interview archive
Podcasts of many of the interviews from the DPAG Late Breakfast are available below. Links will direct you to mediafire downloads. An easy way to review interviews and features of interest or catch those which you might have missed.
- Matthew Ward talks to g.bert about his none gallery show The Ghosts/They Can Speak for Themselves.(aired 16/4/2011)
- Tao Wells discusses issues surrounding his show (with Laura Shepard) 6% Forced Unemployment. Stops wages rising, Fakes job competion. A surreal conversation really pressing the bounds of live radio. (aired 9/4/2011).
- In Dunedin from Adelaide, John Borley talks to Carl A. Mears and revisits his 2007 Blue Oyster Residency (aired 5/3/2011)
- Oscar Enberg and Zhonghao Chen talk to g.bert about Pig Sty/Toxic Pie, a group show in a pop-up space on Tuam Street in Christchurch. (aired on 27/11/10)
- Liz Rowe discusses her Blue Oyster Project Never Too Careful. (27/11/10)
- RICHARD NEAVE TRIBUTE from Avantgardening 14/11/2010. Richard's life came to a sudden end on the 10th November whilst in Thailand. Neave's inimitable black comedy combined with his equally idiosyncratic guitar torture have made him NZ's greatest, if only, stand-up noise comedian. His untimely passing came as a shock to all who knew him. Gilbert took the opportunity to celebrate his musical output. Many thanks to all those who helped in sourcing rare recordings. Condolences to Richard's family.
- Max Bellamy's photographic works at the Blue Oyster (99 ways to solve global warming) exploit mass media techniques somewhat in the style of adbusters to elaborate an idiosyncratic engagement with the 'science' of global warming.(13/11/10)
- Carl A Mears pulls apart the current offerings at the Blue Oyster: works from Juan Simon, Liz Rowe and Max Bellamy. A considered review well worth a listen! (13/11/10)
- In the first of his relatively regular literary reviews Michael Steven discusses the poetry of Cesar Vallejo (6/11/10)
- Tao Wells, whose recent project at Letting Space in Wellington courted a media circus with his advocacy of the value of unemployment. The litany of pavlovian responses from the right, from government and WINZ lead him from puppeteer to pariah and back. g.bert discusses the project and Tao unwinds his 'committed' practice. Unmissable. (6/11/10)
- Carl A. Mears 30/10/10
- Peter Shand talks to g.bert (30/10/10) following the paper he presented at the Art and Law Symposium at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art. Peter delivered a paper on
- Rohana Weaver, who graduated from the sculpture department at the School of Art recently returned from Italy where she transferred her sculptural skills to a theatrical setting was in town exhibiting a recent work at the Lets Roar Loudly Exhibition. g.bert discusses her work in that show as well as her recent 'foreign assignment.'
- Sally-Ann McIntyre joined g.bert to discuss the relations between performance and public space as they manifested themselves in her recent Melbourne residency - the Visible City Project.(16/10/2010)
- Carl A Mears chews the phat (9/10/2010).
- Markus Gradwahl, photographer of the underground, discusses the dark art of documentary photography and all those other things he gets up to. (9/10/2010)
- TrustMe, Flox and Enforce1 of the Cut Collective discuss their latest gallery project Illegal Tender at the DPAG. Issues revolving around the relation between gallery and street art and the ambiguities of detournement are also discussed.(9/10/2010)
- John Ward Knox talks to g.bert about his recently installed sculpture USH at the DPAG. Interview first aired on the 9th October 2010.
- Charles Blakiston of the Wellington Artist Run Space the Russian Frost Farmers discusses the history of the project and its aims....(2/10/2010)
- Clare Fleming, one of the co-ordinators of the Lets Roar Loudly exhibition and symposium discusses the project and wider issues of feminism and art.(2/10/2010)
- Jan Anderzen of Tomutonttu talks to g.bert about both his music and his visual art practice which is on show at hsp in Christchurch (2/10/2010)
- Carl A Mears on the 18th September 2010 takes us on a journey from the new right in Canada to the preprandialist 'smell of ... socialism". Said journey via local conservation board meetings, reactionary ignorance in the Dom Post, youthful overseas holidays and John Pilger.
- Roger Boyce and g.bert in conversation about Roger's recent show at the Blue Oyster Nature Morte and his current 100 painting extravaganza The Illustrated History of Painting at the Christchurch Public Art Gallery. Post-seismic affliction also comes up as a conversational topic. Roger is currently lecturer in painting at the ILAM School of Art at the University of Canterbury and runs the blog Roger Boyce Paints. A slightly abridged version of this recording was first aired on the 18/9/2010.
- Reuben Moss talks to g.bert about his show Tomorrow currently running at Gambia Castle in Auckland. Tomorrow consists in the installation of an automatic port-a-loo in Gambia's 'domestic' setting, combined with a 1 watt fm transmitter broadcasting a documentary exploring early new-deal architectural and urban utopianism in NZ. Reuben tells some interesting stories as parallels between contemporary and historical failed utopianisms bring all kinds of interesting topics into relief.
- Tessa Laird talks to g.bert about the work of Denise Kum, whose 1994 installation "Saucebox" is currently on show as part of "Beloved" at the DPAG. Along with Kum, Tessa discusses the work of Daniel Malone and Yuk King Tan in the context of what Richard Dale described in 1999 as 'post-orientalism'. g.bert and Tessa also discuss artist run spaces of the 90s (particularly TESTSTRIP and FIAT LUX) as well as the publication LOG (which Tessa co-edited)...(11/9/2010)
- Jon Bywater, lecturer at ELAM and selection juror for this years Walters Prize, talks to g.bert and discusses the nominees for the Walters. Slightly different from the original broadcast (11/9/2010) this recording includes interviews with all the finalists from the Auckland Art Gallery Youtube interviews. The sound quality of some of these interviews is ....questionable....but they add to Jon's discussion.
The following interviews were rediscovered on my hard-drive after a clean-up. They mostly come from 2009 but there is also one from 2008.
- A conversation with Kim Pieters from August of 2009
- Interview with Leoni Schmidt from September, 2009. Leoni is the current Head of School at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art, and this discussion revolved around last year's controvertial funding and consequent staffing cuts. Leoni (who was only recently appointed as head at the time) also outlines her ideas on the future of the school.
- Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture, the Black Panther Party was the 2009 Elam International Artist in residence. On a trip down to Dunedin to speak at the DPAG, g.bert had the pleasure of speaking with Emory, primarily about his own art practice. The conversation also covers other topics in what is a fascinating life of art and politics.
- With a timely link to the recent talk with Tessa Laird, I rediscovered this interview with Bridie Rood. The conversation revolves around a show co-curated with Tessa at the Blue Oyster in 2008? Hello Lamb: The Do It Yourself Museum of Possibilities which had travelled down from Auckland and had connections with an intriguing 'post-orientalist' project in Japan.
- Last year's two shows of Russian Art at the DPAG (Russian Art in New Zealand/I was Russia) prompted this conversation with Erika Wolf about Russian Art. Walking around the two exhibitions G.bert an Erika discuss everything between orthodox icononography and confrontational contemporary practice of Oleg Kulik and the Blue Nose Group.
- The Kilmog Press publication of Michael Steven's "" gave g.bert the chance to talk with Michael about his work and to record several readings from the book. With much more grit (in both style and subject) than NZ poetry's characteristic 'wine-bar on weekends' waffle (we all lament the Manhire School's strangle-hold on our literary scene), Steven's work speaks to a kind of realism sorely missing in much contemporary writing.
- g.bert in conversation with Martyn Reynolds at the Blue Oyster, amongst the furniture of Martyn's show Samuel, Georgia, Oscar which ran in August/September 2009.
- Kerry Ann Lee discusses her collage work in a unique location above the SEW HOY grocery on Stafford Street. The show was called Home Made: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand and ran in February and March of 2009
- Carl A. Mears from the 21/8/2010 show.
- Melissa Laing in conversation with g.bert about her Blue Oyster show a small metal pin, a piece of rubber, a section of metal pipe with securing nut as well as related issues surrounding her recent work examining Transit Zones. Some of Melissa's writing on these issues can be found on her website here.(21/8/2010)
- Robert Mitchell, Associate-Professor of English at Duke University discusses his recent Bioart and the Vitality of the Media, an intriguing little book published by The University of Washington Press which explores the little known practices of so-called Bioart. A fascinating discussion on an equally fascinating volume.(14/8/2010)
- Jemima Wyman, current ELAM International Artist in Residence, speaks to G.bert about her work - Camouflage, Identity construction and subversion, and collaborative practice. (7/8/2010)
- Miranda Parkes discusses her show Mettlers with G.BERT (31/7/2010)
- Clare O'Leary, director of Gordon Crook: A Life in Art, talks to G.bert about the film and the life of artist Gordon Crook (31/7/2010)
- Kim Pieters and Carl A. Mears in a sometimes heated discussion ranging widely over issues prompted by Kim's Blue Oyster video work Magnet.
- Nigel Bunn pt 1and pt 2 interviewed by Carl A Mears - a rare treat!!
- Carl A Mears thoroughly analyses Media Povera, Nigel Bunn and Kim Pieters (three recent shows at the Blue Oyster) (17/7/2010)
- Kerry Ann Lee on the phone from Korea after opening her most recent show in Shanghai (10/7/2010)
- Sally Ann McIntyre discusses Media Povera which she has curated for the Blue Oyster (10/7/2010)
- Wayne Barrar 24/4/2010--Barrar's extensive show, The Expanding Subterra, is currently showing at the DPAG, and this weekend he is in town to give a floortalk. G.bert talks to him about his photographic practice, his interest in the borders between Nature and Culture, the influence of the New Topographic photographers and NZ's photographic history.
- Alicia Frankovich 17/4/2010--Artist Alicia Frankovich, currently in Dunedin on a residency at the DPAG talks to g.bert about her recent contributions to the Auckland Triennial and prospects for her residencey.
- Martin Patrick 27/2/2010- - Martin Patrick (Massey School of Fine Art) discusses the work of Taryn Simon and her show at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar. An interesting little foray into the spectacle of politics and art....
- Carl A. Mears 20/2/2010 - - A Live Art extravaganza! From Debord to Yeats, from Cardiff to Waldon Pond, a visceral performance....breathe....breathe...
- Sally Ann McIntyre reviews Nathan Thompson's Artist Book TSUNAMI - 6/2/2010 - In late 2009 Nathan Thompson published a limited edition artist book entitled Tsunami, a visual score for a wider artistic project. Sally Ann McIntyre reviews the book and discusses the wider issues and histories surrounding visual scores.
- Carl A. Mears 30th January 2010 In the inimitable Mr Mears' return to the airwaves in 2010 we witness him at his best. A wonderfully thoughtprovoking and empassioned discussion of 'Live Art' with recollections from an important period in Ireland for Mr Mears' alterego...
- Lars Preisser in conversation with G.bert Lars Preisser's graduation piece Weaving with the sound of its own making is part of the Blue Oyster Gallery's 2010 Graduate Show. The work, its genesis and analogies are discussed
- Matt Akehurst of GalleryGallery GalleryGallery is a travelling kitset gallery, a white cube which can pop up anywhere outside of the bureaucratic mesh of the institutionalised art-world. Matt Akehurst, the gallery's creator, discusses its evolution as an art project in itself, its motivations and ideals beyond the 'proposal' system.
- An interview with Larry Matthews from the show on the 23rd January 2010: Larry Matthews has recently opened a new gallery space LAGNIAPPE (pronounced LAN - YOP) in an obscure little location in behind the Mou Very Bar on George St. Only open at night (in fact - only in hours of darkness) the intimate little space exhibits 'Miniature Art' which one examines under candlelight. A wonderful little surprise and an interesting discussion of the gallery's genesis.
- Twenty Something Arty Type: From December 5 2009: A series of 'guerilla art works' (as mass media speculation had it) appeared in various locations around town in the last few months of 2009 - in a media coup, g.bert managed to track down the perpetrator, known only as 'twenty something arty type'. A fascinating discussion on the limits of the art-world and politics ensued....
- ....one from deep in the Archives Carl A. Mears interviews Billy Apple
- Also from deep in the Archives Gilbert interviews Wystan Curnow after which Wystan reads some poems

