Blow festival celebrates fresh creative talent

Innovative product design, challenging art works, cutting-edge animation, original textiles, show-stopping fashion, movies made on mobile phones: Wellington will see it all in the 6th annual Blow Creative Arts Festival. 

Blow is coordinated by Massey University’s College of Creative Arts and celebrates the past, present and future of art and design in New Zealand.

Each year, events within the festival honour New Zealand’s creative pioneers, showcase emerging talent, and act as a forum for creative practitioners to network. Some of these events are well established in the Creative Capital’s calendar, notably the Exposure exhibition of graduating students’ work and the Massey Fashion Show.

This year’s programme has just been released. It incorporates events from the College of Creative Arts, Massey School of English and Media Studies, New Zealand School of Music and the New Zealand School of Dance, and reflects partnerships with design-related groups including Semi-Permanent, the Mobile Innovation Network Aotearoa and the John Drawbridge Scholarship Trust.

Highlights of this year’s programme include:

• Exposure Opening Night: about 1,000 invited guests see the festival opened in style, surrounded by awe-inspiring art and design by graduating students. Exposure will be open throughout the festival in Wellington. Design Exposure, featuring transport, industrial and graphic design, runs in downtown Auckland, Friday 16 November to Sunday 25 November, at Silo Park (Jellicoe St, Wynyard Quarter).
• Pasifika exhibition: Pasifika artists John Pule, Janet Lilo and Siliga Setoga show work from their residencies at the College of Creative Arts this year.
• David Kester public lecture: the former Chief Executive of the British Design Council talks about design’s power to transform.
• Blast 2012, in association with Semi-Permanent: a week-long design innovation seminar, including workshops with award-winning Italian graphic designer Astrid Stavro and London-based interactive designer Joel Gethin Lewis of Hellicar & Lewis.
• Aspiring – John Drawbridge Scholarship Trust fundraiser: a unique charity event to support young designers. The evening features a screening of the documentary Aspiring, and celebration of its all-star team. Includes an auction of artworks by Brian Brake and John Drawbridge.
• Massey Fashion Show: the next big names in New Zealand fashion send their garments down the catwalk. Professionally choreographed, this is one of the glamour events of the festival.
• NZ School of Dance 45th Graduation Season: young dancers of extraordinary talent present the best of classical ballet and contemporary dance.
• Mobile Innovation symposium and film screening: filmmakers, artists, designers, researchers, mobile phone users and industrial professionals debate the creative potential of wireless, mobile and ubiquitous technologies. Includes the free International Mobile Innovation Screening at the Film Archive.

 

 

Full details of dates, times, venues and costs (where applicable) are at www.blowfestival.co.nz