F E AT U R E
exhibition space (which might be, for example, a shipping container). Marcus typed, with difficulty, while pedalling. ‘The more things you turn on – printer, lights, record player – the harder you have to pedal. If you stop, everything goes dark which is fun.’ Nag uses washingmachine motors rewired as generators, and other ‘dumpster-dived’ parts found in skips. Yes, he’s a kind of ‘eco-artist’. ‘But I try not to rant about the environment to people. Being preached at by a vegetarian, bicycle-riding, anti-flying, dumpster-diving hipster-artist definitely turns people off.’ He hasn’t owned a car for 20 years and still dumpster dives. ‘Once I found 96 perfectly good blocks of halloumi, which I could barely carry on my bicycle. Everyone in my flat gained weight.’ Now Marcus and his partner – actor/writer Claire O'Loughlin – share 12 bikes and an apartment in the central-city Hannah’s building. Marcus lived on a yacht docked in Evans Bay on and off for six years. ‘Claire grew up on a boat, so that’s probably how I snagged her!’ Working largely from his kitchen table, and visiting locations, Marcus spends about half his time on lightingdesign jobs and half on artworks. But the design work provides about 80% of his income. ‘That’s important now I have a mortgage.’ He’s most productive between 8am and 10am, and (about twice a week) between 11pm and 2–3am. Marcus sometimes suffers from insomnia, which he finds aggravatingly inefficient, so when he can’t sleep he gets up for a bit. ‘That’s when I worry about the world. But I've got some hope right now, with the climate-change protest movement. I went on the kids’ climate-change march – the only time I've felt both old and joyous at the same time.’ New Zealand’s gross CO2 emissions equate to 16.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person per year. In 2018, Marcus kept his own greenhouse-gas emissions under 1.9 tonnes. If everyone in the world followed his lead, it would reduce global warming by about 25%, postponing the worst effects of climate change until, hopefully, humans manage
to reduce emissions globally. So, last year, Marcus chose not to go on a Caribbean sailing holiday with Claire and her mother, because it involved long flights. Instead, he biked around New Zealand. They don’t have kids – yet. Marcus was raised by a cash-strapped solo mother. From ages five to nine, he travelled with her between fruit-picking and other temporary jobs. Mostly they lived in their 1960s Morris Minor traveller, with a mattress in the back. ‘I thought it was all a big adventure.’ They never stopped for more than eight weeks, so Marcus attended 14 primary schools. His parents had broken up before he turned one. ‘When I was 10, Mum ran into my father again and we moved back to Wellington. They’re still together. I’ve got a brother 15 years younger than me.’ Marcus did a Master’s degree in English Literature, and an honours degree in philosophy. ‘I paid my way through uni by working for a lighting company – mainly rigging concerts – and suddenly I had a trade. I enjoy making, fixing, fiddling with things. I like simple, efficient things that last, or can be reused.’ Also a writer, he has drafted a novel, and written many ‘short rants’: opinionated, sometimes funny, mini-essays. They’re all 101 words long because he liked the challenge, then the uniformity. His ‘rants’ form the basis of the ‘101 Rants’ exhibition he curated to celebrate BATS theatre’s 30th birthday. Written mainly by Marcus, along with some other writers, the 101-word ‘rants’ are displayed inside 30 energy-efficient lit-up panels in BATS’ bar and entrance area. Marcus swaps out the rants for others every week; the exhibition, naturally, is on for 101 days (until early July). In one rant, Marcus admits that ‘being Green I’m trapped with Labour’ while Freya Daly-Sadgrove rails against Whittaker’s pink and blue ‘gender-reveal’ chocolate. ‘Work is always stronger when other people feed into it and collaborate with you,’ Marcus says. ‘I love that side of what I do.’
稀攀戀爀愀渀漀
匀椀爀攀渀
䔀甀瀀栀漀爀椀愀
䰀攀洀漀渀 吀爀攀攀
䴀愀爀挀漀 倀漀氀漀
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