Local Time’s contribution to the ST PAUL St Curatorial Symposium 2015 was to invite delegates to stay together for the night in Te Wao-nui-o-Tiriwa at Piha. We were once again fortunate to work with historian, storyteller and orator Pita Turei (Ngai Tai ki Tamaki, Ngati Paoa, Nga Rauru Kiitahi) who oriented visitors to the West coast from te pō (the night) into te ao mārama (the movement from darkness to light). The gathering at dawn, in view of Mount Taranaki also provided an opportunity to remember our mutual friend Te Miringa Hohaia, whose invitation to work at Parihaka was the impetus for Local Time’s founding.  The following day allowed for reflective conversation attentive to the rhythms and histories of place, and the struggles for self-determination.

Map of sites: https://goo.gl/BQSSvq

Local Time were pleased to be asked to be part of the weekend events that formed part of the art project Other Waters by organisers Janine Randerson and Eu Jin Chua.

We invited Pita Turei (Ngai Tai ki Tamaki, Ngati Paoa, Nga Rauru Kiitahi) to work with us in considering Other Waters’ situation on and investigation of the Manukau Harbour and surrounds. In critical solidarity with the broader project’s acknowledgement of multiple histories of the harbour and surrounds, we began from our established method of the idea of camping as a means to consider mana whenua and basic needs in specific sites. From the questions of local permission and access to fresh water, we developed two contributions to the project.

First, for the Saturday of the Other Waters weekend we participated in pre-dawn, paimarire karakia on Mangere maunga, Te Pane O Mataoho, led by local kaumatua and advisor to the project Jeff (Koko) Tukua of Te Puea marae and Pita, followed by whakawhanaungatanga in the crater of the mountain amongst those who attended.

Second, for the rest of the weekend events, we collected drinking water from Te Puna O Hau, a significant puna wai in Onehunga, and made it available from the Te Tuhi caravan on Old Mangere Bridge, replicating the form of the similar gestures involved in Local Time—Waitaha Wai (2013) and Local Time—5th Auckland Triennial (2013).

Our attention was first drawn to Te Puna O Hau by Jeff Tukua, who described it as a year-round source of tuna and puha in his youth. He said that it was near the railway station but had been built over since, so we traced information on colonial businesses that had used the water to discover its exact location. It is, in fact, at the south end of Spring Street, its overflow still watering the small pocket of wetland that is the Bycroft Reserve, where its old name is marked, between industrial buildings over the railway line. A newspaper article from 1955 suggests that this name, Te Puna O Hau, is connected to a visit of the Tainui waka (see photo above). An article about the mill and biscuit factory whose owner, John Bycroft, gives his name to the site, too, describes the way it appeared in 1876:

“The mill is worked by a compound engine, driven simultaneously by steam and water, which gives it an advantage that no other mill in the district possesses. In the immediate vicinity of the mill is a large pond, fed by hidden springs, whence a constant and copious supply of water is obtainable for hydraulic power. This natural reservoir is about 200 yards in circumference, and in some parts thereof the water is 8 feet deep. Being spring water it is clear and pure—the best, we believe, at or near Onehunga. The pond is well stocked with carp and eels—some of the latter weighing about 40lb.” (“Bycroft’s Flour-Mill And Biscuit Manufactory At Onehunga”, New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4611, 24 August 1876, p.1.)

An Auckland Star story mentions a “new pumping station” at the site, opposite W. Sutherland & Co. Tannery, when that business was partly destroyed by fire in 1909. The spring is now used by Water Care for the metropolitan water supply in the area and pumped across to Mangere Bridge / Te Tai Tonga. Still gathered from a wide catchment to the north, it can supply 21 million litres a day. From the tap, as we accessed it, though, it is no longer completely fresh, but chemically treated.

Local Time are Alex Monteith, Danny Butt, Jon Bywater, Natalie Robertson. We acknowledge the generous support of Pita, Jeff, Vivky and whanau, and everyone who got up early on Saturday. We also thank Janine and Eu Jin for the invitation to work under the auspices of Other Waters.

Local Time joined an excellent group of artists in the 5th Auckland Triennial, If you were to live here… curated by Hou Hanru. In our usual fashion we worked collaboratively with the host organisations to invite participation in works that materially connect all of us to the ‘here’ of the Triennial’s title.

Waiariki 9 May – 11 August 2013 (+1200)

For If you were to live here... Local Time asked the Triennial’s host venues to make a simple gesture of hospitality to artists and audiences. We have previously explored histories of the the waterways in what is now Auckland’s CBD within our project Local Time: Horotiu (2012). In the wake of our discussions with both the traditional guardians and the contemporary occupiers of the site, we made a daily collection of natural spring water to serve at the events we hosted while working in ST PAUL St Gallery, AUT. For the Triennial, we invited the staff of Artspace, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, George Fraser Gallery, Gus Fisher Gallery and ST PAUL St to take up this gesture. We provided specially ozonated water containers and directions to Waiariki, an old source of drinking water within the pre-European flows on and under the land that the Triennial’s venues occupy. Galleries used this infrastructure to serve the spring water to guests during public events.

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500m Law – Wai-te-matā (28-Jul-2013, 1200-1600 +1200)

A four hour action on the Wai-te-matā Harbour, Tāmaki Makaurau, with the yacht VS Vega and four inflatable boats, equipped with ten custom fluorescent yellow flags plus seven additional flags associated with the Vega’s history as a protest vessel. The Local Time inflatable Mahi Kai was prepared for the action in the forecourt of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. All five vessels flew fluorescent flags bearing the number 500 on their port side, the number referencing distances in the ‘Anadarko Amendment’ enacted to restrict peaceful protest at sea in Aotearoa. Each vessel flew an additional fluorescent flag on their starboard side. The phrase “this is not a protest” was spoken by Tauranga fisherman Elvis Teddy, who was arrested after joining a four boat protest that impeded a survey ship operated by Brazilian oil company Petrobras as it tried to enter the Raukumara Basin. The date 1972 referenced the year in which the Vega first sailed to Mururoa to witness French atmospheric nuclear testing and contribute to its eventual cessation. For this action, the Vega led the flotilla across the shipping channel that runs between her berth at the Maritime Museum and the Devonport Ferry Terminal. The flotilla then looped back towards the Auckland Harbour Bridge, displaying both aspects of the flags to the Devonport shore. Finally, the flotilla sailed to the Rangitoto Channel, a site of historical demonstrations against nuclear vessels entering New Zealand waters.

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Video:

A multi-platform research inquiry into naming practices at the St Paul Street gallery, AUT University, Auckland.

Most events ran 21st April to 11th May, Reading Group ran from 16th April

Local Time are a collective of artists, writers and teachers who have facilitated site-specific art projects and events with a specific emphasis on local and indigenous knowledge. Investigation of naming and framing across multiple histories has underpinned much of their work.

While our previous projects have taken shape outside the gallery, our four week inhabitation of Gallery Two at St Paul St (16th April – 11th May 2012) investigated the site of this university-based gallery that sits above Ngā Wai o Horotiu, “the waters of Horotiu”, a name traditionally given to the Queen Street area and the gullies that are bounded by Auckland University of Technology and The University of Auckland.

Taking the question of naming as our theme, we developed a multi-disciplinary, practice-based research investigation with a wide range of collaborators, using the gallery as a site for display, discussion, and hospitality. The project aimed to to involve the artistic and academic communities that are part of the gallery’s audience, increasing all participants’ knowledge of the site while also opening a range of questions about the role of the gallery in the colonial university and our own positions as practitioners, teachers, and publics between “educational” and “cultural” institutions.

Local Time’s methods take a measure of the daily rhythms of where we are working, and the values and practices that determine them. Working “at work” this time, within the university and the gallery, we found ourselves on a familiar kind of contemporary “local time”: one that involves early starts and late finishes to combine making art and making a living.

The actions, public events and more intimate gatherings that made up Local Time: Horotiu are as follows

* A 1994 Toyota Hilux Ute was re-registered as “ARTUTE” the day before the Local Time project commenced. The ARTUTE enabled the relocation of the Suite Seven Collective’s 14 custom-covered mattresses and floor mats from Artspace to St Paul St Gallery Two, for use during screenings, panels and workshops.

* The gallery was used as an base for a student-led project to initiate a student group for Māori and Pasifika AUT art and design studients.  Cora-allan Wickliffe and Morgan Tahapehi served over 100 guests in the gallery atrium in their “Fry For Kai” project supporting students on campus.

* Water was collected daily from Te Wai Ariki spring near the Auckland Law School to share with reading group participants and other guests. Each morning began with a reading group on Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s An Aesthetic Education in the Era of Globalization. See the site for this reading group here: https://local-time.net/spivakreadinggroup/

* Tuesday evenings featured an open discussion of the project, clarifying our intentions methods and discovering more about the knowledge of the site held in the school and community.

* Later in the evening on Tuesdays three screenings were held:

1. The Hornsey Film (dir. Patricia Holland), a 60-minute 1970 film re-creating and reflecting on the student-led occupation of the Hornsey College of Art, May and June 1968.
2. Bastion Point: The Untold Story (dir. Bruce Morrison), a 44-minute 1999 documentary on the 1977/78 occupation of Takaparawhau/Bastion Point led by the Orakei Māori Action Committee. This screening was was graced by the attendance of Poppy Hawke, co-producer Sharon Hawke and photographer John Miller.
3. Waka Huia, Series 2010/2011, Episode 21 | Nga Wai o Horotiu – a 59-minute documentary on the development of Nga Wai o Horotiu, the marae at Auckland University of Technology in the heart of Auckland’s CBD..

* On Thursdays, two panel discussions were held:

1. On 3rd May a panel on contemporary Maori public art featured Carin Wilson, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, and Layne Waerea. It was accompanied by a titi (muttonbird) boilup and brisket boilup.
2. On 10th May a group heard of stories and oral histories of what staff and student life has been like in the past at the local art schools of Elam, AUT (and ASA), and reflections on the pacing and timing of teaching and learning between then and now.

* On Saturday 28th April Local Time performed a boat action on the Waitemata Harbour, flying banners and flags from the Mahi Kai thundercat in support of the Aotearoa Is Not For Sale hikoi.

* The climax of the occupation was a party on Wednesday 9th May. For the work Two Hour Opening, AUT Facilities were commissioned to uncover three manhole covers on the concourse directly in front of the Gallery Two window, providing a view of some of the waters underneath. The ARTUTE did duty as a chilly bin, cooling the beer in gallery one while a BBQ was served.

* Jonty Valentine contributed his Risograph machine to make a number of posters during the exhibition which are gathered in this publication. Taarati Taiaroa and Nell May have worked with the documentation of the show for the online platform http://www.elevatorcopy.org

Throughout all these events, a continuous stream of archival research into the history of the site was undertaken by Taarati Taiaroa and shared in the gallery space. This material, combined with information gathered during the other events, led to the development of a text written for the gallery’s written profile information, providing additional layers to the name St Paul Street and the history of its location. This text has been installed on the St Paul Street gallery website: http://www.stpaulst.aut.ac.nz/gallery-information/about-the-gallery

Local Time are Danny Butt, Jon Bywater, Alex Monteith, Natalie Robertson. We acknowledge the generous support of all who participated, and thank the St Paul St staff for the invitation to work in their space.

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2.45pm-3.15pm

Parihaka to Cape Egmont Rd to Parihaka with two Tino Rangatiratanga Flags and two Land Rovers, Waitangi Day 2009 

Performance with two Landrovers and Tino Rangitiratanga flags, Parihaka, Taranaki, 6th Feb 2009.

Performance in which two Landrovers in convoy drove the roads from Parihaka Pa, leaving from outside Te Pae Pae Marae, to Cape Egmont (the most western point on the North Island) and back to Parihaka. Video was also recorded simultaneously from each vehicle as documentation.

8.00-9.00pm 6 Feb 2009, Tasman Sea Arawhata Rd – Arawhata Rd Mt Taranaki – Arawhata Rd Tasman Sea, South Taranaki, Aotearoa.

Performance with two Landrovers and Tino Rangitiratanga flags, Arawhata Rd, Taranaki, 6th Feb 2009.

Performance in which two Landrovers in convoy drove the Arawhata Rd from the sea to the termination of the road at the base of Mt Taranaki and back to the Tasman sea. Video was also recorded simultaneously from each vehicle as documentation for video installation.

Three works by contemporary artist Brydee Rood were coordinated by Local Time for presentation at the Parihaka International Peace Festival 2008:

Te Tira Whetū Tank (The Milkyway Tank) (2006-2008)

Te Mangō Roa Taranaki Tank (The Galaxy of Mt. Taranaki Tank) (2006-2008)

Te Mangō Roa Titiwai: Mushroom-lover 1891 (Galaxia Bolitiphila Luminosa: New Zealand Glow-worm Galaxy) (2008)

By day, if you lift the flap and venture inside the tank works, you will see drawings made by holes in the sides of the two re-purposed water tanks. By night, Te Mangō Roa Titiwai will also reveal a drawing made by points of light, in this case solar lights that might line your driveway. Brydee’s work often uses everyday, synthetic materials like these to refer to the natural environment. The beauty she creates out of them could give us pause to notice afresh the way that plastics are all around us, and not that they are simply good or bad but tied up in the complexity of contemporary human relationships to the land.

Brydee says that for her the solar light drawing is “fundamentally about making a space for pause, a moment where usual time is lost, like when we pause to wonder at the stars or gaze at cluster of glow worms on the damp earthy bank….”

Brydee Rood was born in 1978 in Auckland where she now lives and works, after years in Japan and Mexico. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Elam School of Fine Arts, The University of Auckland.

For this project special thanks are due to Te Miringa Hohaia, RX Plastics LTD, Baileys Tanks NZ, Donna Willard-Moore and The Warehouse.