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Otago Daily Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
DSO - Brahms and Mataatua: A Journey in Music
Brahms's monumental Piano Concerto No. 2 was written when his compositional powers were at their peak. From a deceptively benign opening with a lone horn melody, the movements in turn evoke grace and turmoil, leading to an exhilarating climax. Acclaimed Wellington pianist Jian Liu returns to deliver the dazzling technique and musical depth this great work calls for. We celebrate Matariki with The Journey of Mataatua Whare, a newly commissioned work by Dame Gillian Whitehead which commemorates 100 years since the Mataatua Wharenui returned to NZ. The work tells the Wharenui's story: from the carved meeting house's creation in Whakatāne, the loss of Ngāti Awa control over it, its travels and mistreatment, its return to NZ for Dunedin/Ōtepoti's 1925 Great Exhibition and then Tūhura Otago Museum, and its final return to Ngāti Awa in Whakatāne. Three distinguished NZ singers and a selected chorus will join DSO's Principal Guest Conductor James Judd on stage for this very special event. For more information please visit | Brahms and Mataatua a Journey in Music
Scoop
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Aigantighe Art Gallery Hosts An Iconic Robin White Touring Exhibition
Press Release – Timaru District Council Robin White: Tuituia | Something is Happening Here is a selection of artworks from the much-loved and acclaimed 2022 retrospective exhibition that celebrated this contemporary Aotearoa artist, presented by Te Papa and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tmaki. A selection of works by Dame Robin White (Ngāti Awa, Pāhekā) is the latest touring exhibition from New Zealand's National Museum, opening in Timaru at the Aigantighe Art Gallery on May 9th, 2025. Robin White: Tuituia | Something is Happening Here is a selection of artworks from the much-loved and acclaimed 2022 retrospective exhibition that celebrated this contemporary Aotearoa artist, presented by Te Papa and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. The touring exhibition brings together iconic works from the collections of Te Papa and Auckland Art Gallery, spanning White's 50-year career, and will travel to regional venues around Aotearoa over two years. The title kupu (word) Tuituia denotes continuity and refers to the artist connecting art, peoples and places to their environment. White explains, 'The exhibiting artworks have been out in the world engaging people and people engaging with them. There is a richness in that, it is way beyond me'. Visitors will not only explore her celebrated portraits and Aotearoa landscapes from the 1970s but also the ambitious collaborative works White has made with artists from across the Pacific and New Zealand in recent years. Hanahiva Rose, Curator Contemporary Art, Te Papa, says the exhibition celebrates a contemporary New Zealand artist whose imagery continues to shape the country's national identity and a sense of place in Aotearoa and in the Pacific. 'With a prolific career spanning five decades, Dame Robin urges us to look with new eyes at the world around us. From the local fish and chip shop in Maketu, to maneaba in Kiribati, or the intimate interior of a living room in Lautoka, her work pulls people and place into sharp focus. 'Her work, increasingly made in collaboration with other artists, demonstrates her commitment to learning and capacity for transformation. It is a pleasure to bring this exhibition to Aotearoa's regional centres and celebrate the environments that have influenced her work.' The exhibition is supported by an accompanying publication, Robin White: Something is Happening Here, jointly published by Te Papa Press and Auckland Art Gallery, in May 2022. Edited by Sarah Farrar, Jill Trevelyan, and Nina Tonga, the book includes fresh perspectives by 24 writers and interviewees from Australia, the Pacific, and Aotearoa New Zealand. For more touring information, please contact: touringexhibitions@ Biographies Dame Robin White (born in Te Puke, 1946, Ngāti Awa and Pākehā) is one of New Zealand's leading artists with an exhibition history that spans more than 50 years. In 1967 White graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland where she was taught by Colin McCahon, whom she cites as an important early influence. After three years as an art teacher at Mana College in Porirua, White moved to the Otago Peninsula where she began working full-time as an artist. Her paintings and screenprints from this time include iconic images of rural and small-town New Zealand life with portraits of friends and family set in a landscape of hills and harbour. Leaving New Zealand in 1981 to settle in Kiribati, White adapted to her radically different Pacific atoll environment, producing woodcut prints depicting island life in her village. After a fire in 1996 destroyed her house and studio White's work took an exciting new collaborative direction when she began working with I-Kiribati weavers to produce a series of woven pandanus mats. After returning to New Zealand in 1999, White has continued to work with Pacific artists, bringing together their different ideas and methods to create works that reflect the concept of unity in diversity that is central to the artists' Bahá'í beliefs. These works have been shown in art galleries across New Zealand and overseas, including the recent Matisse Alive exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In 2013 White was made a distinguished companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Auckland in 2012. She was named a laureate of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand in 2017. Hanahiva Rose is Curator Contemporary Art at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Recent exhibitions include Hye Rim Lee: Eternity (2024) at Te Papa, Memory Spaces (2023) at Te Papa, The long waves of our ocean (2022) at the National Library and Stars start falling (2021-2022) at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and Te Uru. Rose is widely published as a writer and art historian. With Ruth Buchanan, Johan Lundh, and Aileen Burns, she co-edited Uneven Bodies (Reader) (2021). She is a PhD candidate in Art History at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. About Te Papa Te Papa is Aotearoa New Zealand's much-loved national museum, known for attracting diverse audiences and bringing world-class international exhibitions to visitors. Since opening, Te Papa has attracted over 35 million visits total and an average of 1.4 million visitors per year. Located in Wellington, Te Papa is one of New Zealand's most well-known and trusted brands, with research showing it's closely associated with being for all New Zealander's, a kaitiaki of knowledge, a trusted source of information, and a world-class destination. Te Papa is a top-rated Trip Advisor visitor attraction and was rated #1 in Wellington, #2 in New Zealand and #6 in South Pacific.
Scoop
28-04-2025
- Science
- Scoop
One Tree Hill Terraces Too Steep To Weather Storm
Human modification and extreme rainfall triggered 19 landslides on pa site terraces on Maungakiekie two years ago, researchers have found. University of Auckland geologist Professor Martin Brook led a team that investigated the shallow landslides that struck Maungakiekie – One Tree Hill – in Auckland Anniversary weekend floods on 27 January 2023. 'These landslides appear to be unprecedented, at least in living memory, so we thought it was worth investigating and documenting for the future,' Brook says. The geologists found that terraces Māori built for Ngāti Awa chief Tītahi in the 1600s for a pa site that was occupied until 1822 had steepened the terrain, contributing to the landslides in 2023. All 19 landslides occurred on slopes of Maungakiekie with terracing, suggesting human modification was a key factor, Brook says. 'Māori designed the terraces well, because they lasted over 200 years, but the terraces were too steep for the amount of rainfall, which followed a very wet Summer. 'NIWA classified the storm as a one in 200-year event and the fact the terraces lasted over 200 years until that storm indicates they were right,' Brook says. Given the free-draining nature of volcanic rock beneath and around Maungakiekie, Brook says it's unlikely further landslides will occur there, unless such extreme rainfall strikes again, after weeks of wet weather. Keeping grazing animals away from existing landslides and planting shrubs and grasses like vetiver on the maunga could help reduce the risk of future slips. Larger trees can be blown over in strong winds, increasing the chances of landslides, Brook says. The January 2023 storm caused $2.2 billion of damage, making it New Zealand's costliest non-earthquake event ever, until Cyclone Gabrielle wiped out that record two weeks later. On 27 January 2023, Auckland was inundated with more than 280mm of rain in 24hours and 211mm in sixhours during the storm. Slips also occurred on Mt Hobson and Mt Albert that weekend. Four people died in the storm, one from a landslide in Remuera. Brook says more than 600 people have been killed by non-seismic landslides in New Zealand since 1843, more than from any other natural hazard. Large parts of New Zealand are at risk from landslides, he says. 'Much of the Auckland area is at high or moderate risk from landslides, according to a GNS (Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences) report. 'The risk increases when people clear-fell trees or build retaining walls that don't meet the requirements of the building code, so they don't have proper drainage behind them. 'If people let spouting on their roofs run down a slope, rather than going into the reticulated drainage system, that's another risk factor,' Brook says.
