Oh Baby, Baby
This Friday and Saturday night, film maker Julie Hill (who’s name you may recognise from her work at Radio New Zealand and on Frontseat ) is screening the premiere of her documentary, Baby where are the fine things you promised me? at the Film Archive. The doco follows local actor Stephen Bain and his protest […]
The WOW that was
Well WOW’s 21st is officially over, although the decorations from the party are still up with the frufru pink tutu posters adorning bus stops around Welly. Now is the time to cash up, make assessments and ask the perennial question: Fab or Fug?
Last year a Wellingtonian took out the top spot with a leather warrior bird queen that was truly a‑may-zing, go the home team! This year the supreme gong went to Alaskan David Walker for his entry ‘Lady of the Wood’, made entirely of wood (even the curly blonde wig was made from wood shavings). David is a carpenter by trade and has made the long trip from Alaska for the last three years to enter WOW. Wellingtonians Hayley May and Fiona Christie won the runner up to the Montana Supreme Award and the top prize in the Gen‑i Creative Excellence Award section, themed “fold” this year, with an entry entitled ‘Second Skin’.
And the winners are…
The Fringe is over for another year, nicely polished off with an awards ceremony at The Paramount tonight. A full post will be on its way, but for now here’s the list of winners:
Best Comedy: Improv – The Secondary School Musical
Best Dance: Perforum – Footnote Dance
Best Music: Adam Page Solo
Best Outdoor: Frogs under the Waterfront
Best Theatre: The Intricate Art of Actually Caring
Best Visual Art: This is Where I Live – Fleur Wickes
Best Newcomers: Binge Culture Collective – Drowning Bird, Plummeting Fish
Marketing Award: A Most Outrageous Humbug
Best ‘One man band’/solo show: Adam Page Solo
Best production design: Faust Chroma
Most orginal concept: This is Where I Live – Fleur Wickes
Stand-out performer: Julia Milsom – Self Portrait
Open Studios People’s Choice: Alex Rodriguez
…and finally, the big and special awards after the jump…
Ghosts at Futuna Chapel
Andrew Brettell, theatre visuals designer extraordinaire, turns his hand to something a little more ethereal this weekend, when he’s planning to ‘haunt’ the renowned Futuna Chapel up in Karori. Just what this entails we’re not sure, but there’ll almost certainly be a few ghosts floating around the place, and there’s also a talk at 8:30pm each night from Nick Blake about the chapel’s architecture.
When: Fri Dec 15th – Sun Dec 17th, 10am – 10pm
Where: Futuna Chapel, 62 Friend Street, Karori
How much: Free!
[Hat-tip: No Right Turn]
Inhabitable art
Wellington Architecture Week kicks off next Monday, including everything from a visit to the exquisite and hidden Futuna Chapel to a sandcastle competition on Petone Beach.
My WellUrban post gives a bit of context, including links to relevant developments and controversies, and the full illustrated programme (in glorious black, white and blue) is available on the Architectural Centre website, but here’s a text listing of all events.
Celluloid architecture
These days it seem like there’s a specialist film festival for every taste and interest: human rights, vegetables, silent films and even Phoenix dactylifera. There’s even one for architecture buffs, and the Wellington season starts at the Penthouse this Friday.
[Read on…]
Future City
In a recent post, I mentioned that I had seen projections of an extra 3,000 inner-city residents within the next few years, but that I couldn’t find a reference to the study. As it turns out, the campaigners against the controversial Harbour Quays development have come to my rescue: their report on the potential economic impacts (530kB PDF) includes a table of actual and forecast CBD household numbers from 1991 to 2021 (page 14). They list the sources as Statistics NZ, Bayleys and Property Economics (the authors of the report), but I couldn’t find out whether the future figures were based upon economic and demographic modelling or simple extrapolation.
But let’s take the numbers as read, and use them to estimate the increase in inner-city population by taking a nominal average household size of 3. This is a bit smaller than the current average for the CBD, but household sizes are generally falling, so it seems a reasonable guesstimate. This gives an extra 3,300 people by 2011, and 11,000 extra by 2021: a 75% increase over the current CBD population!
Whares? No worries.
When they were first proposed, the Wharenui and Wharewaka at Taranaki St Wharf were among the least controversial developments on the waterfront. Even Waterfront Watch seemed to cautiously approve, given that these were low-rise cultural facilities rather than medium-rise buildings with commercial components, though some of their members managed to find views that would be blocked. However, that quickly changed once the rowing clubs realised that they might have to lose some parking space, and the dispute has only just been resolved.
Does Harbour Quays suck?
You’ve probably seen the articles and full-page ads in the Dominion Post by a group opposing the Harbour Quays development, and may have looked at their Vibrant Wellington website. I’ve written about Harbour Quays several times before, and while I’ve always been sceptical of the “office park” concept, I must admit I was a little wary of the opposing campaign, since it seems to be driven by a group of property developers and commercial landlords worried that cheap competition might undercut the soaring office rents that they’re currently enjoying. But last Thursday’s “open letter to the city of Wellington” was also signed by retailers, restaurateurs and three of Wellington’s most prominent architects, so clearly there’s a broader base to the opposition.
Overseas experience
This weekend, if you can tear yourself away from free bacon sarnies and aren’t too busy having a bit of a look-see behind the scenes of Wellington’s art powerhouses, pop into the Overseas Passenger Terminal to get a glimpse of its proposed transformation. There will be a public open day on Saturday from 10am to […]