Standing Room Only for Sunday 1 December 2019

 

12:30 In Strong Voice - Morag Atchinson

Dr Morag Atchison is a leading soprano who teaches voice in the University of Auckland School of Music. Her mother sang in the university choir at Victoria University. 

Morag has been back home since 2003 after she spent seven years in the UK - first as a postgraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music and then working in the UK and Europe. 

In 2013 Morag became the first person in New Zealand to earn their Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in vocal studies.

She's also a vocal tutor for the NZ Youth Choir and the University of Auckland Chamber Choir.

 

12:45 Olivia Webb

Five migrant families from Kiribati, Zambia, Samoa, the Philippines and the Netherlands have written and performed deeply personal anthems for an art installation.  

The anthems range from the strongly political - climate crisis in the Pacific and racism - to intimate stories of unconditional love. 

Anthems of Belonging is the culmination of 18 months of work for Olivia Webb as part of her PHD.

She wanted to create an exhibition that reflects the lives of contemporary New Zealanders. Olivia also wants this to be an ongoing project, and is inviting other families to get involved writing their own anthems.

 Anthems of Belonging is on at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt and also at St Paul Street Gallery in Auckland where an anthem writing workshop will be held Monday 2 December.

 

1:10 At The Movies

Dan Slevin reviews the 25th feature film by Martin Scorsese, The Irishman, a comic horror film about a game of Hide & Seek gone wrong, Ready or Not, and the story of the Cornish folk group, Fisherman’s Friends

 

1:33 Ella Sutherland is off to Berlin

New Zealand artist Ella Sutherland will be spending a big chunk of her upcoming year-long residency in Berlin in the vaults of libraries and other institutions examining once censored documents.

Ella is intrigued by the link between historic censorship and how people come up with subversive ways to work around the censors.

It's something she's also researched in New Zealand and South Korea but Ella says Germany's wartime history makes it particularly interesting to her.

She'll head to Germany in October, after being selected for the Creative New Zealand Berlin Visual Arts Residency which includes the use of an apartment and a $40000 stipend.

Lynn Freeman caught up with Ella in Sydney.
 

1:50 Greg O'Brien publishes on painter Melvin Day

Three years after his death, a new book offers for the first time a comprehensive look at the life, work and legacy of  painter Melvin Day - also known as Pat.

Encompassing seven prolific decades of art into a book proved a challenge for the five writers who tell Pat's story and discuss his paintings and contribution to New Zealand's art history as an artist, art historian and director of the National Art Gallery for a turbulent decade.

Melvin Day is well known for his early cubist works but the fact is he tried many different styles over the years, from abstract and still life to landscapes and portraits.

Co-editor Greg O'Brien is also one of the essayists in the book, and Lynn Freeman asked him why they argue that his work has been overlooked. Melvin Day: Artist has been published by Victoria University Press and Waikato Museum, who Day bequeathed 60 of his paintings too.

 

2:06 The Laugh Track - Stephen Lovatt Pops Up

Seasoned popular NZ film, television and theatre actor Stephen Lovatt is to perform in the Pop-up Globe's productions of Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing this summer. Certainly no stranger to the bard, Stephen returns to tread the boards after playing Macbeth in their 2017 season.

His Laugh Track picks are Wanda Sykes, Stewart Lee, youtube clip the Yosemite bear Mountain Double Rainbow and a phone message about a wee bit of American road rage. 

 

2:25 Making Sense of a Collection - Ruth Buchanan

An artist who spent months on a residency investigating the Govett Brewster Art Gallery's policy on buying and selling work for its art collection, has curated an exhibition to celebrate the gallery's 50th anniversary.

New Plymouth is home to the Govett Brewster which has championed contemporary art since it opened in February 1970. 

Ruth Buchanan, who won the 2018 Walters Art Prize is allocating a decade to each room in the gallery and has chosen work by almost 200 artists, the most artworks shown at one time at the Gallery.

Lynn Freeman called Ruth in Berlin to ask if she chose her favourite art or what were considered the most important works for the show, or if she went in a different direction. 

Ruth Buchanan: The scene in which I find myself / Or, where does my body belong opens at the Govett Brewster Gallery in New Plymouth on the 7th of December. Next year on the 29th of February the gallery is throwing a 50th anniversary party.

 

2:40 Andi C Buchanan's From a Shallow Grave

When pregnant 17-year-old Phyllis Symons's body was found buried in the construction site of Wellington's Mount Victoria Tunnel in 1931 her death and the subsequent trial of her boyfriend for murder were headline news. Her ghost is said to still haunt the Tunnel. 

Wellington-based writer Andi C.Buchanan has taken that  story and fictionalised it, so that Phyllis' murder is not her legacy.

In From a Shadow Grave, Andi imagines three different outcomes for how Phyllis' story might have ended. It's published by Paper Road Press. Cynthia Morahan reads from the novella.

 

2:49 Warren Feeney on 20 years of Scape Public Art

Long gone are the days when bronze statues of famous people were the face of public art in our cities.

For the past 20 years dozens of public artworks have changed the face of Christchurch and generated a lot of lively debate due to the efforts of the SCAPE Trust.

It commissions site-specific works from New Zealand and international artists for its biennial festival, working with artists and businesses on sculptures that are often there for just a few weeks, while others are made to stay.

Art commentator and writer Dr Warren Feeney has looked at SCAPE's first 20 years for a book called OUT THERE SCAPE Public Art 1998 - 2018. 

 

3:06 Drama at 3 - Richard Interred

When the remains of England's infamous Richard the Third were dug up, it re-ignited discussion about whether or not he was actually the monster described by Shakespeare. And New Zealand playwright, Dean Parker, couldn't resist the temptation to join in. He put pen to paper and this week's Drama was the result. He called it 'Richard Interred '.

 

Music played in this show

Artist: We the Kings
Song: Check Yes Juliet
Composer: Unknown
Album: We the Kings
Label: S Curve Records
Played at: 12.30pm

Artist: Bob Schneider
Song: 40 Dogs
Composer: unknown
Album: Lovely Creatures
Label: Kirtland Records
Played at: 1.07pm

Artist: The Heartbreakers
Song: (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet
Composer: B. Hamilton, F. Gorman
Album: None
Label: Vertigo
Played at: 1.40pm

Artist: Dire Straits
Song: Romeo and Juliet
Composer: Mark Knopfler
Album: Making Movies
Label: Vertigo
Played at: 1.57pm

Artist: Mr Big
Song: Romeo
Composer: Dicken and Carter
Album: Mr Big
Label: EMI
Played at: 2.04pm

Artist: Bill Lake and he Right Mistake
Song: Juliet and Romeo
Composer: Bill Lake
Album: As Is Where Is
Played at: 2.45pm

Artist: Dolly Parton
Song: Romeo
Composer: Dolly Parton
Album: The Very Best of Dolly Parton
Label: Sony BMG
Played at: 2.58pm

Artist: Taylor Swift
Song: Love Story
Composer: Taylor Swift
Album: Fearless
Label: Big Machine
Played at: 3.58pm