Partners & Friends

October 18, 2013/by Ian Clothier

This page acknowledges significant partner organisations for Intercreate.

Te Matahiapo Indigenous Research Organisation (TeMIRO)

Te Matahiapo Indigenous Research Organisation (TeMIRO) has played a strong role in our major activities. Prior to forming as TeMIRO, many of their prominent members were involved in our activities. In 2006, Tengaruru Wineera introduced Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru to the SCANZ artists in two visits, one of which included the scanning of a pounamu patu (greenstone club), a heritage artefact.

Prior to SCANZ 2009: raranga tangata Tengaruru and then Intercreate Director Ian Clothier discussed interconnections between Maori knowledge and Western knowledge, leading to the symposium being themed on the idea of a bridge between knowledges.

At SCANZ 2011: Eco sapiens Dr Waikerepuru spoke about Wai – water or flow – in many senses. This lead to the inclusion of Wai related works in Te Kore Rongo Hungaora in Istanbul ISEA 2011, and later an exhibition themed on Wai in Albuquerque at ISEA 2012. This is coming to even greater expression with SCANZ 2015: water*peace. Te Urutahi Waikerepuru is our main contact for Te Matahaipo.

At SCANZ 2013, we were very pleased to include Dr Waikerepurus’ Te Taiao Maori in the exhibition. This was the animated version of the Istanbul chart, which had only previously been exhibited in Rio de Janeiro.

Te Matahiapo was established in 2012, and were project partners for SCANZ 2013:3rd nature. They provide cultural consultancy and cultural audit for us, as well as advice and networking. Dr Waikerepuru also provided us with leadership in terms of concepts. We are honoured to work alongside them.

The welcoming ceremony on Mount Taranaki — Te Matahiapo lead the pōwhiri high up Taranaki Maunga

Maata Wharehoka and Parihaka

Maata Wharehoka of Parihaka also became a close friend of the organisation, supporting us within guidance and kōrero for a number of creative residencies, inviting people into her whare, and getting involved herself with the development of creative works.

Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa

Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa The Arts Council of New Zealand (CNZ). CNZ has supported us from the first SCANZ in 2006, through to SCANZ in 2009 and 2011, along with one of our international projects in Istanbul. They now support us with recurrent funding through the Kahikatea programme which includes SCANZ 2013, SCANZ 2015 and Media Art Projects.

Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki

The Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki (WITT) is Taranaki’s polytechnic and played a significant role in the development of Intercreate and it’s artist residencies. WITT has provided us with resources and spaces for each SCANZ event – workspaces, eating spaces, symposium rooms, access to the internet, tools and equipment along with administrative facilities such as ongoing use of a desk and computer.

Each SCANZ residency is located in the Art, Design and Media rooms on campus.

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery has been a project partner since inception, with financial input and hosting artist talks at SCANZ 2006, hosting an exhibition and symposium in 2009, hosting a popup exhibition for Eco sapiens, direct curatorial input and support into 2013 3rd nature and ongoing support such as assistance with outdoor venues for SCANZ 2015.

Environment

October 13, 2013/in Other projects, SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature, Wai/by Ian Clothier

reload_synch_refresh by Darko Fritz, a SCANZ 2013 project which is permanently installed in Pukekura Park, Nga Motu New Plymouth, pointing to the need to refresh our relationship with the environment

Concern for the environment is a major driver of Intercreate projects. This is partly due to global warming and species loss, and is also due to our engagement with indigenous groups, for whom the environment is of urgent concern. This has resulted in projects in our local botanic garden, and partner projects that involve indigenous peoples. Our main cultural partner is Te Matahiapo Indigenous Research Organisation.

Another pile of boulders, another dynamited marker rock

A section of the Huatoki river/stream walkway passes through central New Plymouth Nga Motu

While we were very pleased with the SCANZ 2013 exhibition in Puke Ariki library museum, for SCANZ 2015, we want to locate art works along a river walkway, the Huatoki.

Intercreate has a permanently installed data sensor to internet connection in Pukekura Park, first used for the project The Park Speaks above.

Collaborators on The Park Speaks were Ian Clothier (system concept), Julian Priest, Andrew Hornblow, Adrian Soundy, Aafke Visser, Mark Dwyer, Aafke Visser, Peter Wareing and Jock McQueenie.

The data to internet to control audio system, built for The Park Speaks was used for Wai, exhibited in Albuquerque as part of ISEA 2012

Wai was a milestone in our collaboration with Te Matahiapo. Following the direction given by Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, we endeavoured to involve local indigenous groups. Via Jo Tito we were put in contact with Gordon Bronitsky, who was able to establish links for us to Navajo or Dineh people. This resulted in Andrew Thomas contributing the audio that was heard, and Johnson Dennison, a Navajo Medicine Man contributing to our tomo whakaari (dawn opening ceremony). This was an extraordinary event.

This is the test set up in Noosa Australia, where we connected the plant on the left and a tree in New Zealand to our project website and their live voltage data to control audio files.

Using the system established for The Park Speaks we tested connecting across the Tasman sea, joining Australia and New Zealand in one integrated creative system. Trans-Tasman integration project has become World Tree Orchestra which seeks to connect trees globally.

This data sensor by Pierre Proske measured soil moisture content, which was relayed to a set of output devices mounted on poles. Audio based on the data was output at dusk.

Additional projects in Pukekura Park include Brickets by Pierre Proske. Intercreate has a resident Creative Engineer Andrew Hornblow, who assisted Proske with developing the technology to broadcast data as audio during dusk. This was a SCANZ 2013 project.

Layers of audio by Nigel Helyer referenced multiple notions of underworld and filled one end of the Fernery in Pukekura Park botanic garden.

The above project by Nigel Helyer Songs from the Underworld, was received postively by visitors to the Fernery in Pukekura Park, and adopted by the staff who maintain the park and the Fernery. Some of the audio included chanting by members of Te Matahiapo, in a work that engaged with ideas of the Underworld, in both Western cultural and Maori terms.

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SCANZ-Balance-Unbalance

May 29, 2013/in Other projects/by Ian Clothier

Moments after the first SCANZ started – at Owae marae in 2006

The photo above is of the gathered participants at the first SCANZ – just after the powhiri at Owae Marae in 2006. Nina Czegledy, Trudy Lane and Ian Clothier will present on SCANZ 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2013 at Balance-Unbalance.

As part of our Balance-Unbalance presentation on Solar Circuit Aotearoa New Zealand, where we will discuss issues around engaging with science and indigenous peoples, we are wanting to subvert the usual arrangements for presentation.

We would like the audience to download our presentation images to their mobile device. We will then not require the use of a projector with it’s directional emphasis, will be able to sit in a circle, and we will also be able to leave the room and go for a short walk all as part of our presentation.

This emphasis on the physicality of experience, of interrogating the frameworks for activity, and taking alternate approaches all arise from the experience of producing SCANZ in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2013.

Download the pdf for your mobile device by clicking the link scanzAllweb02

media art projects

March 15, 2013/in Car Garden, Featured, Media Art Projects, Other projects, Second Nature, Wai/by Ian Clothier

Intercreate is commissioning two innovative art works, to be realised in 2014. The Media Art Projects aim to inspire artists and creative teams to think boldly about combinations of cultural ideas and contemporary media technologies, that could be implemented in public space and/or Pukekura Park. These projects are open to Aotearoa New Zealand artists here and abroad.

Being Light

February 7, 2013/in Car Garden, Other projects, Wai/by Ian Clothier

Shaman Don Patricio in the ‘Car Garden’, Albuquerque.

Being Light: a festival of light and ideas explores ideas about light across Maori, Navajo, Mayan, Pueblo and Western European culture. The festival has two parts, activities in the day with stalls and market; while in the night there are outdoor projections on the side of buildings. Attendance is free.

We live in a time where there is great interest in bringing together indigenous and Western cultures, art, science and technology. Currently involved are: Patricio Dominguez, Ian Clothier, Mike Andrews, Mike Sutherland, Issa Malluf, Agnes Chavez, Tom Greenbaum, Jamila Colozzi, Courtni Hale, Glenn Parry, Enrique Hynes, Julia Pyatt, Sandra Wasko-Flood and Susan Caffrey.

Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Te Urutahi Waikerepuru (of Aotearoa New Zealand), Will Wilson and Richard Lowenstein have expressed interest. We are in contact with Santa Clara Pueblo and have invited Mayan participation.

At night, artworks are projected onto the exterior of buildings. The projections consist of a programmed selection of:

• projection works by leading artists
• visualization of energy data from humans
• audio works and music themed on light
• sculptures that use light are installed outdoors at night

During the day, the festival includes

• the creation of an energy labyrinth as a participatory art work in both construction and then walking the labyrinth. Activities include instructions on how to turn your phone into an electromagnetic field reader
• videos where shamans and senior representatives of cultural groups are paired with video students, to make short videos that reflect beliefs about light
• solar powered art works
• visualizations and sonifications of light energy
• activities and market stalls themed on light and sun in the day time
• sunflower painting for children; knowledge sharing of indigenous knowledge about growing sunflowers
• stories of the sun and the power of the sun
• solar powered objects and artefacts
• scientific stalls that express the Western science view of light – wave particle duality
• information stands expressing cultural viewpoints on light
• music themed on light

Wai: overview

November 11, 2012/in Other projects, Wai, Wai Exhibition/by Ian Clothier

Wai (for ISEA 2012 Albuquerque)

Te Hunga Wai Tapu consists of: Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Ian Clothier, Jo Tito, Craig Macdonald, Julian Priest, Sharmila Samant, Leon Cmielewski, Josephine Starrs, Andrew Hornblow, Darren Robert Terama Ward, Johnson Dennison, Andrew Thomas, Dugal McKinnon, Sophie Jerram and Gordon Bronitsky. Aerial imagery courtesy of Land Information New Zealand.

There are five components to the Wai project. Te Iarere (communication across vast distances) involves data from a tree in Opunake, New Zealand Aotearoa. Tree voltage, temperature and light are measured. The live data readings control audio played in the exhibition space. Ian Clothier conceived and directed Te Iarere. Andrew Hornblow made the custom data sensors. Julian Priest and Adrian Soundy created the web interface. Darren Robert Terama Ward is a Maori musician who plays self made traditional instruments and Andrew Thomas is a Navajo musician specialising in the flute.

The second component is Pou Hihiri (the womb of the universe). The Pou is encapsulated in vinyl graphics, contains woven LED’s and has an audio component. Conceived and directed by Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Craig Macdonald made the Pou graphics and structure with audio by Dugal McKinnon and Sophie Jerram.

Video is the third component. Indian video artist Sharmila Samant has contributed The Wasteland, an exploration of Wai in New Zealand. The Maori expression for ‘Who are you?’ is ‘Ko wai au’ which literally means ‘of whose water are you’ and is understood by Maori to mean ‘of whose ancestors are you?’ Jo Tito, a contemporary Maori artist currently studying science has made two videos of Wai, which play inbetween The Wasteland and Ruamoko. Ruamoko is made by the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences in New Zealand Aotearoa, and explores both Maori and Western scientific views of earthquakes and volcanoes, the result of of flow phenomena in the Earth.

Julian Priest contributed Sink a model of anthropogenic ocean acidification. A conceptual work, carbon dioxide exhaust gasses are piped into a tank containing brine. Carbonic acid is formed, increasing acidity, which dissolves a scallop shell in the tank.

The fifth component is an animation and audio work by Leon Cmielewski and Josephine Starrs Puwai Rangi Papa. Projected onto the floor, the words of Te Huirangi Waikerepuru are etched into the mountain landscape of his home – Taranaki Maunga (mountain).

Wai is supported by:

pou hihiri

September 11, 2012/in Other projects, Wai, Wai Exhibition/by Ian Clothier

Pou Hihiri – The Womb of the Universe

Project team

Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Poutua, Kaumatua (Elder), Author
Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Concept Designer & Artist
Julian Priest, Custom Electronics
Tom Greenbaum, Custom Electronics
Craig McDonald, Graphics Artist
Sophie Jerram & Dugal McKinnon – Sound Effects

Artist statement

The Pou Hihiri is a representation of the womb of the universe. Within its core is the blue print, the DNA, the life‐giving blood of the universe, the unrealized potential of all that is and all that is to come. Pou Hihiri is a visualisation of the receptacle, the womb that holds the great nothing, the long nothing, the deep nothing all of which is yet to be realized. It is pre‐emergent potentiality, at times, heaving, breathing, laboring in its efforts to release it’s burden. Pou Hihiri has the deceptive appearance of stillness, timelessness and spatial immortality.

The pou is part of the exhibition Wai at 516 Arts during ISEA 2012 Albuquerque Machine Wilderness.

Car garden + Neighbourhood air

August 22, 2012/in Car Garden, Other projects/by Ian Clothier

ISEA 2012 Albuquerque Machine Wilderness

Once I was in a bus in Japan and I had a vision of being in a forest at the same time as being in the bus. These two are often seen as antagonistic, but we must find ways to unite them.

The Car garden merges two apparently divergent entities to suggest a future cohabitation. On the one hand we continue to use fossil fuels in transportation and on the other hand we must change our relationship to the earth to one that is more sustainable. This a ‘complex duality’ because it is not a simple dichotomy between transportation or reforesting. Plants filter the air we breath, and inside the Car garden you can explore the Neighbourhood air project while breathing cleaner air.

Neighbourhood air is an epiphyte growing in the Car garden. The work is an ambient software that responds to environmental sensors. Cars, breathers of city air and temperature and humidity circulate in a slowly moving monitoring system. This interactive, online artwork gathers live pollutant levels from Auckland city air. Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city and despite the ‘100% PURE New Zealand’ tourism campaign even geographically remote cities have air quality problems that the winds can’t disperse. Pollutants from vehicle combustion in Auckland, New Zealand in the Southern hemisphere circulate in the same atmospheric container as cities like Albuquerque.

To plant and regenerate the earth’s remaining oxygen producing forests can heal the atmospheric imbalance created by vehicular emissions, alongside crucial changes in human car usage. Somehow we have to leap over where we are, to be where we want to be.

WAI by Te Hunga Wai Tapu

August 4, 2012/in Other projects, Wai, Wai Participants/by Ian Clothier

Image credit: Detlev van Ravensway Science Photo Library

Te Hunga Wai Tapu roughly translates as the group of people for whom water is sacred. They are: Ian Clothier, Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Jo Tito, Craig Macdonald, Julian Priest, Tom Greenbaum, Sharmila Samant, Leon Cmielewski, Josephine Starrs, Andrew Hornblow, Darren Robert Terama Ward, Johnson Dennison, Andrew Thomas, Gordon Bronitsky. Aerial imagery courtesy of Land Information New Zealand.

This group consists of people from Aotearoa New Zealand, the United States of America, Australia and India. A global community representing many cultures, including the indigenous.

The works presented consist of aspects of traditional Māori knowledge; five videos shown through two data projectors; a Pou Hihiri (which reflects the womb of the universe that holds unrealized potential ); and traditional Māori and Navajo/Dine audio generated live by data sensors in New Zealand.

Contributors and roles

Ian Clothier is the curator for the project and is project manager.

Wai rests on Mātauranga Māori provided by Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru. Mātauranga Māori refers to traditional knowledge, pre-colonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand, which means before 1840. At the SCANZ 2011:Eco sapiens hui-symposium, Dr Waikerepuru spoke about Wai as central to Maori world view. Wai connects air, atmosphere, mountains, rivers, beaches and humans via breath.

Te Urutahi Waikerepuru has contributed strategy, networking and core creative activity – the Pou Hihiri was created under her direction. Craig Macdonald made the Pou Hihiri graphics which involved interpretation of traditional stars and concepts into contemporary form and materials. Julian Priest and Tom Greenbaum created the custom electronics LED control system.

Jo Tito is a Maori artist who exhibits internationally. Her contribution is a video concerning Maori notions of Wai.

Sink was created by Julian Priest and is a model of anthropogenic ocean acidification which is based on a scientific view of the interaction of humans and natural systems: a shell acidifies on exposure to greenhouse gases. Priest is well know for his work in open source, open networks and creative projects.

Sharmila Samant is a well known contemporary artist from India. She recently traveled to Taranaki in New Zealand to make a work for the exhibition Sub Tropical Heat: New Art from South Asia. Given her interest in water issues in India, she created a video work in which Te Huirangi spoke about water while standing on the banks of the Waiwakaiho river.

Sydney based Leon Cmielewski and Josephine Starrs are collaborators on an animated video and highly regarded for the work with text and landscape. Their video for features the words of Te Huirangi digitally etched into Taranaki maunga (Mount Taranaki_. Cmielewski and Starrs are fr0m Australia and met Te Huirangi Waikerepuru at the SCANZ 2011 Eco sapiens hui-symposium.

In Aotearoa New Zealand in the small Taranaki town of Opunake are situated three data sensors. The sensors are custom made by Andrew Hornblow. Data from the sensors runs to the project website, where each data reading is correlated to an audio file of either traditional Maori sounds or traditional Navajo sounds. This system was made by Julian Priest and Adrian Soundy for The Park Speaks. Julian Priest also provides server support.

Darren Robert Terama Ward is a contemporary Maori artist who also makes his own traditional musical instruments. He is contributing the traditional Maori audio. Andrew Thomas is a Navajo/Dine musician and is contributing the Navajo sounds, played on traditional instruments.

Johnson Dennison is Navajo/Dine Medicine Man and will contribute to the dawn opening ceremony led by Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru. Te Huirangi Waikerepuru considers it important to contact, respect and collaborate with local indigenous people.

Gordon Bronitsky is a cultural producer and has assisted us by providing connection points to local indigenous peoples and advice of a cultural nature.