it had a great photo of a Renault Dauphine on the cover, and at the time we had one decomposing in the back garden. Turned out the album wasn't so bad either.

The album cover obsession, spurred on by what the 4AD label were doing with Vaughan Oliver (think Pixies, Cocteau Twins, and the Throwing Muses) and the stunningly generic covers the Smiths were putting out in the mid to late 80s, kicked off a penchant for stockpiling retro photographic clip art that still haunts me, and which I really should do something with.

So you can imagine my excitement when I found a smart new site chronicling the entire Smiths cover-art collection in my feeds from Notcot this morning.

Vulgarpicture.com. - the illustrated history of the Smiths and Morrisey. It's good (and I didn't even resort to dropping Smiths song titles into this post).

Nothing so terrifying as a blank piece of paper

National Party Arts Spokesperson Chris Finlayson to Josie McNaught on Frontseat, early 2007:

JM: So where are your ideas Mr Finlayson, because National's current arts policy is a quick read. It's not a lot.

CF: I think it's fair to say the 2005 policy for the National Party was good in so far as it conveyed a message that we weren't going to be slashers and burners. But ah, you're right, it was…

JM: Short on specifics – one page.

CF: …Short on specifics. I think my best advice to you is put that away and look towards 2008 and you'll see ah, a substantial document.


National Party Arts Policy 2008: 1 page.
(And don't let the bit on the website that says Policy Summary fool you - this is it. I checked.)

Hand Requirement Labeling Standard Sought

One Moment Caller will today petition the food Safety Authority and countless other government bodies seeking to introduce a mandatory Hand Requirement Labeling Standard for all food items.

The proposed standard, which will apply to all foods, will indicate how many hands are required to open, prepare and consume that food.

The call comes in response to the often precarious balancing act that simple food preparation becomes in a childrearing situation.

"At 4 in the morning, when you have a screaming baby in one hand, it can be really really hard to make even simple food," a spokesman for One Moment Caller said.

"Humble favourites like 2-minute noodles, scrambled eggs on toast, or even buttered toast, can become a logistical challenge when you're carrying your growing, wriggling, and often screaming offspring at the same time."

"It's about the children. Nobody thinks of the children."

Naming rights

Top 6 names to not call your children if you don't want to get deemed a child abuser by a loval judge (front page news in the provinces today):

1. Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii
2. Number 16 Bus Shelter
3. Violence
4. Midnight Chardonnay
5. Benson and Hedges
6. Fish and Chips

It gets better: Benson and Hedges and Fish and Chips are twins.

Wow, and to think we very nearly had AndyWarhol or Doctor, though only as a middle name. Went with Andrew by the way - strong family links and will be seeking naming right fees from other bloggers.

(Turns out Doctor may have contravened s.18 of the Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 anyway)

"Art. Ask for More."

From the associated press release:
89% of Americans believe that the arts are important enough to be taught in schools, and that it fulfills an important role in a well-rounded education. And they are right; studies show far-reaching benefits of an arts education:
• The arts teach kids to be more tolerant and open.
• The arts allow kids to express themselves creatively.
• The arts promote individuality, bolster self-confidence, and improve overall academic performance.
• The arts can help troubled youth, providing an alternative to delinquent behavior and truancy while providing an improved attitude towards school.

Unfortunately, the truth is that the average kid spends more time at their locker than in arts classes. This PSA campaign was created to increase involvement in championing arts education both in and out of school. Parents and other concerned citizens are encouraged to visit www.AmericansForTheArts.org to find out how to take action on the behalf of the arts and arts education. The campaign stresses that some art is not enough and reinforces with the tagline: Art. Ask for More.

More...

This is your inheritance:

There's a whole lot of (largely self-imposed) pressure when getting your baby their first artwork.

Do you take a chance on something conceptual in the hope they get it in the future or do you play safe and get something clearly representational? Do you get something that reflects them (or rather who you suspect they might be at 4 weeks old) or a reflection of the world they've arrived into? Do you go for a name that might appreciate and might pay their way through art school, or something robust that won't get too trashed during the rigours of the average childhood?

See: Pressure!

Fortunately the guesswork has been taken out of it, thanks to Takahashi Murikami's My First Print series at the Kaikai Kiki gallery which, according to the artist, "is to be the first piece of artwork you will own in your life."

Sorted.

Pic: Takashi Murakami, And then, and then and then and then and then 1994

Song about ping-pong

I love how every sports manufacturer and advertiser is throwing an Olympics twist on everything at the moment.

Here's one I quite like for those that remember Ping-Pong Country at Mighty Mighty a while back: Nike have released a table tennis range. It's sharp.

Can you tell I'm missing Wellington just a wee bit?

Cheers: notcot.org,

(and in future I'll endeavour to complete posts before posting)

Hit me baby ONE MORE TIME

"A baby's smile gives a new mother a high like a drug hit and is equally addictive, a study of the female brain shows.

A study involving 28 first-time mothers shows that when a woman looks at a photo of her baby smiling the reward centres of her brain light up. These areas had also been activated in experiments associated with drug addiction.

"It may be that seeing your own baby's face is like a natural high," said Dr Strathearn, who is now based at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.

The study, published in the journal Paediatrics, showed this maternal activation was strongest with smiling faces. Photos of babies crying did not evoke the same brain response..."

Full article here...

Life imitating a really slow news day

This is awesome: Telecom are being criticized for an advertisement that isn't real.
The story 'broke' as it were on Spare Room last week, who stated that "Corporates just don’t get the web. They just can’t recreate that amateur viral charm with a big ad budget."

Aside from the fact that 'amateur viral charm' was monopolized by corporate chequebooks (think LonelyGirl, 42 Below's mock-offensive virals, Panasonic's pocket series) a long time ago, aren't we being a bit too precious over what is a blatently creative medium?

I must admit I quite like the ad – it tells a good story (shouldn't all ads?) and it creates an office culture that I aspire to work in (again – shouldn't all ads be aspirational?).

One Moment Caller has taken this investigation a step further, and can reveal the dark secrets of an advertising industry intent on misrepresenting everyday life in order to flog you products. The investigation has shockingly revealed (may contain spoilers):

- Ducks do not drive stock cars around your shiny toilet bowl.
- A man does not sit next to intersections with a Wheel of Misfortune that dictates whether you live or die (though I think this presented a golden opportunity for Clemenger).
- The Butter family were not a real family.
- And not only recent advertising is behind this shocking cover up: the Volkswagon depicted in DDB's groundbraking 1960s print ad is in fact a car, and not a lemon, as stated.

Don't believe the hype

What I've discovered they didn't tell us in all the pre-baby marketing material is that within an hour of bringing them home, the entire house will smell of baby, feeds actually last an hour so the recommended 3-hourly feeds are really every 2 hours which really plays havoc on anything resembling a sleep pattern, and you’ll lose whole hours staring at them.

So it's going pretty good, on the whole, and I'm secretly impressed that he can wee on his own head.

Note: the pic is not my baby

And the winner is...err...winners are...

Celebrated Auckland and Christchurch Artists Chosen for 2009 Venice Biennale
Press release, Creative New Zealand
25 June 2008 (released under embargo to print and broadcast media only)

Two New Zealand artists - Judy Millar from Auckland and Francis Upritchard from Christchurch - will represent New Zealand in a six month exhibition at the 2009 Venice Biennale - widely recognised as the most significant event on the international visual arts calendar.

Chair of Creative New Zealand's Arts Council Alastair Carruthers says "the decision to send two artists shows a strong commitment to the success of New Zealand visual arts overseas. It will be an important project for arts patrons, the visual arts community and the Arts Council to invest in together."

"A well respected mid-career artist and teacher, Judy Millar is considered one of New Zealand's most experienced abstractionists", said Mr Carruthers. Her concept for Venice is "strong, bold and exciting". Francis Upritchard has also presented a "compelling" project and Mr Carruthers described her as "a young rising star in the art world".

"Both are talented, outstanding artists and will represent the arts sector and New Zealand exceptionally well. This decision is enthusiastically supported by both a selection panel of six visual arts professionals and the Council," he says.

"These two artists offer fresh perspectives on European art traditions."

Full (undated unless you can be bothered trawling through the metadata) release here

Congratulations to all involved!

Catching up

Having a baby is one of those remarkable things that generates a stunning (and completely overwhelming) outporing of support from pretty much every corner of society. Witness Blackbird Singing's stunningly elaborate analysis of the similarly named , Bestofthree's lovely welcome note, and wife-features winning the 'Room with the most flowers EVER' award at Taranaki Base's maternity ward.

So to all the bloggers, emailers, gift mailers, and well wishers, cheers. One day soon we'll buy you a drink and thrust a (possibly) smiling baby at you.

Pic: Jasper (middle name still under negotiation after both AndyWarhol and Doctor were rejected) Rhodes. Mum and baby doing brilliantly, Dad still in mild shock.

Tangential shift

As of yesterday there exists a very real threat that this blog will become solely about children.

The madness

Kerry Post, a perfectionist, must say 'Wait a minute' in an action or adventure film that includes a brush...

As it turned out we used every last minute of the 48 hours, delivering the final tape with a squeal of brakes and cloud of burnt rubber to an anxious JP waiting beside his letterbox at 6.59 on Sunday.

The outcome?

Rather good I think, and I can even say that a little more objectively now I've had some sleep and the coffee has worn off a little bit.

And I got to make it all about art. And we got to film in the White Hart which was a hell of an adventure, though would have lent itself a lot better to horror. And I finally found out what a dolly grip is, and even how to be one.

Regional screening/semis in Hamilton tonight. I was tempted to drive up, but that's a bunch of driving on a school night. Fingers crossed though.

Take that, sleep.

Here at One Moment Caller we occasionally go to extreme lengths to keep our 2 readers entertained, which is why we'll be teaming up our good friend coffee to participate in the madness that is the 48 hour film festival.

I'm considering it lack of sleep practice for when a screaming wee future person enters our lives in a couple of weeks.

Mystery explained

"The form of a cardboard box has been chosen because of its associations with the storage of intimate personal items and to invoke the sense of mystery surrounding ideas of what a sealed box might contain."

I can explain the mystery: Boxes 1-37 = art books. Boxes 38-39 = dvd and cd. Boxes 40-46 = kitchen stuff. Box 47 = bike stuff. Box 48-49 = miscellany.

1. My former lounge, poised.

2+quote. Rachel Whiteread, Embankment, 2005, Tate Modern

R.S.V.P.

One moment caller's response to Andrew Clifford's response to Bill Culbert's response to the Taranaki landscape's response to the sun setting.

Type O

I guess it rhymes less with Osama.

Creature Comforts on Art

Guilty secret

There's something lovely about receiving good old-fashioned postal mail. Particularly when it's art. In this case an edition bought online from an artist-run-space in Los Angeles. Will post an image of it some time.

The internet 1: making life in the provinces that much easier.
The internet 2: making it harder to look real-space dealers in the eye.

Market driven model

One of the standout works for me in Reboot: the Jim Barr and Mary Barr collection show on at City was Ryan Moore's White Pin. Something about the space afforded to it, the simplicity, the artist's background appeal, as does the fact that a few people I've spoken to about it didn't even see it.


Given the context for the work though, I'm really tempted to discreetly switch it for a red pin.

Champing at the bit

At the risk of sounding a little too Louis Theroux's Wild Weekends, I've just discovered there's a Horse Ornament Museum in the Taranaki Hinterland. I'd post photos this Monday following a visit this Sunday (10-4 or by arrangement), but you'll have to wait a week.

And now for a 2 wheeled interlude

I was a huge fan of Q-boats in WWII: boats that looked like small coastal freighters, but were secretly armed and armoured.

Vaguely similar story with The New Bike. While this may look like an old-school steel bike (well, my mum thinks so), it is in reality cutting edge, and on bikes cutting edge = really rather fast.

And rather fast = rather good fun to ride, which may explain the last 10 day's 300km.

Automation has hit the provinces

Marketing 101 teaches us that every business needs a unique selling proposition in order to differentiate from the competition. I'd never thought of automatic doors as a USP, but good on them for trying.

Despite my love of the new, and the titillating invitation to try them, I didn't. I'm saving the experience for the next rainy day I visit Moturoa.

Teenage kicks

I've heard rumour of a guy just north of New Plymouth who has an active interest in taxidermy. While this in itself isn't necessarily so interesting, he has a stuffed Polar Bear.

I'm in the process of hunting him down, so to speak. Actual photos to come.

Dream home

For anyone who hankers for that wonderfully eerie 70's charm of an Yvonne Todd or Anne Noble photograph, you can now live the dream.



I'm seriously tempted.

Back

Apologies for the lengthy hiatus. It hasn't been wasted, with a new bike, a new job, a new city, two pairs of new pants, and a number of plots to take things over (as you'd expect).

Bullet points:

• WOMAD was good, and apparently we have our own ukulele orchestra here which I got invited to join (yes, that thought terrifies me as well).


• Jack Johnson was also good, crazy busy, but I didn't go surfing with him in the end.


• The world triathlon series race was good, with somewhat inspiring cosequences. More on that later.


• The Govett-Brewster's new shows are very good. Two thumbs up, and I'm still a fan of their events - the Monica Brewster Club is a very good thing. It's the round of shows after next I'm really excited about though.


• Any free bike is a good bike, but when it's a custom speced Cotic, it is a great bike. We're getting some serious mileage in. Full reports pending...


• Work is bloody interesting, and it's nice to have some cool new projects to get stuck into, without the drama (real or imagined) of Parliament. Also nice not to feel compelled to yell at the tv on a regular basis. In fact I haven't watched any TV at all in over a month. Oddly liberating.


• The coffee in New Plymouth is stunning. A little on the expensive side, but then for the most part it is fair trade. Believe me, I'm as surprised by this fact as you are.


• The Len Lye Centre debate is good and healthy, although a little one-sided at this stage. I've a number of plans to rectify that, of course, so watch this space.


• New Macs are brilliant. The iMac even comes with a remote control, for those rare moments that you're using your computer from a distance further away than arms reach. I'll even forgive Apple for blatently cribbing the design notes from 1960s era Braun, it's that good.
  
• We've even gained a handful more works for the collection, which is currently living in two large crates, which is quite sad, but a necessary short-term evil.

So you might say that, on the whole, things are pretty good.

The new.

"Soak in the brilliance of some of New Zealand and Australia's finest artists at the new Chaffers Gallery opening on Saturday 8 March. The Home and Away exhibition, co-hosted with Gow Langsford Gallery, will feature works by Dale Franks, Allen Maddox, Colin McCahon, Dibbles, Judy Millar and Gordon Walters to name a few. This exhibition is a must see."

Advertorial from yesterday's DomPost.

Pict: Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1868-1961

4 Sleeps: the trails

Ridgeline at Makara Peak.
More fun than a barrel of monkeys.

Balancing act

Since the start of the year I've been monitoring arts coverage in the Herald and the Dom Post - namely the editorial column centimetres dedicated to each of visual arts, theatre or performing arts, dance, music, film, and literary arts over the last couple of months.

• I suspect it's rather skewed by the Wellington festival and the performing bias there
• Visual arts placed a lot higher than I suspected, but then a good tale about a wealthy collector, a stolen McCahon, and stunning customer service will do that
• Music wins, thanks to Tom Jones
• Surprisingly low was literarature, again I think due to the festival, but Readers and Writers week will likely balance that out a bit
• And dancers lose.

It's by no means an exhaustive study - I missed a handful of the weekend papers, and forgot on a couple of days - but remotely interesting to do. You'd almost think I have nothing better to do.

5 Sleeps: the culture

Ping Pong Country, Mighty Mighty.

6 Sleeps: the landscape

Round the bays, roughly below the Ataturk Memorial (loosely in the spirit of Patrick Reynolds' Two bodies one car, which is loosely in the spirit of SJD's Two bodies).