Heavily touted event Talanoa Mau was supposed to be an inclusive and safe space for vulnerable dialogues and critical exploration. But did it meet those expectations? A reflection by artist Jessica Thompson Carr.

Talanoa Mau began around 8:30am on a Monday, the karanga welcoming us into Te Papa. An anticipated event in the line-up of New Zealand Festival of the Arts 2020, it was described by curator...

As a cinematic salve to the current situation, Auckland-based film critic Amanda Jane Robinson has curated a film festival you can host from your couch.

Each mini-programme consists of one short film and three feature films. The films are on a variety of online platforms – some free, some paid – all accessible in Aotearoa New Zealand.

It’s not even one week into lockdown and it already feels like...

On not-finishing.

Before you open a show you think a lot about the audience. You dream about them; you wonder what they like; you obsess about how they’ll read a moment onstage. Your relationship with your imagined audience becomes intimate, like a teenage crush, and it’s all completely in your imagination until there are bodies in the room.

Covid-19 has affected so many lives in ways immediately...