Celebrate the long weekend with local gigs, Easter egg hunts and exhibition tours.
See a gig
Tonight at Whammy Bar, three of the most danceable rock acts from Te-Whanganui-a-Tara join forces. Wiri Donna, Elliot Dawson and F.A.I.R.Y. will play the Karangahape Rd stage. Though each act has its
Tuck into your Easter eats
Many local communities are coming together for Easter egg hunting this weekend. There’s one at the Kaipara Coast Gardens in Auckland, one at the Cable Car in Wellington and one at the Ferrymead Heritage Park in Christchurch. The bigger your basket, the better.
Auckland will host the Easter Show at Auckland Showgrounds, with thrills to be found in carnival rides, food, crafts and a petting zoo. The Easter Night Market is also on tonight at Victoria Park, with live music, food trucks and local stalls to be explored.
You might also need to squeeze in a hot cross bun order before the day is done. The highly-subjective Viva team recommendations are here.
Enjoy an evening of music
The Coroglen Tavern in the Coromandel will host a big lineup of DJs and artists on April 8, raising money to go towards flood relief. A Coromandel Day will host acts like Crooked Colours, Rum Jungle, Wax Mustang, Flamingo Pier and Casper across two stages. Tickets for the show, camping and buses start from $70.
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Advertise with NZME.Explore the landscapes of Aotearoa with photography
Utilising the camera lens, Johnny McCormack has captured different landscapes of Aotearoa and the ever-shifting land. His exhibition Temporal, which is showing at Allpress Studio Gallery in Freeman’s Bay, showcases various imprints of geological shifts and affecting weather through photographs that highlight cracks, lines and waves in the land and sea. The details are stunning, and the collection feels wonderfully textural and sometimes eerie. McCormack will host a coffee, croissant and conversation over his exhibition photobook on April 15, and the exhibition closes on April 21.
Head to Waiheke
Over the long weekend, Waiheke will be home to a jazz festival with local and Australian acts playing in theatres and wineries across the island. Tickets for a few of the events have already sold out, but there are still spaces available for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Fullers360 is also offering 50 per cent reduction for off-peak fares, so sailing to see the music is more affordable this weekend.
Embark on a historical Easter egg hunt
The Auckland Museum is set to host an Easter egg hunt through the many galleries this April, providing puzzling rhyming clues for eagle-eyed scouts to follow. If your crew is able to find them all, you can submit an entry to go into the draw to win a chocolate hamper. The museum will also be open all Easter weekend long, providing the perfect opportunity to catch up on the newer arrivals.
The exhibition Toró: é tudo tanto: It’s all so much is a collaborative collection comprising artworks and interactive pieces by over 71 artists of Brazilian heritage in Aotearoa New Zealand. The grand foyer and Te Taunga Community Hub is filled with a wide range of pieces, including mixed media collages, photography, audio-visual presentations and interactive puzzles.
The work of New Zealand photographer and photojournalist Robin Morrison is being displayed in Road Trip, an exhibition that celebrates his important cataloguing of people and architecture around the South Island in 1979. Morrison’s striking works play expertly with negative space around the built environment and created a vital alternative image to the rolling farmland and mountainous landscapes.
Secrets of Stonehenge features over 300 ancient artefacts that have been key in uncovering the secrets behind one of the most mysterious world monuments. The exhibition unpacks the timeline of scientific discoveries that have helped us understand the UNESCO World Heritage Site better, with the opportunity to get up close to the tools and objects utilised by archaeologists. In the final weeks of the Stonehenge showing, there’s a special offer on ticket pricing (late nights on Tuesdays are also free).
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Advertise with NZME.Peter the Tyrannosaurus rex was joined by Babara in the Te Ao Mārama South Atrium late last year. It’s the first time in the world that an adult male and female T- Rex have been exhibited together — it’s quite the sight to see them roaring in lockstep.
Head to a historic arts centre
Corban Estate Arts Centre will open two exhibitions on April 14, presenting new works across many mediums, including quilting, pottery, weaving, macrame and sculptural basketry.
The first of the exhibitions, Dal explores a traditional Korean pottery form called the moon jar (it also derives its name from the translation to ‘moon’ in Korean). Jino Jeong, a Tāmaki-based ceramicist, creates sculptural forms that reference the rich cultural history of the moon jar, while also investigating the beauty of imperfection and anomalous shapes.
The accompanying exhibition is called Low Carbon Luxe, and features work from Pōneke-based artists Christine Brimer, Bernadette Casey, and Barbara Wheeler. The exhibition, which also runs as a part of Eco Fest, sees the artists utilising existing materials to create stunning homeware. The collection is a response to issues of overproduction, overconsumption and the damaging discarding common within textile and clothing industries. Low Carbon Luxe imagines how production in the homeware space might be decarbonised.
Several related workshops are running alongside Dal and Low Carbon Luxe, including clay shaping, braid weaving demonstrations and artists’ talks on April 15.
See a concert
The soulful rock ’n’ roll tunes of Larkin Poe will tour the country next week, as the sisters perform their 2022 album Blood Harmony. The duo will start the three-date tour in Auckland on April 13 at the Powerstation, before heading to Wellington and Christchurch. The Southern sound of the album by Rebecca and Megan Lovell has been well received. Rebecca tries to convey the tone of the music, saying, “What we try to share through our music is the emotional equivalent of opening your door to everyone and inviting them in for sweet tea.” Tickets start from $59.
See an exhibition
The Trish Clark Gallery opens a showing from Amanda Gruenwald on April 12, in the artist’s first solo exhibition since 2019. Abstract Topologies includes Gruenwald’s distinctive approach to abstract form and colour, with influences from our digital landscape and the artist’s active mediation process. Her freeform engagement with painting creates fascinating shapes and cohesive yet surprising uses of colour. The exhibition closes on May 27.
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Tour sublime design in Christchurch
As the biggest architectural festival of the year, Open Christchurch is getting set to celebrate the best in design on May 6 and 7. Over 50 buildings will open with the opportunity for exploration, with a range of guided walks, expert talks, tours and workshops provided over the two days.
This year, the festival will feature the partnership of Sir Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney as well as the rise of the Christchurch Modern style. The city’s unique coastal placement and varied approach through the rebuild make the architectural scene so singular. A tour into the open doors of many residential, educational, community and public spaces will celebrate the creativity of design and commemorate the history of architecture within the city.
You can find the full programme for Open Christchurch 2023 here.
Celebrate local and international documentary film-making
The Doc Edge International Documentary Film Festival returns to Aotearoa for its 18th year, bringing a large range of films to a few of our cosy independent theatres. The lineup of over 60 documentaries is diverse in focus, seeking to explore environmental challenges, social justice, the arts and more.
The world premiere of Thor F. Jensen’s Sailau is one of the featured highlights — the film follows three master sailors as they embark on the world’s first circumnavigation of the Island of New Guinea in the titular sailau (traditional sailing canoe). The festival will also feature works from New Zealand film-makers. Frances Hodgkins, Anything But a Still Life by Blandine Massiet du Biest is a biography piece about the revered NZ painter. Rosalie Liddle Crawford and Anton Steel capture the community response after the MV Rena grounded on Astrolabe Reef in Taking Back Our Beach.
Many more films will grace theatres in Auckland and Wellington, along with an Extended Reality exhibition that showcases a mode of digital interactive storytelling. The festival kicks off on May 24 to July 9 and tickets are available from April 26. Now is a good time to rifle through the fresh releases in the programme, and pick out your must-sees.
Book in for the return of Kia Mau
Kia Mau, a trail-blazing contemporary Indigenous arts festival, will return to the city streets of Te Whanganui-a-Tara in June, with dance, theatre, wānanga and hui, and visual art. The first round of events has been announced and includes Taku Waimarie, a production from Taki Rua (the first national kaupapa Māori performing arts organisation), The Haka Party Incident and Mînowin, a dance performance from a leading Indigenous company in Canada. Kia Mau will return to Wellington from June 2 to 17.
