Δ INCREDIBLY HOT SEX WITH HIDEOUS PEOPLE. Zines from New Zealand (Frankfurt Book Fair 2012)

This exhibition of zines and underground publications offers an exceptional insight into different literary, aesthetic, and social contexts in New Zealand.  Hand-made zines and independent small edition publications are presented next to self-published magazines and texts by Maori and Pacific Islanders.

The exhibition with New Zealand zines and publications will draw on Aotearoa New Zealand zine and counter-culture publishing from the last ten years, including a rich array of contemporary examples to reveal to German audiences a diverse spectrum of social and cultural perspectives of contemporary New Zealand. This conveys an authentic and eloquent image of Aotearoa New Zealand today.

The exhibition highlights publications from Maori, Pacific Islanders and Pakeha sources. Fanzines (or zines) existed at the fringes of cultural expression throughout much of the 20th century, but increasingly, these fiercely independent, passionate, renegade, alternative tools of expression are commanding major attention within art, sociology, graphic design, literature, musicology and visual and material culture contexts. Subculture publishing has been the site for critical and alternative views, and for imagining and arguing for different visions of the future.

 

Selection of participating zine publications:

The John Dory Report, Incredibly Hot Sex with Hideous People, Common-Sense Nihilist, Animalz, Manga Mania, Neighbourhood Cats, Daily Secretion, Permanent Vacation, Celebretard, Cupcake Monster, The National Grid, White Fungus, Millenium Falcon.

 

Curators:

Bryce Galloway is a leading New Zealand zine producer, mentor of emerging zine authors and a pivotal touchstone within zine and counter culture publishing in New Zealand. He recently curated “Typical Girls” at the New Zealand Film Archive, and had a solo exhibition of his drawings within the Courtenay Place Light Boxes for six months in Wellington. He coordinates Wellington Zinefest and advises zine makers setting up their own festivals.

Heather Galbraith is a prominent New Zealand art curator. She was the inaugural Director/Curator of St. Paul St Gallery, AUT University, Auckland. During her time at AUT Galbraith instigated and co-curated “Sharp Shooting: self-published journals, zines, posters and ephemera by artists and designers” which included creative work by over fifty New Zealand and international artists (including both Ann Shelton and Bryce Galloway). She is currently Head of the School of Fine Arts. Galbraith undertook postgraduate studies in curatorial practice at Goldsmiths College and worked as Exhibitions Organizer for seven years at Camden Arts Centre. In 2009 she was co-curator of “Save Yourself” by Francis Upritchard, one of two projects representing New Zealand at the Venice Biennale and in 2013 she will again be involved in the NZ@Venice project, this time as Deputy Commissioner.

Supported by Massey University, New Zealand through the Strategic Innovations Fund, the College of Creative Arts, the New Zealand Government through the Cultural Diplomacy International Fund, and Creative New Zealand.

Entrance: €3 / reduced €1.50

Opening hours:

Tue-Sun, 11am-6pm

Wed, 11am-8pm

schließen

Δ FACE TO FACE / KANOHI KI TE KANOHI / FA'AFESAGA'I (Frankfurt Book Fair 2012)

Francis Pesamino is a Samoan artist who grew up in New Zealand. He graduated fromManukau Institute of Technology in 2011 and recently exhibited at Mangere Arts Center in South Auckland.This is his first exhibition in Europe.

In his work Pesamino places a powerful focus on the significance of his own cultural identity. He uses hand-drawn typography to paint portraits of prominent Samoan and New Zealand community leaders and sport personalities. On closer inspection, his graphic style highlights the contradictory character traits, inner and outer compulsions and sensibilities of those represented – they are quite literally written in their faces.

Pesamino’s complex pen-and-ink drawings are exhibited alongside historical artefacts from the Weltkulturen Museum’s Polynesian collection. All of these items make reference to the subject of tattooing, just as Pesamino’s portraits also evoke associations with the form and content of this Polynesian body art. Elaborate patterns imprinted onto the skin are legible signs of a person’s descent and of their social and family status. The tattoos that adorn the faces of Maori men in New Zealand are especially striking. This style of ornamentation, like the typography in Pesamino’s portraits, follows the natural contours of the face. The most popular tattoo patterns of groups from other Pacific islands cover the human body so completely and fluidly that they almost look like writing on the skin. One particularly outstanding example is the ornamentation found in body tattoos from the Marquesas Islands, which with its strict angular shapes, reads like a text written in upper-case letters.

Francis Pesamino writes:
“I think of my drawings as a representation not only of things within Samoan culture and its people, but also the outside perspectives of how Samoan culture is perceived in the Modern World, whether it be through stereotypes, and recognisable high-profile Samoans portrayed through the media, all of which inform the way Samoan people identify themselves. My drawings are presented in a manner that articulates my position of in-betweenness.

The way in which I want people to view my work is through visual story telling. It is up to the viewer to not only decipher who the people depicted in the drawings are, but also through reading the constructed words, they are able to create a narrative of that person, as well as of the way they are being portrayed. This in turn influences the way Samoan people are viewed, both inside and outside of the culture.”

Curated by Dr. Eva Raabe, Research Curator, Weltkulturen Museum.

Kindly supported by the Government of New Zealand through the Cultural Diplomacy International Fund.

schließen