The New Zealand Fringe Festival

The New Zealand Fringe Festival has been going for a week and it’s got just over two more weeks to run. Sadly, I’ve only made it to two shows so far (because moving house) a pathetic effort really, because there are HEAPS. Cabaret, circus, comedy, dance, music, theatre, visual art – there are a lot of […]

Review: The Wind City

The latest book from local speculative fiction publishers Steam Press is the début novel of nineteen-year old Summer Wigmore. It’s a wonderful urban fantasy, set quite concretely in the very real environs of modern-day Wellington, but populated throughout with mythical characters and creatures from Maori folklore (collectively known as iwi atua). Our two main protagonists […]

Stop taking selfies and enter this photography competition instead

Carter Observatory, that big old bubble up on the hill, is running a photography contest with a buttload of prizes, and you should enter it. The title is “Light & Dark” and anything under that goes.  Judges include Mark Gee, who you may remember from such moon photos as this. There’s a kids’ category too, […]

Solo 36 – Hall of the Unrecognised

On now at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts the installation ‘Hall of the Unrecognised’ celebrates the inaugural National Council of Women which first met in Christchurch on 13 April 1896. The installation is part of the Solo 36 group show. It’s an interesting and provoking exhibition considering the current debate around rape and […]

One Sleep till Bookfair

Saturday  is  Wellington’s most amazing, most awesome, most excellent, book related event of the year – The DCM Annual Bookfair Take 90000+ books, add LPs, CDs, DVDs, Cassettes, Magazines, Jigsaw Puzzles & Games galore. Everyone going to bookfair has a strategy for this is one of those very few shopping events when you can’t spend ‘too […]

Baby it’s cold inside

A little late to the party but still something rather delightful has popped up in the city.  Cleave (a project between artist Gabby O’Connor, oceanographer Craig Stevens, curator Katharine Allard and the amazing kids from Miramar Central school) is living at 86 Victoria St Wellington until July 13 2013. It’s viewable 24/7 as it’s all […]

The cupboards are bare

here’s a sneak peek into the food bank shelves at DCM this afternoon – empty! As we know from Game ofThrones, winter is coming. So this weekend If you’re planning to visit Chaffers New World, please buy a couple extra items and pop then in DCM’s  foodbank bins at the exit. Things like tuna and tinned stews are […]

Whakuku a Nga Kina

The art world is full of sharks[citation needed], but one recent public sculpture is attracting watery beasts of a different kind. Via his Facebook group, artist Michel Tuffery has been documenting the sting-rays which have been cruising his Nga Kina at Kumutoto wharf which was installed in November 2012.

Signs of the time – advertising we like

So many surfaces in Wellington are crammed with posters trying to sell us something, so we thought it might be nice to look at some of the advertising that actually looks good. This week, our favourite piece of advertising are these posters from Wellington Zoo. These absolutely gorgeous animals (there’s a red panda in the […]

Return to the valley of the dolls

I was in Wellington, my first time back since I left in April, and I was furiously catching up on things. I got the bus out to the Hutt and visited the Dowse Art Museum. It was choice, but as I left the gallery, I spied something much more intriguing across the square. Over at […]