What's going on in Venice?

On 6 May the Israeli pavilion at the Venice Biennale was open as an early preview to art world professionals and guests, but at 12.30pm, hundreds of artists and cultural workers assembled outside to protest against its presence. They handed out leaflets reading “no to the genocide pavilion” and “end cultural diplomacy now,” wore keffiyehs, waved Palestinian flags, and chanted “no art washing” and “silence is complicity”. The pavilion closed for hours as a result.

Outside the Russian Pavilion, back for the first time since the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, another protest was taking place. Italy’s ministry of culture had already confirmed that the Russian pavilion would be closed from 9 May when the biennale opened to the public, but it was open for preview days. A crowd in bright pink balaclavas, led in chants by Pussy Riot, gathered holding Ukrainian flags. Later that afternoon, culture ministers from Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine issued a statement condemning Russia's presence at the biennale. The teams behind the Lithuanian, Estonian, and Latvian pavilions marched through the Arsenale with banners featuring a version of the Venice Biennale logo which turns the motif into the Kremlin wall.

Two days later, on the morning of 8 May, 27 of the 100 national pavilions were partially or fully closed, one of the two main exhibition venues was shuttered and in the other, some artists had draped Palestinian flags over their work, or taped up posters with sentiments against Israel's actions. Artists and workers were on a 24-hour strike, the first in the biennale's history. That afternoon, a protest saw thousands of people marching on Via Garibaldi to the Arsenale, with Palestinan flags and a huge banner reading “NO ARTWASHING GENOCIDE”. Riot police were deployed and scuffles broke out. The protest was led by the Art Not Genocide Alliance, an organisation that issued an open letter to the biennale signed by 236 artists, curators, and workers in March. The letter called for the exclusion of Israel, and did not receive a formal response.

Opposition to Israel’s participation has been building for years. In 2024, following similar protests, its pavilion was eventually closed in April. The following year Israel did not participate in the architecture biennale, citing a need for renovations. Currently, its exhibition is not in the pavilion they have had since 1952. Usually this would mean privately renting a space, but the biennale organisers allowed Israel to use space at the Arsenale.

Resignations and withdrawals are also being used to signify opposition. At the end of April, the entire Golden Lion jury resigned, after a statement that referred to countries with leaders wanted by the ICC for suspected war crimes. The biennale quickly replaced the Golden Lions with a different set of awards voted on by visitors, and subsequently 54 individual artists and 22 teams affiliated with national pavilions withdrew from being considered.

So where is New Zealand in all of this? We are back with a national pavilion after what we may call a gap year in 2024 – though we were present, with the Mataaho Collective, participating in the main exhibition, winning the Golden Lion for Best Participant. We’ve never had a permanent pavilion, instead skipping from place to place since 2001. This year we’re in Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, a complex that includes a beautiful white stone church associated with Vivaldi. It is a short walk from the main exhibition at the Arsenale exhibition hall, and provides a quiet respite to its bustle. 

On display are 17 large-scale photographic portraits of taxidermied manu by Fiona Pardington (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Clan Cameron of Erracht) titled Taharaki Skyside. The images are strange and arresting, installed in a space that appears to be mostly dark. The specimens are from museum collections across Aotearoa and Australia and include huia, whēkau, kākā, kea, takahē, tūī, and kākāpō – some extinct and others on the brink. The photographs are lined up tightly on the walls, with no space in between the painted wooden frames. Colours of the frames come from the skies near Fiona’s Waimate home and the sunrises and sunsets of Venice. If you won’t have the chance to get to Venice, there’s good news – from mid-2027 the exhibition will be on show at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. 

In a press release from Creative New Zealand, Fiona says, “each manu is a testament to the interconnectedness of science, memory and spirit. Bringing their presence to Venice is both a call to action and an honour”. Puamiria Parata-Goodall (Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Ngāti Kahungunu), Arts Council member and Venice Kaihautū, says Ngāi Tahu is proud Fiona’s presence at the biennale, “her work elevates our manu as taonga, treasured reminders of our past, present and future. These are not simply images; they are acts of remembrance and recognition, calling attention to what has been lost, what endures, and our shared responsibility to the natural world and each other.” The exhibition aims to frame them not as specimens, but as living ancestors – bearers of memory, loss, and responsibility, bridging earth and sky, past and present.

There’s also been other Aotearoa artists at Venice this year. Last week, Paerangi: Venice featured John Turi Tiakitai, Kereama Taepa, Neke Moa, and Suzanne Tamaki, who spent time together creating site-responsive works on Giudecca Island. In two public activations, the artists activated a newly created pou whenua, Pouhono, made especially for the site; costumes; adornments; taonga puoro and whaikōrero. 

The Aotearoa contingent has, for the most part and at least publicly, focused on the art and not participated in the dialogues, petitions, or strikes around Israel or Russia’s participation. Suzanne Tamaki seems to be the exception, having posted an image of the Israeli pavilion with “Free Palestine” written over the top. Creative New Zealand, pavilion project leaders and commissioning body, has stayed quiet, despite a number of Aotearoa artists and curators tagging its accounts in social media posts and expressing disappointment at the silence. When asked to comment, CNZ provided the following statement, attributed to a spokesperson:

“Creative New Zealand’s focus at the Venice Biennale has been on delivering Aotearoa New Zealand’s national pavilion and supporting Taharaki Skyside, the exhibition by Fiona Pardington ONZM.

Our priority is ensuring a strong platform for New Zealand artists to promote their work at this significant international event.”

A group of Aotearoa artists are expressing disappointment online at the lack of visible solidarity with Palestine. Artist Emily Hartley-Skudder has posted an image of the Stitching Solidarity quilt “in place of the silence by our Aotearoa representatives on the world stage at the Venice Biennale.” The quilt is a collective kaupapa that artists around the motu have contributed to to enact solidarity with the people of Palestine. The quilt has travelled across the country since 2024, gaining panels from hundreds of artists. In another Instagram post, artist and writer Hana Pera Aoake writes, “The role of the artist in a time of genocide is pretty simple it's to absolutely reject injustice, and genocide, not ignore it. The Venice biennale is an exercise in bullshit artwashing enmeshed with weird nation building and gross expressions of soft power.” They also state that the art ecology in New Zealand is “built on risk aversion”.

From where I’m standing – seeing the biennale only through discourse online – it seems that the political discourse is overshadowing the art itself. The biennale, which for so much of its history has been a showcase of European power and prestige, has long been a stage for politics – whether it’s the colonial, hegemonic geopolitical structures, and capitalist frameworks that are intrinsic to it, or those that are in opposition, like the 1968 protests denouncing the Biennale as elitist, commercial, and tied to capitalist and state power; the calls to exclude apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s; and today's protests.

Artists' individual political allegiances and standings are increasingly under scrutiny, and participation in this particular event means they can’t reasonably expect that their work, and their decisions, won’t be connected and enmeshed in politics. In the latest issue of Current, Gregory Burke, who curated our very first national pavilion in 2001, writes: “While Aotearoa has contributed the diversifying the Biennale's discourses, it will only continue to deliver meaningful benefits for its art community if its participation is grounded in bold, globally prescient projects determined by artists and unmitigated by geopolitical or state pressure”. 

Three free TBI events at the Auckland Writers Festival

The Auckland Writers Festival is in full swing, and I am hosting a series of three events, all free to attend! They’re at the Kōrero Corner, on level 5 of the Aotea Centre, and will be relaxed, fun sessions. On Friday at 11am I’m chatting to two NZ Authors, Claire Mabey and Kaarina Parker about their road to getting published in order to gain insights into the process. On Saturday at 11am I’ll ask Damien Levi of Āporo press and Grace Thomas of Penguin Random House to demystify the publishing process. On Sunday at 11am, I will sit down with legendary bookseller Carole Beu of The Women's Bookshop, and Director of Programming at Edinburgh International Book Festival, Tamara Zimet to discuss what’s next for a book once it’s published.

If you’re looking at the programme and are utterly blown away by the number of events, I have the scoop on how Artistic director Lyndsey Fineran puts it all together.

Poet turned fictioneer Ingrid Horrocks wins Ockham's top book award

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards were held last night at the Aotea Centre, as part of the writers festival. The top prize, the $65,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, was awarded to Ingrid Horrocks first book of fiction, All Her Lives. The story collection follows nine different women across nine different life stages as they resist, nurture and transform. It is the first time in five years that a book of short stories has won the award.

Books published by University presses win big at Ockham New Zealand Book Awards

All Her Lives was published by Te Herenga Waka University Press, as were the winners of the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry and the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction. Te Mūrau o te Tuhi, a discretionary Māori Language Award, went to a book published by  Auckland University Press, and The Hubert Church Prize for Fiction went to a book published by Otago University Press. Three out of four of the  Best First Book Awards were published by university presses too. This seems notable but let's give the books and their authors some attention:

Hastings poet and performer Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for Black Sugarcane, her debut collection. Convenor of judges Daren Kamali says it is a work of rare linguistic grace and emotional precision. Christchurch novelist, editor and creative writing teacher Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) won the General Non-Fiction award for This Compulsion in Us, her first book of non-fiction – a memoir about whakapapa, identity and growing up Pākehā.  

Wellington historian Elizabeth Cox won the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction for Mr Ward's Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street. It’s a great big book that reveals fascinating stories about our capital city and its people at the turn of the twentieth century. Te Mūrau o te Tuhi, a discretionary Māori Language Award, was presented this year to member of the Māori Queen’s Council of Twelve, professor, and tohunga of Māori language and thought Tā Pou Temara (Ngāi Tūhoe) KNZM for Te Āhua o Ngā Kupu Whakaari a Te Kooti, an analysis of the prophetic sayings of Te Kooti.

Four Best First Book Awards, sponsored by the Mātātuhi Foundation, were also presented last night. The Hubert Church Prize for Fiction was presented to Auckland author John Prins for his short story collection Pastoral Care, Auckland poet Sophie van Waardenberg has taken the Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry for No Good, The Judith Binney Prize for Illustrated Non-Fiction has gone to emeritus professor of botany Philip Garnock-Jones for his book He Puāwai: A Natural History of New Zealand Flowers, and Former New Zealand Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Dame Jacinda Ardern, has won the E.H. McCormick Prize for General Non-Fiction for her memoir A Different Kind of Power.

Waiata Anthems hits double platinum

The original album was released seven years ago and debuted at number 1 on the charts. Dame Hinewehi Mohi says that it was a catalyst for the groundswell of waiata being released today.

New doctor passionate about therapeutic choirs

New PhD graduate Dr Alison Talmage (Centre for Brain Research and School of Creative Arts) dreams of seeing therapeutic choirs for people with brain conditions in every town. She's created a handbook for people wanting to run choirs to help people with brain conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease and dementia. “If I had a magic wand, there would be a choir in every town and suburb,” she says. For copies of the handbook, email alison.talmage@auckland.ac.nz.

Featherston has its biggest Booktown Festival yet

Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival began its second decade by breaking records. Around 10,000 booklovers attended the 11th Karukatea Festival, officially the biggest and most successful in the event’s history. The result is particularly remarkable given the current economic climate and rising fuel costs. Festival Director Jordan Hamel says “I’m truly blown away by this festival’s capacity for surprise, for spectacle, and for the worlds it can hold. Seeing Featherston come alive with ideas and stories is truly special”. Featherston Booktown Chair Peter Biggs said the festival had exceeded all expectations. “After each Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival, we look at each other dazedly and say: ‘That was amazingly successful. How do we top that next year?’ 

Inaugural Bronwyn Bijl Scholarship recipients announced

The scholarship is a new annual opportunity for Canterbury-based emerging artists to produce music-based projects at The Piano in central Christchurch. Harry Mohi, known by his Tongan producing name Nafa, will receive $3000 towards performing, filming and producing an original arrangement of Tongan worship songs for choir and band. Alex Boot will receive $2000 towards performing, recording and producing an EP of his original music, fusing modal jazz, hip hop and EDM influences.

Pene Pati receives Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts & des Lettres

The Samoan-born New Zealand operatic tenor yesterday received the prestigious French arts honour for his significant contribution to the arts and the promotion of French culture.  Pene is a prominent figure in French opera, and his second album for Warner Classics Nessun Dorma, which includes a variety of French opera arias recorded with Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine conducted by Emmanuel Villaume. "France has given me so much," he said in his acceptance speech, "not only your music, but a place that has truly felt like a second home."

Sarah Chong joins Creative Northland as Operations Team Lead

Sarah brings over a decade of experience supporting arts and community organisations and a background in spatial design. Her experience spans operations, governance, project delivery, and securing grant funding.

Choirs Aotearoa has two new conducting interns

Denzel Panama, who’s from the Niuean village of Tamakautoga, will take up the Pasifika conducting internship, a signal of the national choirs’ ongoing commitment to supporting Pacific communities – and an acknowledgement of the barriers that can hinder Pacific participation. Takerei Komene has been selected for the inaugural Māori conducting internship, which recognises the gaps in visibility and representation in the conducting landscape.

We have published a behemoth this week. It’s a group response to CNZ’s new 15-year strategy, and I do recommend a read, even if you just dip in. 14 people (artists, leaders, curators, writers and critics) have told us what they think about Tū Mai Rā, Toi Aotearoa, and it ranges from “like reading tea leaves” to “strongly support the overarching purpose” to “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” and more! 

On Monday Zara Potts updated us about Music Month in Christchurch, and yes, Marlon was mentioned. 

In this week’s Shameless Plug, comedian and engineer Henry Yan tells us about his wet socks, mum, and favourite artwork, Pokemon Ruby.