FreeFestivalTalksandAdditionalEvents

The Third Space: Ambiguity in the Art of Graham Fletcher
Floor Talk
Join artist Graham Fletcher for a floor talk inside his newly-opened survey exhibition, The Third Space: Ambiguity in the Art of Graham Fletcher.
The exhibition surveys works from across Fletcher’s oeuvre, demonstrating how he harnesses the ambiguous to bring together Pasifika culture and European art history in a cultural limbo. This exhibition aims to deconstruct the entangled web of cross-cultural negotiations and elusive patterning found across the artist’s artworks. Sculptural forms included in the show will harness the same mystical qualities present in Fletcher’s painted statues in modern interiors. Standing within the gallery, the viewer will find themselves in an intersecting cultural third space where themes can be negotiated and cultures can harmonise.
Sat 3 March 11am
Gus Fisher Gallery

Manifesto
Julian Rosefeldt in conversation with Rhana Devenport
Don't miss this opportunity to catch Berlin-based artist and filmmaker Julian Rosefeldt, in conversation with Auckland Art Gallery Director Rhana Devenport (ONZM) as they discuss Manifesto – his  vast 13-screen installation homage to  the moving tradition and literary beauty of artist manifestos.
Sun 4 March 3pm
Auckland Art Gallery Auditorium, lower ground level


Akram Khan's Giselle
Film screening – Curing Albrecht
Curing Albrecht is an original dance film,  commissioned by English National Ballet and created in partnership with Manchester International Festival. Directed and choreographed by Morgann Runacre-Temple and Jessica Wright, the short film (approx 7 mins) is inspired by themes of dancing and madness in Giselle and  depicts a young man who checks into a bespoke institution, hoping to be cured of his inability to stop dancing. In 2017, Curing Albrecht won awards for Best Dance Film at the New Renaissance Film Festival, Best Director at the Portland Dance Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Choreoscope International Dance Film Festival.
Sun 4 March 3pm-8pm 
Air New Zealand Foyer, Level 5, Aotea Centre


The Piano: the ballet 

Pre-performance talk
RNZB Artistic Director Patricia Barker provides an insight into the creation of this new full-length ballet. Learn about the creatives’ intentions and the stimulating challenges encountered to bring this production to life. Limited seating so please arrive early in order to secure a seat.
Fri 9 March 6.30pm
Air New Zealand Foyer (Level 5), Aotea Centre

Post-Matinee Q&A
A Q&A session (10-15 mins) with RNZB dancers follows the matinee performance of The Piano: the ballet (for matinee performance ticketholders only)
Sat 10 March 3.20pm
ASB Theatre Auditorium, Aotea Centre 

Warm up! Curtain up!
A unique opportunity to watch the dancers as they warm up for their evening performance. Entry by gold coin donation (for those holding tickets to the 7.30pm Sat 10 March performance)
Sat 10 March 6.20pm
ASB Theatre Auditorium, Aotea Centre 


OrphEus – a dance opera
Michael Parmenter’s Orpheus: Re-configuring the human through dance
Choreographer Michael Parmenter and dramaturg Keren Chiaroni talk about the ideas and process behind the choreography: Parmenter’s philosophy, its outworking in the studio, and its realisation in the work. Exploring questions including: 
Where did this mythic/Orphic journey begin for you? What has it to do with us?  What is the vision that inspires this Orpheus? Why should we listen to the voice of Orpheus today? Now?
Sat 10 March 5.30pm
Taj Mahal Room, The Civic


Jack Charles v The Crown
Kanohi ki te Kanohi – Meet Uncle Jack Charles
Join us for afternoon tea and a conversation on the couch with Aboriginal elder and renowned actor Jack Charles.
Sat 10 March 3pm-4.30pm
Te Pou Theatre, 44A Portage Rd, New Lynn


Anderson & Roe

Post-concert Q&A
Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe in conversation with Chamber Music NZ chief executive Peter Walls
Sat 10 March 9.30pm
Deutz Bar, Auckland Town Hall


Bless The Child and  Jack Charles v The Crown

EXTRA: Kanohi ki te Kanohi Forum
With leading indigenous theatre companies Tawata Productions (Aotearoa) and Ilbijerri Theatre (Australia)
Join us for a Panel Discussion with Tawata Productions' Hone Kouka and Mīria George (Bless The Child) and Ilbijerri Theatre directors and producers Rachael Maza and Lydia 
Fairhall (Jack Charles  The Crown). Movers, shakers, creators, provocateurs in theatre, these artists discuss their work and the driving force behind their companies.
Sun 11 March 2-3pm
Rangatira, Q Theatre

1984
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner and Auckland Arts Festival present: Orwell’s 1984: A book, a film, a play… and now a reality?
Privacy perspectives from the arts, media and a State Watchdog
Coinciding with the Auckland Arts Festival and Auckland Theatre Company season of 1984 – 70 years since the book hit the shelves, is there more to say about this dystopian touchstone of privacy, surveillance and identity? We invite you to find out.
Chairing our distinguished, informed and provocative panel is Tim McBride, author of the New Zealand Civil Rights Handbook – a champion of civil liberties and privacy since the 1970s and whose 1987 report resulted in the Privacy Act 1993. The panel includes 1984 lead actor Terence Crawford, who plays O’Brien, the main antagonist of Winston Smith. Terence is an adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide. He is uniquely placed for this discussion, not only because of his role in the show, but from his experience as an academic and as a broad reader of Orwell's work. Well-known blogger, media commentator and presenter Russell Brown also joins the panel. Brown’s insights into media behaviour and the contemporary digital environment and his background in tech journalism place him well to tell whether New Zealand has its own 'Ministry of Truth'. Completing the panel is Intelligence and Security Inspector-General Cheryl Gwyn,  who is responsible for overseeing NZ intelligence and security agencies. Or perhaps we should say she looks over the shoulder of Big Brother?
Wed 14 March 12.30pm-1.30pm
Ellen Melville Pioneer Women’s Hall, Freyberg Place, Auckland


Field Recordings
Floor Talk with Li Xiaofei
In 2010 Li Xiaofei initiated Assembly Line, an ongoing project that records processes of industrialised social change in China, and internationally. Through the project Li considers the social context that exists within and beyond the orderliness of the assembly line, the capitalist factory, the mechanised systems underpinning consumer society, and ideas of 'social progress'. Field Recordings is accompanied by a publication designed by Narrow Gauge, Layla Tweedie-Cullen. It includes essays by Emma Ng, Michael Wilson and Hsieh Feng-Rong. This will be launched at Li Xiaofei's floor talk.
Tues 20 March 5.30pm
ST PAUL St Gallery Two, AUT

Euan Macleod : Painter
Exhibition Talk: With Euan Macleod and Gregory O'Brien
Euan Macleod: Painter is the first major touring exhibition of the artist’s work on this side of the Tasman. Christchurch-born, Sydney-resident Euan Macleod talks to curator, poet, novelist and arts writer Gregory O'Brien about Euan's exhibition Painter.
Thurs 22 March 1-2pm
The Pah Homestead, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre

Candide
Pre-Show Talks
Free and open to all ticket-holders, Pre-Show Talks are presented by a member of the NZ Opera team prior to mainstage performances. Guaranteed to enhance your experience of a night at the opera, these talks provide a fascinating insight into the history of the opera, the composer and the production. No registration necessary, just come along on the night. 
Fri 23 March & Sat 24 March 6.30pm, Sun 25 March 4pm
Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall


Body Double
Panel Discussion: Rewriting the Scripts We've Been Taught
Do we inherit our sex lives? And is it possible to rewrite the scripts we’ve been taught? Join us for a panel discussion around sex and desire in the digital age, featuring an esteemed panel of artists and academics. Body Double, created by acclaimed theatre-makers Eleanor Bishop, Julia Croft and Karin McCracken, blends memoir, erotic fiction, scientific research and the language of Hollywood to expose the invisible rules that shape our relationships. Facilitated by award-winning author Courtney Sina Meredith, this talk will provide academic and artistic insights into the core themes within Body Double. Featuring: Eleanor Bishop – Award-winning feminist theatre-maker, creator and director of Body Double, Dr Panteá Farvid – Senior Lecturer Psychology, AUT, and Married at First Sight TV Series Expert, and Dr Octavia Calder-Dawe – Feminist Social Psychologist, The University of Auckland.
Monday 26 March 6-7pm
Loft, Q Theatre