About the event
Get face to face with art on the streets of the CBD
Living Room brings a fantastic mix of international and local artists, dancers and spoken word poets to the streets of the CBD from 19 to 26 April.
This free eight-day programme of contemporary creative events, installations and performances reflects the evolving character of Auckland's CBD by exploring the concepts of belonging, migration and identity.
Living Room is Auckland City Council's free annual public arts programme, one of many projects supporting the vitality and attractiveness of our CBD.
Event highlights
Living Room 09 launch
19 April, 1pm
End of Princess Wharf
Meet the Living Room 09 artists and watch the Dark Water shipping container emerge from the water at Princes Wharf.
Cargo/Host
Gaia Alessi, Richard Bradbury (United Kingdom)
Freyberg Place
21 April, noon (orchestra), 7pm (fireworks)
22 April, noon (orchestra), 7pm (fireworks)
Investigating the loopholes between narrative, time and sculpture, this two-part project takes place within a closed shipping container.
- A night time fireworks display inside the closed container allows you to experience the sound of the fireworks, the resonating shock waves and an extraordinary musical event.
- A chamber orchestra will also be playing Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks inside the container exactly 260 years after it was first performed in London.
Contributors: Mangos Fireworks, Auckland Youth Orchestra
Supported by British Council's Creative Cities project.
Umbrella
Taxi
Emil Goh (Seoul)
CBD, starting in Vulcan Lane
21-22 April, noon-5pm
25 April, 1pm-4pm
Volunteers with yellow umbrellas offer pedestrians protection from the sun and rain in this ongoing international project.
Supported by Australia Council.
Dark Water:
the Antipodes Project
Cho Duck Hyun (Seoul)
Princes Wharf
19 April, 1pm (Living Room 09 launch)
20-21 April, noon-6pm
22April - 14 May - artworks exhibited at Starkwhite Gallery
A shipping container is fictitiously transported through the earth,
hoisted up from the water and opened to reveal its treasure - photo-realistic
portraits and images reflecting the history of individuals as well as
general patterns of migration.
The artworks will be on display at Starkwhite Gallery on Karangahape Road until
14 May.
Supported by Ports of Auckland Limited, Containertech, Starkwhite, Asia:NZ Foundation.
Talanoa: Walk the Talk
Shigeyuki Kihara (Auckland)
19 April, 3pm-4pm, Khartoum Place
24 April, 7pm-8pm, Freyberg Place
Multimedia and performance artist Shigeyuki Kihara works in partnership
with cultural performance groups from the Americas, Asia, Europe and the
Pacific to explore intercultural dialogue - talanoa - by staging live collaborative public performances in two CBD locations.
Contributors: Anuanua Cook Island Performing Arts, Auckland Art Gallery, AKSamba, E-PAC Chinese Performance Art Group, and the Otahuhu and District Pipe Band.
Secrets of my Mother's Child
Aki Sasamoto (New York)
Khartoum Place
22 April, 1pm-3pm
23 April, 1pm-3pm
25 April, 1pm-3pm
Through sculptural, challenging and humourous performance art Sasamoto uncovers family secrets in her sculptural home, investigating how emotional histories can be tacked away behind aged bureaus and inside striped socks.
Contributor: Arturo Vidich
Supported by New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme.
i-(s)wear:
Tēnā koe
wen yau, (Hong Kong)
Khartoum Place
20 April,11am-5pm
21 April, 11am-5pm
24 April, 11am-5pm
26 April, 11am-5pm
This ongoing project focuses on the immediate relationships between people in the streets and the performer.
This latest chapter explores the cultural aspects of body and language in a New Zealand context, with the audience sharing personal stories which form the basis of the performance.
Supported by Arts Development Fund of Home Affairs Bureau, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Video Postcards
Multiple artists
Freyberg Place
20 to 23 April, 9pm-11pm
24 April, 9pm-midnight
A nightly programme of national and international short films, video works and animations focusing on identity and belonging will screen in a shipping container in Freyberg Place.
Supported by Containertech, The New Zealand Film Archive.
Video Postcards programme (88kb) PDF >>
Stringers
Multiple artists
Vulcan Lane
24 April, 11am - noon
25 April, 2-3pm
26 April, noon-1pm
A dance performance exploring multi-cultural exchanges by 'abseiling horizontally'
down Vulcan Lane. Dancers will communicate in Italian, Te Reo and English
and provide an interesting insight into the shared language that we access
and the extent to which we understand each other and communicate across the
language barrier.
Supported by Projector Media and British Council Creative Cities project.
Spoken Word
Multiple artists
Shipping Container, Freyberg Place
24 April, 6-7pm
Artists: South Auckland Poets Collective
Rakinos, level 1 35 High St
25 April, 5-7pm
Artists: Doug Poole, David Eggleton, Serie Barford, Selina Marsh, Daniel Larsen, Emma Farry,
Jamie Banks, Jai McDonald.
The British Council presents a selection of emerging and acclaimed spoken
word artists. This project is part of the British Council's work to develop
more socially inclusive and creative cities across East Asia.
Supported by British Council Creative Cities project in association with Echo Culture.
Living Room 09 Symposium: Diversity through public art - a gathering of minds
Multiple artists
Galatos
22 April, 6.30-10pm
(*this is the correct date, other advertising is incorrect)
A very special conversation between Living Room 09 artists and the public on how diversity through public art contributes to a city's creativity and to social inclusion. The evening is free, but limited to 150 people and is R18 as alcohol will be served.
Supported by British Council Creative Cities project in association with Diversity Works and Momentum 09.
Complaints Choir
Multiple artists
Freyberg Place
26 April, five minute performances from 1-2pm
Artists: Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen
Composed by Sean Donnelly (SJD)
Turning malady into melody, the Complaints Choir is a world-wide phenomena founded by Finnish/German couple Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen.
Supported by British Council.
Living Room 09 artist talks
Various artists
23 April, 1pm, Elam
27 April, 4pm, AUT
An excellent opportunity to meet some of the artists involved in the
Living Room 09 programme and learn more about their arts practice.
Supported by Elam and AUT.
Updated April 2009
