Ignition Magazine - Issue 8

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Ignition 2012 was designed by the coolest cats in town.

Kirstin Jenkinson create@kirstindesign.co.nz Sarah Barry sarahj.barry1@gmail.com Meghan Kradolfer meghan.kradolfer@gmail.com Gareth Blackler garethblackler@gmail.com Katrina Roxburgh hello@katrinaroxburgh.co.nz 2

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I ain’t a Killa

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Building a New Culture

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Ko Tahu Kupu Ko Tau

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NZIPP

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Taking Talent to the World

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At Debut

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Hope and Film Making

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NASDA

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Biblia Abiblia

Who is Tom Coull?

Collaboration in Christchurch

My word is yours

Photography awards Third year Musical Arts students

Couture and commercial sensibility Connecting with Gloriavale

2012 at NASDA Books that are not books

Well – 2012 was as much a wild year in its own way as 2011.

Someone once said that disasters make cities, in the same way that revolutions do. Paris has not been destroyed by nature in the recorded past, though it has been destroyed by revolutions, and is therefore regarded as a ‘great city’. New Orleans, Christchurch, and parts of New York have all been destroyed by nature – and such a catastrophe will ‘make’ a city as surely as any revolutionary myth.

The way in which such cities are ‘made great’ is through an alliance between artists, musicians, architects and other ‘culture workers’ on the one hand - and on the other a populace awakened to their ‘real’ situation through a disruptive shock that shatters the social illusion of ‘business as usual’.

Detroit has been destroyed by economic change as profoundly as Christchurch, yet it has a creative

community second to none, even as the city disintegrates totally.

all get busy, instead of waiting for someone to come and do it for us.

We all know now that sustained and widespread demolition smells like high voltage electricity and cordite, and there is nothing more bracing than smelling the air in such a city. I think the predictions for Christchurch remain favourable, given how stuffed up everything is. Everyone’s back is to the wall and all bets are off, and when the going gets tough, we all know who gets going.

This really is the chance for all creative people to put their work where their mouths are, and demonstrate how ‘culture’ can make life better. People in New Brighton are doing this, ditto Lyttelton, Sydenham, all over… Even students (!) are getting involved self-publishing magazines about urban design, making movies, filling empty shop fronts with art. Things have never been worse objectively, or more exciting subjectively: bliss it is (as Wordsworth said) in this dawn to be alive. Some of these stories from CPIT will show what I mean about making Christchurch great. Once you’ve read the magazine, it’s time to get busy!

As a result, I’ve been to the best rock gigs of the last decade in a yacht club, an improvised coffee roastery and a double garage behind an ex-car yard. Street art is abounding, and is being made by everyone as a commentary on a daily reality whose degradation defies logic. Greening the Rubble, Gap Filler and FESTA provide models for what we can do, if we

Bruce Russell Programme manager Art & Design

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It won’t be long now! In the coming weeks we’ll know which of the three Big Idea competition finalists took the supreme prize. Judy Yun, Alice Lethbridge and Harry Loughnan were selected from nearly 700 entries by Canterbury’s young people for an exciting, large-scale youth-oriented project.

The Big Idea, created by the CPIT Foundation, aims to revitalize the area around CPIT from Moorhouse Avenue, north, “The focus is to make that area, the doorstep of CPIT, a really exciting place for young people,” CPIT Foundation Chair Carl Pascoe said.

“Young people can feel alienated from decision making but this is a chance for them to contribute very directly and effectively to the new Christchurch.

We don’t know yet just how big the winning Big Idea will be, so it’s a very exciting project for everyone involved.”

Under 25s were invited to enter the Big Idea competition during December 2012 with a standout youth event, facility, project or concept for the area.

Judy Yun’s idea involved developing an area with a stage surrounded by nature and an artists area, Alice Lethbridge’s involved solar powered sculptures that could power parts of Christchurch whilst Harry Loughnan’s involved setting up an area for robot enthusiasts to work on, create, and play.

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Reaching every person under 25 in Canterbury with news about the Big Idea competition was the challenge set out for the winners of the project’s first round.

Student competitors from CPIT submitted concepts for marketing the Big Idea competition to young people. Two teams of students from CPIT shared in the $5000 first round prize and started work with communications and branding agencies Convergence and Strategy to finalise their designs.

Duo Katrina Roxburgh and Kirstie Jones impressed the Big Idea committee with their design approach and slogans. James Kelly also impressed with his “depth of thinking” according to Pascoe and his campaign’s compatibility with the other team’s ideas.

Finalists presented their ideas to key decision makers in early December with the winning entry announced in March 2013. The winner receives $5000 and the CPIT Foundation will help to bring the project to life. www.thebigideachch.co.nz

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I ain’t a

KILLA Tom Coull describes himself as a driven and curious person, not a tagger. He works in a tagging/graffiti style producing street art on canvas. He has begun developing a character that Tom refers to as an alter ego, the name he works under when he draws darker stuff - The Good Valley Killa. He’s currently working on his first major piece around this theme.

The concept behind The Good Valley Killa is two minions who watch over a mythical valley symbolic of Christchurch. Themes refl ect growing older and wiser, a better understanding of mortality and temporal reality of life following the death of a close friend. The impact of the suddenness and finality made a deep impression upon Tom.

This thematic concept, The Good Valley Killa, is made up of three heads connected into one neck and chest, centred like a Buddha, cross-legged with six arms, some held in prayer and some as supplicant hands. The middle face is the one that is superimposed on Tom on the cover of Ignition. The large work measures approximately 3m long by 3m high with 10 panels in all and is due to be finished in January 2013.

The Good Valley Killa work is a stark contrast to the colourful pop art themes Tom exhibited at Souer Design in St Albans earlier this year. These changes are evident with the inclusion of the skeleton character as a thematic device.

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COLLABORATION & THE CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKES HAVE SHOWN CPIT MUSICAL ARTS STUDENT , HARRY KNIGHT, THE IMPORTANCE OF VERSATILITY , FLEXIBILITY AND THE NEED TO MAXIMISE OPPORTUNITY AS IT ARISES. HE’S BECOME AWARE OF THE BIGGER PICTURE, HE SAYS, AND HE’S EXCITED BY THE ENORMOUS POTENTIAL OFFERED BY THE CITY ‘REBUILDING FROM SCRATCH!’

“My goals changed after the earthquakes. I’d always thought I’d leave Jazz School and start a performing career but my involvement in a number of creative, transitional projects within the city has shown me the importance of a broader outlook. I’m excited to be a part of what, ideally, could be the setting up of a new arts culture in Christchurch,” he says.

Working on a number of projects simultaneously, including Rent a Party Club, Art Beat, the New Music Collective and LuxCity, plus squeezing in a photographic trip to the Philippines with members of the creative collective Fledge, Harry likes the way one event can morph out of another.

the restoration of our broken city; and according to Laura Kellaway, Bachelor of Architectural Studies Programme leader for CPIT’s School of Architectural Studies, involvement in wider post-quake projects provides them with unique and exciting learning opportunities.

“Events like Art Beat for instance will ideally grow. It’s programmed to showcase Christchurch creative talent in Restart Mall from November to February but the ultimate goal is, as the city opens up, Art Beat will move into new areas like the Square, or New Regent Street,” he says.

“We had developed project-based learning before the earthquakes but the disaster has heightened the need for urban and environmental designers and our students have worked on a number of individual and communitybased projects within the city and beyond,” she says. Architectural students have developed concepts for the re-development of Linwood Village and the Addington Mall. They’ve worked on the restoration of the 1860s cob building on Winchester Street and they’ve worked on urban and community designs for key buildings like churches and libraries throughout Canterbury. In addition, ten students worked on Illusion, CPIT’s contribution to LuxCity in Gloucester Street in October.

For Harry, 20, it’s all about establishing a vibrant new arts culture; about taking the visual and performing arts out of traditional spaces and integrating them into the community.

“There are a lot of more important things than battling with bureaucracy the way so many Christchurch people currently are. I like the idea of all these transitional events giving the city life, colour and hope. And for me specifically, it’s now less about the music and more about the whole experience of a creative life.”

Harry is typical of a growing number of current and past CPIT students making a valuable contribution to

“All of these things give them a very good structure for learning to collaborate and better understand the architectural discipline. What’s going on in the city now, is always the focus of conversation in our department,” she says.

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“WE WANTED TO CREATE

THE CONTEXT AGAIN...

A UNIQUE CONCEPT FOR

TO NOT TAKE RISKS

CHRISTCHURCH - TO

BECOMES A RISK IN ITSELF.

LOOK AT IT AS A DESIGN

WHAT HAS HAPPENED

OPPORTUNITY FOR THE

IN CHRITCHURCH AND

STUDENTS. THERE’S

WHAT CAN HAPPEN

NO OTHER PLACE IN T

CHRISTCHURCH HAS THE

HE WORLD RIGHT NOW

POTENTIAL TO IMPACT ON

WHERE THEY COULD DO

THE REST OF THE WORLD.”

SOMETHING LIKE THIS

- CAMIA YOUNG

AND WILL NEVER HAVE

Camia Young, an architectural tutor at Auckland University agrees. She recently liaised with FESTA (Festival of Transitional Architecture), to help bring LuxCity to fruition in Christchurch on October 20. In collaboration with Christchurch-based clients, approximately 16 design studios with over 350 architectural students from five architectural schools (University of Auckland, AUT, CPIT, Unitec and Victoria University), created “a city of light” for the one-night event. Fully functional bars, cafes, theatres and restaurants featured and each studio had an individual brief.

She says students gained ‘real world’ experience in the process of organising their LuxCity installations. They had to find sponsors; work to time-lines, manage builders and budgets; and develop communication skills, timing and an understanding of all the technical facets of architecture. It was,

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she says, an excellent example of lots of creative thinkers coming together around design, to make a contribution to Christchurch.

it’s a defining moment for our generation. We can work hard for the next fifteen years and make a real difference to society.”

CPIT graduate and co-founder of F3 Design, Pippin Wright-Stow, 33 and F3 Senior Associate, Andrew Just, 27, have designed the structures for CPIT’s transitional ArtBox project and they too are right behind projects that have the potential to inject hope, humour and optimism. Andrew, who is also on the Gap Filler Board, says a lot of people are coming up with similar ideas. There’s a synergy at work in the city he says, and collaboration is a positive way to make things happen.

F3 employs eight fulltime staff and several part-time students from CPIT. Everyone, says Pippin, has made the same choice to be actively involved in the city rebuild and a number of staff have returned from overseas – from New York, Mongolia, Cambodia and elsewhere – to put their skills to use.

“It’s important to propose alternatives to current thinking, to think outside the box,” says Andrew. “The nice thing about small scale, transitional projects like ArtBox, is that they’re a low risk way to test and explore innovation.”

“This is a new way of working,” adds Pippin Wright-Stow, “and we’ve had it forced upon us. It doesn’t feel like a choice to me, it’s about adapting to survive; but within that, there’s a chance to make a real difference.

I could go elsewhere and have an easier life but here in Christchurch,

Both Pippin and Andrew are buoyed by the opportunities provided by the rebuild and they are keen to keep moving on positive, achievable projects that address particular needs in small spaces. Given the impaired state of the city’s infrastructure, they say it can be tiring and difficult, that it’s intrinsically a lot of work but the rewards far outweigh the difficulties.

“It’s easy to feel disempowered with the powers and processes at work in the city at the moment,” says Andrew, “but we have the opportunity to do small things, to explore innovative options. We can test ourselves by designing to the conditions, by working it out.”

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W h e n t h e p r o p o s e d Ar t B o x p r e c c i n t t a k e s s ha p e o n t h e c o r n e r o f Hi g h, Ma d ra s & L i c h f i e l d St r e e t s o v e r t h e c o m i n g m o n t h s, i t w i l l c r e a t e m u c h - n e e d e d s t u d i o & ga l l e r y s p a c e f o r a r t i s t s d i s p l a c e d b y t h e C h r i s t c h u r c h e a r t h q u a k e s.

For Martin Trusttum, Stakeholder Manager, CPIT Creative Industries, it will also be the end of a long planning process that began when CPIT was able to offer temporary work space to a dozen arts organisations in the aftermath of the February 2011 earthquake. With the emergency arts hub up and running, Trusttum quickly realised that the city’s displaced artists would also need work and gallery space, so he approached Pippin Wright-Stow and Andrew Just of F3 Design, to see if they could make a viable arts precinct out of shipping containers.

They went one better than that. They designed ArtBox modules in the form of movable, steel-framed, insulated units with a see-through polycarbonate frontage, which could be bolted together in a wide range of formats. The boxes are secured to small concrete footings and can be easily moved to other sites on the back of a truck.

For Wright-Stow and Just, it was a dream project – a way to explore and innovate, and a way to test their ability to adapt quickly to an ever-changing post-quake environment.

The first eighteen ArtBoxes will be assembled into four main pavilions and the precinct will grow with demand to include studios, gallery, office and retail space. The ‘Boxed Quarter’ will also include BeatBox, a group of boxes which will provide affordable space for local musicians adjacent to ArtBox. Trusttum says the site has the potential to house up to 160 of the F3 modules in a multi-levelled complex (up to three high) that he hopes will become an exciting hub for likeminded creative people.

“ We w a n t e d t o c r e a t e a n a c t i v e, e n ga g i n g s p a c e, a n o m a d i c a r t s c e n t r e i n a s e n s e – w h e r e a r t i s t s, r e t a i l e r s, o f f i c e w o r k e r s & t h e p u b l i c c o u l d a l l c o m e t o g e t h e r i n a l i v i n g, b r e a t h i n g s p a c e & t h e b e a u t y o f i t i s, i t c a n a l l b e l o a d e d o n t o t h e ba c k o f a

“C ha n g e ha s b e e n f o r c e d u p o n u s & a n

t r u c k & m o v e d t o o t h e r s i t e s. ” s a ys Tr u s t t u m .

ability to adapt & move ahead is vital f o r a l l b u s i n e s s e s, ” s a ys Ju s t.

“The ArtBox project has been an amazing design opportunity and it has a wonderful relevance moving forward. It may have begun as a transitional solution in a time of great uncertainty but the boxes we’ve designed are sustainable and lasting and to prove it both Pippin and I are building our new homes out of them.”

“That sort of fl exibility is key to creating short-term solutions in post-quake Christchurch. We’ve played with concepts here, we’ve experimented and we’ve come up with a solution that has enormous potential to be adapted to multiple uses. It’s been about collaboration and support – from the multiple sponsors who have covered much of the $900,000 in costs to everyone involved in the design process. Arts are important to the city’s recovery and the ArtBox quarter will have an economic spillover for the whole area. It’s an exciting new beginning for the city.”

IGNITION | 9 9

KO TAKU KUPU KO TAU Ko Taku Kupu, Ko Tau/My Word is Yours was a creative collaboration between Te Reo students from Te Puna Wanaka and visual communication students from the School of Art & Design CPIT.

I te whakatuwheratanga o Te Puna Wanaka i rewa ake te pätai, “Ko wai te whare nei?” ka whakautua, “ko Te Mätauranga Mäori”. Ka haere tonu ngä karakia, ä, ka pätaihia te pätai, “Mö wai te whare nei? ”. Ka whakautua, “Mö tätou katoa”.

I tä ënei kupu i te kawa o te whare hei toko i ana poupou, hei tikanga whakahaere, hei tikanga whakakotahi.

During the opening ceremony of Te Puna Wänaka the questions was asked, “What is the name of the building?” The response was, “It is The Place of Evolving Knowledge.” As the ceremony continued another question was posed. “Who will benefit from this building?” The response was, “All who seek it”. This statement served as the foundation for the guiding principles of the building which promote collaboration and notions of inclusiveness.

Ko Te Reo Mäori tëtahi o ngä tino kaupapa i roto i tënei whare, ä¸ ko te whakawhänui i ngä wähi e rangona ai te reo tëtahi o ngä rautaki matua hei whakaora anö i te reo. I ngä rä o mua he tohu mana te äta whakairo i te kupu. I whirihia te kupu i runga i tana hängai ki te mea o mua, o muri, te pai o te rere me tana hängai ki te tangata nöna te whakaaro, ki te taringa mäna te körero. I ënei rä kua iti ngä wähi e kitea ai tënei ähuatanga, e häpaitia ai tënei pükenga.

Heoi, tërä te körero e möhiotia whänuitia ana a Tä Äpirana “ko tö ringa ki te räkau a te Päkehä”.

Kua aro nui mätou ki ënei räkau hou kua whai wähi ki tënei whenua hei oranga mö te iwi, hei oranga mö te reo, hei oranga mö te motu. Ka mutu, hei häpai i te tika o tana körero, i ngä tikanga o te whare hoki i aro ki tënei momotuhi

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hou hei wähi körero anö mö te reo e kitea ai tana ätaahua, e rangona ai tana reka kia kïia ake ai, “He waitä ki te taringa, he waitä ki te whatu, ka kaingäkautia e te motu.”

Te Reo Mäori is one of the main focal points within Te Puna Wänaka. Expanding the domains in which the language can be used and heard is one of the main strategies in ensuring its survival. In Mäori society oratory skills are celebrated and highly regarded.

Traditionally word choice was based on a words phonetic connection to those preceding and following the word, attention was paid to ensure statements were both reflective of the thought they were to represent and were also of appealing to those for whom they were intended. In contemporary settings, with limited domains in which Mäori is spoken, this aspect of the language may not be as visible or as readily recognized. However, in reciting the famed quote of Sir Äpirana Ngata “make use of the new tools and technologies that have become available to you” and in remembering the guiding principles set down at the opening of the building we find motivation to explore new domains and partnerships which can help in the languages survival. In this case typography has become the focus and the partnership between the Te Puna Wänaka and Art and Design students has helped create something that goes a long way in celebrating, promoting and applying the principles which underpin the usage of Te Reo. This project provides an opportunity to promote Te Reo in its unique flavor, its expressive nature, its form and its particular origins that it may be said, “There is beauty in its form, in its sound, it is something for us all to cherish.”

Hemi Hoskins/ Pou Whakahaere Hohepa Waitoa/Pou Whakamänawa

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Designed by Jasmine Thomas, written by Rahera Falwasser

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Designed by Rhoda Deed, written by Stevie-Jane Mutu

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Designed by Jessica Ferguson-Phillips, written by Antoinette Koko

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Sam SWORD 14

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NZ

IPP Organised by the NZIPP for more than 30 years, these annual awards celebrate excellence

by New Zealand’s professional photographers, providing a platform for recognition within the industry and the wider public. The Epson/ NZIPP Iris Awards demonstrate the commitment of the NZIPP to raise the profile of professional photography throughout New Zealand, providing an annual showcase of cutting-edge imagery and creative photographic talent, which, together with the NZIPP conference and industry tradeshow, form the INFOCUS event.

Elizabeth MCKAY 15

Nick SEPIE 16

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Mark Hanson entered a photographic competition and won.

The prize was to photograph the implosion of the Radio Network building scheduled for 8am Sunday August 5th, 2012 from the air.

building would be in such high demand and the helicopters also manoeuvring for position caused major concern for Mark and his skillful pilot.

Mark, pumped with adrenalin and strapped in the storm flap of a Cessna, set off on his mission and at 7.15am he was ‘onsite’ scoping, positioning and repositioning for the photos he had visualised taking. The pilot hadn’t predicted the airspace above the

Mark’s focus however was on the building and at 8am, wings dipped for maximum view, 63 kilograms of explosives were detonated by six-yearold Queenstown boy Jayden Halliwell while Mark clicked on capturing this historic moment.

Mark is passionate about photography and is currently studying Digital Imaging at CPIT. He plans to continue this year.

Marks images can be viewed on M.C.P.H. images on facebook and he can be contacted on m.c.p.hanson@gmail.com.

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TAKING

TALEN WORL

Alice-Louise Barker packed a lot into her final year at CPIT School of Musical Arts. In addition to producing an album of her own songs for her third-year project, she’s taught singing at local schools and played gigs up to five nights a week. She describes it as “a full-on year” – one that saw her feeling overwhelmed, exhilarated, fulfilled and yet ready to take on the ‘real-world’ of the music industry.

“Writing, arranging, producing and performing for the album was a huge process in its own right. You don’t realise how full-on it’s going to be until you throw everything you have at it. My whole life was absorbed by it, and by teaching and performing to earn money, but it was very fulfilling at the same time.

“I’m a very self-directed learner and Jazz School has been terrific in allowing me to work that way. It’s given me musical technique and theoretical knowledge and it’s helped me refine my musical skills and to make invaluable connections. It’s also enabled me to be more relaxed as a performer and a songwriter,” she says.

For Alice-Louise, 21, all that goes a long way to easing her transition from a school environment to a career in the music industry as a singer-songwriter.

“Last year gave me an understanding of where I’d like to go with music. It gave me confidence in my song-writing ability and it taught me a lot about my limits and how far I can push myself. By

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doing this degree I’ve learned skills that can take me anywhere in the world. It’s shown me that I can earn money by doing what I love. That’s very exciting.”

Alice-Louise is typical of many final year Musical Arts students who have spent the last three years refining their talents and discovering the path they want to take after graduation. For some it’s been about developing their own style; for others it’s meant stepping off campus to explore the music industry at an international level.

Andrew Densem, 24, is one of the latter. His final year project, “Making Enz Meet,” came out of a month-long trip to USA, visiting Los Angeles, Portland, Nashville, New York and more, where he studied the gap between the New Zealand and American music industries and how it might be bridged.

Leaving himself open to spontaneity throughout the journey, he made “amazing connections”.

“I was in a record shop when Andy Summers, guitar player for the Police walked in. I spent a day with Rick Holmstrom, guitar player for Mavis Staples. I had a ticket to see my all-time favourite band, Wilco, play live and the day before the concert I was in a guitar store and one of their players walked in. And in Shreveport, Louisiana, I met up with Brady Blade of Blade Studios. You can plan for that sort of thing and hope for it but it may never happen.

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NT LD

TO THE

This trip showed me the importance of leaving yourself open to spontaneity and seizing unexpected opportunities,” Andrew says.

It was his meeting with Brady Blade that crystallised the idea for his final project - taking a piece of iconic Kiwi music (Split Enz) and re-imagining it in a completely different genre, as a way of cutting his teeth with music production.

“As a guitar major, I wanted to try production – something I didn’t know – to maximise my learning opportunities. In the US, I realised that producers do so much more than just turning up and calling the shots. It’s about having a big picture of the sound and managing the talents and the musical partnerships. It’s a hell of a challenge. Getting a good final sound is very much a team thing and this project has been hugely rewarding. Going to the US was a great move; I learnt so much, so fast.”

For Brooke Abbott, 20, Jazz School gave her the opportunity to extend her singer/songwriter talents into production and musical arrangement. She too had already taken her first steps in the music industry, composing music for short films, documentaries and a musical. While she worked on the production of an album of

original piano music for her final project, Abbott also wrote music for three films, with University of Canterbury film students. “I’m aiming to work in the wider industry to earn money so I can then hire other musicians to play my music decently. By writing for film and musicals, I’ve had to extend myself. That’s been exciting.

“I’ve also found that a lot of the course work we did around the business side of the music world – the negotiating and signing of contracts for instance – has been really good. It’s given me a foundation now I’ve left CPIT. I won’t be nearly so naive when I step into the music world now. It’s really helped me to think outside the box and to create a unique ‘voice’. The world wants to see difference and I want to be unique, to create my own sound.”

According to Tom Rainey, Manager of Performing Arts, CPIT School of Musical Arts, graduating students need to be adapatable – more so than ever in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes. Despite the fact that many of the city’s venues have been damaged or demolished, he believes there is a wealth of opportunity for students willing to think and act creatively; and as the rebuild gains momentum and more transitional projects come to life, he believes those performance opportunities will increase.

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“I’ve learned skills that can take me anywhere in the world... I can earn money by doing what I love.

That’s very exciting.”

Even though we may live in uncertain times, he says, for those students prepared to be fl exible there are tremendous possibilities, especially if they’ve studied a wide range of musical skills during their time at CPIT. “We offer a project-based learning environment in third year to allow students to produce industry-ready work that puts them in a workready situation,” he says.

“Today’s performing artists need to have a wide skill-set across the creative, technical and business sides of the industry; they have to be able to step in to the industry and be instantly adaptable.”

Singer/songwriter, Shannelee Ray Etches, 20, has taken those lessons on board. She’s taken on the theory of writing and she’s learnt to trust her own emotional input and her own instincts. Etches has learnt to work and communicate with other musicians, especially during the production of her EP of original songs; and she’s experimented with her voice and ‘tested herself’ as a performer.

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“I did a New Zealand tour as the opening act for the band Make Believe earlier in 2012 and I’ll be doing a paid tour with them again.

I also do regular gigs around town twice a week as part of a duo.

That’s been a really valuable learning curve. In fact, the whole third year project has been not just the arranging and production, but the promotional side of things too, like releasing a single before the tour to promote my EP. “Getting to know all the different aspects of the business of music, both in school and out, has probably been the most valuable aspect of all. It helps you create a network of contacts; a foundation for the beginning of your career.

“I’ve always written music and I’ve played the guitar since I was twelve. It’s my passion. Jazz School has helped me focus that. It’s helped me to find what fits, what feels comfortable and right for me as a performer.”

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O N I A T R O M E M COM IST

ARTI N CHOSE

Chris Reddington’s sound sculpture concept Song Song (A Musical Bridge) has been selected as CPIT’s earthquake commemoration artwork, the CPIT Council has announced.

The Christchurch-based artist, who is a CPIT Art and Design graduate and former CPIT Musical Arts student, impressed the judging panel with his concept of an interactive and humansized enclosure. The artwork will create a contemplative space on the lawn next to the Rakaia Centre and will be unveiled for the anniversary of the 22 February.

“The elemental nature of these vibrations and resonances would provide quiet yet transformative experiences relating to losses and scarring from the recent earthquakes; via the formal physical properties of vibrations, plates, tensions and movement, but also through the symbolic bridging of other metaphysical distances,” Reddington’s proposal stated.

A self-employed sculptor of 10 years, Reddington has worked with local artists Neil Dawson and Graham Bennett (on the Reasons for Voyaging sculpture outside the Christchurch Art Gallery). In 2004 he established the contemporary music group Silencio Ensemble and has worked on a number of projects exploring musical crossover with live sculptural performances, film, theatre and light.

Since 2008 Reddington has also worked as the technician for the University of Canterbury’s Theatre and Film department.

The artwork features two curved steel plates that create a space for people to enter. Inside they will find 28 strings attached to each plate that can be plucked or strummed to create an acoustic interplay with the sculpture.

“CPIT felt it really important to acknowledge those who had a connection with CPIT and perished in the February 2011 earthquake. Chris’ sound sculpture concept is sensitive and a very well considered work,” CPIT Council Chair Jenn Bestwick said.

“It will be an appropriate and enduring memorial to the 28 CPIT whanau who lost their lives as well as a place where all of us can contemplate the many changes to our own lives and our city.”

The commemoration artwork was an initiative of the CPIT Council.

The judging panel consisted of CPIT Chief Executive Kay Giles, CPIT Council member Lynne Harata Te Aika, artist Neil Dawson and CPIT tutor/artist Bing Dawe.

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WEAVING TOGETHER Haute COUTURE & COMMERCIAL SENSIBILITY, CPIT’S 3rd YEAR FASHION STUDENTS DRAW ON CREATIVE INSP IRAT ION & TECH NICA L PROW ESS

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“THE INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT IN OUR PROGRAMMES & PARTICULARLY IN DEBUT IS A BIG PART OF HOW WE PREPARE OUR STUDENTS FOR SUCCESS IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY” - NATHAN INGRAM “THE STUDENTS RECEIVE BRIEFS FROM LEADING DESIGNERS with WHOM THEY HAVE RECENTLY COMPLETED THEIR WORK PLACEMENTS. SO THE DEBUT COLLECTIONS NEED TO REFLECT THE AESTHETIC OF THE LABEL THE STUDENTS WORKED WITH AND APPEAL TO THAT LABEL’S MARKET” - NATHAN INGRAM Phoebe Ratcliffe-Reid worked to “a theme

Juliette’s current winter collection Bittersweet

based around tacky Miami bling and country

Memories. “HER STYLE IS VERY FEMININE. SHE

American style” from Stolen Girlfriends. Her

DESCRIBES HER STYLE AS ‘CLOTHES FOR

goal was to produce 23 garments that could

WELL-MANNERED GIRLS’. THEY’RE PROPER

comfortably sit within the label’s upcoming

AND DEMURE.” To explore her love of tailoring

collection. “MY STYLE IS QUITE ‘OUT THERE’

Melissa asked if she could include menswear, so

SO I BALANCED THE STOLEN GIRLFRIENDS

for Debut 2012 Juliette’s girls now have well-

WEARABILITY WITH MY HIGH FASHION

mannered men on their arms.

SENSE,” Phoebe said. “STOLEN GIRLFRIENDS

“I JUST REALLY WANTED TO GET THE

IS A BIT GRUNGY, A BIT ROCK ‘N ROLL. THEY

MENSWEAR IDEAS DOWN ON PAPER FOR

HAVE A YOUNG TARGET MARKET, SO IT’S

A START. THERE’S A LOT OF TAILORING IN

COOL AND WEARABLE, BUT EDGY.” An

MEN’S COATS. AS SOON AS JULIETTE SAID

original print of wheat fields and blue skies on

‘COCKTAIL EVENING’, I THOUGHT ‘THERE’S

denim was one highlight of Phoebe’s collection,

TWO SUITS’. IT’S QUITE A BIT OF WORK!” she

titled Glitter Bomb My Banjo. Feedback from

said. “HOWEVER I FIND THE CONSTRUCTION

her industry mentors, which is part of her

REALLY EXCITING. YOU SEE YOUR DESIGN

assessment, indicates she is well on the way to

ON A PERSON, THE WAY THE FABRIC WORKS.

achieving her goal.

I REALLY LIKE THE PRACTICAL WORK WE DO. THIS COURSE IS SO INDUSTRY FOCUSED

Melissa McIndoe completed her internship with

THAT YOU CAN GO STRAIGHT INTO

Juliette Hogan and is now constructing evening,

INDUSTRY WHEN YOU GRADUATE.”

cocktail and casual wear for couples based on For more information about CPIT’s Fashion Design & Technology programmes go to www.cpit.ac.nz

23

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Hope and Filmmaking In a Remote Corner of New Zealand An interest in the darker corners of New Zealand society took student filmmaker Cody Packer to a reclusive religious community on the West Coast. Which in turn took him to the Chicago International Film Festival.

The documentary Gloriavale, made with fellow CPIT New Zealand Broadcasting School students Shani Annand-Baron and Nathan Joe, won Best Student Documentary award and a showing at the film festival’s “CineYouth Best of the Fest”.

Cody’s original target was New Zealand’s Right Wing Resistance, but the group proved unreliable and difficult to work with. “I am interested in the smaller, darker corners of society so I started looking into New Zealand cults. Gloriavale showed up on the internet and a lot of people were debating whether it is a cult,” Cody said.

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Connecting with Gloriavale Initial contact suggested this community was not going to be exactly easy to work with either. Having watched old TV reports about Gloriavale, Cody could understand their initial hesitancy.

The reports used weird music to highlight the drama and pigeonholed Gloriavale as a cult without giving the community a voice. Cody wanted to let the community speak for itself.

However he didn’t quite anticipate the reception he received.

“I went out there for a day and there were 12 of them. It was intimidating. They put chairs around us in a ring. I was petrified.

They asked us if we were undercover and I assured them I wanted to just turn up and roll the camera. ”Convinced of the student filmmakers’ good intentions, the community cooperated. “They were a very welcoming, openarmed community once they got to know me, but there was always a residing undercurrent of control they still wanted to have over the film.”

Switching to a faster lane Meanwhile, Cody has just finished a six-month internship with Desert Road Productions, working on a docudrama about the Rome Olympics, and is currently Assistant Director with the company for a nine-week shoot of Harry, a new primetime TV3 crime

“He came and preached to us every day at lunch.

It got to the point where it was unbearable.”

Living the secluded life For three days the team lived close to the community at Gloriavale, even sleeping in a room next to Gloriavale leader Neville Cooper who spent 11 months in prison for child abuse in 1995. It was unsettling, Cody said. “He came and preached to us every day at lunch. It got to the point where it was unbearable. He is a huge character with huge charisma. I’ll never forget it.”

There were undertones of a cult mentality. “It was quite bizarre; I felt like an alien on another planet. They were all staring, the children are all quite curious about the outside world. “I think a lot of the younger people were going through the motions, their lives were planned out and they were like zombies. Like girls as young as 12 had to get up horrendously early to make the bread and prepare the lunches. They looked half asleep.” After student life in Christchurch the monotony was difficult, or as Cody says, “every day was the same. You get bored watching them live.”

drama. Future work will depend on a NZ Film Commission grant application for his next film, a relationship drama about a child born in a coma who wakes up after 16 years.

The Chicago International Film Festival was in October 2012. “My boss said I had to go – it’s an oncein-a-lifetime opportunity. It was great to see my film on that stage and to network with the people there.”

Nonetheless, the community liked the resulting observational documentary, which is based on interviews with Faithful Pilgrim, a Christian Community Servant at Gloriavale. They have posted the film on their website.

27

Playing the Queen of England, working with The Court Theatre, fundraising, rehearsing, more rehearsing – it was a busy year at CPIT’s National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art (NASDA).

And that’s just the students. NASDA staff created, performed in and directed productions in the industry - in addition to an impressive schedule of NASDA productions in 2012.

The productions, projects and collaborations all contributed to a programme that is recognised throughout New Zealand’s theatre, film and TV worlds as a unique, comprehensive and practical performing arts education.

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NASDA National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art

www.ignition.ac.nz

Guys and Dolls a sure bet You couldn’t find a show with a broader appeal than Guys and Dolls. NASDA second year students were not phased by the show’s illustrious history as they tackled the endearing high-rollers, hapless gamblers and the long-suffering women of midtwentieth century New York. Grandly billed as the ‘perfect musical’ when it first opened on Broadway in 1950, this hit show had an initial run of 1,200 performances and eight Tony awards. Subsequent revivals, including a major Broadway production in 1992, proved Frank Loesser’s catchy music and lyrics and Damon Runyon’s colourful characters were as popular as ever.

The show was chosen for its broad appeal and for the practical experience it offered NASDA students, allowing them to integrate acting, singing and dance.

Blackrock play comes with challenges Some NASDA second-year students ducked for cover and some faced the consequences when they performed the tragedy Blackrock in September. The students’ fortunately fictional roles in the production,

by Australian playwright Nick Enright, required them to feel and respond to some very challenging emotions, their tutor Ross McKellar said.

In the modern Australian classic, a group of teenagers and their community must deal with an horrific incident at a drunken beach party. “To do a production like this and feel stuff on a personal level and allow that to show to classmates and audience is an achievement. I’ve got to congratulate them on moving away from showing to experiencing,” Ross said.

Much Ado about NASDA NASDA students swelled the ranks for one of Shakespeare’s most-loved romantic comedies at the Court Theatre in May. The students shared the stage with Lisa Chappell (McLeod’s Daughters, The Cult) and Roy Snow (Go Girls, Shortland Street) who played Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. With a cast of 21, the May production was the largest staged at the new Court Theatre in Addington.

Dangerous Anne Boleyn portrayed at CPIT Playing King Henry VIII’s notorious second wife was all in a day’s work for Danielle Butlin, a third year NASDA student who played the lead role in Anne Boleyn in May. “Well it’s been an interesting journey. She’s an amazing woman - she literally changed history. And as an actor it’s rather intimidating knowing that you are trying to fill such an incredible woman’s shoes,” Danielle said.

King Henry VIII’s notorious second wife was reckless, passionate and ultimately dangerous and her ending was not a happy one, but NASDA’s interpretation of the play was entertaining and often laugh-out-loud funny.

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NASDA Crusades Against Drink Driving CPIT graduates joined the crusade against drinkdriving, targeting secondary school students with a hard-hitting, contemporary stage play called Stand Up. Five graduates from NASDA (Gary Miller, Lana MacFarlane, Liam Taylor and Monica Hope with Emma Cusdin as production manager) performed a four-week tour of Canterbury’s secondary schools.

Christchurch City Council approached Head of NASDA Richard Marrett for a fresh take on their Crash Bash campaign, which had run for 17 years.

With assistance from Students Against Drink Driving (SADD) and New Zealand Police, NASDA developed a multi-media show that gave students strategies for keeping themselves safe in tricky, real-life situations.

Young actors are in demand for performance in schools projects like Crash Bash, Richard said.

“There are five education-oriented companies that we supply with graduates here and in Australia in this field.” NASDA’s Ross McKellar directed Stand Up, bringing years of experience of education in schools to the project.

Soldier’s lost letter inspires Pacific Post A soldier’s letter that lay in the back of a drawer forgotten for many years took centre stage as the voice behind Pacific Post, which premiered at The Court Theatre on 20 October.

The production, created by NASDA staff Ross McKellar and Stephanie McKellar-Smith, earned high praise from the Court Theatre’s Artistic Director Ross Gumbley.

“One of the standout plays in the 2010 Fresh Ink season, I’ve seen this play three times in readings or workshops and been moved to tears each time,” Gumbley said. “This is a play with a large heart; wonderfully nostalgic and life affirming.”

The play is a very personal account of how one average, small-town Kiwi family coped with the effects of war on their every-day lives, McKellar-Smith says. “This intimate perspective allows the audience a glimpse into the pain, fear, anxiety, grief, love and laughter experienced during this turbulent time in New Zealand’s history.”

Pacific Post was selected for the Fresh Ink reading series of new works at The Court Theatre and subsequently developed into a full professional production with McKellar-Smith directing and McKellar playing Bud. The cast also features NASDA staff Juliet Reynolds-Midgely and Michael Lee Porter and NASDA graduate Amy Straker.

NASDA Sings up a Storm in Westport The entire second year of students took a trip to Westport in 2012 for a concert that raised $3000 towards building homes in Mexico.

Bernard Voice instigated the performance opportunity for 20 of his classmates when his family asked NASDA to help raise money for charity work in Mexico.

The result was a two-hour concert attended by some 170 people.

It was a bonding experience for the students as well as good professional experience, Bernard said. “We stayed at my house in Westport. There were 20 mattresses on the fl oor. The older people in the community provided us with meals. We loved it – the car trip, the concert, staying in Westport, everything!”

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www.ignition.ac.nz

Still

Lives

a highlight at Leeds Performers from CPIT’s internationally acclaimed Different Light Theatre Company packed their bags again – this time to take their disability performance work Still Lives to the inaugural Ludus Festival in Leeds.

Organisers billed Still Lives as a highlight of the festival. “We were the only New Zealand company and the only disability company to be invited so it was a real acknowledgement of the work we have been exploring for the last seven years,” Still Lives director and CPIT Creative Industries tutor Tony McCaffrey said. “Considering the programme features established artists from around the world such as Efímer from Spain and Adishakti from India, it was a real honour for us.

“Our work explores disability performance in a wider context than social issues theatre. It’s about real people dealing with their lives so it can be confronting, it can be entertaining and it challenges what we mean by theatre; this approach has been very well received by audiences here and overseas.”

Still Lives was first developed in response to the challenges of living in post-earthquake Christchurch, a ‘disabled city’ where the potential for better accessibility and inclusivity of people with intellectual or physical disabilities may yet be realised in city rebuild plans.

International interest in Different Light Theatre Company has snowballed since the work was performed in Australia and then again at the International Society for Disability Studies Conference in San Jose, California in 2011.

invited to present a paper at the Society for Disability Studies Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado and at the Conference for the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) in Santiago, Chile.

“Then in October 2012 six performers and I gave a keynote presentation/performance of our new work, The Lonely and the Lovely, a different kind of soap opera, at the Concourse in Sydney for the Arts Activated Conference. In this work performers with intellectual disabilities play all the characters, set in Christchurch in the post-earthquake rebuild.

“So it’s a very exciting time for our company and extremely productive for my work at CPIT and my PhD research at the University of Canterbury looking at The Politics and Aesthetics of Disability Performance.”

The Ludus festival coincided with the Performance Studies International Conference in Leeds where Tony also presented a paper. Performers Benjamin Morris, Isaac Tait and Glen Burrows were able to travel to Leeds thanks to $10,000 funding from Creative New Zealand - the grant is the first time competitive funding has been awarded to people with intellectual disabilities to tour theatre overseas.

“Our performance in San Jose seemed to put CPIT at the forefront of international disability performance work. Subsequently I was For more information about Different Light theatre Company see www.differentlight.co.nz and for more about Ludus see www.ludusfestival.org.

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Biblia Abiblia books that are not books Artists including Graham Bennett and Wayne Youle re-imagined the humble library book for Biblia Abiblia, presented by CPIT for The Press Christchurch Writers’ Festival 2012.

Biblia Abiblia, Books That Are Not Books was exhibited in the Atrium and Library, Rakaia Building, CPIT, Christchurch, 23 Aug–3 Sept, during The Press, Christchurch Writers’ Festival Clockwise from below: Untitled by Dallas Matoe, Twelve Laments and One, poetry by Hone Tuwhare, imagery by Denise Copland and Sandra Thompson, In the eye of the beholder by Tara Daellenbach, The Gift by Katharina Jaeger, Pocket Sized Alphabet of Hip Hop by Jason Urban.

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In Praise of Books b– y Dorothee Pauli Not so long ago, a world without books seemed unimaginable. That was a time when all the world was imagined in books. They served to collate and disseminate knowledge, and supported religious instruction and secular education in equal measure. Books incited revolutions and spread the message of peace.

Today, the future of books may appear uncertain, but for now they continue to construct the identities of writers and their readers and in the process bridge distances of time and place.

They still record the life stories of protagonists both real and invented and libraries still appear possessed by the hum of history and our need to express in the written word all aspects of human existence. Perhaps most importantly, books, like works of art, capture thoughts and transform them into a persistent and prominent aspect of visual culture.

It is little wonder then that books have become an essential part of the fabric of the visual arts, well beyond the long and dazzling history of the illuminated manuscript or illustrated book. Book art as a genre celebrates the book as an object of near unlimited expressive potential. Proof of this is the numerous exhibitions and publications that celebrate book art around the globe. Some artists respond to the allure of fine papers, ink and the intricate techniques of bookbinding.

Others continue the longstanding tradition of deconstructing and transforming existing books into hybrid objects of visual art.

It is this practice in particular that points most clearly to the current and crucial chapter in the history of the book. Digital technology serves to render bound books superfl uous.

It has replaced them with a limitless online stream of written and pictorial information, which can be altered, updated and reissued at little cost, and at the push of a button. As new generations of readers form their relationships with the written word in the electronic medium, the future of the printed book appears uncertain.

Therefore the large-scale installations made from discarded books, by such artists as Richard Wentworth, Ignacio Rabago or Alicia Martin strike a melancholy note. They suggest the gradual demotion of a once essential and definitive embodiment of human knowledge to the margins of cultural production.

At the same time, these installations reassert the physical quality of the book, as do all other categories of book art. Books, like people, exist in real space and exert the kind of tactile presence that cannot be matched by the digital file. Books remain our companions even in times of emergency, when plugs and broadband connections fail us. The art of the book, in all its different forms, will find its place in the digital world just as painting settled into the age of photography. As long as human creativity persists, there is no reason to fear that books will ever lose their potential as a means of imaginative discovery and self-expression.

A project like this requires teamwork and the support of many. The people who helped Julie Humby and Michael Reed, co-curators, make this project a reality included Marianne Hargreaves, Writers Festival Director; Fiona Macdonald, CPIT Library; from the CPIT School of Art & Design, the design team of Bachelor of Design Visual Communication students Kirsten Jenkinson, Karl Dyer, Rebecca Long, Susan Overend and advised

by Earl Tutty; Dorothee Pauli for her writing; Jiang Ying-hua for her bookmaking expertise; Andrew Collier and Stefan Roberts for documentation; the collectors Jean Cumming, Sally Hunter and the CPIT Art Collection and the artists involved at all levels, institutional, local, national and international, a sincere thanks for your support and inspired contributions.

Special thanks to the CPIT Foundation for their generous support.

33

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NAME,

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Eden Persad is a 2nd year Visual Communication Design student and electronic musician performing under the name Yvnalesca (YU-NAH-LES-CA), previously St Eden.

He released a few things on Soundcloud and Bandcamp as both St. Eden and Yvnalesca, one track making number one on the RDU top ten. He has played live shows as St. Eden in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, and has also been booked to play at Rhythm and Alps festival at the end of this year.

Persad recently had an interview with Rip It Up magazine for October’s issue, and will be taking new press photos with his close friend Dylan Brigg-Jones who is a 1st year photography student.

Here are some links to his music online, both as St. Eden and Yvnalesca, please have a listen...

soundcloud.com/yvnvlxscv . steden.bandcamp.com . facebook.com/yvnvlxscv 34

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