Culture 101
Episodes
'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.
Performing arts quadruple threat: Petmal Petelo
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard the phrase ‘triple threat’ in the arts, but Petmal Petelo is perhaps a quadruple threat. A dancer, actor, stage manager and ass...
Giving the Dunedin Sound a shakeup: The future of the indie Ōtepoti scene
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Ōtepoti arts scene has long had a gloriously independent fertile, multi-generational, cross art form approach. But is that culture - once famousl...
Regional Wrap: Feilding with Mayor Helen Worboys
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Each week, Culture 101 puts the spotlight on a different part of Aotearoa. This week, we’re in Feilding in Manawatū as the town celebrates 150 year...
Celebrating 10 years of Kōanga Festival
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kōanga Festival in Tāmaki Makaurau is celebrating 10 years with a packed three-and-a-half week programme and more than 12 events.
The ‘what ifs’ of dazzling New Zealand modernist painter Edith Collier
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The paintings that Whanganui painter Edith Collier created in England 100 years ago remain to this day, utterly fresh. At that time, there was no one ...
The Killing: Plushies, red velvet and the modern day circus
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a striking and brutal name for an art collective. The Killing is made up of six friends and former Elam School of Fine Arts students in Tāmaki...
Tawata turns 20: Mīria George and Hone Kouka
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mīria George (Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa, Tumutevarovaro, Enuamanu) and Hone Kouka (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Kahungunu) are both acclaimed, expe...
Arts News - Sunday 1 September
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts News - Sunday 1 September
Innovative Waikato scheme pays artists basic income
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when you fund 10 artists a part time wage - a universal basic income - for an entire year, to help facilitate change within their communi...
Best of the Fest: Word Christchurch with Tina Makereti and Pip Adam
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Writers, poets, musicians, artists and storytellers have descended on Otautahi Christchurch this week for the Word Festival. More than 100 guests have...
Regional Wrap: Tākaka in Mohua Golden Bay
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Every week on RNZ’s Culture 101 we explore the cultural richness of this country by catching up with a local in a place, big or small. There’...
A world of handcut wonder: Matchbox and shoebox diorama with Antje Damm
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Remember making dioramas with pen and card in shoeboxes as a child? As a quick survey of German artist and writer Antje Damm’s instagram will att...
Electric Avenue doubles in size for 2025 as other festivals fold
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
While festivals around the world have been either cancelled or scaled back, Electric Avenue in Ōtautahi Christchurch is doing the opposite.
‘Messy-ass b*tches, doing messy-ass things!' Kiwi TV comedy Not Even
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It may be true that the most exciting place at a flat party is the bathroom. Private, yet not so private. In a queasy bravado move for local televi...
Fast Favourites with Boh Runga
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This year marks 25 years since the Aotearoa band Stellar exploded onto the music charts in 1999 with multi-platinum album Mix.
Arts News for 25 August 2024
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts News for 25 August 2024.
'I want to be that bird': The magic dance of pīwakawaka with Shannon Te Ao
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
They flit around you in the back garden at the compost, or dive at your feet in the bush. The pīwakawaka or fantail is a special bird: so common, yet...
Conducting live film orchestras with David Kay
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra is bringing the epic scores of The Lion King and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the stage alongside the films t...
Regional Wrap: Palmerston North with Sian Van Dyk
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Palmerston North or ‘Palmy’ as it’s known brims with energy, culture and heritage. Overlooking the Manawatū river, the region boomed with a pas...
Why are artists paid so badly?
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last year the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Manatu Taonga reported New Zealand's arts and creative sector contributed $16.3 billion to New Zealand'...
Soaking up the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Sam Brooks
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For three weeks in August every year, thousands of artists descend on Edinburgh for the largest performing arts festival in the world.
Poppys: South Auckland family garage hottest new comedy club
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For many stand-up comedians, performing in a garage could seem like a career low-point. But in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, comedian Heta Dawson has tu...
From Colin in Accounts to Bollywood: Jacob Rajan’s Fast Favourites
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Indian Ink Theatre Company has built up a remarkable reputation for developing and touring original work over 27 years. Founded by Justin Lewis and...
“I was so hungry for anything other than the way I grew up” - writer and poet Sasha LaPointe
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At the age of three, writer Sasha LaPointe was given her Skagit name in a ceremony - taqʷšəblu. In the Pacific Northwest, it’s a big deal to be g...
The internet is dead! Long live the book: Underground publishing house 5ever
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This weekend in Ōtepoti Dunedin small presses and independent publishers from around Aotearoa gather to share and exchange at Small Press Fest. The...
Arts News for 18 August 2024
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts News: Injury at the Museum of Ice Cream, a #1 Netflix hit for NZ, Artbeat closes & kids books winner Stacey Gregg
Regional Wrap: West Murihiku Southland with Pauline Vaeluaga Smith
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
30 kilometres west of Waihōpai Invercargill, is the town of Aparima or Riverton. It’s the gateway to spectacular and remote West Southland, an a...
“I could see myself and my friends in them” - Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu on her debut feature We Were Dangerous
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a story about sisterhood and survival against a dark backdrop but Josephine Stewart Tewhiu never set out to make a film about abuse in state ca...
Fake marble and landscapes: The remarkable painting of Walters Prize nominee Owen Connors
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Artist Owen Connors is on a roll. They are one of four nominees for Aotearoa's most prestigious art prize, The Walters. Last year they won the $25,0...
Takeout Kids: Venturing beyond the takeaway in new season
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bouncing off the success from the first season, documentary Takeout Kids is back for a second season and this time, it’s venturing beyond the takeaw...
Fast Favourites with comedian and writer Eli Matthewson
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Growing up as the only boy in a family of five children, Eli Matthewson was well prepared for a career in comedy.
‘The punk rock Len Lye’ - the legacy of confrontational artist Peter Roche
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dropping a sheep’s carcass from an aeroplane into the Waitemata harbour; sewing a sheep’s kidney onto your own back; yelling “get the f**k out”...
There is no one art history: Kirsty Baker's Women and Art in Aotearoa
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Public galleries have been demonstrating our view of art history has been changing radically for years. It just hasn’t been published for a wider pu...
Arts news: Arts as a 'nice to do', Parkin prize and Electric Avenue
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts news: Arts as a 'nice to do', Parkin prize and Electric Avenue
Regional Wrap: Whakatāne with Sarah Hudson of winning Mataaho Collective
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Each week Culture 101 puts the spotlight on a different region in Aotearoa and this week we’re in the Bay of Plenty town of Whakatāne.
The Bitches’ Box: From woolsheds to the silver screen
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Bitches’ Box is back, and for the first time the show will be venturing to urban centres.
Did Titanic Sink? Podcast director Abby Howells on conspiracies and her obsession
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Comedy podcast Did Titanic Sink? is back baby! Winner of the Comedy Podcast of the Year at the 2023 NZ Podcast Awards, comedians Tim Batt and Carlo Ri...
‘Every day is a work of art’ - Queen of vintage, avant-garde style icon Chrissy O
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Almost 40 years on, Hunters and Collectors in Pōneke remains. The first vintage clothing store in the Capital, it’s a truly iconic creative Cuba St...
Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Michael Hurst: on stage alone together for the first time
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Married couple Michael Hurst and Jennifer Ward-Lealand have theatre and film careers that span 40 years. Indeed, they met in the theatre - at Tāmaki ...
Writer and cultural thinker Ian Wedde on staying ‘Open’
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
That role of the museum is just one of the ways poet, novelist and essayist Ian Wedde explores opening out space through culture in his third volume o...
Queen’s Rolls-Royce goes to auction - who's going to buy it?
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The 1960s Rolls-Royce which served as the limousine for Queen Elizabeth II’s royal tours in New Zealand is being auctioned.
Regional Wrap: Akaroa with Lesley Burkes-Harding
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nestled in the impressive harbour of Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula, is picturesque town Akaroa.
Can you stage Hamlet in the ultraviolent world of Grand Theft Auto?
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the genre-busting documentary Grand Theft Hamlet, two out-of-work UK actors in lockdown attempt the seemingly impossible. They seek to mount a full...
Lexus Song Quest crowns winner Katie Trigg
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mezzo-soprano Katie Trigg has been crowned the 2024 Lexus Song Quest winner. The prestigious opera singing competition took place on Saturday night at...
Solo dance show explores trying to be a ‘cool mum’ and having it all
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Multi-disciplinary artist Liv Tennet is trying to be a cool mum - without losing her cool. Her new solo dance show For You To Know and Me To Find Out ...
Fast Favourites with Jess Hong
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s difficult not to use the cliché description of ‘whirlwind’ but the past few years have been life changing for New Zealand Chinese actor J...
Housing as a human right: artist and advocate Dieneke Jansen
28 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’re in a housing crisis, most people agree. With strong awareness of the inequalities that it brings. Yet, when it comes to talking about solut...
Christchurch goes post-punk: Jonathan Ogilvie's Head South
28 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s 1979 in Ōtautahi Christchurch and an energetic underground punk scene is spewing up. It’s decades before the internet, with the very latest ...