Today in New Zealand International Arts Festival history: Golden Holden & Sculpture Walk (2002), Kora (2004) & Maori Showbands (2006)
It's actually kinda hard to date these images from 2002, because they're on FILM - and unlike those fancy digital cameras, they don't have data in the file to tell me what day & time they were taken! But this was the day I got the film scanned and saw the results, so I think we're close...
Back in '02, I wasn't working with the Festival directly yet - but this was where it started, covering the outdoor events and sculpture installation for the Council. The next year, I got in touch with the Festival CEO, suggested they should think about having a photographer of their own documenting everything that went on around the city, pitched them a brief & a budget, and we took it from there.
Golden Holden was a show about the Kiwi way of life that came up from Christchurch - hopefully not IN the car, but that wouldn't surprise me - and proceeded to tear the thing apart in Civic Square, over lunch hour. Something makes me think it was a silent piece, but I could be wrong on that - if anyone remembers differently, let me know!
That year also saw a series of sculpture installations in Civic Square, across the bridge and along the waterfront, most of which were temporary and departed after the Festival; but one, the green Phil Price kinetic sculpture, was bought by the city and found a permanent home on Lambton Quay. (That said, I always thought it worked better on the point in Civic Square where it was originally placed!)
Here's also a single image from the Festival Club in 2004, when Kora were a fairly new band - as I recall I was trying out a borrowed lens I was considering buying, had it with me and just took a couple of tests to see if I liked it. (I didn't keep it, but I do like this photo!)
And lastly for today, a few from the Maori Showbands concert in the Wellington Town Hall in 2006. These guys were great, great entertainers who've been touring the world since the 60s, and (last I checked) are still going. So to have a homecoming gig at the Town Hall - and to sell out two nights - was great recognition for them, and hilarious for everyone else...!
It was so full, the only place I could photograph it from was the back of the room with the followspot operators, and my longest lens. I'd have loved to be closer, but then again, I'd have been laughing too hard to work if I was!