Culture 101
Episodes
The Moth has flown: the life of musical adventurer Dean Roberts
15 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dean Roberts, aka The Moth, was an experimental composer and multi-instrumentalist who lived in Auckland, New York, Bologna and Berlin. A student of t...
From Google Street View and Second Life to 4chan: the profound impact of the internet on culture
15 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A survey of recent film work by Jon Rafman Oh, the humanity! opens at Whangārei Art Museum on December 20. It is, the gallery say “a harrowing ...
Regional Wrap: On the Raglan Wharf with Tony Sly
15 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For the regional wrap we head to Raglan Wharf to speak with Tony Sly of Tony Sly Pottery where the scenic views inspire his work. Among his Ragla...
A new gallery for Karangahape Road: art dealer Charles Ninow
15 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tāmaki Makaurau's eclectic Karangahape Road is known as a creative hub for alternative arts and events, unique hospitality and independent retailers....
The architecture of the Sámi: the Northern European indigenous people best known as reindeer herders
14 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Joar Nango is one of only a few practicing Sámi architects in the world. He has travelled to Aotearoa New Zealand to present, with collaborators, th...
Fast Favourites: Social entrepreneur Izzy Fenwick
14 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Izzy joins Culture 101 to share her Fast Favourite choices, and why she is passionate about continuing the legacy of her father.
Acushla-Tara Kupe: recording global hit drama podcasts from NZ
08 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
RNZ’s Simon Morris was listening to one of the most popular series in the UK - Sherlock & Co - when he recognised the voice of Dr Watson’s girlfri...
Our uneasy place in the animal kingdom with Jane Dodd
08 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
White footed ants made from freshwater pearls, a scorpion's sting carved out of ebony, and an orangutan and a gibbon in yew wood and hollywood, respec...
Regional Wrap: Toi Māori and puppetry with Oriwa Morgan Ward in Putāruru
08 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Oriwa Morgan Ward joins Culture 101 to share her passion for promoting of Māori art and Te Reo Māori through creative activity.
The multi-talented Cadence Chung: Retracing the Footsteps of Early Chinese Immigrants
08 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If there’s an aspect of the arts Cadence Chung isn’t involved in, you sense it won’t be long before she tackles it. Encounter is a narrative-le...
Producer Jason Taylor: empowering new storytellers in an unconventional journey into film
07 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Te Tai Tokerau screen producer joins Culture 101 to talk about his SPADA Screen Industry Award and why he is passionate about empowering a new g...
Peter Dasent: The star-studded Underwatermelon Man and Other Unreasonable Rhymes
07 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a roll call of turn-of-the-century Kiwi greats: John Clarke, Neil and Tim Finn, Bic and Boh Runga, Jenny Morris, Chris Knox, The Topp Twins, Ch...
A remarkable place to make films: actor and filmmaker Chelsie Preston Crayford
07 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
2024 has been quite the year for screen actor and filmmaker Chelsie Preston Crayford. A week ago she finished filming her first feature film Caterpil...
Arts News
01 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Events from the NZ arts world over the past week.
Toi Te Mana: the landmark book reframing Maori art
01 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A 600-page new book that took 12 years to create is set to reframe the history of Maori art. Toi Te Mana (Auckland University Press) brings together w...
Dunedin artist Kari Morseth is weaving harakeke history back into the city's daily life.
01 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dunedin artist Kari Morseth is weaving harakeke history back into the city's daily life. The Rope/Walk community art project is centred around the So...
Regional Wrap: Famed corrugated iron sculptor Jeff Thomson in Helensville
01 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jeff Thomson, one of Aotearoa’s senior professional sculptors, is best known for doing absolutely everything that’s possible with corrugated iron....
Pacific Fashion Fusion Show continues while national show pauses: founder Nora Swann
30 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Pacific Fashion Fusion Show is preparing to run its annual catwalk through downtown Auckland's freshly designated Komititanga. Komititanga is the...
The suppression of witches and plant based beliefs
30 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The front of artist Ann Shelton's award-winning new book worm, root, wort.. & bane bears an image of a small silvered glass flask held in the Pitt Riv...
Arts news
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A roundup of the arts scene.
The young generation beating new life into tapa cloth
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ngatu, siapo, aute, masi, tapa… just some of the names from across the Pacific for barkcloth which reflect the rich variety of bark used and working...
2024 Portage Ceramic Awards’ Premier Winner has a 'hard to pin down' quality
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Portage Ceramic Awards have long honoured the dynamic world of contemporary ceramics within Aotearoa New Zealand. The 2024 Premier Award winner a...
Regional Wrap: Tairāwhiti artist Margaret Hansen portrays her aunts' lives of faith
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Regional Wrap we go to Gisborne where exhibition Wimples, crosses, and lepers Women of Influence has just opened at Tairāwhiti Museum. ...
“We hope to offer hope” Bringing aspirational architecture to church - Award winner St Hilda’s
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Churches big and small throughout Aotearoa New Zealand are vital spaces of culture and community but there are increasing challenges with heritage res...
Protest photographer records Hīkoi mō te Tiriti with his historic lens
23 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For almost six decades photographer John Miller has been a protest photographer in Aotearoa New Zealand. From his first photographs of an anti-Vietna...
Fast Favourites: Dame Robin White brings home the culture of Japan
23 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In April 2024, one of our most treasured artists Dame Robin White travelled from her home in Masterton to Aomori north of Honshu in Japan, to be an ar...
The Musical Outlier: Diverse sounds from the electronic underground
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The sheer diversity and invention of electronic music today in Aotearoa is evident in a list of sounds at the upcoming electronic sonic arts festival ...
What does the arts make of the government’s draft arts strategy? Dr James Wenley and Dolina Wehipeihana
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This month Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage released a draft for consultation of Amplify: A Creative and Cultural Strategy for New Zea...
Minister Paul Goldsmith on the government’s new arts and culture strategy
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage has released Amplify: A Creative and Cultural Strategy for New Zealand. It’s a draft open for public consulta...
Regional Wrap: Te Arawatanga with Raimona Inia in Rotorua
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Raimona Inia’s focus with partner Nikora Mihinui has long been the perpetuation of their culture, with a strong focus on storytelling. A new series ...
Myths and Maidens: Documentary unpacks the stereotype of the Pasifika woman
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’re all familiar with the image of the Pacific woman on postcards and in tourism marketing; warm and welcoming, light-skinned, with a slim build a...
Making lace from muka: Rowan Panther in Te Tai Tokerau
16 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the far north, in Doubtless Bay, Te Tai Tokerau, Rowan Panther makes lace with fine strands of muka from the Harakeke flax bushes on her property. ...
A Doll’s House Part 2: Iconic feminist Nora Helmer returns home
16 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It was the door slam heard around the world, shocking audiences. Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play A Doll’s House caused outrage with the central character...
Fast Favourites with Tom Sainsbury
16 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Actor, writer, comedian, director and social media star Tom Sainsbury is back with his friends and they’re Camping.
Nō Konei - From here: Greg Donson on the collection and support of Aotearoa artists
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a curator at the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua since 2007, Greg Donson has been there for artists over a period of significant change for the g...
Inspiring the youth of Whanganui: Māori educator Waiora Bailey Moore
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Feeling the pull towards home, Waiora Bailey-Moore (Tupoho and Puketapu) returned home to Whanganui from Wellington two years ago.
Michelle Excell: Bringing world class innovation and technology to Whanganui
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tech entrepreneur and founder of consulting company The Antipodean, Michelle Excell now proudly and happily calls Whanganui home.
From McSweeney the gallery cat to Michael Laws: Martin Edmond’s biography of a gallery
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The commissioned Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery: A Whanganui biography by Edmond, published by Massey University Press, is a lively history. It rev...
Building community on the riverbank: Geoff Hipango at Te Ao Hou Marae
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Geoff Hipango is the chairperson of Te Ao Hou and grew up here. Under his leadership the marae is gaining a reputation for innovation in thinking of t...
Arts news: Whanganui reggae group NLC win best roots album at the Waiata music awards
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Whanganui reggae fusion group NLC were winners earlier this year of best roots album at the Waiata music awards. Quincy Jones dies at the age of 9...
The revitalisation of Drews Ave and urban contemporary spaces
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The central arts and historic precinct of Drews Avenue in Whanganui has been rejuvenated in recent years. In 2020, the council received funding from W...
Cecelia Kumeroa: Bringing the art, design and stories of iwi to the city
09 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Artist and designer Cecelia Kumeroa (Te Ātihaunui-a-Pārāngi) has been the Iwi Arts lead for the cultural design component of the new Te Whare o Reh...
Fast Favourites with musician and underground elevator operator Anthonie Tonnon
09 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Much loved musician and Whanganui resident Anthonie Tonnon joins Culture 101’s Whanganui show as our Fast Favourites guest.
'Never give up': Realising the dream of Sarjeant Gallery as a House of Inspiration
09 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Culture 101 is in Whanganui for the opening weekend of Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery, speaking to innovators, and creative movers and shakers in t...
Arts News: Quasi on the move, live performance contributes $17.3 bil and a Yorkshire Pud halloween costume
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts News: Quasi on the move, live performance contributes $17.3 billion and a Yorkshire Pud halloween costume
The many artistic lives of musician David Long
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Collaboration with artists across many disciplines and styles has long marked out the work of Pōneke Wellington musician David Long. David Long is...
Fearless Playwright, Producer and Laureate Victor Rodger thanks his mum
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When asked by the Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi to describe the highlight of soon becoming a 2024 arts laureate, and winner of the Toi Kō Iriiri Queer ...
Regional Wrap in the Gumboot Capital
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the ‘Gumboot Capital of the World’, and proudly lives up to that reputation.
'I didn’t even know what a canvas was' - From accountant to accidental artist
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You could describe Iwen Yong as an accidental artist. Malaysian-born, he moved to New Zealand with his family at the age of six. First settling in We...
How To Art: Clown fruit mash-up theatre show hits the walls of Basement Theatre
02 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Two bananas duct taped to the wall find themselves unexpectedly in the spotlight. In a clown, fruit mash-up of physical theatre, How To Art is hitting...
The artist duo creating miniatures of our beloved backcountry huts
02 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To say the artist duo Kemi Whitwell and Niko Leyden have an obsession with backcountry huts is no overstatement. It’s been the focus of their art...
Fast Favourites: Journalist and TV presenter Amanda Gillies
02 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For more than two decades, award-winning journalist and presenter, Amanda Gillies has been gracing the screens in the living rooms of Kiwi homes.
Mother, fighter, photographer Tish Murtha: Her powerful images of youth in Thatcher’s Britain
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Extraordinary photographs of youth in late 70’s early ‘80s Newcastle in the UK have in recent years started to come fully into the light, thanks t...
Fresh Ink: The Dynamic New Wave of Tattoo Artists
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tucked away in the armpit of Cuba Street is Buttercat Tattoo, a collective of six artists dedicated to elevating each other's work and exploring a bro...
‘I’m writing you a poem about art’ - A poem by Tusiata Avia
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week poet Tusiata Avia once again found herself in the news.
Regional Wrap: On the Kāpiti Arts Trail with mayor Janet Holborow
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The popular Kāpiti Arts Trail is on over the first two weekends of November, boasting over 300 artists opening up their studios and shared spaces, or...
Public fountains and pools: A thing of our modern past?
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the Cuba Street bucket fountain to the fake lake at Te Papa and the famous 1958 James Turkington mural at the Parnell Baths, artist duo Bena Jack...
Colonial controversy around bike lanes: Aotearoa’s bicycle pioneers
26 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Anyone who thinks controversy around cycle lanes is anything new, should pick up a copy of Michael Toohey’s just published account of the bicycle’...
Matthew Sunderland: The NZ screen actor who plays life's strays
26 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Sunderland is an Aotearoa New Zealand screen actor whose characters often turn up unexpectedly, in unexpected places. Ever since playing gunma...
Fast Favourites: Fringe Festival Director, Musician and Actress Vanessa Stacey
26 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This weeks Fast Favourites guest is Wellington-based producer, writer, and director Vanessa Stacey is a jack of all creative trades. With more than tw...
Theatre director Ben Crowder: From Isle of Wight island life to boarding school in Christchurch
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Theatre director Ben Crowder had never really watched Peter Pan. He’d seen a London production as a child, and admits he was mostly confused, and th...
Regional Wrap: Matamata with Mia Smith
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Each week, Culture 101 puts the spotlight on a different part of Aotearoa and this week we’re in the town of Matamata.
6-hour interactive photoshoot replaces camera shutter with bullet sounds
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For six hours, artist and photographer Elisabeth Denis photographed a model in a durational performance piece. Instead of camera clicks or shutter sou...
Laguna Beach, skinny jeans and dial-up internet: Teen comedy n00b a love letter to the early noughties
19 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The year is 2005. Tom Cruise jumps on Oprah Winfrey’s couch, Mariah Carey has made a resurgence, skinny jeans and Thin Lizzy are all the rage and di...
NZ’s Pinball wizard: Hamish Guthrey bringing new tech to the arcade
19 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The latest machine to arrive at arcade Ye Olde Pinball Shoppe in Pōneke Wellington is Pulp Fiction. It’s packed with the classic soundtrack and aud...
Fast Favourites: The Aussie Office’s Edith Poor
19 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s one of the most popular shows of the 21st century and now, another iteration is taking place downunder. The Office is set in Australia with the...
“The internet is radically unstable” The mindblowing worlds of Youtube video game essayist Jacob Geller
13 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
28-year-old Jacob Geller is an enormously popular Youtube video game essayist and art enthusiast.
Regional Wrap: Rakiura Stewart Island with Gwen Neave
13 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rakiura, with a population of just 450, is the furthest south we have ventured for RNZ Culture 101’s Regional Wrap.
Akira Kurosawa: The Japanese filmmaker Spielberg calls ‘the pictorial Shakespeare of our time’
13 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This spring, nine of Akira Kurosawa’s most beloved films are returning to Aotearoa's cinemas, including a brand-new digital restoration of Seven Sam...
Dressing up to bare all: Freya Finch’s slow burlesque
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A Slow Burlesque is a work that has been on Freya Finch's mind for almost a decade. Freya's interest in burlesque first started at John Bolton Theatre...
The great NZ pub crawl: Which is our most classic pub?
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Cardrona or the Thistle Inn? The Puhoi or Hotel De Brett? The White Hart or the Whangamomona? Which is this country’s most classic pub?
Fast Favourites: Dame Susan Devoy’s surprising cultural connections
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dame Susan Devoy’s career has been nothing if not lane-changing. And as such, an inspiration for us all.
Strange intelligences: the global art and tech network that’s taken root in Whangārei
06 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There’s human intelligence - when we use it. We’re getting to grips with artificial intelligence. And many people are getting fascinated with plan...
Regional Wrap: Greytown with Linda Kirkland
06 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The rural town of Greytown in the Wairarapa in the lower North Island is particularly proud of its heritage and history.
Everybody makes mistakes: Christine Jeffs’ powerful first feature in 16 years
06 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We all make mistakes, but can we accept our errors and take action before things start to unravel beyond our control? In New Zealand director Chris...
What do men want? Fashion designer and arts patron Murray Crane
05 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The fashion designer is celebrating 25 years of the label Crane Brothers and to mark the occasion, the company is teaming up with The Arts Foundation ...
‘Literature saves lives’ Fast Favourites with Behrouz Boochani
05 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“It is a cliche to say literature saves lives,” Behrouz Boochani has written, “but I experienced it with my whole being.” Behrouz Boochani is...
Arts news: a cheeky ceramics award winner, Chidgey nets Darwin and Dickens publisher and a new Christchurch artist space
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts news: a cheeky ceramics award winner, Chidgey nets Darwin and Dickens publisher and a new Christchurch artist space
Problem Pokies and 35 years of theatre marae with Jim Moriarty
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The latest production by Māori theatre company Te Rākau Hua o Te Wao Tapu, Unreel tells the story of a community affected by gambling as the Hīnaki...
How incredible are the creations at this year’s World of Wearable Art?
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The 34th season of the World of Wearable Art has kicked off in the capital - an annual spectacle of fashion, art, circus, dance and music. This yea...
Regional Wrap: An artist residency in the Rangitikei
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The beautiful Rangitikei region - running alongside the river of the same name from the Manawatu to Ruapehu - is better known as a place depicted by a...
Iconic food court hosts album installation: Goodspace meets Lim Chhour
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, artist Jefferson Chen, also known as Goodspace, is paying homage to Lim Chhour's legacy and the hardworking vendors by launching his deb...
Who are we to judge? International art curator Professor Bonaventure Ndikung on the Walters’ Prize
28 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Artist Ana Iti has been awarded Aotearoa New Zealand’s most prestigious art award, the Walters Prize at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Her scul...
'I’ve never been to a small Māori funeral': Kristyl Neho plays 30 characters at her dad’s tangi on stage
28 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hawkes Bay theatre maker Kristyl Neho (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahungunu) grew up with more death around her than most people.
Fast Favourites: Pōneke Wellington Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon
28 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Capital’s Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon has long championed Pōneke Wellington - it’s local businesses, its fashion and, sometimes more controversi...
Arts News for 22 September 2024
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts News: Parekowhai's controversial giant kangaroo, Te Unua Museum of Southland's cost blowout and extinct animal discovered in rock art.
What's possibly next after crocheting a to-scale woollen neon wharenui?
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Has joy ever been such a crucial visible part of art as it is in the work of crochet extraordinaires Lissy and Rudi Robinson-Cole? The married couple...
The remarkable friendship of iconic architects Warren and Mahoney
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Maurice and I is an unexpectedly moving, delightful, at times harrowing look at the enduring partnership between architects Sir Miles Warren and Mauri...
Regional Wrap: Ōhinehou Lyttelton with ceramicist Grace Uivel
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Each week Culture 101 puts the spotlight on a different region in Aotearoa. This week we’re in the port town of Lyttelton near Ōtautahi Christchurc...
Being fearless at the world's edge: Composer Eve De Castro Robinson tries stand-up
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
So fearless is composer Eve De Castro Robinson that not only did she recently give a seminar entitled ‘Being Fearless’ but, now in her 60s, she re...
Pop artist Theia releases staunch new anthem Baldh3ad
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Independent, trailblazing alternative pop artist Theia has released a new musical anthem. Staunchly proud of being a wahine Māori artist, her whakapa...
Kirsty Webeck: Winning over strangers and being a ‘clean comedian’
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kirsty Webeck is one of Australia’s busiest comedians. But her path into comedy was anything but conventional.
A Singapore Shimmy: Lisa Reihana’s 114,000 dazzling discs
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With style and cinematic verve, if there was ever an Aotearoa artist to be dubbed disco queen it would be Lisa Reihana. Disco because her latest commi...
Songs based on poems inspired by films: Bill Direen’s Dustbin of Empathy
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
He's reached that stage of getting called a legend of the underground and certainly, Bill Direen is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most singular, lon...
From SpongeBob to Lord of the Rings: Why are we so successful composing for film?
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An area of Aotearoa New Zealand arts getting major global reach right now is music and sound for film. Culture 101 brought together three composers...
Regional Wrap: Waitohi Picton
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A gateway to Te Wai Pounamu and the Marlborough Sounds, Picton has the capacity to surprise travellers with the range of cultural experiences on offer...
Designing winning kitchens with function and flair
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is the secret to designing a great kitchen? Many of us may think we have the answers, but reality can throw up plenty of challenges.
Putting the real-life stories of migrant workers on stage
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
550 migrants or their advocates laid complaints last month. It comes as less than 2000 overseas workers arrive. Meanwhile Immigration New Zealand repo...
Making the leap from dance to choreography
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new show by dance group Company B is giving emerging choreographers a creative platform, and mentoring and training 10 young dancers.
Fast Favourites: Maori-Samoan RnB artist Jordyn with a Why
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Maori-Samoan RnB artist Jordyn Rapana - also known as Jordyn with a Why is on a roll.