Here's a couple of exhibitions with openings that you'll want to attend, and one that you really ought to see before it closes.

First up, Page Blackie Gallery (which is a much less geographically confusing name than its previous incarnation as Tinakori Gallery) launches a new exhibition of Gina Jones' light works tomorrow night (Tuesday 24th from 5:30pm). Jones' work will be familiar to many from her permanent installation in the gallery, and even if the Page Blackie crowd tends towards an older demographic (you could almost hear the old money rustling at the recent Max Gimblett launch), the openings can still be lively affairs: the Masked Barfly warns us to get there early and stake out the drinks table.

The opening of Jane Kellahan's Humankind exhibition, from which the above image "The Healers" is taken, sounds like it's aimed at a slightly different audience. It will feature live music by members of Phoenix Foundation and Fat Freddy's Drop, and it's on at the Woolstore Design Centre (262 Thorndon Quay) from 5:30pm next Wednesday the 2nd of July. If you miss the launch but want to see her work, you'll have to be quick because it's only on until the 5th, or if you're really keen she also runs workshops.

(more after the jump)

Enjoy Gallery is hosting the penultimate event in their performance workshopping series tonight. Of course, dear reader, it would be outrageous to suggest that you have no other social engagements lined up for the Saturday of a long weekend, but if you can forgive me once again for the short notice, may I suggest that you nip up to the Enjoy gallery on Cuba St (upstairs near Scopa). Come along in the spirit of being a participator not an observer and I guarantee you will not be sorry.

The action will kick off at 6.00pm and bucking the established gallery tradition this event will be BYO.

Chris Brady will be attempting to bring his "Rôti Sans Pareil - Roast without Equal" project to a delicious conclusion. I hear rumors that up to eight birds, layer upon layer, will be involved. The surprise twist being that the eatable end result of all this performance art will be up for grabs tomorrow at an as yet undisclosed location. So you gotta show the commitment by turning up tonight if you want to get yourself a tasty tit bit tomorrow.

There is nothing this girl loves more than checking out jewelry, because hello, it's mostly sparkly and shiny.

Celebrating that very fact is Shine, a jewelry exhibition with a bit of a twist. Instead of your standard hanging from the walls and encased in boxes exhibit, Shine is a a performance exhibition where contemporary and burlesque dancers, actors and circus performers will all be adorned by the creations of six women jewelers from around New Zealand.

In their own words:

"It will be quite unlike any jewellery exhibition you've seen; glowing, luminous works will be presented in context, close to the skin, moving, in conversation with its human environment in a glorious evening of burlesque dance. Streams of pearls, gleaming silver chain-links quivering on skin; feathers tickling just underneath a chin... this is a performance that glorifies beauty, and welcomes the human form in all its shapes."

When: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 29 - 31st May, 9pm

Book at the Paramount 04 384 4080

Tickets:
* $30 Adult
* $20 Groups 10+
* $15 Concession

web: http://www.myspace.com/shinejewellery

Superhero comics fans should press their best unitards this week in preparation for Armageddon, and likewise indie and underground comics fans should pull out their copies of Hicksville for signing, as the NZ Comix Weekend is setting up shop on the 19th-20th April at the Southern Cross, Graphic and Spacething.

There are talks, jams, stalls, seminars and exhibitions - providing a homegrown counterpoint to the big budget pulp culture-fest over at the TSB Arena (although some of the Comix Weekend artists are also represented at Armageddon)
Details and links after the jump...

A swag of Wellington artists have produced video art for The Artists Film Festival, opening tonight at 5:30pm at the Film Archive (cnr Taranaki and Ghuznee Sts).

Curated by Wellington-based curator (and Listener art critic) Paula J Booker, the show promises an extreme mix of artworks....28 video works in total, possibly the largest video exhibition ever undertaken in NZ.

Highlights include someone singing to Janis Joplin until almost passing out, CHCH artist James Oram generating electricity by bike to power his own ME sign....it's all pretty entertaining/shocking/thought-provoking stuff.

EXHIBITION DETAILS
The Artists Film Festival
11 April – 17 May 2008

LIVE PERFORMANCE, Thursday 17 April, 7pm
The Twilight Drone by Johannes Contag (of Cloudboy fame) Tickets $8/6.

Contag explores the notion of the ambient film with live accompaniment to this film work shot in a snow-covered Austria...

Tonight come along to the Film Archive (corner of Taranaki and Ghuznee Sts) to the opening of Á jaðrinum (transl. on the edge), a collection of 15 recent video works from Iceland, curated by Leonhard Emmerling, from 5:30pm.
The Archive will be revealing its mediagallery (a contemporary film and video gallery) programme for the next SIX months with a FREE GIFT. There'll also be live musical performance by The Droszkhi & Riffkah Space Disko! - Hit (and miss) Signals from the Cosmos presented by Bek Coogan (Cortina) and Torben Tilly (Minit, Bad Statistics).

The artists in Á jaðrinum explore a number of themes inspired by the cultural and geographical myths of Iceland; from melancholic self-effacement, to desolate landscapes and...erm, pixies.

Now, don't get me wrong: we Wellingtonistas are not usually parsimonious when it comes to paying for drinks. On the other hand, we're a canny and logical bunch, and it only takes about 10 free glasses of house wine to save up enough for a Mega Mai Tai, so in the long run it pays to seek out gratis grog.

Let's start with the obvious: gallery openings and launches. You can get lucky by simply cruising the streets on a midweek night seeking the tell-tale sounds of clinking glasses and poststructuralist discourse, but dedicated cheapskates know that the best way to guarantee results is to get on the mailing lists.

Genevieve Packer, probably known best for her Hutt Valley and State House tee-shirts, has taken over Old Victoria Arcade for her Master of Design exhibition.

The show is open 12 noon until 6 pm on Thursday - Sunday, from the 18th of October to the 4th of November. Gen's site is here.

Male Parenting – it's not all soft toys, breast feeding and Mexican wrestling.

More great entertainment from the New Zealand Film Archive mediagallery, with Wellington artist Bryce Galloway's new show - "Daddy Doo" - a video installation inspired by the world of male parenting, starting today (July 20th), and running through to the 4th of August.

You may already be aware of Bryce's through his 'zine Incredibly Hot Sex with Hideous People which has chronicled his life as a parent over the past four years. If so, you'd know you'll be in for hilarious, surreal entertaiment. As the publicity blurb says...

More info over at the NZFA site.

The exhibition Cameo Appearance at Mary Newton Gallery brings together eight artists working in the area of the portrait - Tony Bond, Gavin Hurley, Anna-Marie O'Brien, Gary Freemantle, Tanja Nola, Octavia Cook, Areta Wilkinson and David Cauchi.

And then my magical art powers failed me, 2007 by David Cauchi

(via White Fungus News...)

The new Hamish McKay Gallery is now open at Level one, 39 Ghuznee Street.

More info after the jump.

For the third year in a row, the New Zealand Comics Weekend is up and running from at Graphic Comic Shop (106 Cuba Street), and the Southern Cross Garden Bar (39 Abel Smith Street, Wellington.)

This annual festival of independent comics runs alongside the Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo in order to showcase and highlight the underground talents in New Zealand Comics.

More info here at Feeling Great.

What? Egypt: Beyond the Tomb
Where? Te Papa
When? Thursday 29 March, 10am until 9pm!
How much? $0 but you need to bring proof that you live in Wellington City

Wellington City Council is offering Wellington city residents and ratepayers the chance to see Egypt: Beyond the Tomb for free next Thursday 29 March as part of its ongoing sponsorship relationship with Te Papa.

The exhibition that explores death and the afterlife in Ancient Egypt through the story of Keku, a young woman and daughter of Namenekhamun, who was the chief butcher in the temple complex of the god Amun in Thebes. The 2700-year-old mummy of Keku is presented in the exhibition as well as over 200 other ancient Egyptian burial treasures.

Here's the catch: To gain free entry, Wellington city residents must present proof of their residential or ratepayer's status, such as their library card, a bill or rates invoice, showing their residential address. This offer does not apply to Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, Porirua or Kapiti residents.

Te Papa is open from 10am until 9pm on Thursdays, which will allow workers to see the exhibition for free.

Down at the City Gallery on Friday night they are running another one of their Late Night Sessions, where you get to cruise around the big exhibition (this time it's the biennial Prospect show) in relative peace and listen to lovely live music while you do so. And all for free.

City Gallery's popular late night Friday returns. Wander through Telecom Prospect 2007: New Art New Zealand to a backdrop of independent and electronic sounds by local performers. Featuring Peneloping, Tc Wedde with Luke Buda, and Aspen.

The lovely Luke Buda is of course in The Phoenix Foundation, as is (the equally lovely) Tc Wedde. Aspen is also lovely and also known as Signer, and is one half of Over the Atlantic and one half of Skallander. And the "medium-core girl-boy plinkpop!" Peneloping also have a very good reputation as a live act.

Having experienced Late Night Sessions many times before - from the point of view both of a performer and a patron - I can heartily recommend this event.

We all know that Wellington is a great place to take photos: its natural beauty, public art, lively street life and eclectic architecture all contribute to a visually stimulating city. The busy Flickr-ers of the Wellington Flickr group know this, and they've decided to take their best photos into the real world.

"Online to On the Wall" opens at the Paramount Theatre tomorrow night at 6pm, and runs until the 28th of March.