Tag: Spotify

  • Choir news

    Over the past few months the choir at the Left Bank Gallery has been working on pieces to perform. Amongst them has been Puhihuia – an article about this piece appeared on the blog in March – and the South African piece, Dingaka Lullaby (Onika’s Song). Dingaka Lullaby was created for a film called Dingaka…

  • How technology can help Cantonese opera

    In the city of Hong Kong the centuries-old art of Cantonese opera is making use of technology to help students to learn the artform and sustain it. Professor Leung Bo Wah, Head of Cultural and Creative Art at the Education University of Hong Kong, has created a virtual reality programme, using the same 3D imaging…

  • African fashion in Australia

    At the end of this month, the National Gallery of Victoria is hosting an exhibition of African fashion, curated by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The exhibition will be supported, it is hoped, by photographs from Australian communities with links to the diaspora, particularly those from the independence and liberation period (mid-1950s to…

  • This week’s Spotify playlist

    Every week a curated list of music and sounds goes along with the blog. The pieces in the playlist relate to the articles on the blog, some obviously and some obliquely. Those with a paid subscription to the streaming service can listen to the entire playlist uninterrupted. Anyone with a free subscription will be able…

  • This week’s Spotify playlist

    Each week the blog is accompanied by a playlist of music and sound that reflects the articles. Sometimes the connections are obvious, often not. To listen to the playlist click on the play button on the player above or search for “Music to read a blog by” from within the app. Paying subscribers will hear…

  • Melissa Cody

    The traditional, ancient craft of Navajo weaving has been the passion and lifework of Melissa Cody. Now showing in New York at MoMA PS1, “Webbed Skies” is the work of the past decade; an exploration of a weaving history from Germantown, Pennsylvania that used reclaimed threads from woollen blankets given to displaced Navajo people by…

  • Venice and the Biennale

    Since 1895 La Biennale di Venezia has been promoting art in its many forms. This year the theme, Stranieri ovunque/ Foreigners everywhere, has led to prestigious awards for Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. The Golden Lion for the Best Participant in the International Exhibition has been won by Mataaho Collective. This quartet of Māori wāhine…

  • Paradise Road

    On the 27th April 1994, the first democratic elections in South Africa were held, ultimately leading to Nelson Mandela becoming President. It was a time of hope and positive change was in the air. There was jubilation and joy, and community, much celebrated around the world. Music had supported and helped to lead the way…

  • Showing and Telling

    Over the past year I have been running a series of events connected with the textile collection. The collection includes costume (the photograph left is a detail from an Adire robe from Nigeria, and the image below is a detail from Heather Barnett’s “Formanifera” curtains. These events have been held (mostly) in the local Regent…

  • Of cranberries and kahikatea

    Weekends on the West Coast are spent exploring the area and this week that exploration took in cranberry growing and kahikatea forests. Agriculture in Aotearoa New Zealand is the largest part of the economy with regards to trade, and is unique in having an unsubsidised agricultural sector as a result of reforms aimed at making…