The city of Auckland was named after "a dud ex-colonial mediocrity who stuffed up on a quite spectacular scale", says British historian William Dalrymple.

The biggest game in town is Michael Parekowhai et al at Michael Lett. It combines the talents of an artist and a collective.

Michal Dworzynski will launch the Auckland Philharmonia's Splendour Series.

Five colossal iron clydesdales have joined the array of sculptures adorning Sir Michael Hill's golf course and sculpture park in Queenstown. Sir Richard Taylor, of Weta Workshop, will unveil the horses at the seventh hole at The Hills tomorrow.

Cars slowed and heads turned as almost 200 brightly coloured mood sticks were carried through central Auckland by people with white gloves.

Works of art featuring the model Kate Moss have gone up for auction at Christie's in London. From an photograph of Moss from a Calvin Klein campaign in 1993 to a recent shot of her in a bronze body suit, the model is an iconic figure on the catwalk. The British model's career spans over two decades and she continues to front numerous campaigns today.

If there's one thing George Henare can't do to prepare for his latest role - as chauffeur Hoke Colburn in the play Driving Miss Daisy - it is draw upon his own driving experiences.

Julia Fischer's new CD with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich under David Zinman is a clever concerto combo that will hopefully bring the lesser-known Dvorak to listeners initially drawn to the more popular Bruch.

The Auckland Triennial, which opens next month, brings together a host of local and international artists responding to what it is like to live here.

Dick Frizzell's famous Mickey to Tiki Tu Meke had him labelled a 'spiritual assassin'. Now it's up for auction and Frizzell revisits the Kiwi icon.

Haunting images of Auckland's rugged west coast captured by film-maker Adam Strange are proving a hit and a talking point with art lovers.

The promise of New Zealand Opera's Madame Butterfly has been with us for weeks, with striking images of the heroine on posters around town.

In the hands of playwright Dean Parker the intrigues swirling around New Zealand's Moscow Embassy in 1947 provide the raw material for a sophisticated, entertaining and intelligent piece of theatre.

Dame Susan Devoy is now an unwitting muse for the nation's creativity, inspiring not fanfares but raspberries.

An art auction of "unprecedented quality and calibre" and boasting some of the biggest names in contemporary New Zealand art pulled in around $2 million when the works went under the hammer in Auckland last night.