The Dowse Podcast

On a rainy morning at the beginning of autumn, in a slightly unpredictable council car, I joined photographer Ans Westra and curator Sian Van Dyk for a four-wheeled wander through the streets of Naenae to visit some of the photographs taken by Ans in the area in 1988 -1989, and which have now been produced as billboards as part of the exhibition Time Capsule: Ans Westra in the Hutt. We talk with Ans about her relationship with her subjects, her proclivity for getting in and out of trouble, and the real struggle photographers face in trying to keep their eyes on the road…

'So... Tell us about the cheese and the bananas.' Artist Mark Schroder and Gus Fisher Gallery Curator, Lisa Beauchamp take us on a workplace orientation in 'Mark Schroder: Fortune Teller (No. 2) (Branch Office)'. Inspired by his day job as a “corporate lawyer drone”, Mark has created a dystopian office plastered with absurd inspirational posters, copious memos about employee well-being, and handmade ceramics that speak to the workaday grind.

Did your mother ever tell you, ‘There’s no I in team’? Claudia Kogachi’s mom did, so she made it the title of her exhibition. Senior Curator Dr. Chelsea Nichols sat down with Claudia to discuss hairy legs, The Simpsons and using portraiture to explore a complex mother-daughter relationship – warts and all.

Visual artist Jess Johnson & video-maker and animator Simon Ward in conversation with curator and Dowse director Karl Chitham about their unique collaborative relationship and the process of developing their virtual reality exhibition, Terminus.

BC Collective, Cora-Allan Wickliffe (Ngāpuhi, Taniui, Niue) and Daniel Twiss (Lakota Sioux, Rosebud Reservation) in conversation with curator Grace Ryder about Following the herd, a new installation and performance featured in the exhibition From the Ground Up: Community, Cultivation and Commensality at The Dowse. Sharing food has been a central element to BC Collective and their installations since their establishment in 2017. Partners and collaborators, Wickliffe and Twiss work with food, specifically Indian Tacos, to encourage conversations with their audiences about culture and inherited knowledge, - in this instance looking at colonial food sources adopted and elevated by their indigenous and native communities.

Artist Reuben Paterson sat down with The Dowse Director Karl Chitham on the opening weekend of Black Matter to chat about what draws him to blackness, chicken wings and all that glitters…

Artists Fiona Amundsen and Tim Corballis in conversation with listening theorist Emily Beausoleil as they explore listening as a social responsibility and a methodology for connecting. This discussion is part of Human Hand: Fiona Amundsen and Tim Corballis, an exhibition seeking out ways of living in a sprawling, urbanised and militarised world.

Listen to the conversation with this panel of thinkers about how built environments can build community. Do the structures we live and work in ‘set the scene’ for how our lives are lived? How do our shelters define us and our communities? What are the ways we can create shelter without erecting borders? Join the discussion with urbanism senior lecturer Dr Rebecca Kiddle (Ngāti Porou, Ngā Puhi), PhD candidate and public art curator Sophie Jerram and landscape architecture senior lecturer Bruno Marques, facilitated by writer and lecturer Dr Tim Corballis. Presented in partnership between The Dowse & Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. ‘Care corresponds to quite an ordinary reality: the fact that people look after one another, take care of one another, and thus are attentive to the functioning of the world, which depends on this kind of care.’ – Sandra Laugier, Ethics of Care *** This discussion is part of Human Hand: Fiona Amundsen and Tim Corballis, an exhibition seeking out ways of living in a sprawling, urbanised and militarised world. It explores three history-laden sites in Arizona, United States: Arcosanti, a 1970s experimental micro-city; Biosphere 2, a structure built to test whether humans can live in space; and the Titan Missile Museum, with the largest intercontinental ballistic missile deployed by the US Air Force. At each site, people have coped differently with the consequences of military capitalism—hoping either to build alternatives, to escape, or to live right at the heart of it. Exhibition ends 11 October 2020. *** Speaker bios: Dr Rebecca Kiddle is Ngāti Porou and Ngā Puhi and is a senior lecturer in the Wellington School of Architecture at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Her research focuses on Māori identity and placemaking in Aotearoa New Zealand and the nexus between community creation, social processes and urban design. She also works to develop better participatory design processes to ensure rangatahi and tamariki voices are heard. Bruno Marques is a senior lecturer in Landscape Architecture and Programme Director for Landscape Architecture in the Wellington School of Architecture at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. His main research interests relate to the integration of indigenous methods in participatory design and place-making in landscape rehabilitation and ecosystem services. Sophie Jerram is the co-founder of public art programmes Letting Space and Urban Dream Brokerage. Her PhD is being undertaken in a cotutelle partnership with Te Herenga Waka— Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Copenhagen and examines ‘commoning’: the relations and governance approaches to shared space that are formed and transformed through artistic agency, and its relationship to collective Māori land practices in Aotearoa New Zealand. Dr Tim Corballis’s writing deals with how political experience can be reflected in the composition of literary text. He is based in Wellington, where he works as a lecturer at the Centre for Science in Society at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. He has published five novels as well as a substantial corpus of essays and art writing. He has received major awards and prizes for his writing, with his essay ‘Winter’ winning the Landfall Essay Competition in 2013. He has turned to speculative fiction with his latest novel, Our Future is in the Air (Victoria University Press, 2017). See less

For the opening of Nikau Hindin: Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai at The Dowse, Nikau was joined by apprentice navigator Hinerapa Rupuha (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Whānau a Apanui) and indigenous activist and voyager Raihania Tipoki (Ngati Kahungunu, Rangitāne) for a very special workshop. Together, they explored the relationship between the star compass, used for celestial navigation, and the Maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar). Listen to the first part of the workshop, as Hinerapa speaks about constructing and reading the star compass, a framework for finding direction using the stars, ocean swells and currents. Nikau Hindin: Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai is on at The Dowse from 20 June – 4 October 2020. http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/kokorangi-ki-kokowai

For the opening of Nikau Hindin: Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai at The Dowse, Nikau was joined by apprentice navigator Hinerapa Rupuha (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Whānau a Apanui) and indigenous activist and voyager Raihania Tipoki (Ngati Kahungunu, Rangitāne) for a very special workshop. Together, they explored the relationship between the star compass, used for celestial navigation, and the Maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar). In the second audio recording of the workshop, learn from Raihania of Te Rua o Mahara Trust about how the star compass is representative of knowledge and tikanga of local Maramataka. Nikau Hindin: Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai is on at The Dowse from 20 June – 4 October 2020. http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/kokorangi-ki-kokowai

Relive a defining moment in Aotearoa’s jewellery history, with this special presentation by Areta Wilkinson, Alan Preston and special guests at The Dowse Art Museum, 12 July 2020. Join some of the most innovative jewellers of the past 40 years, as they revisit and update their lively and prestigious keynote presentation delivered at The Design Museum Die Neue Sammlung, Munich as part of Schmuck Jewellery Week in 2016. A tūturu kiwi-iwi PowerPoint, complete with hongi and waiata, exchange of jewellery pieces, costume changes and quirky slides displaying New Zealand, it showed the longstanding friendship of the jewellers inter-woven with tikanga Māori. Contemporary Jewellery Aotearoa New Zealand: Māori, Oceanic and International practices underpinning Fingers development for 40 years, became an instant hit. This was a ground breaking moment for New Zealand jewellery, and makes public this unique dynamic and bicultural whakapapa. 'We demonstrated our tikanga and this collective identity and that was Māori and Pākehā together,' says Areta. This talk ran in conjunction with Ngā Hokohoko, an exhibition exploring the kaupapa of hokohoko–exchange, trade, barter–within the contemporary jewellery community in Aotearoa. Curated by Gina Matchitt (Te Arawa, Whakatōhea) 2019 Blumhardt/Creative New Zealand Curatorial Intern. http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/nga-hokohoko

Join Gina Matchitt (Te Arawa, Whakatōhea) in conversation with Areta Wilkinson (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha) about her practice, PhD and recent projects. Areta is featured in Ngā Hokohoko, an exhibition exploring the kaupapa of hokohoko–exchange, trade, barter–within the contemporary jewellery community in Aotearoa, on at The Dowse until 30 August 2020. Curated by Gina Matchitt, the 2019 Blumhardt/Creative New Zealand Curatorial Intern

Listen to Nikau Hindin speak about her work in Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai, during a live artist talk recorded at The Dowse on Saturday 20 June 2020. On at The Dowse until 4 October 2020. Find out more: http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/kokorangi-ki-kokowai Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai is Nikau’s journey in understanding Maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar), through the revival of traditional aute practices. Using aute plants she harvests in Hawai’i, she strips, beats and soaks the fibres into a cloth-like material, and inscribes it with patterns derived from tukutuku and tāniko, using kōkōwai and ngārahu (charcoal pigment). “Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai is about bringing celestial bodies into the physical, documenting the movement of the moon and stars to find direction,” she says. “I hope people reconnect with the importance of slowing down and noticing things in their environment,” she says. “To wake up to the sunrise or seek out the sun setting, to watch the stars rising and see the position of stars change over time.” “It’s just a starting point for learning this native language of Aotearoa. Our ancestors were incredible scientists - they knew the whenua - we need to get back to that if we want to survive this climate emergency.”

In celebration of our first ever exhibition of international contemporary jewellery, The Language of Things: Meaning and Value in Contemporary Jewellery, The Dowse hosted a special open day featuring a lecture by Lauren Kalman (USA) , which can be listened to here. The Dowse is grateful to all the artists and supporters who have made The Language of Things: Meaning and Value in Contemporary Jewellery possible, especially The Rotasa Collection, USA; The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney and CODA, The Netherlands. Exhibition sponsors and partners include Creative New Zealand, Blumhardt Foundation, Massey University, Asia New Zealand Foundation, Goethe-Institut, Handshake, Fab Lab Wgtn, and Allied Pickfords.

In celebration of our first ever exhibition of international contemporary jewellery, The Language of Things: Meaning and Value in Contemporary Jewellery, The Dowse hosted a special open day featuring a lecture by Lauren Kalman (USA) , which can be listened to here. The Dowse is grateful to all the artists and supporters who have made The Language of Things: Meaning and Value in Contemporary Jewellery possible, especially The Rotasa Collection, USA; The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney and CODA, The Netherlands. Exhibition sponsors and partners include Creative New Zealand, Blumhardt Foundation, Massey University, Asia New Zealand Foundation, Goethe-Institut, Handshake, Fab Lab Wgtn, and Allied Pickfords.

Blumhardt Foundation trustees and ceramic specialists Simon Manchester and Brian Wood in conversation about the history of pottery in Aotearoa and what makes a good pot.

Blumhardt Foundation trustees and ceramic specialists Simon Manchester and Brian Wood in conversation about the history of pottery in Aotearoa and what makes a good pot.

In this episode we talk with Michael Pester and Sasha Greig about The Dowse's Pattern Project - a partnership between emerging and local designers, and MINE: The Dowse Shop.

In this episode we talk with Michael Pester and Sasha Greig about The Dowse's Pattern Project - a partnership between emerging and local designers, and MINE: The Dowse Shop.

Hear Nicholas Mangan and curator Melanie Oliver in conversation, discussing Limits to Growth, a new survey exhibition at The Dowse Art Museum.