There are many points of entry into labour politics. That is the nature of advanced capitalism. Labour has become first nature and our existence demands that we participate in its politics. Yet this ‘we’ is overwhelmingly singular. Representation is exclusive, marking difference invisible or incomprehensible through the lens of the dominant culture. The knowledge of a reduced and individualised subjectivity is being produced elsewhere, sold back to us, transformed beyond any reconcilable image of our own realities.

Ahead of her exhibition Namesake with Salome Tanuvasa, Quishile Charan talked with artist and writer Dilohana Lekamge about her textile practice, her family, and what the response to her work has been like so far. As an emerging artist of Indo-Fijian heritage living and working in Aotearoa New Zealand, Charan uses traditional modes of textile making to reflect upon the landscape of indentured labour and its ongoing post-colonial effects on the Indo-Fijian community. 

Lana Lopesi is a multi-disciplinary writer and artist based in Auckland. She is the Visual Arts Co-Editor of The Pantograph Punch and Contributing Editor for Design Assembly. Much of Lopesi’s work deals with themes of her Pacific heritage and the intersections of gender and ethnicity. In this interview I speak with her about the state of criticism in Aotearoa, addressing the preconceptions of who can engage in critique and the ways which we might open more constructive discourses around art.

Auckland-based artist John Vea’s practice is rooted in the simple act of storytelling—spending time with migrant workers and the cultural minorities of Aotearoa New Zealand, talking through their experiences and what is involved in their daily lives. The research Vea collects is almost solely conducted through talanoa: an experience of sharing ideas, stories and conversation that is almost always face-to-face. Vea translates these verbal accounts into performance art, video and sculptural installations. 

While on summer residency at Enjoy from 30 January – 19 February, Riff Raff co-opted the gallery space as their production house. Their aim was to develop a new contemporary art collection of donated work from artists and the general public throughout the nation, provisionally titled the 'Trust us Contemporary Art Trust' (TUCAT).

Our wonderful design intern Ellyse Randrup recently sent through some photographs of the posters she designed for Enjoy in 2016.

Unveiling the first of our TUCAT telethon acts.... AGONY ART with the straight talking but compassionate Ruby Joy Eade. Advice on your art/life/everything in between.

There are four known forces in the universe […] Gravity, electromagnetism, the nuclear strong force, which holds nucleii together, and the nuclear weak force, which causes radioactivity. 

Summer has arrived! And what better way to spend it than catching up on everything you haven't had time to peruse during the year...

Following our Self-Publishing Mini-Series held in July, Rebecca Boswell left us the following list of recommended publishers, bookstores, distributors, journals and online platforms to check out, based both locally and internationally.

Courtesy of DJ MR DAD aka Callum Devlin

On the 7th of December Pātaka Art Museum is hosting If we never met – A wānanga on curating Indigenous art. In the lead up to this, our Manager and Curator Sophie Davis spoke with presenter and panelist Ioana Gordon-Smith about her role at Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, her recent curatorial projects and some of the conversations that might come out of the wānanga.

A few weeks ago our Communications and Publications Manager Louise Rutledge sat down with Anthony Byrt to discuss optimism, the decline of arts criticism, dating, Simon Denny, and how he picked the lineup for his recently published book,This Model World: Travels to the Edge of Contemporary Art.

Following the suite of Massey University exhibitions last month, it's now time for the photography series. Here are the details for all of the upcoming shows, on from Friday October 21 – Saturday November 5.

For the last couple of years over a few consecutive weeks, fourth-year students at Massey University have been hosting exhibitions off campus and throughout the city. Here are the details for all of the upcoming shows, from Tuesday September 27 – Thursday October 10. 

Once you've done all the hard work developing, financing, editing and printing your publication (or going online), getting it our to people can be a daunting task.

Alice Tappenden, one of the editors of the Enjoy Occasional Journals The Dendromaniac and Love Feminisms, hosted the first session in our Self-Publishing Mini-series.

So just who are Boosted and how does it work? If you missed our recent workshop, here are some of the ins and outs of how to run a successful fundraising campaign.

The 6:30am start, freezing temperature, wind (of course) and the potential to be very, very rained on did not deter the crowd. Braving a world outside of bed, around 70 people gathered on Courtenay place to witness Tiwhanawhana perform a dawn blessing of Sian Torrington’s latest project We don’t have to be the Building which is now being displayed in the Wellington City Council Lightboxes.

If you missed out on Sorority, the wonderful Pip Adam took the time to sit down with each of the writers and recorded their readings for her podcast, Better off Read.