misery The New Cool — an exhi­bi­tion that cel­e­brates the achieve­ments of some of New Zealand’s small but suc­cess­ful cre­ative com­pa­nies — start­ed this week at the Dowse Art Gallery out in the Hutt, and, hav­ing seen a wee sneak pre­view last week­end, as the final prepa­ra­tions were being put togeth­er, we can high­ly rec­om­mend get­ting along for a look­see. We’ll be head­ed along again, if not just to mar­vel at the larg­er-than-life Mis­ery doll (sim­i­lar to that pic­tured right) that stands at the entrance to one of the exhi­bi­tion rooms.

The exhi­bi­tion is all about recog­nis­ing some of the suc­cess of what, in many cas­es, are just the results of peo­ple doing what they love to do best. The com­pa­nies show­cased include Welling­ton’s Loop Aot(ear)oa Record­ings, Sid­he Inter­ac­tive and Sticky Pic­tures, as well as busi­ness­es from fur­ther afield like Mis­ery, Dawn Raid and Insid­i­ous Fix.

The show runs to the 30th of August.