The first Pasifika Film & Arts Festival hosted by Studio 2204 is on from Friday 21 June to Sunday 30 June 2013 as part of Open Marrickville 2013.  Submission for the Pasifika Film & Arts Festival is open to Pacific Islanders from Australia, as well as International submissions. The organisers are looking for entries for short films, docos, animation, photography and visual art pieces to be considered for the festival.
“I would strongly encourage Pacific Islander artists to put their hands up and get involved by submitting entries to the festival. We would definitely encourage as many artists from the Pacific community to get involved and represent themselves and their communities through their artwork.” ~ Kalo Fainu
Submissions due 10 MAY 2013. For more information phone + 61 2 8959 2110 or email info@studio2204.com.au or check the Pasifika Film & Arts Festival Facebook page here for updates.  Studio 2204 was started by photographer/filmmakers Kalo Fainu and Tanja Bruckner and is a creative space in Marrickville, a suburb of Sydney’s Inner West. The space is available for film, photography, workshops, exhibitions, events etc.  Kalo Fainu wrote, produced and directed The Tongans: Meet The Parents (2011), a film about a Tongan family living in suburban Sydney.
Since making the film, Kalo has been on the search for Pasifika films, filmmakers, story tellers and visual artists. The idea of hosting an event to showcase Pasifika film/photography and art has always sat in the back of her mind and when the opportunity to host one at the Open Marrickville 2013 came up, she jumped at it. The festival celebrates culture and diversity in Marrickville.  Tanja Bruckner is established fashion photographer and exhibited artist. Her commercial photography work has been published by numerous leading popular culture periodicals. She has an interest in the West Papua movement.  Last year Kalo and Tanja travelled to Papua New Guinea to shoot at the Morobe Agricultural show in Lae, and the Kenu and Kundu Festival (Canoe & Drum Festival) in Alotau.

Urban Viti was the original source:

• URBAN VITI is a blog dedicated to contemporary Pacific art, fashion, home and product design. It features interviews, DIY projects, information about exhibitions, performances and events, and design finds from rugs to jewellery.

Pasifika Film & Arts Festival
Open Marrickville 2013
Studio2204
The Tongans: Meet The Parents
Images courtesy of Kalo Fainu

TAPAC (The Auckland Performing Arts Centre)
20 March – 23 March
12pm Matinees (except Saturday), 7:30pm show
Check out the TAPAC website for details of buying tickets.
Pacific Dance New Zealand presents Moana, A Pacific Dance Showcase. This showcase is a celebration of the fifth year of PDNZ’s annual Pacific Dance Choreographic Lab and is a forum in which to re-stage works from previous labs presenting a range of specifically Pacific voices in the form of dance choreographers Justin Haiu (New Zealand Dance Company), Tupua Tigafua (New Zealand Dance Company), Nita Latu (University of Auckland Dance Studies) and Charlene Tedrow (Ura Tabu Pacific Dance).
Moana presents a coming together of stories and ideas from Pacific choreographers living in Aukilani/Auckland City and their response to this urban environment quite apart and yet still carrying through their Pacific island descent. These works are as varied as the choreographers – their unique voices providing a perspective and response to the diaspora shared and lived both in Aotearoa/New Zealand and the wider Pacific.

For more information click here. For tickets just click here.

The Rosebank project begins with the premise that through a better knowledge of place, communities grow and that culture is the mechanism by which this occurs. The project is centered in the industrial precinct and suburban area of Rosebank Rd in Auckland. Twenty five designers, artists or art collectives will explore, research and make; working with key community groups, developing a response to what they find, in the place, at the place. Some of the practitioners include; Lonnie Hutchinson, Martin Leung-wai, Salome Tanuvasa and Janet Lilo.

The project will culminate in a walking event over one weekend 23-24th March. Maps of the route detailing all the projects will be available, on site and in the vans as well as a downloadable PDF from March 11th.  From anywhere on the route, visitors  can meander through the industrial area and along the edge of the estuary. The public will find site specific, community based projects from a multidisciplinary group of artists, designers and performers. An exhibition of texts, artifacts, photographs and moving image documentation will be simulataneously held at Unitec’s Snowhite Gallery, linked to concomitant web content opening March 16th at 5.00pm. A public symposium on the relationship between art, enterprise and community will be run at Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae at Unitec in conjunction with the event, from 9.00 – 5.00, March 16th.

The Avondale school communities, the Avondale Community Gardeners, the Rosebank Business Association, the Motu Manawa Marine Reserve Restoration Group, the Whau River Catchment Trust and the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society Inc will be collaboratively involved in the venture, through the various artists projects. Each artist/designer will respond in their own way to the rich social, historical and environmental narratives unique to the area.

Image by Trish Ah Sam
Tautai Artist in Residence, Jean Melesaine, has been on the go since she arrived! Textile artist Leanne Clayton has helped to introduce the San Francisco Bay Area artist to Auckland, and make her feel at home.
Jean and Leanne were able to see Victor Rodger’s show ‘Black Faggot’, take in the sights and sounds of the Otara markets, and she has even witnessed the infamous Gibbs farm on our recent bus trip.
Jean has a long list of things that she is still keen to do while she is here. So if any of you would like to invite Jean to an event or exhibition please get in touch with us at the office. Remember her time here is going to fly by, so please help us make sure she returns home with great memories.

The energy and diversity of contemporary Pacific performance in the world’s biggest Pacific city is showcased in an exhibition and performance series from some of Auckland’s most exciting young artists. Kalisolaite ‘Uhila‘s compelling live performance intersects with the videoed performances of Jeremy Leatinu’u in their collaborative exhibition More Than We Know. During Auckland Arts Festival they are joined by outstanding dance, performance and spoken word practitioners including Sesilia Pusiaki, Darcell Apelu, and Nastashia Simeona Apelu for a dynamic series of street-side public performances. Performances will take place on the steps of Gus Fisher Gallery 5pm – 5.30pm Mon – Fri during the Festival.

For more information about the exhibition please visit here.

For more information about the performances please visit here.

For more information about the Auckland Arts Festival 2013 please visit here.

Artist and film-maker Robert George joined Tiffany Singh as she worked with children right across the Auckland region to develop the public installation work Fly Me Up to Where You Are.
The exhibition Fly Me Up To Where You Are: Te Waharoa provides a space of contemplation and creation; a gateway to understanding the process and beauty of the work behind the scenes through Robert George‘s thoughtful film and photography.  While at the exhibition, visitors can make a flag to add their own message to the work. Textile artist Leanne Clayton will be in the exhibition 12 – 2pm daily to assemble these flags. Make sure you also visit the final installation of the flags in Aotea Square.

For more information about the exhibition please click here.

For more information about the Auckland Arts Festival 2013 please click here.

What are the hopes and dreams of our children? What is their vision for our future? A work about aspiration, unity and a collective voice, Fly Me Up To Where You Are begins with Auckland’s children and culminates in the heart of our city in a riot of colour. Using participation, collaboration and materials drawn from common rituals, Tiffany Singh explores the power of art to build a community. Inspired by the ancient Tibetan tradition of prayer flags, Fly Me Up To Where You Are gathers the hopes and dreams of thousands of Auckland’s school children in the form of hand-painted dream flags created in workshops with the artist. Their flags are united in a stunning public installation, transforming Aotea Square with a mass of joyous colour. See the story of the work’s creation told through stunning photography and film by Robert George, and make a flag to add to the work, in the accompanying exhibition Fly Me Up to Where You Are: Te Waharoa at Ponsonby Road’s Artstation.

Please check out the Auckland Arts Festival 2013 website.

The Pacific Dance Fono has been an annual dance event since 2006 and is a forum for Pacific dance practitioners, choreographers, academics, managers and directors to discuss issues around Pacific dance especially relating to its place in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

2013 will be the seventh fono and will take place at the University of Auckland’s magnificent Fale Pasifika within the Pacific Studies department.  This year will also feature special keynote speaker and kumu hula Blaine Kamalani Kia from Hawai’i.

Kumu Blaine is the founder and president of the Ka Laua’e Foundation, a network of 15 halau (hula schools) across the Pacific, America, Japan and most recently in New Zealand. Besides offering a wonderful knowledge of ancient Hawaiian hula, Kumu Blaine also offers experience in running a large dance organization and an idea, a theme, a knowing – as is outlined in his theme, “Ke Ao Lewa – The Realm of Consciousness”.

“Ke  Ao Lewa” The Realm of Consciousness

“Ke Ao Lewa” speaks volumes about how we are to be conscientious with who we are as a “people” striving, coping, and succeeding in the twenty-first century of a technological world.

“Ke Ao Lewa” requires us to open your eyes beyond the earth’s surface and gravitation of worldly influences and to look, seek beyond the human comprehension for many of our answers are in the realms of the clouds, the stars, the moon, and the heavens.  We are sometimes short-sighted and fail to look deeper into our consciousness when the art of Hawaiian dance can become vapid and lose its ‘mana’.  A world of knowledge is in the dance, from the dance, by the dance.  “Ao.” A realm of knowledge!

“Ke Ao Lewa” teaches us to always look beyond the human form.  To seek that which cannot be obtained by physical forms.  We must manifest ourselves in the realms of our ‘kupuna’ through the art of dance and allow ones senses to connect to the higher realms above.  This is the ultimate satisfaction.  To “know” you are a part of their realm of “Lewa.” A consciousness! ~ Kumu Blaine Kamalani Kia

Iosefa Enari – Director of PDNZ

Pacific Dance New Zealand is honoured to have Kumu Blaine Kia as this year’s keynote speaker and international guest. Kia follows a line of important speakers who have shaped the fono over the years to what it is today. Kumu Blaine will bring to this important event his own practical and philosophical position as to where dance is placed in the 21st century and its role in continuing to bridge the old and new worlds. These are vital notions when looking at dance as cultural milestones in our history and Pacific region. We look forward to this year’s event and the talanoa (discussion) that yields for our community here in New Zealand Aotearoa.

When:
Friday 8th March,
10am – 12:30pm (Keynote and open discussion)
12:30pm – 1:00pm (lunch)
1:00pm – 4:00pm (Practical workshop)
4:00pm – 5:00pm (networking)

Where:
Fale Pasifika, Auckland University
Cost:
Waged – $20 pre-registered, $25 on the day
Unwaged – $10 pre-registration, $15 on the day
Download a registration form here
Email – auckland@pacificdance.co.nz
Phone – 09 376 00 60

Download a registration form here:  Registration_Form_Fono_2013

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The University of Otago
Saturday 4 May 2013
DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: 1 March 2013

The recent award of the Wallace Arts Trust Paramount Award and a New Generation Award from the Arts Foundation signals Shigeyuki Kihara’s growing recognition as a significant international artist, whose dynamic career includes, amongst others: a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2008); performances staged at such leading institutions as the Musée du Quai Branly, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand; and works featured in the Asia Pacific Triennial, Auckland Triennial and the upcoming Sakahan Quinquennial held at the National Gallery of Canada in May 2013.

Of Samoan and Japanese heritage, Kihara interrogates the ways that art, performance, and the public interact and prompt dialogue about understanding the complexities of humanity. Her oeuvre includes photographs, dance performance, video installations, and interactive community performances. Kihara’s work comments on issues such as colonialism, European representations of Indigenous peoples, gender, globalization, sexual minorities in the Pacific, and tourism.

In order to stimulate original research into the work of Shigeyuki Kihara, a public symposium will be held at the University of Otago on Saturday, 4 May. Sponsored by the Cultures, Histories and Identities in Film, Media and Literature Research Network of the University of Otago, this symposium coincides with a mid-career survey exhibition entitled ‘Undressing the Pacific‘ that will be held at the Hocken Collections (20 April to 8 June).

This symposium will broadly interrogate Kihara’s creative work, artistic development, and the critical issues that it raises from diverse disciplinary perspectives. A key outcome of this symposium will be the publication of an edited, peer-reviewed quality-assured volume about Kihara’s broad body of work. Participation in the symposium will enable the volume’s authors to develop their ideas in critical dialogue with each other. Presentations selected for inclusion in the volume will be required to submit their completed manuscripts for review by 1 August 2013.

If you are interested in contributing to this symposium, please send a proposal (up to 300 words) and a 100-word biography. Your proposal should elaborate your research topic and clarify distinctive aspects of your disciplinary or methodological approach. In developing your proposal, keep in mind that both the symposium and the planned publication are being developed with the intention of attracting a diverse audience that encompasses academia, the New Zealand art world, the general public, and the Pacific community.

Proposals are due on 1 March in order to complete selection of participants by 10 March. Please send your proposals and any queries to: erika.wolf@otago.ac.nz

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Shigeyuki Kihara
Artist and Curator/Producer

http://shigeyukikihara.wordpress.com/
http://vimeo.com/channels/shigeyuki