For the first time in history Ramp Gallery is staging a show of puppets and animations. ‘Strings Attached’ opens 5.30pm on Tuesday 7th September, and runs until the 28th Sept. Opening hours are 12 – 4pm, Tuesday – Friday. Ramp Gallery is on Collingwood St.

This exhibition of DIY puppetry and animation features a survey of work by a handful of New Zealand artists, including Dr Lisa Perrott, lecturer from the department of Screen and Media studies at Waikato University, with her unique animation “Highly Strung”; Wellington/Raglan based artist Stuart Shepherd’s kinetic tableau of marionette puppets; post-punk sci-fi stop-motion animations by Wellington artist Mike Heynes, featuring his own brand of budget special effects and pyro technics; Rose Beauchamp’s  beautifully hand crafted shadow puppets melding Asian and European storytelling traditions; Wellington based artist Carlos Wedde’s eclectic animation questioning power structures; film stills from Deborah Puerto Rico, formally of Red Mole Theatre, showing masks as well as  large and small scale hand puppets; animation by renowned Wellington composer Robyn Nathan, and more.

Puppets, in various forms, have always been a medium for storytelling and are evident in all cultures around the world. The lineage of puppetry goes beyond medieval times, and trickles down through the courts and jesters and travelling players of early Europe right through to the avant garde experimentation of the Dada movement. Artists and designers throughout history have applied their skills to the creation of characters and alter egos. Often the puppet assumed the role of the socially subversive and was given license to ridicule authority and social orders in a way that no human critic ever could.

In western culture, puppetry has often been associated with children and has always occupied the lower rungs on the cultural ladder. Puppetry and mask work existed in play and ritualized performance in India and Africa. In ancient China and Japan and South-East Asia puppetry developed into highly stylized story-telling performances and evolved alongside dance and theatre forms.

 In the 1960s New Zealander Len Lye experimented with puppetry, kinetic art, abstraction and animation and in the 70s the traveling N.Z. troupe, Red Mole Theatre, adopted the techniques of puppetry and shadow play to create their cabaret of political satire and surrealism. Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor in early stages of their film making careers worked with puppets on their budget B-schlock horror movie Meet the Feebles. Today puppetry has morphed into all kinds of media from the Vegas styled Cirque de Soleil to Kermit and Miss Piggy on the Muppets.

Wintec and Media Arts are supporting a Hamilton poetry competition to celebrate National Poetry Day, which takes place on July 30th.

The competition is open to poets of all ages, and entrants must be resident in the Waikato.

Prizes:
1st Prize – $300 of book vouchers
2nd Prize – $200.00 of book vouchers
3rd Prize  – $100.00 of book vouchers

Winning poems will be published in the local press.

Rules and how to enter:

1 - Poems must be the original work of the entrant, previously unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere.
2 - There is a limit of 40 lines for each poem. Multiple entries are acceptable but each must have a separate cover sheet.
3 - Poems may be emailed to gail.pittaway@wintec.ac.nz with subject , “Poetry competition entry”. Or posted to “Poetry Competition” c/o School of Media Arts, Wintec, Hamilton.
4 - Closing date for entries, Monday 26 July, 5pm.
5 - Winning poems will also be published in Waikato papers.
6 - No handwritten entries – poems, if posted, must be typed on A4 paper.
7 - Any style or subject is acceptable.
8 - The poet’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Please have a covering page with your name, contact details and your poem’s title and send it in with your poem. You must be a resident of the greater Waikato district.

Hamilton events happening on National Poetry Day

- Waikato Museum  is running a poetry scavenger hunt all day

- Year 13 graphics students in the Waikato have been given a brief to design the official Poetry Day flier 

- Garden Place outside Library – lunch time: Phantom Poetry Posters. A New York based international group has selected poems by 5 NZers and is donating them to be pasted around Hamilton. There will be a grand launch in Garden Place with celebrity readers. Open Mic performance 6.30 pm downstairs in library. More details here.

- The Waikato Times is doing features of local poets

Ramp’s next show is now open for submissions. Anyone can submit any single photo, unframed and up to A4 size, for inclusion in the next exhibition ‘Free For All’. Deadline for submissions is May 7th and they can be dropped off or posted to the Media Arts reception at Wintec. An opening event with live music will then take place on May 11th. More details below.

Ramp Gallery is the contemporary art space for the School of Media Arts at Wintec in Hamilton. Over the past thirteen years the gallery has presented experimental work by some of the country’s leading contemporary artists. The 2010 series of exhibitions began auspiciously with the opening of ‘Presence’ at 5.30 on Tuesday 16^th March, featuring the work of kinetic sound artist Tony Nicholls.

 Tony has been the resident technician for the Painting and Sculpture department at Wintec’s School of Media Arts for fourteen years. His sculptural work has steadily been gaining national renown, including an exhibition in conjunction with Len Lye at the Govett Brewster gallery in New Plymouth. This Ramp exhibition marks the completion of Tony’s Master of Arts degree and offers the opportunity for audiences to view his intricate inventions up close.

 Tony makes contemporary sculptural work that references the world of international hi-end, hi-tec audio showrooms, but there is a twist. The speaker cabinets, with their elegant tardis quality, operate as machines that actually illustrate the physics of sound. Fine wires and wands attached to the speakers send vibrating patterns out into the sculptural space of the gallery.

 Tony’s marriage of the skills from the domains of cabinet making, sound and engineering in the big square box of Ramp Gallery creates an absorbing zone of pure sound and kinetic response.

 This immaculate show is a great start to the year at Ramp Gallery.

 Ramp is open to the public and now offers extended hours on Saturday afternoons.

The exhibition opened Tuesday 16 March @ 5.30 and runs through to 6 April

 Gallery opening hours Tuesday to Saturday 12pm-4pm

Ramp Gallery is situated on Collingwood St, Hamilton.

Website: http://ramp.mediarts.net.nz

Note: Ramp Gallery is a visual arts exhibition and research space for contemporary artists and is currently open to 2010 proposals. Contact Ramp Manager Stuart Shepherd for more details – stuart.shepherd@wintec.ac.nz.

One of the largest Australasian creative writing conferences is happening at Wintec in November. The Australian Association of Writing Programs is holding their fourteenth annual conference from November 26th – 28th. The three-day event will be held at Wintec’s city campus at the enrolment building, block A. This is the first year that the conference is being held outside of Australia and it is being hosted by the only New Zealand member of the AAWP executive, Gail Pittaway, from the School of Media Arts.

Creative writing academics, fiction and non fiction writers, film makers, comic book writers and poets will gather to present papers within the theme of “Margins and Mainstreams”.

This theme has encouraged a vast range of papers to be submitted. Contributors will be discussing everything from indigenous New Zealand and Australian writers to how connections can be made between Jesus, Judas, Jimi (Hendrix) and John (Lennon).

Many of these delegates are coming from Australia as well as the UK and New Zealand. A special event will be held on Thursday the 26th of November to launch two new books. “Machino Supremo! Poems about machines” is by Mark Carthew, who is already well-known as a children’s writer. A collection of poetry will also be launched; “Out of Bounds”, by Dominique Hecq, a highly regarded academic and award winning poet.

Keynote speakers are Tony Simpson, the President of the New Zealand Society of Authors, Professor Jeri Kroll, of Flinders University, Adelaide and Hinemoana Baker, New Zealand songwriter and poet.

For more information please visit the conference website.

Don’t miss the 2009 Mediarts showcase! The famous end-of-year shows are a great opportunity to spot exciting new talent and celebrate the hard work of Media Arts students, so diary the dates now.
For enquiries, call Barbara on 07 8348800 x 8593 or visit the Media Arts office.
Tuesday 24th November
5.30 – 8.30 pm Post Graduate Film Screening, Gallagher Hub, Wintec. Includes “Sharnarthi- A Generation in Exile” by Rituraj Sapkota, “Hidden reflection of beliefs” by Chinthaka Senadeera, and public discussion and feedback following both films.
Wednesday 25 November 2009
5.30 Moving Image Year 1 and 2 film screenings, Gallagher Hub (ticketed)
6.30 Moving Image Year 3 film screenings, Gallagher Hub (ticketed)
8.30 Music CD launch, Gallagher Hub
Thursday 26 November 2009
4.00 – 7.00 Honours Student Exhibition, 158 Ward Street
5.00 – 7.30 Graphic Design / Digital Media Industry Event, R Block ground floor
5.00 – 7.30 The Illustrationeers Stall, R Block ground floor (image below)
6.30 Fashion Design Runway Industry Event, Gallagher Hub (ticketed)

Photograph by Claire Goldsworthy

Friday 27 November 2009
5.00 – 7.30 Painting and Sculpture student exhibition and Industry event, W Block
5.00 Fashion Design Student Exhibition, W Block (Fashion)
5.30 Photography Student Exhibition and Industry Event, P Block
6.00 Graphic Design/Digital Student Exhibition, R Block ground floor
6.00 Interior Design Student Exhibition, R block ground floor corridor
Above exhibitions also open daily 10 – 4pm, 1 – 4th December.
Tuesday 1 December 2009
10.00 – 4.00 Fashion Design student displays in W block (Fashion), 10-4 daily to 4 December 2009
5.30 Interior Design Industry Event, R block

Interest.co.nz

The third Media Bites for 2009 is happening  Tuesday October 20, at 12pm.
Guest speaker is Bernard Hickey, managing director of interest.co.nz and an early adopter of social media and other digital tools in the gathering and delivery of news.
Attendance is by invitation. Those interested in attending should contact Wintec’s Editor in Residence Julie Starr - julie.starr@wintec.ac.nz.

Ignition Fringe Festival events hosted by Wintec/Media Arts include the Underwater Collective Ramp exhibition, opening 18th June, and a variety of events in the Moving Image studio.

See the Fringe Festival programmes, available at reception and around town, for more details, and watch for updates on the Ignition website

Film events include:

Sun 21 @ 6.30pm – 14 mins - A short documentary on musician Nicholas Stevens who has a condition called ‘Small Eyes and Congenital Cataracts.’ - FREE

Sun 21 @ 7.30pm – ‘They No Longer Sleep Alone’, a film based around a synth-pop concept album by “…howard” (Jeremy Mayall and Thomas Botting). Tickets: $5

Monday 22, 7.30pm – ‘The Quick and The Quirky’: Media Arts short cuts - FREE

Thursday 25, 7.30pm – ‘Bootless’, directed by Adam Harvey, in association with Paul A. Barlow - Koha

Friday 26 @ 7.30pm – ‘Dirty Rotten Junky Stuff’ and ‘Cultic’ - Koha

Gallagher Hub, WINTEC, Anglesea Street, Hamilton
Thursday 7 May, 7:30pm 

Ticket Information: Door Sales Only

www.pechakucha.co.nz

Speakers include:
Cliff Threadgold | Photographer 
Martha Simms | President, Waikato Society of Arts 
Kate Muggeridge | Street Art Project 
Meliors Simms | Artists books

APPLICATIONS STILL OPEN FOR PRESENTERS 
If you would like to be involved in the next Pecha Kucha night, applications are open now for presenters.
To apply email: pechakucha@wintec.ac.nz

School of Media Arts, Winted
26-28 November, 2009 

Abstracts for Papers, workshops and panels are called for , exploring themes such as:

• marginal: writers, writing, writing programmes, places (geographical or symbolic), ideas, structure and form and the difficulties, advantages or pleasures that arise from any of these…
• mainstream: genres, courses, cultures, sub-cultures publishers, structure and form, advantages and disadvantages…
• the places where margins and mainstreams intersect or meet and what might come of that…

Publication of refereed Articles will be on the ‘AAWP Publications’ website: 
http://aawp.org.au/publications-aawp

Abstracts required by:

Refereed Stream: 26th June 
Acceptance-in-principle notified by 24th July. For abstracts accepted, full papers (max. of 3,500 words) required by 25th September (10 weeks).

General Stream: 25th July 
Notification of acceptance by 21st August.

Details and queries: gail.pittaway@wintec.ac.nz