Performance

Calendar

Alicia Frankovich, Rich in World/Poor in World

01 April —
22 April 2023

The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne, Australia

Writing

Stories of Becoming

By Harvey Bruce Milligan

15.11.2022

Sitting at a bar assembled from upcycled materials in Taipei, Harvey Bruce Milligan reports from Aotearoa-based artist Xin Cheng’s contribution to IsLand Bar, an annual event in which artists are invited to construct a bar as a platform for performance. Addressing Cheng's use of re-purposed materials as a basis for creativity and connection, he explores the artist's consideration of a broad material ecology and her pursuit of connecting people to the lives of things in a wider project of "regenerative re-making". 

Calendar

Ivan Lupi and Sara Cowdell, Not as simple as it sounds - Concerto

01 February —
11 February 2023

Testing Grounds, Melbourne, Australia

Calendar

Xin Cheng, DOING EARTH

18 November —
27 November 2022

MOM art space, Hamburg, Germany

Calendar

Jen Valender, Broken Chord

02 September —
30 October 2022

The Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, Booragul, Australia

Writing

FAFSWAG at documenta fifteen

By Will Fredo

20.09.2022

Berlin-based artist and writer Will Fredo discusses the decolonial gestures at play in Aotearoa-based art collective FAFSWAG’s contributions to documenta fifteen, encompassing works that champion unapologetic self-expression, queer joy and the power of futurity in rejecting colonial inheritances.

Calendar

Sara Cowdell, 'Houses of Madness' A performance art work

02 July —
03 July 2022

Grace Exhibition Space Upstate, Kingston, New York, USA

Writing

On Civicness and Participating in Public Life through Art Practice - Panel discussion transcript

By Cat Auburn, Daniel Malone, Pauline Autet, Ruth Buchanan

14.12.2021

For Contemporary HUM’s third panel in October 2021, On Civicness, we sat down with Cat Auburn, Ruth Buchanan, and Daniel Malone in Berlin to talk about their practices, recent projects and what “civicness” means to them as Aotearoa artists working abroad—spanning Polish experimental theatre, the memory functions of NFTs and the power relations of collecting institutions. Read the full transcript of the panel discussion here!

Writing

Listening Like Breathing

By Ron Hanson

09.12.2020

Although an influential figure in the development of sound art, New York-based Annea Lockwood hasn't experienced the same level of exposure in New Zealand as she has experienced internationally. In this piece, White Fungus' editor Ron Hanson outlines his journey discovering Lockwood's work and speaks to the artist about her impressive career and pivotal developments in her field.

Writing

Plants, love, and multispecies engagements

By Essi Kausalainen, Robyn Maree Pickens

09.07.2020

After first meeting at the Saari Residence in the southwest of Finland at the start of 2020, Aotearoa writer and poet Robyn Maree Pickens and Finnish performance artist Essi Kausalainen discuss how their diverse practices can mirror each other, about plants and the more-than-human world, along with the ramifications of Covid on their wellbeing and practice.

Writing

Making Art in the time of COVID-19

By Chloe Lane

28.05.2020

Two US-based New Zealand artists - Amy Howden-Chapman in New York and Emma McIntyre in Los Angeles - share their experience of the Covid-19 lockdown, how it has impacted their practice and everyday life, and discuss the possible ecological outcomes of the lockdown, including the shifting of art practices to the online world.

Writing

The Near Side

By Jon Bywater

13.05.2020

The 22nd Biennale of Sydney opened on 14 March 2020 and unfortunately had to close its doors only nine days later due to Covid-19. Prior to its closing, writer Jon Bywater managed to visit NIRIN, looking in particular at participating artists from Aotearoa including Emily Karaka, Elisapeta Heta & John Miller, Lisa Reihana, Kulimoe’anga ‘Stone’ Maka, and FAFSWAG.

Writing

The Discreet Charm of Chance

By Jari Niesner

23.08.2019

In her recent exhibition Following the Rubber Trails, at Frappant Galerie in Hamburg, Germany, Xin Cheng addresses the politics, history and philosophy of rubber, in its varying forms. Writer Jari Nieser explores the artist's performance, film and installation.  

Writing

Screaming Strawbears and other Strange Engagements

By Tessa Laird

05.07.2019

From Morris dancing to costume making, Berlin-based artist Matthew Cowan and arts writer Tessa Laird discuss Cowan's interest in folklore, the function of tradition in the modern world and the influence of surrealism on his practice. Cowan's exhibition The Scream of the Strawbear opens at Kunsthalle Giessen in Germany on 7 September 2019.

Writing

Feminist Hieroglyphics

By Louise Lever

25.06.2018

A conversation with London-based artist Sriwhana Spong about Spong's practice and in particular her recent video work A hook but no fish, 2017, originally presented at the Pump House Gallery in London, which speculates upon a secret language invented by a mystic 12th century abbess, Hildegard of Bingen.

Writing

Nature at its Queerest

By Ulrike Gerhardt

20.05.2017

Ulrike Gerhardt reponds to Berlin-based New Zealand artist Alicia Frankovich's first major solo show in Germany, OUTSIDE BEFORE BEYOND at Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf. 

Calendar

Kate McIntosh, To Speak Light Pours Out

01 April —
02 April 2022

Kaai Theater, Brussels, Belgium

Calendar

Sriwhana Spong, The Poem is a Temple: performance for Live Art Commissions

6.00PM — 12.00AM
30 March 2022

Studio Spaces, London, United Kingdom

Calendar

Joshua Rutter and Dave Hall, Done and Dusted

05 February —
06 February 2022

Kunstraum / Waschhaus, Potsdam, Germany

Writing

On Civicness and Participating in Public Life Through Art Practice - Artist Statements

14.12.2021

For Contemporary HUM’s third panel in October 2021, On Civicness, we invited Cat Auburn, Ruth Buchanan, and Daniel Malone in Berlin to talk about their practices, recent projects and what “civicness” means to them as Aotearoa artists working abroad. In Part One, the artists introduce their recent practice and consider their relationship to civicness, community and the public sphere through a chosen project. 

Calendar

Sriwhana Spong, The Poem is a Temple

6.00PM — 7.00PM
16 December 2021

Studio Spaces, Wapping, London, UK

Calendar

Ash Kilmartin in The Last Terminal: Reflections on the Coming Apocalypse

24 November 2021 —
31 January 2022

Rib, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Calendar

Ash Kilmartin, Total Control

19 November —
21 November 2021

Explore the North Festival, WORM Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Calendar

Sriwhana Spong: Ida-Ida at Spike Island

06 April —
16 June 2019

Spike Island, Bristol, U.K.

Writing

Movements of Outsiders

By Alexa Wilson

10.02.2021

Together with three of her contemporaries, interdisciplinary artist Alexa Wilson considers dance and performance art in the time of Covid - how does a medium that relies so much on physical presence, collaboration, audience and space respond to global lockdowns and a forced shift online?

Writing

Sriwhana Spong’s Ida-Ida

By Leah Reynolds

09.08.2019

London-based artist Sriwhana Spong has been exhibiting widely throughout the UK in 2019. In this essay, writer Leah Reynolds reviews Spong’s recent exhibition Ida-Ida at Spike Island in Bristol, considering the key, interrelating ideas of her work, and Spong’s use of a variety of mediums.

Writing

Test Run

By Jennifer Thatcher

13.12.2018

We hear from three artists who, over the last three years, have completed, or are completing, a three-month residency at London art centre Gasworks. Sriwhana Spong in 2016, Katrina Beekhuis in 2017, and Hikalu Clarke, who is half-way through his, all share their experiences and thoughts on this important opportunity.

Writing

Hotel Jaguar

By David Lillington

11.10.2018

HUM commissioned David Lillington to review Amanda Newall's recent project at Exposed Arts Projects in London, which occupies an old Jaguar car dealership. Newall's site-specific response, called Hotel Jaguar, encompasses an eclectic range of works and collaborations with other artists, on topics ranging from Jaguar and Brexit; Trump and witches; social dreaming and murders. 

Writing

999, Alchemist Trauma Centre / Power Centre

By Jorge De Hoyos

11.07.2018

Berlin-based Jorge de Hoyos first experienced Alexa Wilson's current project 999: Alchemist Trauma Centre / Power Centre when both artists were auditioning for a Masters in Solo Dance Authorship in Berlin. In this part-essay, part-interview, they discuss the work, which is due to be performed in London, Berlin, India and NZ later this year, and exchange their views on feminism and challenging binary perceptions.